There’s a fun hypothesis saying that you are the average of the closest five people around you. I believe this to be true, do you? What’s interesting about the blogosphere community is that anybody with enough intention can start a website. The link gives you a step-by-step guide as to how you can get up and running in under 30 minutes. Some blogs are interesting, some are not, but regardless we can all compete with the Business Insiders, Huffington Posts, and BuzzFeeds of the web in our own niche way!
Alexa is a dynamic website ranking and information company owned by Amazon, which has over 40 million users world wide. The tool bar is free, and easy to download. The Yakezie Alexa Ranking Challenge is straight forward. If you’re outside of the top 200,000, get in the top 200,000 within 6 months. I can’t even name 100 sites, let alone 199,999 sites. Can you? If you’re already in the top 200,000, get in the top 100,000. And if you’re already in the top 100,000, get in the top 50,000.
There are some who poo poo the Alexa ranking system, and I recognize their two main arguments: 1) The system only tracks visitors who have the Alexa Toolbar installed, and 2) There are cases where some websites with bazillions of users have a worse ranking than sites with less users. We don’t know why, because we don’t fully know what goes into the calculations. It may be because readers don’t visit and just read off their RSS. That said, the Alexa ranking system continues to grow, and is the best system we got. At least 40 million webmasters around the world think so, and there has to be something to it if Google, Facebook, Yahoo and YouTube are ranked #1, #2, #3, and #4, respectively.
Since starting this site, I’ve been rejected as a guest poster, didn’t even get responded to, let alone make it as one of the 7 finalists for one site’s staff writer tryouts, denied admission to a personal finance blog network, and even got my first carnival submission rejected. But through all the rejections, I took comfort in my friend, Alexa, who is always by my side motivating me to keep going. I’m sure many of you have been rejected as well. Here’s your chance to create our own network of powerful friends by joining the challenge!
BENEFITS OF BEING IN THE TOP 200,000
* You’ll get to compete for a spot on the top personal finance blogs list (Yakezie Network). I’ve heard some publishers in the Top 100 don’t even bother to associate with others outside page 1. Oh, the snobbery! But seriously, if you’re on page one of any top blogging list, opportunities start coming to you, because this list has become the default ranking in the community, and the default ranking in the community uses Alexa.
* Motivation. Unless you’ve got an established blog already, writing gets very lonely and discouraging sometimes when not many people come to visit. You might say you are writing for yourself and don’t care, but if that’s the case, why make your writing public? Witnessing progress is fun!
* If you love free swag, you’ll get approached by authors and publicists looking to send you tons of free books to review and giveaway. You may even get a catalog of a publisher’s entire library of books from which you can choose from. I even got an $800 product to stand on for my standing desk! You know how movie stars get all those goodie bags of stuff to sample at the Oscars even though they’re already rich and don’t need more free stuff? It’s kinda like that, a virtuous cycle of people who provide mutual benefits. If you someday wish to write a book, you now have direct access to the very people who reject hundreds of authors everyday!
* Advertisers will flock to you, and ask you to pimp things you’ve never heard of. Some of them, could be gems, but many will be junk traps. On occasion, you’ll find some amazing products that just fit so well with your content. If you have an established site, going to advertisers with affiliate programs becomes much easier as well.
Here’s how much you could make with 300,000 pageviews a month
* Other big sites who never bother responding to you, suddenly take notice and give you the time of day. Those comments you leave asking for feedback or help actually get addressed. Cut them some slack though, because I’m sure they get inundated. You can also join plenty of “exclusive” networks if you wish.
* You can earn corporate consulting income or freelance writing income. You can also leverage your site to be your resume for new consulting gigs. I’ve received multiple six figure consulting gig opportunities with financial tech startups since I left Corporate America in 2012. Once was with Personal Capital for two years, and another is with Motif Investing. Both are innovative fintech companies, which I’m proud to promote on my site because they are helping people make and save money. Personal Capital is great for tracking your net worth for free. Motif Investing is a much cheaper way to build an investment portfolio and invest in your stock ideas.
* You cultivate a competitive edge, get inspired and appreciate those who are way up the rankings. I used to think watching golf on TV was extremely boring. After I began hacking it up on my own, I now find watching golf extremely fascinating! Same thing with a website. You truly start to appreciate the marketing geniuses of some bloggers out there, and therefore strive to better yourself.
* Girls or guys, depending on your sex and preference, will love you when you say you have a “top” website at the bars. For a brief moment, you can escape your mundane day job and pretend you are someone really important. You could try saying, “Hi there good looking, I am the the CEO & Editor of X, America’s #1 personal finance site” for example, and you’ll immediately be whisked away into la la land. After all, bloggers are the some of the sexiest people on Earth who also happen to live a life of freedom!
TIPS ON BREACHING ALEXA TOP 200,000
* Badge & Toolbar. Download and install the Alexa toolbar and put the badge on your site. The Alexa toolbar is fascinating because it shows you so much detail about other sites you visit.The badge will naturally peak interest as well. The ranking is dynamic, and motivating.
* Content. Nothing else really matters, and that includes doing all that SEO stuff. I had no idea what a site-map was, or what SEO (Search Engine Optimization) even stood for the first 4 months. If you write something you feel strongly about, you’ll do great. Try and write with a thesis. Whether you are right or wrong is besides the point. What’s more important is to get readers thinking about the topic at hand. Write what you know, too, because if you try to fake it, people can tell.
* Content Length. Did you know that the average person spends just 7 seconds on a resume? The point is that people have short attention spans, and if you write in huge paragraphs, with no breaks in the post for categories, you’ll likely lose readers. After the 1,500th word, people’s eyes start glazing over, unless it’s superbly written. This post violates this rule with 2,100 words, so I need to practice!
* Personality. Realize that you can’t please everybody all the time. If you write with no thesis, no conclusion, no personal spin, then what’s really the point? The great thing about the internet is that the market place is so huge, if our friends in America aren’t stopping by, maybe our friends from Australia will!
* Frequency. If you can post 2-4 times a week, that’s good enough! You can try posting everyday, but you increase your chances of burn out, and you’re not getting maximum exposure for the articles you’ve written. Notice how comments fade from your post after a new one comes, even though the older article is only a day or two old Instead, use the days off to visit other sites, comment, build relationships and let your articles percolate.
* Branding. Get an image that one can easily recognize as you. Go to Gravatar.com, and use that image in many things you do. There are a lot of Davids, Johns, and Jims in the community. Instead, sign off as a variation of your site, or your site itself because nobody has a monopoly on your common name, and you may confuse others.
* Read & Comment. Actually read an entire post and get the concept. If the post is too boring, skip it, but if it’s interesting enough, share your thoughts. Comments inspire writers, because it shows that someone is listening. There will be reciprocity.
* Twitter. Twitter is probably the best micro-blogging tool out there, which I don’t do enough because it’s off during the day. I’m amazed how some have thousands of followers, and can also follow hundreds of people as well. Make sure you have a widget that will allow others to retweet your content easily.
* Guest Post. Tap other bloggers’ audiences by writing your best stuff for other people. You’ll inevitably gain some fans from their RSS or e-mail distribution list. Guest posting is one of the fastest and best ways to develop linkbacks and reach people you want to reach.
* Promote Others. If you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel in the rankings, be selfless and promote others relentlessly. Even if you are doing OK for yourself, promote others freely. That includes re-tweeting and highlighting other articles on your own site. The higher ranked sites will be appreciative and eventually return the favor.
* Don’t Think About Making Money. Because it will likely take a year or so if you’re lucky to earn over $1,000/month from your blog, the money you receive may demotivate you. As soon as you start writing for money, you start losing your soul and it’s not as fun. Write what you want to write, and the money will come.
FOCUS ON HELPING OTHERS!
If you just focus on two things, focus on content and promoting others. We’ve taken the initiative to start something on our own, so we might as well give it our best shot. Like all ventures, it’s not easy maintaining the intensity and team effort goes a long way. If we’re all in the top 200,000 by summer, we’ll be quite an influential bunch! Just think about all the things we can do.
Once you break your particular Alexa benchmark, you can officially call yourself a Yakezie (pronounced yah-KAY-zee, and not to be confused with Yakuza). Fail to achieve your goal in six months and you don’t have to chop off your pinky! Who’s in?
To Join The Samurai Alexa Ranking Challenge
1) Install the Alexa toolbar if not already and comment what your current Alexa ranking is, so we can keep track.
2) Write consistently 2-4 times a week on your own site and consider guest posting around the community including on Yakezie.com to raise your profile.
3) Install the Yakezie Challenger Badge.
4) Announce on your blog that you have joined the Yakezie Challenge.
5) Selflessly promote others and build relationships.
6) Stay committed and consistent over the next 6 months! Whether you are a huge blog or a start-up, everybody most go through a 6 month Challenge period to ensure that we build the best relationships possible.
7) Come introduce yourself on the Yakezie Challengers Forum and get to know your fellow Challengers and Members.
8) Once the 6-month challenge is over, let us know how far you’ve come in the forums, on your blog, and via an e-mail. If you’ve developed good relationships, broken 200,000 in Alexa, and are ready for the next step, we will invite you to submit a form and write your Yakezie Member Post and become an official member.
Start An Awesome Blog Today
It’s been seven years since I started Financial Samurai and I’m actually earning a good multiple six figure income stream online now. Roughly 74% of my traffic is from organic search, which means the majority of my traffic and revenue is passive.
I never thought I’d be able to quit my job in 2012 just three years after starting Financial Samurai. But by starting one financial crisis day in 2009, Financial Samurai actually makes more than my entire passive income total that took 16 years to build. If you enjoy writing, creating, connecting with people online, and enjoying more freedom in your life, see how you can set up a WordPress blog in 15 minutes with Bluehost. Hosting costs less than $3.5 a month. Everybody should at least have their own website to establish and own their brand online. Corporates have benefitted greatly from the internet, so should you.
The actions you take today help shape a better future. You never know where the journey will take you!
Updated for 2017 and beyond.
Yes the 200,000 Alexa mark is a nice milestone in my opinion. Alexa takes constant effort because you’re basically competing with others.
My goal now is to break 100,000.
Sorry, forgot to mention… my latest ranking is 169,216.
I have a LONG way to go…374,478 here, but I don’t do any of the things you said. I rarely to never guest post, I never submit anything a carnival (although I do host a few), and I never tried to join a group.
The only thing I do a lot if comment and I think that is an ego thing since I assume everyone wants my opinion
@20smoney
Nice! I’m sure you will break 100,000 in 6 months!
@Evan
374,478 is actually not really that far away for a 6 month period. I’ve only submitted to two carnivals, am still not part of a group, and have only done one guest post so don’t worry. But, I’m starting a group right now!
I think commenting is not so much an ego thing, but a sign that you are interested in participating in a community. It’s like speaking. We speak all the time during the day.
You’re right, it can get lonely out here in cyberspace if you don’t get any feedback for your work. And this is a very timely post for me as I did a guest post and created a gravatar just yesterday. (Please excuse my rudimentary artistic skills if it appears alongside this comment – you’re the fist site I’m testing it on) I’m interested in installing the Alexa tool bar if only to see how close to ∞ I can rank (that’s infinity if the html doesn’t work right) Thanks for all the great tips Sam!
@thriftygal
Your Gravatar is cool! Good job guest posting, and your Alexa ranking is right now 5.4 million :) That’s great, because your progress will be in the hundreds of thousands with each update, and you’ll have a lot of fun!
Right now I’m at 682,918, but over the last month its 371,965, and the last week it’s 287,354. I attribute that to guest posting and submitting to more carnivals. I’m interested to see if I can build on that and keep it up. I don’t see myself decreasing much, so being solidly under 200,000 seems very realistic for 6 months from now.
.-= Daniel´s last blog ..Free Bill Optimization Giveaway! =-.
@Daniel
Sounds great man. Top 200,000 or bust! I’ve tried to highlight a lot of posts from new bloggers like myself over the past months (vs. always highlighting stuff from the big guys), and I think it’s now time we create our own sphere of influence!
If we grow up together, then won’t forget where we came from if we make it big!
Okay, so as you pointed out, there are lots of other things to worry about besides Alexa that I focus on, but I agree with you that there are so many things affected by that ranking. So with my measly 916,827 ranking, I take your challenge. In fact with over 2 billion websites that deal with life insurance, ranking well will only help me crush them even harder. Hopefully then people will understand there is a better way.
@admin
It’s funny actually. I didn’t realie you were a “new blogger” until about two months ago. I had been reading since August or September, but the quality of the writing and the way the site was set up was good enough to fool me.
I stopped linking in the big guys and focusing on the posts I really liked from the smaller, newer ones. There’s no need to highlight what people have already read. I’d much rather be shown a link to something interesting that I haven’t already seen.
.-= Daniel´s last blog ..Free Bill Optimization Giveaway! =-.
@Aaron @ Clarifinancial
Yep, sounds good Aaron. But, most people who have beef about the Alexa ranking are basically not highlly ranked, or are selling products with good price points directly to consumers and don’t need that kind of traffic. But, I’m telling ya, you get offers left and right once you break 200,000. Every publisher, publicist, author, advertiser I’ve asked regarding how they found me either said through the WB list, or through an Alexa ranking screen.
@Daniel
Sorry for fooling you Daniel, but the archives are plain as site for all to see! That said, I would venture to guess 99% of all blog-type sites out there are less than 3 years old.
I’m down! I think this will help me stay consistent in my posting. I’ll add the toolbar when I get home tonight. I think I cleared some top 100 list (Twitter maybe?) and I hadn’t been blogging consistently for months! This will be fun to see the progress.
As I’ve said before, your Alexa is remarkable for your age of site. Well done Sam!
I’ve plunged back down again having breached the 200K mark the other day. Grr.
Got to cut back those 1300 word articles! ;) I also think maybe the 5 posts a week thing is counterproductive, as you say.
Thanks, for the info!
I was starting to get discouraged. After upgrading my wordpress version from 2.86 to 2.91, my alexa ranking dropped to around 4,000,000 it was under 1,000,000 for a while (currently it’s 2,101,818; still sucky but better than 4 mill).
I’m not entirely sure what I did wrong, but apparently it was bad. Surprisingly, my US rank only dropped to 262,538 (less sucky, a little).
I like your idea of posting every other day. I find that I like commenting on other pf blogsites, it makes me feel like I’m part of the pf gang. Plus I think I have a lot to contribute! :)
I haven’t decided if I’ll install the alexa bar or not yet… In my case, it’s kind of like saying “Hi, I suck”… Until I get under 1 million again, I think I’ll leave it off. Hopefully, my alexa ranking gets under a million again (It’s halved since Jan.).
