Private blog networks - good, bad, successes?

[scarfie]

Hi all... I'm new here so be kind
Private blog networks - what does everyone make of them? Good, bad, any successes or disappointments?
I'm trialling some at the moment and while it's too early to say whether they're having an influence, I'm getting differing feelings about them... not keen on the shadiness of "protecting the integrity of the network", that's just b*ll in my opinion.

LinkOrbit: like the fact I can choose the blog & sort according to Mozrank/PR/links/niche etc.
SEODestiny: liked the claims - websites are all stuff like creditcardloansx.info... they have some linkjuice but not sure the scattergun approach is best?
BMR: random blog - so you can't select the niche?

Or do I cough up and guest blog wherever I can at $30-$40 a pop? I'll report back on the effects of each one (and the guest blogging) but wanted to know everyone's thoughts...

Ta!

[MaverickUK]

Seriously just pay for BMR. I won't waste my time explaining the benefits - it works for me and it will work for you too.

[TBInternetMarketing]

Originally Posted by MaverickUK

Seriously just pay for BMR. I won't waste my time explaining the benefits - it works for me and it will work for you too.

This is dead right. I recommend it to all my readers, and its the only backlinking I really do to my sites. It works wonders! Just do it!

[BenJackson]

I decided to go against the grain and try some networks besides BMR - there are some pretty good contenders out there.

I'm doing well with Rank Jumpers and TrafficKaboom right now.

[mosthost]

Originally Posted by BenJackson

I decided to go against the grain and try some networks besides BMR - there are some pretty good contenders out there.

I'm doing well with Rank Jumpers and TrafficKaboom right now.

What are the costs?

[theverysmartguy]

Originally Posted by mosthost

What are the costs?

Just looked up Rank Jumpers: for 5 sites its : $57.95/month, 10 sites: $87.95, 20 sites: $127.95

So, for the first 5 sites its the same as BMR, after that it gets more expensive.

You also seem to get your first 7 days for free when you site up too.

-- Jeff

[pdrs]

+1 for BMR here as well - they're the best hands down - I've been a paying member for over a year now and I can't say the same about any other tool I've used (and I've used a BUNCH)

[bhuff85]

Originally Posted by BenJackson

I decided to go against the grain and try some networks besides BMR - there are some pretty good contenders out there.

I'm doing well with Rank Jumpers and TrafficKaboom right now.

I use BMR, but I'm also testing out a couple of other different networks to see if they are as good or better. Only problem with BMR is that posts often fall off that front page within 24 hours. Sure, link juice is still passed to inner pages, but I like networks that are smaller and keep posts up for an extended period of time.

[BenJackson]

Originally Posted by bhuff85

I use BMR, but I'm also testing out a couple of other different networks to see if they are as good or better. Only problem with BMR is that posts often fall off that front page within 24 hours. Sure, link juice is still passed to inner pages, but I like networks that are smaller and keep posts up for an extended period of time.

You know I haven't tried BMR for myself to diss it, but that is one thing I like so far about RJ - the posts usually stay on the home page for a couple days. In fact, I've got some that have been on the homepage for 20 days and are still a few posts from the bottom.

Whether or not that keeps up if RJ gets more popular, I don't know, but for now it's good.

Originally Posted by theverysmartguy

Just looked up Rank Jumpers: for 5 sites its : $57.95/month, 10 sites: $87.95, 20 sites: $127.95

So, for the first 5 sites its the same as BMR, after that it gets more expensive.

You also seem to get your first 7 days for free when you site up too.

-- Jeff

Thanks for posting that Jeff

Traffickaboom is a bit pricier at $197 upfront for 3 months. I've found that the PR isn't that great, but the posts actually get added to niche specific sites most of the time which is pretty cool. That and the fact that it doubles as a video syndication platform helps make it worth the $.

[robp12]

I'm interested in the sites you guys are mentioning, any chance you could post the links to these networks?