Another great idea, just the kick in the pants I needed to start writing more regularly. Evan and I have been creeping up the ranks and I’m right behind him at 159 with an Alexa rank of 380,048. A long ways to go but not bad considering I was 2,000,000 a few months ago. Evan and I will see you on the front page next July :-)
I added the WP Users Online plug in and another that automatically updates Twitter when I make a post and can see a jump in visitors on the site every time I make a post. I still don’t really get Twitter, but it’s a great way to attract traffic. I do the same thing with Facebook and get a little traffic from there as well.
I also get about half my traffic from oversees so I added the Google Translator plug in which a few people use. I purposefully didn’t add the Alexa badge because my ranking was astronomical but 380,000 is a respectable number I guess.
@Jason @ MyMoneyMinute
It really is fun to see the ranking progress. More fun than anything, and that includes looking at Google Analytics, which I haven’t checked in months, and any advertising revenue. What’s your ranking?
@Monevator
Thanks mate. The progress has petered out, so I need new motivation from the community to try and keep forging ahead.
I figure I’d write a 1,700 word article here to balance out the 200 word article on Being Yourself this past Monday!
@Don@Moneyreasons
Don, you don’t have to install the badge on your site just yet if you don’t feel comfortable about your ranking. But, you should install the toolbar on your own browser to check things out and keep you on track imo. Gluck!
@David @ MBA briefs
Sounds like a fun race you and Evan got! I put the badge up when I was at 3 million I think. So fun to see the progression.
The translator plug in is a good idea. What’s yours called? I’ll have to look into it!
Every has had to start somewhere. Almost all bloggers may have started with little to no readers at first. I had no idea about the Alexa toolbar. I’m going to install it now as well. Great idea!
Formerly known as “Jesse” would like to know how many books you have. What a bonus!
I actually aim to be in the bottom of my friends. That way I’m always challenging myself to learn more and grow. ;)
One of the biggest draws on our progress can be our own friends. What about everyone here – how have their friends changed over the past 5, 10, 20 years?
Everyone advocates rebalancing your financial portfolio annually, I’m planning to hop on the Lean Life Coach http://www.CarnivalofDebtReduction.com bandwagon and discuss how rebalancing your “Friend-Folio” can actually help you eliminate unnecessary debt.
I take the cake as bottom feeder with “No Data” currently
BTW David. Thanks for all the tidbits – I plan on looking through these tonight.
@admin I think it’s just the Google Translator, I’ll double check when I get home.
The best thing about Alexa is its easy to use and accessible. I’m still not in Technorati and am trying to figure out Compete.com, but with Alexa you just add the toolbar and you’re off and running. It’s also good to know that by visiting your friends with the toolbar installed you’re helping them out. We’ll have Jesse/FinEngr moving on up in no time (us engineer types have to stick together).
@FinEngr Add Comment Luv, that’s how you see everyone’s last post after their comment.
Glad I could be of some small help to you, anytime!
Ha Ha I wasn’t sure if you were going to really start the Financial Samurai Yakuza in mean Yakezia. I will take your challenge. Deliverawaydebt is currently at 829,940. I think we should all make it our duty to try and take the pebble for our Shogun’s hand. That’s right, who of us little guys can over take the Samurai?? No Jim @bargaineering you don’t count, you are already crushing us at 31,659.
Good luck Yakezia!!!
Sam, how did you manage to climb the ranks so quickly? Very impressive.
Just read it again and have 2 comments:
How come you don’t have an easy way for people to tweet your posts?
I have been posting 5-6 times a week but have been considering taking it down a notch to about 4. I sometimes feel the good posts get mixed in with the mediocre ones just so I have something new up there. And as you mentioned, more time to comment and interact with other bloggers.
@FinEngr
Yo Jesse! Nice Gravatar! I like it. Good you have an engineering buddy in David to provide particular support!
I’ve tried to do more Carnivals.. but I often don’t seem to have enough time. Go for it! I will try and follow your lead!
I’ve got about 6 more free books on my shelf that I have an option of reading and giving away if I decide to review them. It was getting way too much, so I stopped. But yes, I could fill a whole bookshelf full of free books if I wanted to now. It’s kinda nuts!
The best friends are the ones who grew up together with nothing and stay humble. I’ve got several of those, and I cherish them the most.
@David @ MBA briefs
That’s right David. B/c I have the Alexa toolbar installed, every time I visit your site and Jesse’s site, it helps improve your ranking!
@jim
Thanks man. Good luck in the Shorty Awards!
@Jeff
Nice man, I love it! But, you are already dishonoring the Group.. cuz it’s spelled Yakezie, not Yakezia! ALthough… that has a nice ring to it too! Is it me, or do you also think of Jay Z wrapping “Yakehizzay” when you hear the word? This ain’t a competition Jeff, but a COLLABORATION towards achieving a greater goal! And that goal is to triumph, and have a powerful group of friends who’ve come from nowhere!
@20smoney
Donno man. All I know is what I’ve shared in this post. I’ve had more than my share of REJECTIONS in the beginning, so it wasn’t for my lack of effort! I figure b/c I’m pretty blind when it comes to responding/helping others, and there are a lot of new folks like me too, might as well offer up this challenge!
@Daniel
Hmmm, donno. Any suggestions? There is the Tweet button in the top right, and the “Sexy Bookmark” plugins on the bottom where you can also Tweet. What do you suggest?
@admin
I assume that icon in the top right is for twitter…blocked for me at work…makes more sense now.
@admin
Sorry about the spelling, I’m left handed and dyslexic not a good combo sometimes. I was thinking Jay-Z the first time I read the name.
A Collaboration toward excellence is a much better way to state it. Thank-you
Take Care Young Samurai.
Since starting this site, I’ve been rejected as a guest poster, didn’t even get responded to, let alone make it as one of the 7 finalists for one site’s staff writer tryouts, denied admission to a personal finance blog network, and even got my first carnival submission rejected.
All that’s good, Sam. But I have had entire discussion boards (more than one!) formed for the sole purpose of ridiculing me. One of these now has had over 100,000 posts put to it. I’ve also had several large discussion boards burned to the ground as a means of keeping people from reading my stuff. The Bogleheads.org board is the largest investing board on the internet today. That board was formed for the sole purpose of escaping me (the group that founded it used to post at Morningtar.com and Morningstar.com was not willing to go along with their demand that I be banned from the discussions there).
That’s rejection! The good people at The Guiness Book of World Records have already assured me that I have won the listing in the next edition for “Most Times Banned From a Discussion Board or Blog Without Ever Once Putting Up An Abusive Post.” There’s no one else even close. When it comes to rejection on the internet, I’m a winner!
Your Alexa rating is a lot better than mine. I’ll give you that one in the event that it offers you any consolation.
Rob
@Daniel
Yep correct.
@Jeff
No worries Jeff. At what age can I be considred Old Samurai?
@Rob Bennett
Wow, now THAT is impressive! You haven’t done anything wrong here yet, so feel free to share your thoughts however you see fit.
I’m truly impressed if it’s true about Bogleheads and Morningstar. You’re famous! Use that to your advantage!
Very good info, sensei.
Does it matter if it’s US or Global?
Regardless, I choose to believe that I am the number one blogger, read by all those people who don’t have the Alexa toolbar?
Why banish delusion when you can embrace it?
I’ll leave you now to ponder the penetrating depth of my wisdom.
Hello,
I have spent some great time to go through this wanderful blog.
I love your original presentations. This is one of the best blog I have ever seen. Congratulations
Very Elegant. Incredible informations. Very usufull.
MY TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS:
1- KEYWORDS
Watch position and density in every section of yuor content.
2- CONTENT
Content is king, so be sure to have good, well-written and unique content that will focus on your primary keyword or keyword phrase.
3. BACK LINKS
Build a network of quality backlinks using your keyword phrase as the link.
All of these above are increadible inter connected.
LAST but more important tip:
THE FIRST TOP LEFT PORTION OF THE SCREEN is the section of your web page where you need to concentrate your space for; keywords, related content, links.
Pasquale
seo expert montreal
@Matt S.
The Alexa rank is a global rank. It also gives a rank of where you rank the highest in a particular country.
Better to remove the veil of dillusion than carry on.
BTW, I think “The Genius” question whether you are a woman in a comment after your comment in the last book review.
@SEO expert Montreal
Hello Pasquale, thanks for your tips to The Yakezie Group. All fascinating stuff which I have had no idea about, and don’t consciencly ever focus on over the past 6 months. I may try and structure my thoughts more, but not at the expense of “freewriting.”
Samarui-san or should you be called Sensei?
I took your advice with Alexa several months ago and it was spot on. It is a great motivator to see your rankings continue to improve even in the face of erratic traffic.
I’m currently at 251,692 and creeping my way to the top 100 on WB.
I found a great deal of success participating in the carnivals. There is no way we can all be accepted with everyone of them and we probably shouldn’t be. It would only dilute the impact. So my approach is to use use a shotgun and try for as many as I can every week.
However, as a novice host, please please please follow the rules of the given carnival. It’s a crappy job to have to wade through 30 submissions that don’t meet the expectation.
I never realized how much effort goes into one of these but after having the honor of hosting both the https://www.CarnivalofDebtReduction.com and I have gained a new found respect for our fellow bloggers that manage and host these events.
The other key that I think may merit some research is NoFollow links. A few places in the web create a link that search engines will follow and give your site more credibility. Most blog platforms are set up as nofollow meaning the link gets no credit.
If others have more knowledge on this, I’d love to learn.
@20smoney
I’m one of the ones complaining about Alexa’s utility since it ranks sites with less traffic higher than sites with more traffic. Either way, I’m not doing too badly. About a year ago I was up at #59, but despite my traffic growing steadily, I’m now at #109. It would be nice to break back into the top 100 again.
@LeanLifeCoach
Good stuff. Hosting a Carnival must be A LOT of work b/c so many people don’t follow instructions. Creating The Samurai Fund had some folks give me real stock picks too ;)
I will try and participate in 1, once a month and see where it goes.
@MoneyEnergy
I wonder why Alexa does this? Actually, I think I know. If you have 1,000 RSS subscribers you built up over the years, and none of them visit your site, you will have a lower ranking compared to one site with only 100 RSS subscribers, but who all actively visit and partake in the dialogue.
I think that’s the main thing…. that must be the answer. Even if you are a new blogger, but your posts have the ability to move the RSS reader to come visit, then you will rank higher. Watcha think guys?
Inspiring! Thanks for posting about post frequency. I feel like I have to post daily, but it’s sometimes hard to make sure my posts are intelligent when I’m rushing to get everything accomplished.
P.S. I’d love to read your “controversial” guest post that got declined!
@Little House
Sure, I’m still deciding whether to highlight that it was a rejected post or not… hmmm. I don’t find it offensive, but the problem with me is I don’t find many things offensive. My tolerance is quite high, and I realize there are A LOT of sensitive people out there.
Definitely don’t post daily. Every other day is good enough. Spend the other days developing relationships and promoting others.
Installed and hooked!
I shall follow thy decree, master :)
Being a rookie, this will save me from heartbreaks in the next few months as I already anticipate the rejection :D. Probably will print out this page; the comments are helpful too especially with the carnival sites mentioned by LeanLifeCoach.
Great motivator indeed! Thanks for the useful information.
Ps. Untemplater is having this great post about social media (https://untemplater.com/business/social-media-and-abstracted-societies/). I must say it reminds of the textbook I read for the Politics of Media subject I took years ago but it is really thought-provoking.
cool! I’m pretty clueless when it comes to how things work on the internet. I didn’t even know what a subdomain was until your post about domain names. (great post btw) I may just have to go create my own little corner in cyberspace. Your tips sound great!
@Bytta @151 Days Off
Sounds great! Welcome aboard the challenge. Don’t worry, whatever you do, I’m SURE you will improve because you will get hooked with your progress. I have a feeling that hosting a Carnival is way more effective than contributing b/c hundreds of people who want to join are forced to submit and contact you. It takes effort, a lot of it to host indeed!
@Charlie
I learned A LOT from the Domain Name post as well! Good luck with starting your new site. I’d just go on wordpress or blogger, or hire some young fella to hook you up. It’s easy!
I decided to jump in too, alexa has been installed. My current alexa number is 2,101,818.
Good luck to you, hopefully you’ll crack the wisebread top 10 this year! You’ve already come far in such a short time!
Opps, the 2,101,818 number was for the last 7 days… My real alexa number is 1,432,262… It’s late :)
Cool idea! I share your hesitation about the shortcomings of Alexa since the Alexa rankings skew towards the tech audience and I can say from first hand experience that I have/had sites that have/had Alexa rankings that were in the high 6 figures that made 25X the money and had 10X the traffic as other more tech oriented sites that were in the low 5 figure Alexa range. All that to say count me in though! The Alexa ranking for CreditCardChaser.com is 192,757 today so let’s see where we can get it by the end of the contest!
@Don@MoneyReasons
Sounds good Don. Get ready for the Alexa addiction to start! There’s no way in hell I will crack the Top 10 on WB b/c just look at the Top 10. Mega conglomerate sites like Consumerist, Wise Bread, and granddaddies like TS and GRS make up 4 right there. I’ll be happy if the site can break the Top 25 or Top 20, but I’m being realistic b/c this is just fun for me, and I don’t do it for a living. It’s hard getting up the rankings the higher you get, so enjoy your move up!
@Credit Card Chaser
Good stuff Joel! Congrats for getting on page 1 this week! Thanks for the insights. Yes, webgeeks and techies skew the rankings b/c they’re all into that. I’m the most UNSAVVY tech/internet dude out there, but I’m learning quick. I figure if we can get all the regulars here to sign on, we’ll grow into a powerful force and make our own darn rules. We can leverage off each others connections, and really blow things up!
My hypothesis is that sites with less traffic have better alexa rankings simply b/c their readers visit more and interact, instead of just read from an RSS. Whatcha think?
Count me in FS!
My Alexa ranking is a whopping 324,054! Man have I got some work to do. LOL
Your Alexa ranking is awesome man! I am jealous! :)
I just got all excited and pumped up reading this! I can’t say no to a competition. Having just crossed the 1 million mark after about 1 month I’m ready to hit 200k within the next 5 months.
I hope the Hawaiian babes enjoy hearing about the CEO of planting dollars. I’d also be interested in getting some free books to review and gaining a staff writer position to help the mobile living cause… it’ll be an interesting year…
Thanks for the idea Sam.
@Brad
324,000 is great! You’ll be in the top 200,000 in no time! With all you and J are doing on the east coast, should be a no brainer.
@Ryan @ Planting Dollars
Glad you’re pumped up Ryan! The more you gain, the more you will want to gain. I’m sure the Hawaiian ladies will love to hear you as the CEO of your big bad website!
Glad to see your growth and success!
Hey Sam,
Yesterday my Alexa ranking was 829,940 today it’s at 821,764 that’s a 8,176 jump in one day. At this rate it will take 90 days to break into the top 100,000.
I can dream can’t I :-)
@Patrick
Thanks Patrick. Happy to see the success of others!
@Jeff
Jeff, you don’t have to dream man. It will be a reality! It’s all simple math really, and like you’ve just done, looks like you’ll get there within 6 months! Let’s just hope that within this time period, there’s not another movement by a ton of bloggers who also want to ratchet up the ranks, as in the end, there are only 100 spots in the top 100. Go Jeff!
This thread just won’t quit. So I’m happy to report I’m already up about 20k places. And if my last week is any indication, getting in the top 500k should be a cake walk. It’s about that last 300k push.
Great content as usual. It’s good to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I’m trying to learn as much as I can about this blogging thing but it seems like there is still so much to learn.
My current alexa ranking is 508,492. So I’ve got some work ahead of me. I look forward to the follow up to this.
I’d also be interested to see how many blogs fall off. I feel like there is a lot of people that just don’t stick to blogging. They want to but life happens and they just fall off.
I am sooooo in…she said in her best “valley speak.” This is a fun idea, Sam, Thanks!
Money Funk – In order to join The Yakezie in 6 months, you need to have the Toolbar installed! :) Honestly, my chances are low to reach 50K, but might as well try with the support of the group!
@Evolution Of Wealth
EOW, you have like a gagillion Twitter followers, you’re just being humble. I see no reason why you can’t get to 200,000 in 6 months!
It’s true, maintaining the consistency is tough. Hence, if we have a group of like-minded achievers, the idea is we’ll be able succeed more easily, b/c we’ll have each other to support!
@Tracy
Glad you’re joining! Nice Gravatr! I like the yellow!
I’m always up for a challenge and I love the concept.
I just started my blog around Thanksgiving. My current alexa ranking is 1,048,997. Is that a good start?
Best part about starting at the bottom is the progress in leaps & bounds. When I first started I was somewhere around $9.5 mil and after this post it looks like now I’m up to $7.8 – BALLER!
FS – replied to your old SUV comment over on myjourneytomillions.com
ALL Readers – wrote an interesting topic on the Berkshire Split last night. Please hop over and check it out. I have 0 experience in options and wouldn’t mind someone who knows something to QC it for me.
@CJ Bowker
Sounds like a great start! I know 100% for a fact you will make progress.
@FinEngr
Wow, you even put a dollar sign next to 9.5 million and 7.8 million… you’re definitely a baller! Will check out myjounreytomillions.
Nice post on the Berkshire split. The Samurai Fund is a shareholder of BRK-A!
Ha, sorry. So used to the $ prefix…..I meant 9.5mil ranking
Hey, it’s working… My last 7 days number just dropped from 2,101,818 to 1,754,419. I still don’t understand why my numbers popped back up to 4 million temporarily… Go figure…
Next step, putting the Alexa badge on my site! :)
Say, Is this one of your longest comment chains?
.-= Don@MoneyReasons´s last blog ..Lemons to Lemonade Series #2 – How To Stop Drinking Pop =-.
Don, good work! Definitely one of the longer ones.. but just look a the “Be A Sloth and Don’t ROTH Post” down the home page. It just surpassed 100 comments!
https://www.financialsamurai.com/2010/01/11/be-a-sloth-and-dont-roth/
@admin
Just downloaded the toolbar. I’m solidly in the top 3 million LOL! Nowhere to go but up!
Well since my last comment here a couple of days ago, my rank has gone from 5.4 mil to 5.2! Yay go me!!! The only way is up from here! :)
And you don’t need to install the tool bar to check your ranking, you can just hop on over to their site and enter your url.
Hi Sam,
I’m In! Have a ways to go but I notice that the advancement when still in the boonies is rapid. Alexa is a stat I have become addicted to (I check certain stats at the start of my day – which is a major improvement over several times a day). In three month’s I have advanced from 800K something (wasn’t keeping tab at the time but a visitor commented on the ranking) to 438,480 as of this morning.
I think that the higher (lower?) the position, the tougher it gets to keep moving up as you are getting funneled into an ever narrowing group of bloggers who are serious about their blogging (whether for fun or profit). Top 100! Wow! There must be a lot of jostling going on there and very tough to break into.
200K … in June…. Going for it all the way!
best…………..valentina
I’m in! Somewhat disappointed in my current ranking of 349,079, but hoping to break into the top 200,000 by mid-year as outlined! :)
Thanks for running this challenge!
@Jason @ MyMoneyMinute
3 million is big balling! Nowhere to go but up!
@thriftygal
Good stuff! You don’t need the toolbar to check your ranking, but installing the toolbar will help your ranking, and will help your friends when you come visit b/c when you visit a site without a toolbar installed, your visit doesn’t count in its algorithm. Furthermore, it is a prereq to join The Yakezie Group in 6 months! lol
@Valentina
Hey Valentina! Where you been? :) Yes, it definitely gets tougher and tougher once you breach the 100,000 market. Hence, I’d LOVE for everybody to kick my a&& and I can just call you guys my friends and kick back. 200K in June or bust!
@Wojciech Kulicki
Good stuff Wojo! 349,00 is great. You’ll definitely improve now that you’ve joined the challenge!
Wow, good insight. I made it onto that top 100 list and didn’t notice a difference one way or the other but perhaps I just wasn’t looking…I’m in for breaking through 100K. I’ve been pleased with the progress of Darwin’s Finance far outpacing my first blog Everyday Finance which had been around for years earlier.
The secret? Jumping from Blogger to WordPress. While there’s not a direct correlation and Alexa is probably blind to platform, WP is so much more versatile that given the choice, bloggers put so much more blood, sweat and tears into a WP blog. If you’re on Blogger, make the jump, you’ll see a huge improvement in everything from traffic to monetization, and indirectly, your Alexa rank will jump.
My current ranking is 62,474 – and you can do it too!
Seriously, anyone can get an Alexa rank that low and lower. All you need is a group of people like this regularly visiting your site with the alexa toolbar installed, and your rank will slowly drop – like mine did. Mine seems to be dropping still. So – keep visiting all the sites and you’ll be helping each other.
Samurai, your site seems pretty low already – 74k! Congrats.. Love your site and stuff – just left a review for your site on alexa – i’d appreciate if anyone left a review for my site as well! :)
Hi Pete @ BMM – Sounds good man. Our challenge is to break 50,000 in 6 months. I think it’s probably going to be quite difficult, despite it only being 24,000 away for me. Just the law of numbers. Thanks for the review. Totally forgot about that! Will do a review of yours when I get back from Tahoe!
Everybody review everybody! :) I think Daniel is going to put together a list of the participants of the challenge. Should be good!
Here’s an interesting site I found that supposedly has estimated traffic counts based on alexa rankings. Check it out.
sillyjokes.co.uk/alexa/index.php
@Ryan @ Planting Dollars
Hey Ryan, that’s a pretty cool graph from the link. As we can see, the traffic increase is logarithmic, which also means climbing the ranks when you’re already up there is quite difficult. I know I’ve hit a wall in the 70,000…. so I’ll just have to see if I can count on the group to continue. Should be fun for us all!
Webmasters and techie types will all know Alexa. It’s their type of thing. We just need to increase awareness.
lol, I like the “people of the opposite sex will flock to you”. Nothing like bringing it up a notch!
Hmm my Traffic rank is: 2,686,807, but in Canada it is: 75,166
(Er.. should we have “lowered expectations” in Canada?)
I had heard about Alexa in the past, but didn’t really understand it… so thank you for your super informative post!
I will take you up on the challenge, hopefully the numbers will look a bit better in July lol! =)
i just thought about something else…. you know another way to get your Alexa ranking up? You blog about Alexa ranking! ;)
Money Funk – You think so? Maybe! But how do we know or prove it? Maybe it comes up in the search engines or something… I donno. Guess I will be reading about your next post on Alexa and how you discuss the Yakezie Challenge!
I’m in!
Current reading: 906,392 (ouch!)
Off to write a post to get myself moving.
Thanks, Sam!
-Austin @ Foreigner’s Finances
Yo yo yo my good sir – I shall play in this game too:
Current reading: 106,946 (according to Wisebread…gonna go and get the toolbar in a sec)
Also, You know i like some controversy over at BudgetsAreSexy! You’ve got a secured place to post there anytime my man :) Bring it on.
Oooh, I want in!! I’m hovering around 100,000 but would love to lower my number!
@Austin
Welcome aboard Austin-san!
@J. Money
See you at 50,000 in 6 months! And even not, at least we tried!
I’m too scared to submit any guest posts anymore after my rejection after writing the whole thing out. The rejection has given me SO MUCH energy to work on my own site, that ironically now I don’t want to get accepted to write any guest posts b/c i may lose that motivation. Weird huh?
@FFB
Welcome aboard! And do let us know what the latest is with BRK-A in The Samurai Fund page up top from time to time. Best, Sam
Oh! can I join in your challenge? I have a very young blog. I blog about personal finance but being based in London, UK it’s actually quite tricky as for some reason UK doesn’t have that many PF bloggers! How can I join in?
…gone to install the toolbar and the badge
@anastasia
Hi Anastasia – Sure welcome to join! Just install the Alexa Tool bar, let us know your current Alexa rank and away you go! Thanks for stopping by!
@Kyle C.
You bet Kyle. Welcome aboard! Let us know what your Alexa rank is, and if you get a chance to let Daniel-san know at Sweating The Big Stuff.
Are you still taking joiners? :) I’m in!
Hi WH! Yes, welcome aboard. Just realized I never responded here. Please check out the bottom of the post for the latest. Looking forward to your success!
my rank is a mind blowing 19,613,543 :-)))
I wondered if those who joined the challenge would/could/want help eachother in improving their ranks?:-)))
@WellHeeled
Sure, welcome aboard! Read the post, support each other, state here what your current rank is, let Daniel-San at Sweating the Big Stuff know you’re joining, and let folks know!
@anastasia
Nice, nothing but upside! If you selflessly promote others, you will be rewarded eventually, I guarantee it.
well, that’ s an interesting one – I kinda think – what’s the value in me promoting someone if so few people will hear it? like – I would love to interview people, to put their stories onto my blog, help others – but – who would be interested? and why?!
Anastasia – The idea is that even if you are small, and you consciously promote others by link backs (let them know if you don’t have a trackback), tweeting, or whatever, they will eventually take notice and help you out.
If you don’t change your thought process, i’m not sure you will be able to succeed.
You know, I got excited about this and downloaded the toolbar – but not sure if I actually proclaimed my participation.
I’m in!
Sam! I just wanted to say thanks….since I joined your challenge not quite two weeks ago, I’ve gone from 1,728,000 to 922,985. It’s a long way from 200k, but it is certainly screaming along the right track and I couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you!
Tracy – Great job! That’s a huge increase in just a couple weeks! Now that’s motivating! Well done!
I think I’m dead last in Alexa ranking…4,778,995. I just started blogging AND getting control of our finances so I’m hoping to break into the under 4 million ranks by July!
Thanks for the post…I had never even heard of Alexa before.
SahmCFO – Sounds good mate. Just install the toolbar, and the badge, and i’m sure you will break 1 million in 6 months!
Already below 250K. You are 6th in most improved.
At present I am least improved. There’s time.
.-= JoeTaxpayer´s last blog ..A Living Large Roundup =-.
Sounds good, my friend. Count me in. My Alexa ranking is currently 568,058, so I guess I’ll be shooting to get it under 200,000 (tough, but doable; I was at 700,000+ when I first starting checking my Alexa ranking a few month ago, so if I can keep up the pace, I should clear 200,000 easily). Anyway, good luck to you, my friend, along with everyone else who is participating; I’ll do what I can to promote the heck out of all of you :D
.-= Roger´s last blog ..What the Heck is a Sin Tax? =-.
Count me in:
The start was: 433,000
Last week was: 425,121
This week is: 419, 763
But you know, the toolbar doesn’t work for Chrome.
Ah, hmmm… that’s too bad the toolbar doesn’t work for Chrome. You may not be able to progress as quick unfortunately. But, that’s just a thesis. You can stick with Chrome, or have another browser like Firefox or IE as well with the toolbar installed. Let Daniel-San at Sweating The Big Stuff know so he can add you to the list.
I’m excited about this challenge for my site and I’ll be working hard to help others with it too.
2/7/2010: 551,369
@Elle
Sounds great Elle! You have always been so helpful, and I’m sure you’ll do great. I would love to help you out too.
Is this for personal finance blogs only? I just started my blog a few days ago and found out about this. Can I join? I got my first Alexa ranking today: 10,558,931. I’m starting fresh and building as I go. No twitter followers, no readers, no nothing. I think it would be great to see how I do in comparison.
I also wanted to say that if you want to exchange guest posts, I’m all for it! :)
Wow FS, you just passed Frugal Dad in the Alexa rankings (his blog is the one that got me hooking reading pf blogs in the first place).
You’ve come very far in such a short time! Very impressive!
I wonder if you’re going to create your own “WiseBread Top pf bloggers” equivalent with this challenge? Your rank of members will continue to swell :)
Just for the record, I’m having a blast with this!
Thanks for creating it!
@Mrs. Money
Thanks for the offer Mrs. Money! I’ve been very gun shy every since my “How To Get Your Super Motivated Boyfriend To Marry You” post got rejected 4 months ago. I spent a good many hours typing it up and editing it believe it or not, and I think I’ve been scarred for life! lol. Will revisit in 6 months!
@Money Reasons
Whoo hoo! Can’t believe I moved up one spot in the WB rankings :) Dang, that took a looooong time. Gonna be brutal getting to 50,000, but that’s the whole point of the challenge, so we can all support each other.
I might create a list, but Daniel-san is doing a good job. Maybe a different iteration! I have no programing skills though unfortunately.
Glad you’re having a blast! Me too.
how can I help? I only have 50 RSS subscribers and 260 twitter followers so may be there is something else I can do to promote others?
.-= Anastasia´s last blog ..344 Tips to Help You Save from All Over the Internet =-.
Oh, I just wanted to mention: me and PTMoney have set up an international personal finance carnival that will first go-live on the 1st of March – so if any of international bloggers want to submit their post – please do so!
I would in particular encourage non-US PT bloggers as they seem to be in the minority:-)
Okay, I want in on this — put me down for the aiming-to-break-200,000 group!
Welcome aboard, and looking forward to your initiatives! You’re always one of the latest people up on Twitter from the east coast, so thanks for keeping me entertained when everybody else is sleeping!
I got one for you, my site went from 8,500,000 to 52,000 and one month average is just under 40,000. Crazy really cause all I do is write as much as I can and talk to as many people as I can, which for some reason Alexa likes!
I would love to know how accurate it is though
TheInfoPreneur – Sounds good man. Did you just work a lot of nights to pump out all those articles in 3 months? I just post about 3-4 times a week, so 2/5 as much as your volume. I’m surprised you aren’t making much money. Maybe it’s the genre you are in?
In Personal Finance, it seems once you crack 200,000, and better yet 100,000… the business offers start really coming in. I don’t see any reason why someone can’t make $1,000/month being in the top 100,000.. and this is coming from someone who isn’t writing for money. It just comes, and is a side perk if you will.
Okay, I’m in at 239k. I guess a fair goal is <100k, rather than 200k, since that's pretty close. My primary motivation is getting onto the first page of wisebread. (Incidentally, I'm all in favor of starting a different list. Preferably using metrics where I WILL be on page 1, hehe.)
Unfortunately, my OS is old, so I'm stuck with the FF2.0, so no toolbar for me. I did install the alexa widget though. I get conflicting opinions on whether that actually works or not. In principle, it should give alexa the possibility of some tracking. OTOH maybe alexa only counts toolbar users.
@ Early Retirement Extreme
Hi ERE – What about just upgrading to a new OS? Without the toolbar, any place you visit gets little to no credit. Let us know if can upgrade your OS because the toolbar is a prereq!
As for breaching 100K, not sure if that’s a good idea for you and your frugal lifestyle! How are you going to deal with being approached by many wanting to give you money hand over fist?
@ admin
I like money. Just because I get it, there’s no need to spend, right? ;-)
I installed the SearchStatus addon on firefox which queries alexa for each site’s rank, so I’m thinking it should have the same effect as the toolbar; it shows alexa that the site was just visited.
Indeed. Although, I would argue that if you like money, you wouldn’t have retired so early! :)
Sounds good. Look forward in your involvement in the challenge and seeing you around our respective member’s sites.
.-= admin´s last blog ..Samurai’s Alexa Ranking Challenge Update: Progress Through Adversity =-.
I love this idea. I’ve been hammering on my Alexa rank full force for about a month, so I’d love to get in with you guys if there’s room. I need the extra challenge. With your permission, I’ll ping Daniel-san.
.-= PT´s last blog ..Credit Card Companies Playing by New Rules =-.
Sounds good PT. Good to see you stop by! Looking forward to seeing you around, as well as supporting the community.
You are one of the elder statesmen, so to the extend you can help highlight, visit, support others lower in the list, that will be great. I’m sure they will reciprocate!
I’ll set them all up in my alexa bookmark and just open all at once. I’ll try and comment more often as well.
.-= PT´s last blog ..Question of the Week: How do You Budget? =-.
I would love to participate in this if it’s not too late! My Alexa hovers around 130,000. I’ll make sure to get a challenge member included in each of my Friday Links posts!
.-= Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog´s last blog ..Spending Money Wisely =-.
Another Canadian! Sounds good! Welcome aboard, and looking forward to your involvement in the community!
Good job beating Russia! Sorry to any Russians reading this.
Sounds good Paul! I know you are a busy guy, but if you can provide some updates on your GE pick in The Samurai Fund soon, that would be great. Your pick has done well, and is at risk of being replaced due to inactivity by the analysts, you! lol.
Good system regarding your round up.
.-= admin´s last blog ..The Government Is Sexist And Nobody Seems To Care =-.
I would love to participate as well. I’m actually a marriage blogger, but I write a lot on the topic of personal finance and I know a lot of you guys. Brad from Enemy of Debt sent me!
My Alexa on Engaged Marriage is right around 125,000 after six months of existence.
I’d like to join but noticed I didn’t get a response. Was I forgotten or rejected? :)
Hi Dustin, sorry, forgot to reply. There’s been a lot of interest! I checked out your site, and it looks like it’s a lot about marriage, christianity, and sexuality? The Yakezie Oda is a group of personal finance bloggers.
Are you interested in the PF space? If you are, and write about PF, and are willing to be a fellow team player, you are more than welcome to join! Please follow the instructions at the bottom of the post.
Let us know your thoughts. Rgds, Sam
Hey Sam, I wanted to follow up. To answer your question, I am a marriage blogger, although I write a lot about personal finance as well. I’ve been following the comments and noticed that you suggested participants have 51% or more of their blog devoted to PF. I don’t have that big of a portion devoted to PF topics, so I should probably not participate.
Kudos to you for this fantastic idea! It’s becoming very popular. Even though I’mnot a participant, I’ve actually had a few people ask me about the Yakezie Challenge (presumably after seeing this comment?) since I had a guest post on Problogger on Saturday. And, yes, that was super cool! :)
.-= Dustin | Engaged Marriage´s last blog ..What’s the Secret to a Happy Marriage? =-.
Count me in y’all. Starting Alexa = 64,807
.-= Matt Jabs´s last blog ..How Much Money is Your Life Energy Worth? =-.
Sounds good Matt! Looking forward to your support of the community! There is a badge for you to put up.
In case anyone is interested. I have created some Yakezie Badges. They link back to this page but can be found on my Yakezie Badge Page.
Ahh shoot son, sign me up for this. As of today, my current ranking is… 244,498. I have the toolbar installed.
Sounds good Ninja. Good to hear from you. I think I may have literally commented 5-8 times on your site and never heard back from you, so I gave up visiting! lol. Go for that new job opportunity that will allow you to make more money in the long run, and congrats on your engagement!
Hope to see you around.
Best, Sam
I’d love to join. Found out about this on twitter. My rank is currently 395,122.
I’m totally down to help all you wonderful PF homies. I’ll be visiting daily! :)
I’m amazed that the rankings from some website that I’ve never heard of until today are so important to the success of a blogging site. There are so man things wrong with valuing statistics that come from a toolbar, I don’t know where to begin.
Not everyone uses the same browser throughout the day. What about iPhone browsing? What about browsing at work when you can’t install toolbars? Or how about the idea that a lot of people have never heard of the site, period? Many people refuse to install toolbars out of principle (me being one of them).
I’m really amazed that these statistics are so highly valued.
Are you saying joining a group of like-minded bloggers who want to improve their Alexa rankings by supporting each other and meeting new folks is a bad thing? Guess you won’t be joining the group! :)
It’s the beauty of living in a free world Leslie, you are free to do whatever you want. As I write in the post, I’ve been rejected by so many things, I started this open community to accept all folks and help everyone succeed.
There’s no perfect system, but we’re confronting each wall one at a time. This is only challenge #1. The statistic is valued b/c it is the default website ranking of the world. There’s already challenge #2 in the works.
I’m assuming that there are those who see this challenge and don’t join, which is fine by us. We just want folks who want to join an open community of folks where we can learn from each other, and support each other’s efforts.
Frankly, we just want to have a lot of fun, and make sure my fellow Yakezies flourish in whatever they want to do.
Good for you to stand up for what you believe in! We believe in community.
Best, Sam
Cynthia, the only thing I criticized above was the value put on Alexa rankings by Wisebread.
I love the pf community!
.-= leslie´s last blog ..Starting the Journey to Financial & Physical Health =-.
I’ll join! What the hey! :) My ranking is 2,606,694! I’ve got the badge up on the site and the toolbar installed. Hopefully, this will motivate me to get started on link roundups, which I’ve been meaning to start for weeks! Woot, woot! :)
.-= Red´s last blog ..Purses: The reality and the dream =-.
Hey there! Welcome aboard. I remember stopping by your site several times in the best. I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun getting to know the community. There are som really cool folks like Jeff at Deliver Away Debt, Greg-san, Daniel-san, Canadians, an Englishman and many many more!
I am going to announce on my blog my participation in this fine group.
I have tried to install the Yankezie badge w/no luck. I will try again shortly.
Thanks,
Neal
Sounds great. I’ve had some issues as well for some reason, but many others have not. I can e-mail you the code that I have on my site with no writing, although the one saying Yakezie looks cooler. Be in touch tonight. Best, Sam
.-= admin´s last blog ..The Curse Of Making Too Much Money And Not Pursuing Your Dreams =-.
I’d love to be in!! This is a great idea and a good accountability to stay motivated. The badge is on the site, the toolbar is installed, I’ll let Daniel-san know!
I’m currently at 317,186 in the Alexa ranking and I’m ready to move up!! Let’s do this!!
.-= Jason @ Redeeming Riches´s last blog ..10 Money-Saving Tips to Stash $10,000 – Tip #5 =-.
Sounds good Jason! Welcome aboard, and looking forward to seeing you helping out the community and interacting with all of us! Best, Sam
.-= admin´s last blog ..Marketing Or Manipulation? =-.
Great idea! Improving my Alexa ranking is one of my goals. I’ve got a long way to go to get to the front page of Wise Bread, but I’m up for the challenge. Tool bar and badge are installed. Current ranking: 591,862
This is a pretty cool idea. I could always use the motivation. Sign me up. Sign me up for the distribution list as well. (or tell me where I can go to do so)
1,445,837
Count me in.
Current ranking: 3,250,230.
Goal: I’ll be happy with cracking the 1,000,000 mark as a first step.
One of my biggest frustrations of blogging in the PF world has always been ‘the rich get richer’ aspect of it, where many of the top bloggers do a great job of promoting other bloggers, but they’re only promoting.the other top bloggers. This idea and way of organizing is awesome and seems like a great way for the ‘rest of us’ to get some much-needed buzz.
.-= Money Beagle´s last blog ..Should You Use Coupons On A Date Night? =-.
Not that I’m a top blogger, but my experience is this – as my site grows I’m working more and unfortunately that means I have less time to visit newer sites. My attention gets divided by the sites I’m already familiar with.
I agree this group help us all get familiar and get exposed to people and sites we weren’t already familiar with!
.-= FFB´s last blog ..The Leader Who Had No Title – Book Giveaway =-.
Good thoughts FFB and I think you are spot on. The more traffic one’s site gets, the less time you have to visit others since we only have so much time.
At any rate, we’re having a lot of fun, and it’s good to get to know everyone.
Hi, I would like to join! My site is very new and I am fairly certain that I don’t even have an Alexa ranking….yet!
This is a great idea! I love being able to see how other sites just like mine are increasing their rank-very inspirational!
.-= MyFinancialObjectives´s last blog ..Yakezie Challenge Carnival =-.
Wow!
This is a great idea, Sam!
I would like to join too.
Starting out at 1,360,252.
Yes, Sam,
I want to enter, I am doing it. Thanks for the initiative.
All the best,
Boris
Oohhhhh, where have I been the last month!! Count me in! I installed the Alexa toolbar, my rank today is 511,855. I’ve grabbed the Yakezie badge and will announce on my blog tomorrow that I’ve joined the challenge! I see that a lot of you have had some excellent results already! Would love to be on the email list. Thanks!
Welcome aboard Mrs. Accountability! Looking forward to seeing you around our community more often and helping each other out. Shoot Greg-san an e-mail from Muda and he’ll invite you to the Google groups.
Thanks, I’ll do that! Would love to chat with y’all!
.-= Mrs. Accountability´s last blog ..Display Widgets WP Plug-In Review =-.
Uh… I just went over to https://eliminatethemuda.com/ and I don’t see any contact form or email address to get in contact. Can you help me with that? Thanks!
.-= Mrs. Accountability´s last blog ..Display Widgets WP Plug-In Review =-.
I never grabbed the badge or announced I was participating, but did read this and worked it.
I went from 297K when you first wrote this to 197K in just about a month!
Next goal make the front page which now requires a ranking of 170s!
Howdy Kelly – Good to see you come visit. It would be great if you grabbed the badge and announced your participation. You’re quite a busy blogger! Best, Sam
If it’s not too late, I would like to enter! I think this is a great idea and initiative. Let me know if it’s all good b/c I put that bad ass badge on my site!
My Alexa toolbar states that I’m hovering around the 2,000,000 zone…yeah…that’s swell :)
Welcome to the Yakezie Challenge! I see your badge, and your round ups, and everything. We’d be happy to have you on board. Shoot Greg-san from Eliminate The Muda your e-mail address and he’ll be in touch.
Now I wonder if I made a mistake. This challenge is open for blogs that not are exclusively focused on financial subjects? Please let me know.
All the best,
Boris
I would say everyone in the challenge at its core is a PF blogger. At least the majority of the content (majority can be 51%) is related to PF.
OK, Sam,
I am leaving the challenge.
However, I got some good inspiration and ideas and I promise to reach the goal putside of the group. By the way, I liked your page. Your blog will stay in my blogroll.
Best regards,
Boris
.-= Boris´s last blog ..Your mission, should you decide to accept it… =-.
Hi, I would like to join the challenge and kindly include me in the list, thanks.
My current rank is 1,056,819.
.-= Benjie @ Zordane´s last blog ..Knowing Your Debt Even Closer =-.
Hey Benjie, good to hear from you. Looking forward to seeing you around more often and supporting the cause!
.-= admin´s last blog ..The Curse Of Making Too Much Money And Not Pursuing Your Dreams =-.
Hi Benjie, say could I make a suggestion? On your blog post titled All for One – One for All, you might want to consider putting Yakezie Challenge in your title, too. I went over to your site to check you out and I thought that might be what that post was about, but wasn’t sure.
.-= Mrs. Accountability´s last blog ..Display Widgets WP Plug-In Review =-.
Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll update it right away.
.-= Benjie @ Zordane´s last blog ..Taking A Break Without Headaches =-.
Hey there, room for 1 more? I installed the badge. This thing seems to be working out great for participants; nice work in starting. My latest is: 118,915. Reaching for that 100K!
Hey Darwin, sure welcome aboard! I think your goal should be more to reach 50K or 75K by July 4th no? Look forward to seeing you around more often! We use the #yakezie hash for Yakezie related tweets.
I hope its not too late! I’ve been contemplating rather I wanted to do this as a new blog with a shamefully high Alexa rating. But I think the collaboration alone would be worth the benefit.
Current Alexa Ranking: 877,434
Hi Lakita, I’m glad to see you have joined in! I know you will be shooting up there in no time!! Rainy Day Saver went from 1,305,476 to 600,109 in about a month it looks like.
.-= Mrs. Accountability´s last blog ..Display Widgets WP Plug-In Review =-.
Thanks Mrs. A! Im looking forward to it!
.-= Lakita (PFJourney)´s last blog ..Manners & Money: Tipping =-.
Hi Lakita – We actually have many entrants who started with an Alexa ranking in the multi-millions, so not to worry! Welcome.
I like your suggestion about an excel spreadsheet. Can you explain more here, to keep all ideas centralized to this thread?
thnx!
.-= admin´s last blog ..The Curse Of Making Too Much Money And Not Pursuing Your Dreams =-.
I’ll work on it some more tomorrow, but what I am thinking is a collaboration document with the following:
– Top 100K accepting guest posts list their blog, contact information and guest posting criteria
– Potential guest posters mark and select a blog
(For this to work we would need to institute rules like only mark one or two at a time and submit your pitch/post within 72 hrs)
– Receiving blog accepts & publishes post (hopefully within 2 weeks) or post is rejected with explanation. And cycle continues
Hi Kita-san, sounds like a great idea. Pls suggest it in our Yakezie Google Groups forum and set it up! Ping Greg-san from Eliminate The Muda on the link pls.
Yes, everybody gets a cool name who join! Glad you are on board. I can feel your enthusiasm exuding through your writing!
.-= admin´s last blog ..The Mental To Physical Connection For A Healthier Lifestyle =-.
Oh, and now that I’m part of the challenge…do I get a cool name like “Kita-san”…or is that reserved for the guys :)
I have a black belt….seriously…
Oh wow, SWEET! How long did that take you to get? What a great pic of your karate success!
.-= admin´s last blog ..The Curse Of Making Too Much Money And Not Pursuing Your Dreams =-.
At that time I was training consistently for 5 years before I reached 1st degree black belt. Around 10-15 hours a week and I started competing in at least 2 regional tournaments a month
.-= Lakita (PFJourney)´s last blog ..Along the Journey Weekly Roundup #6: Celebrating Women’s Heritage Month =-.
I am in! Count me as part of the “better late than never” crowd. My Alexa ranking is 1,297,451 thanks to a recent plug from ProBlogger. I am at 920,685 in the United States with 26 sites linking in according to the toolbar.
I would love to join your effort to make the Wise Bread page one list, or any part of the Wise Bread list for that matter.
Hi Eric, sounds good. We encourage members to proudly display the badge. Shoot contact@eliminatethemuda.com, who is my trusty challenger for more details.
Hey Phil from PT Money told me about this project, sounds like you’re raising a samurai army :) Sign me up !
I’m in! This is an outstanding idea and if everyone does their part everyone will benefit.
I’m starting the challenge with an Alexa rank of 1,615,590 so I have a long way to go…but that just means I have lots of room to grow!
I already added the badge and posted about it on my blog and I’ll regularly include special roundup posts to promote other bloggers who are participating in the challenge.
Who has the most updated list of participants?
Sounds good mike. Contact contact@eliminatethemuda.com for the Google groups. Look forward to see you around.
The latest update is at Planting Dollar’s site.
Count me in too! I started blogging two months ago and I think I fall into the “pretty clueless” category. But I love the community and want to chip in any way I can…and hopefully move up from my current ranking #3,983,562 (gah!) I’ve got my toolbar installed. Going to get the badge now and will post my announcement this week.
Sam – thanks for putting this together!
Ok, I posted my article. Having trouble posting the badge to my sidebar, but hopefully I’lll get that sorted out soon. In the meantime I”ve got a permanent place for the article on my home page.
Where can I get a complete list of the participants? I’d like to create a Yakezie blogroll and also highlight a couple participants each week.
Thanks!
Excellent Mrs. Frugal! The traveling list is currently at PlantingDollars.com.
Contact Greg at contact@eliminatethemuda.com for access to Google Groups.
I can’t believe I have missed this all this time…just read about it on Free From Broke’s site. If I can still join please count me in. I just installed the badge and will write up the article for tomorrow. My current alexa rank is 205,339 but I would love to break 100,000.
Looking forward to networking with everyone :)
.-= Mrs. Not Made of Money´s last blog ..20 Tips to Cut Down On Electricity in Your Home And Save Some Money =-.
Hi Mrs NMOM! Welcome aboard! I think you’ll have a lot of fun meet the folks. There is a real collaborative atmosphere amongst the Yakezie Challengers. I’ve seen you around, and it’s great to be able to see you around some more!
Best, Sam
I guess I’m not the “Biggest Loser”, but maybe a runner-up or honorable mention as my rank is 6,981,250. I like to feel that I’m making everyone else look good by bringing up the bottom of the bell curve.
Guess I’ve just been too busy making money. It’s getting kind of boring, so I hope I crack 5 million this year. Don’t want to be too optimistic…
Sounds good Single Mom. Nothing but upside! I’m sure if you follow the guidelines of the challenge at the end of the post, you’ll get to below 2 million by July! Cheers, Sam
.-= admin´s last blog ..The Curse Of Making Too Much Money And Not Pursuing Your Dreams =-.
Hey FS, if it is not too late count me in. Daniel has inspired me….
thanks,
Sure Dean. Glad Daniel-san has inspired you. Pls follow the instructions from the bottom of the post to join!
Hello,
I have joined the challenge. I will anounce it on my blog soon.
However, my blog maintenance person is no longer with me, and I have no idea how to put the Alexa badge on my blog.
Can anybody out there help??
I use WordPress Thesis for my blog.
Thanks
Hi David, just go to , copy and past the txt into a “TEXT WIDGET”, then drag that widget to wherever you’d like on your site. Cheers, Sam
.-= admin´s last blog ..Samurai’s Alexa Ranking Challenge Update: Progress Through Adversity =-.
hey FS,
I feel discouraged when i see my blog with an alexa ranking of 9.000.000 just as i created it 3weeks ago. But now with this challenge, i think reaching 52k before July is a possibility. Thanks for your initiative,I will be on board now. Hope it works best for all.
I’d love to be part of this group! My current ranking is 4,228,342…ummm, is that really bad?
.-= Budgeting in the Fun Stuff´s last blog
Okay, now that I’ve had my own domain for about two weeks, I have a ranking of 1,514,672.
.-= Budgeting in the Fun Stuff´s last blog ..How Would You Proceed? =-.
Woot, I’m below 1 million as of today (966,708)! Woot!
.-= Budgeting in the Fun Stuff´s last blog ..Yakezie Alexa Ranking Update – 966,708 =-.
I’m a little late to the game here! I kept seeing the Yakezie Challenge button around and finally decided I needed to look into what this is!
Do you know if anyone else had difficulty loading Alexa on firefox? I get this error:
Firefox could not install the file at
https://s3.amazonaws.com/com.alexa.toolbar/autoupdate/alxf/alxf-1.52.xpi
because: Unexpected installation error
Review the Error Console log for more details.
-203
And I’m not sure where to go from there. If you can offer any guidance, it would be most appreciated. *sigh* This seems to happen to me every time I try to “tweek” something regarding my blog!
Okay! So I just downloaded the toolbar using internet explorer. I don’t understand why it works with that but not firefox? We regularly use firefox at our home; my husband insists on it. :) Does that affect how Alexa works?
Please excuse my techie-n00biness.
Apparently, my Alexa rating is 638,505. All of these marketing possibilities are fascinating. I totally live for the interaction with my readers and I love to read others’ financial journeys as well. I truly believe we can learn from each other and help shape for the better how our society relates about our financial habits, strides and tribulations!
Great idea to create this community. If you (or anyone else reading?) can help me understand how Alexa works vis-a-vis regularly blogging via Firefox vs. Internet Explorer, I would surely appreciate it. (Better yet, why can’t I load the toolbar on Firefox?!) My comment just before this one quoted the error message I received…
Going to look for this button now… :)
I use the Alexa toolbar on firefox without problem.
.-= FFB´s last blog ..Tax Help For Your Tax Questions =-.
Hmm, I use Firefox too, and it works. I’m a techie dooMass myself, so perhaps just try, try again? Perhaps you need to update your current version of FF?
.-= admin´s last blog ..Punctuality Breeds Credibility – Stop Being Late! =-.
Thanks for the replies, guys. I’m not at all surprised it’s just me. ;)
I just launched a new personal finance website and I’d love to join. Just installed the badge. Current ranking – 19,179,419
My current rank is 703,333. A little too high…
Thanks for the challenge!
Alright, finally I’ve ‘officially’ joined the challenge (in that the badge is now up on my site. . . announcement to follow). Right now my Alexa rank is 1,0006,376. If you think that’s high, consider that on February 28 it was around the 9 million (+) mark. Getting to a rank of 200,000 may seem like a ridiculous goal, but I find ridiculous goals motivating ;)
Thanks to all those who have helped me already with advice, examples, guest post exchanges, links etc. And Sam, thank you for organizing this–as I’ve mentioned before, I like the spirit of community and camaraderie fostered by such a challenge.
Good luck to all.
Hi Simple In France, welcome to the challenge! Thanks for participating in so many discussions here and around The Yakezie so far.
200K is definitely within reach for you!
This is a neat idea, and I’d like to join. My website is only 1 month old, so I have a sad, sad Alexa ranking of only 6,926,707. That’s better than the 14 million it was a few weeks ago, I suppose. I’ve added the toolbar and the badge. I will let Dan at sweating the big stuff know that I’d like to join.
So i just found this challenge, and despite blogging for years now, i’ve got a rank of 3.408.601. :\ but in the spirit of trying and improving both ranking and accountability, i’m in. :)
.-= sue´s last blog ..all or nothing? =-.
Awesome job with the challenge. I just watched you zip right by me on WB’s list. Congrats!
Hi Jeff – Thanks. Total team effort, and it’s been a lot of fun. Look forward to seeing you around more often. Best, Sam
I just found this challenge and I am so excited. I really need to work on outreach and I have been looking for a way to get involved in the pf community and improve my blog. This sounds awesome and I want to join in
As of today, my alexa rank is 2,095,250…I guess there is only one way to go from here.
Don’t be alarmed about the title of my latest post, for some reason every time I comment on a blog that lists the latest post, my latest Monday recipe appears and not my most recent post.
Thanks and looking forward to this challenge.
Looking to join as well. You have a 125×125 size of the logo? (Or should I adjust myself?)
I just heard of the challenge today and I want to join. I downloaded the toolbar to learn that my rating is 322,973. I will get the badge installed as soon as I figure it out.
Ok, I’m in.
Toolbar says #190,946, I guess a reasonable goal is to break 180,000 by July. I’m patient.
@Joe – Sounds good. Don’t reach too hard now from 190K to 180K by July now ya hear! :) I’m pretty darn certain you will blow the 180K rank out of the water now that you’ve joined. What took you so long?
Howdy DH, welcome to the challenge! Remember we had a debate a while ago regarding why The Flat Tax is good? That was fun. Best of luck to you in the challenge, and hope to see you around more here and on other Yakezie sites.
.-= admin´s last blog ..The Mental To Physical Connection For A Healthier Lifestyle =-.
@Zach @College for 10k
Now I’m down to 616,243. Down over 90,000 in one week!
Good stuff zach. Shoot Joel at CCC an e-mail.
Loving this “band of brothers (and sisters)” of the PF community. Sorry, I’m late to the game. Current Alexa is 164,000. Looking forward to the challenge and helping everyone succeed.
Here comes a new challenger. i just joined the challenge today. I’m glad i finally made up my mind. Thanks Sam for the initiative
I love it! Count me in! My current ranking is 4,443,710 wow! Just launched the Good Steward Keys blog on March 16, 2010 so we can only go up from here! Got the badge up on the left side bar. I’m ready to start promoting my fellow Challengers blogs!
BTW- Is it necessary to “Claim Your Site” to be a part of this challenge? If so where do I place the necessary file or meta tag. I definitely don’t want to go in and mess up the html by making a rookie mistake!
Lets make that the right side bar! LOL
.-= Carlos´s last blog ..How to use the Free Debt Reduction Snowball Calculator from Vertex42 – Part 2 =-.
I’m in. I just started my new self hosted blog. I don’t even have a ranking yet. :)
I have found that many of those badges make my blog run slow so I had to remove them. not sure i’d like to add another one. this would be my ONLY reason for not trying this. :/
Self hosted badges (i.e. not loading from elsewhere and containing no code) shouldn’t be an issue.
.-= JoeTaxpayer´s last blog ..A Living Large Roundup =-.
No worries FB. You can take your time and consider, and perhaps join in the future. If your blog is running slow, that’s a good problem to have as it means you are getting a good amount of traffic already! Cheers
Well, I’m a little late to the party, but I look forward to meeting more personal finance bloggers and improving my Alexa ranking also!
Best,
Rob
Hi Rob, welcome aboard! We look forward to seeing you around town. Cheers, Sam
Stats: my Blog, Upside of Money ranks a loser #2,948,598 on Alexa (not surprised) but I am happy to report my Personal Finance column for Examiner.com San Francisco ranks #552.
ONly winners here Barbara! There are a lot of great female Yakezie challengers too, and I’m sure you’ll get to know a lot of nice folks.
That’s awesome you have a Persona Finance column on the Examiner! Pls share with us your link!
Best, Sam
Still subscribed to this post after 3 pages of comments! Hard to believe.
To everyone noting themselves as “losers” or “poor performers” with multiple million rankings, many of us started off in the same bracket. I myself was a staggering 9.8 million something when I first started.
Don’t feel disheartened or discredit your work! Those rankings will be easy to shed and in no time you’ll be looking back laughing. Keep chugging along!
You’re right FE. NOBODY is a “loser” here! The challenge is for the little guys looking to gain a voice! I just remember getting smacked left and right in the first 6 months, so I figure we’ll have a bunch of fun, and create our own little club here on the web. Yakezies unite!
Hello all, I have to join my friends and jump in. My worldwide Alexan raning is 448,950 and my US rank is 136,677. I got some ways to go!
Tomorrow will be my blog announcement.
Welcome Bucksome. Good to have you and congrats on the new addition to the family!
Hey Sam,
This is Craig from http://www.moneyhelpforchristians.com – my Alexa rank is 309,449 do I need to do anything more than install the badge and the other requirements or do I need to be officially accepted as part of the club?
Hey Craig – Welcome aboard! You still in Papua New Guinea? I liked your work from home post on Ryan Patrick’s site. Let us know when you make your announcement. Cheers, Sam
Sam,
Yes, I’m still in PNG. Just enjoying the warm tropics.
I made the announcement. –
.-= Craig Ford´s last blog ..Special Announcements, Yakezie, & Roundup =-.
I’m in! With 600 readers, I have an Alexa rank of 574,938. Pretty sad right? I’ll be posting about the plunge on Friday!
Sounds good Adam. Good luck! 600 readers sounds like a lot to me!
Oh, I’m REALLY proud with my 600 readers. I thought it was just strange that I have such a bad ranking.
By the way, do reviews on Alexa help? That’s the badge I chose and I am going to ask for reviews on Friday from my readers.
.-= Adam´s last blog ..Packing Lunch For Work Just Got Easier =-.
600 really is a ton. I think partially why your ranking may not be better is b/c your readers just read your content from your RSS and don’t interact as much in comments? This is how we rectify the discrepancy between blogs with fewer readers with higher Alexa rankings vs. those with more readers and lower (worse) Alexa rankings.
I don’t think reviews can hurt!
I love a challenge! This is a great idea so thank you so much. I just checked and my blog Eventual Millionaire is ranked in the 3 millions… so I looked up a few ways to increase my Alexa rankings.
This article was really interesting, though we’ll see if any of them apply to personal finance!
Hey, I’m in! My busy life has caused neglect to fall on my little piece of the web, but most of that busy-ness was caused because those parts of my life were ending (College, etc.). Now I can start a new chapter and really focus on my writing, something I really love to do.
Hey guys, I am definitely in. I wanted to bring up my Alexa ranking a little bit before the challenge, and now have a 3 month rank of 800,000 and 1 month rank of just over 400,000… so I’m improving!
I installed the badge and will announce on my Blog!
Sounds great Smarter Spend. Looking forward to your involvement in the group!
Okay, so I know – my blog isn’t specifically a PF blog, but I do deal quite a bit with frugality, saving money, preparing for the future, etc.
Regardless, I have to say that although I initially took on the challenge as a stretching-exercise, I’m pretty impressed. I kind of thought it was a bit of bunk, but it’s the only system we have, and as one who hires out her SEO, writing, and photography skills to others, it was worth submitting to myself.
When I started, my rank was 3.408.601 – dismal. In the last few weeks, I’ve bounded up to (drumroll, please…) 1.969.297
Still quite a bit lower than my ultimate goal, but I’m impressed that it really does seem to make a difference. Now to parlay that to others in my sphere of influence… ;)
Hey Sam, I thought that I have joined the group, but I had not seen my name on the list over at Credit Card Chaser. I just wanted to make sure I was on it:)
Hi MFO, definitely ping CCC (Joel) and ask him to add you on. Cheers, Sam
I’m in too, finally! I’ve installed the badge and made the announcement. My starting Alexa ranking is 413,948.
Sounds great Jackie! Sorry for winning the first round of FMF’s March Madness. If it pleases you, I got bageled in the second round :) BTW, I did respond to your comment on why Democrats are against charity btw. Hope you see it.
Ok I’m taking up the challenge. I’m not sure why other people are complaining about their rankings, because I’m at 12,480,245!
However, hopefully this will put me in a position for the biggest increase! Looking forward to climbing the rankings, and being part of the blogosphere.
Good luck everyone!
Hey, we’re taking up the challenge at Cash Flow Sherpas. We’ll be putting the badge u on our page, and promoting people posts on our site.
Our current Alexa Rank is 491,088, and we’ll be pushing to climb up! Please let us know how we can participate. We’ll do the badge and promotion, anything else we can do to help?
Cash Flow Sherpas
Hi Ashley, welcoe aboard! Contact Greg-san from Eliminate the Muda (see bottom of post) if you’d like to join the Google Groups where we have a tone of activity and initiatives we are planning. Look forward to seeing you around!
Hi Saved Quarter, sounds like a great goal to save a 25% of your income this year! Check out Credit Card Chaser’s site (link on the right of my home page for the blog roll).
Love it! I just drastically fell in the Alexa rankings despite having better readership over the last few months. So I am definitely up for the challenge.
I’ve been watching from afar, in total fascination for weeks. Thanks to some encouragement from Rainy Day Saver, Conquering PF and Beating Broke (all found by following the Yakezie group), I’m throwing my hat into the ring.
My current Alexa ranking is 159,413 – it’s been heavily fluctuating the last few days. The 3 month average is thrown off by a very popular contest I ran in January that resulted in a huge spike of traffic. It was, unfortunately, not sustaining which I think speaks a lot to that type of promotion.
Anyway – count us in!
Hi Heather, I don’t think I replied to you yet. Welcome aboard. Have you written a post or put up a badge yet?
I am still on the fence about this because of the comments from others that it slows down your system, but I am checking into it, and still considering it. I am a new personal finance blogger, so my learning curve to drive folks to my site is pretty steep, although I have a lot of great posts already on my blog.
Hey no worries ConsumerMiser! Come back to us end of year and let’s revisit. I’m sure you’ll do great on your own. Best, Sam
I did have a problem running the badge as is. I uploaded the image to my media folder and it works fine.
.-= Bucksome Boomer´s last blog ..4 Career Tips for Success from the Military =-.
Hi- I am almost joined!! I loaded the badge, but can anyone help me in loading the alexa toolbar on my site? (think about explaining it to a 2 year old!) I’m a master at personal finance, not so much with webmastering!!
Hi Barb – I think what you do is once you are registered on alexa.com, it’ll spit out an html code where you can copy and paste into a HTML or TEXT WIDGET on wordpress. Place the widget where you want it to go on your site, and they past the html code from Alexa into the widget and it should pop up. Best of luck! Sam
Hey,
I have seen about 5 posts on other blogs about the Yakezie Alexa Challenge and finally clicked on one of them. Thanks for the challenge, the great tips on how to rank well, and…
We’re in!
Our Current Alexa Ranking – 341,465.
I’ll talk to our writing and tech team about announcing we’re in on the challenge and installing the badge.
Thanks again,
Guy G.
Sure, let us know when the announcement post is up!
I found out where to download it from the google group where we share a lot of information. You can get the invitation by contacting Eliminate the Muda (it’s in Sam’s post towards the bottom).
.-= Bucksome Boomer´s last blog ..4 Career Tips for Success from the Military =-.
Sam, thanks for the encouragement, I’M IN!!! I’ve got the badge up and the alexa widget. Here’s my rank: 2,215,648. My US is in the 150 k range. I’ll blog about it this week. (already tweeted).You are so POSITIVE!! and inclusive, I love it!! My middle name is “tenacious” and after 6 weeks blogging, I’m hugely enthusiastic about sharing all of my years of personal finance education and experience! love to promote others too, & I have a big shout out to Len Penzo dot com for encouraging me to join.
After reading this post, I became inspired to participate as well. This is a great idea. I already uploaded the badge and annouced my participation on my blog. I can’t wait to get involved!
Current Alexa Ranking: 526K
I’m a little late to the party but I’d still like to dance, I am so in. I have the badge, announced my participation and can’t wait to get going! I love the enthusiasm that I see here and I am excited to share with my readers the great posts that I am reading on the other sites.
My current Alexa Ranking is 5,717,428…. like to break 1,000,000. by July. Good luck everyone!
Ingrid
Most honorable Samurai-san, I humbly join the Yakezie Alexa Challenge. My search rank is far from great since I had a broken laptop and neglected posting for a while so I’ve fallen quite a bit. I join today with a ranking of 2,885,904 and U.S. ranking of 927,455. I’m on the top of page 4 of Wisebread’s ranking and my hope is to get to the middle of page 3 and make some friends. Arigato.
Hi Sandy, sure, let us know when you’ve made your announcement. Cheers.
Hi-I’m in! Check out my post, ( ) my ranking intl is just above 2,000,000 and about 150,000 in USA. But I’m going to be MOOOOVING on down!! How do I do one of those “small Yakezie Carnivals” which I’ve seen on some of the member blogs? Thanks for getting this competition going!
Welcome Barb! Read your post and I’m looking forward to seeing you around.
I’m in! (I hope)…I actually tried to post here last week but it disappeared into moderation limbo so I’m tryin’ again. Made the announcement post on my own blog last week.
I would be honored if you’d let me join the ranks even though it’s late in the game. I still want to break 200k by July! I think this community is great and look forward to promoting everybody. Thanks for setting it up.
Hey, we’re all set up.
Here’s a link to the post.
Current Alexa rank is about 345,800. I don’t know if it’s too ambitious by July 4th, but our plan is to be better than 150,000 by then. Lot’s of work to do, but definitely up to the challenge.
Look forward to meeting and networking with you all.
Cheers,
Guy
Sounds great Guy! Welcome aboard and hope to see you around the Yakezie group!
Is your dance card full? I am in!
I am a pitiful 3,443,893. Guess I have some work to do!
.-= Mysti´s last blog ..Finding your Bliss Wednesday =-.
Let us know when you’ve made your announcement & follow the rest of the instructions and we’ll getcha in! Cheers
https://diggingoutfromourmess.blogspot.com/2010/05/jumping-on-bandwagon.html
I am in! Thanks!!!
.-= Mysti´s last blog ..Reality Check =-.
Welcome on the bandwagon as you put it! Hope to see you around the Yakezie more often, and don’t be a stranger! It’s great we have more women on board such as yourself and Cheapskate Sandy :)
I’m in! Posted at . Thanks again.
Welcome Cheapskate Sandy! As you are joining so late, please make the extra effort to get to know members in the group. There are some 72 of us, so it will take time. Don’t be a stranger and have fun in the process!
I have been reading a lot about this and I’ve seen the badge on more than a few sites …I read the comments and you guys all seem like a cool bunch, so I’d like to join; please count me in!
I will write a post for Friday.
Sounds good Kevin. I think you’ll hit 1 million by end of this month now that you’ve joined!
As you are joining so late, please make the extra effort to get to know members in the group. There are some 72 of us, so it will take time. Don’t be a stranger and have fun in the process!
Could you please direct me to a comprehensive list of the Yakezie members? I’ve been trying one that’s updated, alas, to no avail. Thanks in advance!
currently showing 77 members.
How do I get on this list? I’ve had the button and widget, etc, for awhile now and thought I had done everything I needed to do!
We’ll get you on. Have you contacted Greg-san yet from Eliminate the Muda? Pls contact Joel at CCC as well. Also, try to stop by more often if you can here, or elsewhere, as it helps us keep track. Out of site, out of mind in a way, so definitely look forward to seeing you around.
Hello!
I just officially joined, thanks to Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff website. When I first saw her Yakezie Challenge badge and downloaded the Alexa toolbar, I was at over 4,000,000. Now on May 7, I am at 2,033,930–a great bump all ready from just be more aware that Alexa exists!
Thank you for hosting this challenge. I look forward to breaking 1,000,000 and beyond by July 4th. I will be posting about this on my blog over the weekend (most likely today), and have all ready downloaded the badge.
I wanted to be in, but I have twice tried installing the badge on my wordpress.org site, and both time, all my text links disappeared and the badge will not appear, no matter what I try. I have no idea what is going on. It must be a personal problem since I have not read about it from anyone else.
So, I am joining in spirit. I do have the toolbar and I will visit the sites listed in the challenge!
The same thing happened to me. Instead of linking to the image, save it in your own image folder.
.-= Bucksome´s last blog ..Help Stamp Out Hunger =-.
I tried saving the image in my own folder and pointing to that and the text links
disappeared again. Argh. I guess it just is not meant to be for me.
.-= Kris´s last blog ..Monitoring Your Net Worth – Just Organizing Your Information Can Bring Benefits =-.
Hey Kris –
If you need help with the badge, I can help you. Installing WP themes and tweaking them is part of what I do for a living, but I’m happy to help you as a Yakezie Challenge mate. Hit me at suetalbert AT gmail DOT com. Put “Yakezie button” in the subject line so it doesn’t get sent to my spam folder, k? :)
.-= sue´s last blog ..tasty tuesday: monkeying with magic mix =-.
Hello There,
WE ARE IN! We have a lot to do, so much so that our blog isn’t even ranked! We have installed the tool bar and the badge. This is a great opportunity and an excellent idea!
Thanks,
Timothy
Wealth Artisan Team Member
I am in for the long haul. I have the post with the badge already set up and have made the public announcement to my readers. I am very excited to participate in this challenge with you guys!
.-= Odysseustoday´s last blog ..Yakezie challenge =-.
Bit late to the party but would like to join in. Alexa toolbar installed with an Alexa rank of 2,766,488. Yakezie badge installed.
and I’ve now added the blog announcement here https://retirementinvestingtoday.blogspot.com/2010/05/proud-member-of-yakezie-challenge.html
Do I have to do anything else to obtain membership?
Looking forward to engaging with others from the Yakezie challenge.
.-= RetirementInvestingToday´s last blog ..Bulls, bears and the 200 day moving average =-.
Happy to say I cracked 150K on the way down. Another 10K and I’ll be back on WiseBread’s top 100.
Good stuff Joe! Definitely great for you to get back in the top 100. I find your analysis and insights on taxes extremely insightful! Your contribution to the “Be A Sloth and Don’t ROTH!” post was excellent.
I’d like to join the challenge if it’s not too late! Alexa toolbar installed, I just added the badge, and will do a quick post later to talk about joining!
I’m definitely late to the party, but I’m also up for the challenge. I’m weighing in currently at 578,098 with the Alexa toolbar installed. Thanks for the Challenge FS!
It would be extremely helpful if on the Yakezie challenge page it showed the last time it was updated. Being a new blogger it feels like I might be late to the game and that the Yakezie challenge has gone fallow.
If I am wrong that’s great!
Hi Odysseustoday
Definitely hasn’t gone fallow. I just joined Monday (see notice a couple of comments above) and I’m already up 360,000 rankings.
.-= RetirementInvestingToday´s last blog ..Bulls, bears and the 200 day moving average =-.
I’m quite late to the party, but I’ve joined as well. My ranking is 9,455,581. I’ve got a long ways to go, but I’m working hard.
Jeff
Just joined the challenge. Put the badge up on my blog, and made the announcement!
Better late than never, that echos what a few others say. I agree!
I’m looking forward to being a part of this. All the best to everyone.
.-= Squirrelers´s last blog ..Yakezie Challenge =-.
I am way late to the party but count me in :) Hope I can help someone else in the process!
Cheers!
I hope I’m still able to join. I put the badge up and I’m excited to get started. I’m currently ranked 1,059,759 and hope to reach 900,000 by July 4th. I look forward to getting to know everyone.
.-= Kevin´s last blog ..Friday Night Likes =-.
I know here is johnny come lately… Investor Junkie just joined.
Welcome, I just joined too so don’t feel bad.
.-= Kevin´s last blog ..Don’t Miss Out On Easy Savings Chapter 1 =-.
This is interesting. I didn’t realise that Alexa ranks were so important to people. You just wonder how accurate these results are outside say the top 1000.
Coming really really late to the challenge. I have added the badge, installed the toolbar and also announced it in my blog.
I am currently ranked 7,773,156. Long way to go! Coming way late to the party, but better late than never I guess. I am super excited and proud to be part of this group. Looking forward to highlighting my fellow members posts and working together! Thanks for setting this up! Could someone tell me what else I should be doing?
Welcome aboard Suba! Don’t forget to contact Greg at Eliminate the Muda and Joel from CCC. See ya around!
Thanks a lot for the welcome, Sam! I am glad I found this group!
I have contacted Gred @ Eliminate the muda and Joel @ CCC as well. Could you tell me how to submit a carnival post or how to volunteer to host a carnival? I tried searching but couldn’t find it. Sorry!
I entered some information I do not want posted the the entire Internet, in response to questions on Alexa’s application form. Yeah, I know that was naive and I should’ve given them disinformation, but it’s a bit late now for the “don’t be stupid” response.
The site allows you to change your contact information, but it doesn’t actually change it. Got any ideas, other than siccing a lawyer on them, for how to get these people to fix this?
Hi Funny – I don’t quite understand what you’re asking? Alexa is revealing your private info? I’m sure if you get them on the phone, they’ll take it down, but I’ve never had to deal with any privacy issues with Alexa. They just have a website ranking algorithm.
Im joining the challenge. Im ranked 602,510 right now.
I had issues installing the banner from the code given. doing so wiped out 3 of my widgets… they vanished. data lost. good thing I had backups. I had to ftp the banner to my site for it to work.
lets see how this goes.
thanks for creating this btw… very cool idea. Wish I had thought of it. :)
I have added a custom google search to search the Yakezie member blogs. If I have missed anyone please let me know.
Hi, This is Victoria from – my Alexa rank is 5,764,237 do I need to do anything more than install the badge and the other requirements?
ok, so I only just found out about this and it is only 1 month until it’s done, but I will join anyway. I have been working hard on getting a better ranking, so this is great.
I have been reading through so many of your blogs too and they are awesome. Lots of good advice and personal stories.
My blog is about my goal to become a millionaire as a sahm of 2 within 5 yrs. The ultimate goal is actually higher, but $1,000,000 seemed more achieveable and has a nice ring to it, lol.
.-= 1milchallenge´s last blog ..9 Things I’ve had to learn the hard way =-.
Hi, I just joined the Yakezie Challenge. I have installed the toolbar and badge. My ranking is 1,031,137.
w00t! I’m in! Talk about jumping on the bandwagon as it’s rolling away! Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff, Jackie at Money Crush, and Mrs. Accountability have all been urging me to join…hope it’s not too late!
When I installed the Alexa Toolbar, FaM’s Alexa rating was a little over 235,000. Today it’s at 212,377. Can’t wait to see that number drop into the five-digits.
BTW, Sam– Alexa finally changed the data in its settings that I inadvertently published to the entire galaxy. It takes two or three days for changes to take effect.
Funny about Money, how are things going with ya? I’m just reviewing all the older comments, and it’s been a great and fast 8 months!
https://yakezie.com/10181/personal-finance/welcome-yakezie-beta-class
Uh oh… P.S. I see the little link-love widget didn’t pick up the requested post.
I just joined the challenge. I’ve been watching it for a while and it is definitely working.
I wish I would have read the comments about installing the badge and having all your text widgets disappear before I tried to install the badge. Oh well, I had been needing to update my widgets anyway. Downloading the image to my computer and hosting it on my site works.
My current Alexa ranking is 444,332. That is about 100,00 higher than it was last week. It should rank even higher now that I’ve joined the challenge.
.-= Andy Hough´s last blog ..I Joined the Yakezie Challenge =-.
Hello! I posted a question earlier about having issues with the Yakezie badge on my site. I have tried many workarounds and such and cannot get it to work without deleting my text widgets. Mr. Samurai, can I please join even if I can’t put the badge on my page? Please? I promise to follow all the rules of the Yakezie!!
Thanks
Kris
Well, I too am late in the game in joining the challenge today. My blog is about saving money, going green, and having fun. I really do appreciate any of your help in getting my Alexa count up as well as my subscribers. I currently even have a subscriber challenge which any of you can enter. My current Alexa count as of today is 1, 722, 015. I post the PEP (Prairie EcoThrifter Picks) every Friday which include all the great personal finance and frugal reads of the week that I have had a chance to check out. It is my way of supporting fellow bloggers. I wish you all the best of luck and thanks for letting me participate.
I am finally joining the challenge!! At the moment my blog is at 337,894…
The toolbar has been installed and I’m placing the badge on my site right now. I’m excited to use the challenge as a new source of motivation to keep me focused…and I’m looking forward to interacting with other participating bloggers as much as possible.
Thanks Sam!
Hey Earl – Sounds good man. Welcome to the club. We’re looking forward to your insights as a lifestyler! Make sure to contact Greg at Eliminate the Muda to join the Google Groups. Cheers, Sam
Okay, I am in. Current Alexa rank: 126,334, added the yakezie and alexa badges, made the announcement at and looking forward to meeting great bloggers and interacting with all of you.
Hello,
I’ve joined the challenge with MaximizingMoney.com and am excited to participate.
My current Alexa rank is 162,558, and I’m hoping to get that into the top 100,000.
I’ve installed the Alexa toolbar and I’ve installed the Yakezie badge on my site (see right side-bar toward bottom).
I’ve also just posted about joining the challenge on my blog.
I regularly Tweet, Stumble, etc. other finance blogs and will continue to do so, plus I’d be glad to participate in any other way possible if anybody is interested, please feel to contact me through my blog.
Thank you so much and looking forward to joining the top 100,000.
Max
I have been allowed in to the Yakezie Challenge, even though I cannot get the badge to work properly (therefore, it is not on my site).
When I started following the principles of the Yakezie on May 7th, my Alexa rank was 632,075. When I wrote the Yakezie intro post on my site today ), my rank was 203,076.
Thanks in advance to anyone that stops by my site. I have so enjoyed visiting other Yakezie member blogs.
I know it’s late, but I just joined the challenge. What’s the best way to promote other blogs on my site?? My Alexa Ranking as of today June 21, 2010 is 2,378,181 so I have a LOOOONG way to go.
I’m a new blogger that’s just getting started. My current alexa ranking is 6 million +. Am I allowed to participate too?
So curious – where do we stand on the challenge? It’s after July 4 – are we continuing on?
If not, I appreciated the challenge, no question. :) I just wonder about our Alexa rankings at this point: if we all visited each other’s blogs with our toolbars intact, etc., that’s great, right? But isn’t it artificial rank-inflation that would necessarily end when the challenge ended? The average Joe reading our blogs probably doesn’t have the toolbar installed… right? :\
I’ll be curious to see what others of you think – this has been crazy-helpful and instructional for me, but I’m curious about the long-term benefits (if there are any) and how to keep our mojo, well… mojo’ing. :)
Hi Sue, post coming up next week. It’s all about relationship building. Hopefully you have built some good relationships over the couse of the challenge, which should help propel you forward. Stay tuned.
After reading the recap, I’ve decided I’d like to be involved.
My current rank is 533,108.
We’d love to be included.
We have uploaded the badge, included a blog entry and have checked out our alexia ranking…
10,207,000 I’m afraid.
Please let me know how we can be included.
I am one of those that started blogging a while ago, but got off track and took some time off. I am back to blogging semi-regularly and looking forward to the challenge.
Current stats show that I have a 629,450 world wide ranking and 141,435 US ranking. Will post my ‘coming out’ article this week.
I would love to be a part of this challenge. I thought it was too late until I read the recap and see that it is just beginning!
When I first installed the toolbar (sometime last week, I think) my rank was 1,704,000 (rounding the last 3 digits). Today it is 828,363.
Ok, I just posted my Yakezie article.
Hi,
Had been hearing alot about the Yakezie Challenge, super excited to be a part of it.
Cheers,
Danny
FrugalQuack.com
What a powerful and compelling post! You kept my attention right through to the end. You’re so right about the money. You can’t care about it. What’s really interesting is that as soon as you give up trying so hard to meet financial goals, the money starts coming in faster. What could be better than that? The more fun you have at your job, the more money you make! The hard part is surviving the first two years financially. While not signing up on the challenge, I’ll definitely be installing the toolbar and watching your progress!
Hi,
I just wanted to give you a quick update. Last week we signed up for the Alexa challenge with a very poor 10,000,000 ranking. This week we’re at 3,595,786, a massive improvement. Thanks to everyone who has visited our site.
Aside from visiting the blogs of the people who have commented here, is there anything else we should be doing?
Thanks.
Please follow us on Twitter: SEOpod
Missed the first round, but looking forward to joining everyone in Yakezie now in the next phase!
All very good tips. Really, the more you give, the more that comes back to you. Think about this when looking for opportunities, guest posting, etc.
It’s tough, but if you stick with it, you will get there! It’s hard to be EVERYWHERE, but that’s what it takes to make it to the op. I would also add to make a list of sites that you like that are related to yours, and visit them at the very least, once a week, and comment often. They will eventually take notice and you will notice your stats go higher and higher.
Just saw this challenge after reading Budgeting in the Fun Stuff! I’m a new blogger in the PF community, but I’m in! Thanks for the inspiration and continued success to you and all the 1st pagers on the Wisebread Top 100. I hope to be there sooner than later so look out! :)
David, sounds good man. BITFS has been rocking it, showing that anybody can do great if they just stick with it!
@ David H.
One thought for you is to link to fellow Yakezie’s posts, whether in a round-up or when your write a new one keep the list
handy and link to one or two posts that add to your writing.
Since joining, I’ve gone from 191K to 106K, really pleased with the results.
There are some absolutely great tips here – I too should use twitter more and i had totally forgot about the widget to “re-tweet” – must get on that…thanks for posting!
How can I get included with the Yakezie Carnivals?
Thanks.
Count us in!
Welcome guys! How are things going?
I don’t know why I didn’t join earlier.
Anyway, here I go…
Starting #1,115,170.
I am in. I should have joined sooner but didn’t. Starting point 761,131
Sounds great bsimple! Welcome to the challenge! I think you’re going to find it a great experience and meet a lot of great people. Going to write an updatee on Yakezie.com on Wed, Aug 18th so stay tuned. In the meantime, hope to see you around the network and building relationships!
Hey bsimple. Nice to see you here. I just joined too.
Thanks again for stopping by my site, Sam!
I thought about joining a while back but didn’t. I did start following the suggestions though and bumped up my Alexa ranking a good bit. But I’m officially joining now, and my Alexa ranking is at 225,269 today. I’ll announce it on my site this Friday!
I have tried the 3 blog posts a week strategy on my own private blog yet it still never gets me more visitors! I think blog post titles have a lot to do with people finding your blog and my blog posts must just not be interesting enough!
Joining the challenge today. I’m at 487k in Alexa.
Welcome Moneyedup! Looking forward to seeing you around the community!
I joined the challenge today. I’m at 2,012,515 in Alexa. Woo hoo!
Welcome Jerret! Nice picture of your baby! 2 million means nothing but upside!
Hi, I just installed the badge and I’m not quite sure… Maybe I missed above. This is still on-going, right?
Hi, I just joined the challenge! Starting at Alexa rank 897,809. My post
Sounds good Tim. Welcome! Love your site’s name. See you around the community!
just an added thought on Alexa – last fall i had the opportunity to attend a google hosted forum for adsense earners in california. the consistent message i heard was that alexa gives you the “rank” of the website or blog within the realm of keywords that it targets. many still think that a rank of 200,000 means their site is the 200,000th ranked site out of the millions online. however, the 200k represents the rank within that website’s niche only. that said, webmasters did mention that achieving ranks under 300k is a solid accomplishment and usually means the site is making a healthy income (if monetized appropriately)
looking forward to participating in the challenge down the road.
Those are interesting thoughts Sunil. Basically the goal is to compete in a challenge (Alexa) which has an algorithm that bakes in many variables. There is a correlation to traffic and page rank and all that stuff the lower your ranking goes. Look forward to seeing you around consistently in the network and reaching your goal!
Hi,
I also decided to join the challenge. Alexa 3 months rank 2,368,510. My post and the badge should be up tomorrow in my weekend’s edition.
All roads seem to lead me back to this site! You have done well on promoting the Yakezie challenge. We are just under 200k, as of yesterday was at 185k but our goal is to be well under 100k by the beginning of the year (2011). I know its possible with the pointers you have given! Thanks
Count me in for the challenge! Starting at 1,091,440 Alexa ranking. Announcement will be on the blog on Tuesday.
I just started my personal finance blog last month and I am really interested to reach that 200,000 Alexa ranking goal. I think this challenge will really help me. Count me is as well. As of 9/5/2010, my Alexa ranking is at 5,888,869.
I learned about this recently and think its a great idea! Count me in1
As of today my Alexa Rank is 4,758,048 and while I have a way to go I have been seeing a steady increase in traffic. While my blog isn’t directly a PF blog it is what I would call a tech/productivity lifestyle blog.
What better way to make money than by becoming more efficient and effective!
I look forward to interacting with the network and showing and receiving some “link love” while we share our ideas.
Joining the Yakezie Challenge today! Count me in! My current Alexa Rank is 1,024,884.
Frugal Guy, how’s it going man? Did you survive the Challenge to Join the Beta Class?
https://yakezie.com/10181/personal-finance/welcome-yakezie-beta-class
Yay.. I have been watching this for a while reluctantly to join. I wasn’t sure if I could keep up the blogging religiously but I have did it for the last few months. So, I am ready to commit. Publicly. I will still have to work out the badge in the right place on my site.. Alexa 3,517,029
Welcome to the Challenge! We know you can do it! Feel free to put the badge up on the right column.
Just took the decision to join the Yakezie challenge with 3 of my blogs.
Since I have never considered Alexa ranking, this will be a great challenge!
Here are my numbers as of today:
The Financial Blogger: 163,498
The Dividend Guy Blog: 256,261
Green Panda Treehouse: 263,187
I definitely have a lot of work in front of me!
Thx Sam for putting us up for a great challenge!
Welcome Mike! That’s a lot of blogs! That would be great if you breached 150,000 or 100,000 on all three! I’m sure current Members and Challengers would really appreciate your blogging business insights.
Good to hear your story on the Public Forums! https://yakezie.com/forums
Hi,
Here’s an update from us.
We’re continuing to move up the rankings and are now at position 1,758,000. Obviously still a long, long way to go but at least we’re headed in the right direction. Thanks to everyone who stopped by our site.
I am very excited to join the Yakezie Challenge. I think I am the only blogger from the UK.
As of today my ranking is 1,440,340 and I am sure we can do better than that.
Onwards and upwards!
Viviana, how are things going? Haven’t seen you around recently.
Really need a push to get me out of my comfort zone and i believe this challenge will do. Have been watching it for a while but i finally gave myself the needed push to join. Am in and as of today my Alexa ranking is 7,802,396 and my Yakezie badge has been installed. I’ll do a post soon on my blog
I know i have a lot of work to do but am really excited to be part of this.
Sounds great! I’m sure you will do well if you try over the next 6 months. Feel free to introduce yourself to your fellow challengers!
https://yakezie.com/forums/yakezie-reader-insights/yakezie-challengers-forum
Thanks for starting this challenge. This is great motivation for me, and I’m sure for lots of other people. My current rank is #10,374,175. With a little hard work, I’m sure I can get that below #200,000 in six months.
Wish me luck everyone!
No problem man. That’s a great video you did. Who sang??
That was me singing. Took me a whole weekend of audio editing to take it from awful to acceptable. :)
Very well done! I can’t hit those high notes, and therefore stay in baritone :)
https://cdn.financialsamurai.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/5stringserenadessamuraiFINAL1.mp3
I am in as of today. My rank is #342,592. Looking forward to networking with some fellow pf bloggers!
Welcome John! Come introduce yourself in the Yakezie Forums to your fellow Challengers! https://yakezie.com/forums/yakezie-reader-insights
Hello everyone!
WE – https://www.YourSmartMoneyMoves.com – have officially joined the Yakezie Challenge as of today! Our current Alexa rank is 202.397. We look forward to meeting, interacting, sharing and growing with all of you!
Sincerely,
Ted Jenkin, CFP®,
AWMA®, CRPC®, AAMS®, CMFC®, CRPS®
Co-CEO and Founder oXYGen Financial, Inc. & YourSmartMoneyMoves.com
I am extremely late to the party but I’d still like to join if you’ll still have me. My blog ranking is 981,046.
I just started my blog last week and right now I am at “no rank.”
Is there any other way to start a challenge?
I just put Yakezie badge on my blog. This will be a great opportunity to learn more about personal finance and blogging for me.
Hello all! Modern Tightwad is joining on the Yakezie Challenge (I’m always last to the party). My alexa rank is 1,537,024. I’m very much looking forward to working and visiting with everyone. I’ve been writing on Modern Tightwad for a little over a year now, but am excited to actually start working on the blog. We need your anti-burnout support! :)
Don’t forget to sign up! https://yakezie.com/10181/personal-finance/welcome-yakezie-beta-class
I announced my joining of the challenge 2 weeks ago on my blog ) and have just finished all the steps to get started. I have been following many of the challengers for the past few months and I am so excited to be able to connect and share with everyone! My current Alexa ranking is 53,244
I can’t remember when Control Your Cash joined the challenge – certainly within the last 6 months – and right now we’re sitting at a tantalizingly close #202,489.
Nice. Feel free to upload your Member Post after your 6 month period, and we’ll put it up!
Hi Everyone (and Sam),
I love the idea of the challenge and accept, if you’ll have me. I’m more on the travel lifestyle side of blogging but have started talking about the money side of my site/lifestyle more
My current alexa ranking is 134,020 and this is perfect motivation I need to help me make the push below the 100,000 mark.
Looking forward to meeting the community here.
Cheers,
Todd
Hey Todd! Good to hear from you mate. We’d love to have new Lifestyle Bloggers as part of the mix. Welcome to the Challenge! Feel free to introduce yourself in the Yakezie Public Forums to your fellow Challengers! https://yakezie.com/forums/yakezie-reader-insights/yakezie-challengers-forum
Looking forward to seeing you around.
Best, Sam
Hey Sam, great! I remember you telling me about this earlier when I was just getting started earlier this year. Great to be a part of this group and I’ll introduce myself and the challenge this week.
Cheers,
Todd
This takes me back. When we first started out 6 years ago we installed the Alexa Tool Bar and very quickly it almost took over our lives. Desperate to get into the top 100,000 we threw everthing at it we finally manage to get to about 98,000 but then as nothing really changed when we got there, we kinda just lost interest and gave up worrying about it.
However, I might start watching it again as a bit of fun.
Thanks for injecting a bit of fun back into this sometimes tedious occupation!
I’m joining the challenge today. Gotta get to at least 200,000 in 6 months. I’m starting at 1,790,984.
I write mostly bank reviews about CD Rates. I occasionally will impart some “wisdom” on the economy. Does the site in my sigline qualify? Let me know. I’ve visited some of your blogs over the years and commented.
cd :O)
I’m totally in. What a fantastic idea. =)
I’m in. I’m making my announcement on my blog tomorrow afternoon. It’ll be a challenge to grow from 13,268,504 to under 600,000 in six months, but I’ll see what happens.
Romeo
Romeo, you’ve come a long way since November 13th. We’re going to get your Member Post up in April or in the Gamma Class!
Thanks, I’m doing my best by writing for fun. You have made blogging more interesting, though, Sam. I really appreciate the extra motivation by which this challenge produces. I wish I were more involved with Yakezie; I will after the book and grad school is complete in May, trust me.
Fantastic idea. Count me in!
Well up for it! You can count me in too!
Okay, so I’ve tried to register for the forums 9 different times now. Every time I do it says that I’m entering the Image Validation in correctly. There is no way that I am – 9 times. So I don’t know what to do. =(
I have also had the same problem, so you’re not the only one.
Here we go! We just launched our blog over the weekend with 7 articles. I have now gotten my (woeful) Alexa rank – over 23 million! Time to pull those socks up. I have the Yakezie icon on the site now and i’ll write a post tonight. Glad to be on board! (just need to figure out why I can’t create an account – the verification keeps failing for me)
Fixed now – thanks for the super fast response!
Today’s Alexa Traffic Rank is 2,402,110 as of December 5, 2010. I’m in. Love the concept!
I finally got around to joining — should have done this long ago. Current rank is 1,772,811. As you say, nothing but upside potential!
Matt, don’t forget to sign up for the Beta Class https://yakezie.com/10181/personal-finance/welcome-yakezie-beta-class
Also, looking forward to reading your new book!
Sam, I haven’t quite cracked the top 200,000 yet. I started at 1.7 million in December and am now at 400,000, so I’m moving up quickly, but I’m not there yet. So, I assume that means I should wait before signing up for the Beta Class. Is that right? One of the application questions asks when you broke through the 200,000 barrier. Please advise. Thanks!
Hmmm, tough one. If you have been actively interacting with the other Members, linking back to them with wrap posts, commenting on their blogs and such, you should be able to crack 200,000.
Give it a final 1-2 month push! Should help with your book too.
If everyone commenting here visited each others website, there would be huge growth in Alexa rankings!
Great post! I wish I had started my personal finance blog sooner so that I could have participated! Oh well, I guess its better late than never — will get there on my own eventually, but this post has given a lot of inspiration.
Yay, I’m so excited to join the Challenge! I just started my blog last month. I didn’t know what my focus would be until I found this place. Current rank is 14,093,680.
Welcome, and come introduce yourself in the Yakezie forums on Yakezie.com! Also, today is the last day for the Scholarship voting, so please come vote and share your support for the kids!
https://yakezie.com/forums
I’m in. Current rank is 998,110!
Why didn’t I join sooner? :)
Well, I just ran across this site and post and felt like it would be a good idea to join the challenge since I am wanting to increase my Alexa rank. I was hoping that I could get in the top 500,000 by the end of 2010 but that didn’t happen. Now as part of the Yakezie challenge, I am striving to move from a rank of 648,006 to be in the top 200,000 by the 1st of July 2011. Wish me luck and thanks for the inspiration.
Hi Kidgas,
Welcome to the Challenge! The most important part is getting to know your fellow Challengers and future Members. Introduce yourself in the Yakezie.com forums is a great first step. Cheers, Sam
Joining in today from 6,945,180. Ramping up my focus on content and building relationships should get be to 200k in the new few months.
Happy to be part of the challenge at my blog.
Should have added that my current rank is 1,255,607
Yikes. I have a ways to go, but ever optimistic. I joined a while ago, but got pulled away. Committing NOW to 6 months of blogging, helping others. Can’t list my rank here until it gets better. ;-)
Come visit me at http://www.upsideofmoney.com or on Twitter (@upsideofmoney) and let me get to know you as well (leave a comment, tweet, what have you).
I’m late to the party and far behind! Anyway I’m at #4,593,526.
Let’s just say there’s room for improvement :)
Just wondering, should I move from Blogger to my own domain?
I definitely recommend you go on WordPress and get your own URL if you want in for the long term for great glory! :)
Thanks for the advice Sam. I did the first (easiest) step and got a URL.
Just shopping around for a host. Have been recommended Fat Cow, Blue Host, Hostgator, Stablehost and Dreamhost. But then when I google for complaints there seem to be loads of complaints for all. So confusing! Your thoughts?
Hey I’d like to join! Current rank 7,307,986. Been blogging since July ’10 but made a clean start with a new domain at the end of December. I’ve been checking out tons of other blogs, so cool! I had no idea there was this whole community of PF bloggers out there!
Eventually, I am not working with Alexa because the competitions are high there. I have my own blog, which is ranking good in Google but I have seen it’s also in good positions in Alexa. I have never thought so much about it. But, I obliged to tell you that after reading this article, I would like to start optimizations via Amazon. Thanks for the inspirations.
I just joined today! We’ve got a long way to go 11, 650, 860 is our starting point. Nowhere to go from here but up!
Good stuff LaTisha. I’ve been seeing you around Yakezie.com with your comments! The Yakezie Forums is a great way to interact with others, so please feel free to spend time there too.
Cheers
I love the Yakezie mission. I’m in. Myself and Power Spending co-authors are joining the challenge. Creating a blog section of our site today.
Current alexa: 655,630.
200,000… here we come!
Eric, sounds good man. I really appreciate your insight and comments here and on Yakezie.com so far. Feel free to utilize the Yakezie Forums for further networking and more info!
Seldom am I IMPRESSED. To tweet this is not doing it justice. Though I think the greater focus should be on your sales conversions regardless of your alexa rankings. I do respect the detail you provided to bloggers around the world. I am going to email you.
Darren, did you ever e-mail me mate? Are you impressed?
The Alexa Ranking is just a barometer. What’s more important are the relationships we will build and have built within the Yakezie Network.
Thanks
I sure did the same night. I take it you forgot all about me LOL
I just resent to your gmail.
I joined the Yakezie challenge today and introduced myself on the forum. My question is where do I find the articles of the other Yakezie members/challengers to be able to promote them. I see creditcardchasers has a spot on their site with a list, but is there anything else?
We’ve got a great site at Yakezie.com. Take a look at the top right hand side of the home page. Thx
I’ll join too – my current ranks is just shy of 6 million – got plenty of work to do! Might bring the fun back into SEO!
I just joined the challenge, but have to admit I am still a little confused. Perhaps some who have gone through it could shed more light on it.
Also, I would love to swap guest posts. if you might be interested, head on over to my blog and check it out – https://www.thesinglesaver.com
The Single Saver
What things are you confused about? Cheers.
I joined the Yakezie challenge today and currently sit at 8,726,187 which means I have a long way to go, but i’m up for the challenge you can see my post about the challenge at http://www.mmanit.wordpress.com the name of the blog is I’m Not Sure. looking forward to reading and learning along the way. Making some friends and being part of a community of people with like minded goals and topics.
Very excited to start this process.
Welcome Tina! You may want to consider buying a URL domain name. It helps with the audience and with potential future partners if and when you grow!
Cheers
Congrats on making it man! It is great that you have joined mate. Looking forward to reading your Member Post!
https://yakezie.com/10181/personal-finance/welcome-yakezie-beta-class
Welcome to the Challenge! Look forward to seeing you around for sure. Love your blog’s name! Cheers
Late to the game, but ready to win! Starting at 1,290,448 and inconsistent posting schedule, which ends today! Good luck to all participating!
I’m ready to start the challenge!
My current Alexa rank is 273,454.
I posted about it here . I’ll be heading over to the forum now …
I am joining the challenge! My blog is at https://www.moneyinthe20s.com I am starting with a ranking of 8,007,006. I have a long way to go, but this will definitely be a great motivation for me! I look forward to learning from all of the others participating.
Sounds good Dave. Visit the Yakezie Forums and introduce yourself. Good luck and hope to have you rocket to the top in 6 moths!
I’m joining the challenge with an Alexa score of 1,671,450, so I too have a ways to go! I’m looking forward to the challenge with my blog about being a working mom at https://www.theultimatejuggle.com So here we go!!
Starting the challenge! Current Alexa rank of 2,017,539. Hopefully this challenge will help pull my site up into the top 200,000 in Alexa. That would be great!
I’m joining the challenge! My current Alexa rank is #2,703,660, but I’m looking forward to getting in the top 200,000! See you all there!
Welcome! Straight to the top, I like it!
Hi there! I’m really looking forward to this challenge. As of today, my Alexa rank is 1,346,605. I can’t wait til that number has fewer commas in it!
Babybluewater
Sweet, sounds like a good place to increase ranking! Of course, Alexa only tracks ranking for those that have the toolbar installed, correct? So it doesn’t measure the traffic perfectly?
Hi,
I am ranked 7,606,412.
Thanks!
Is a mortgage-related site eligible for the challenge?
If it’s your personal blog. You’ve got to make a choice and see what type of relationships you’ll be able to build in the next 6 months.
Count me in! Better late than never… I’m starting at 1,425,850. Nowhere to go but up!
You’ve been doing great over the past 3 months. Keep up the good work!
I am in too. 3,916,890….only one way to go
I just started …but am geared up….. My Lexa rank is 11,456,796…. planning to bring this down sooner than later…
I am excited to start the Yakezie Challenge. Currently, my Alexa Rank is 5,642,857. I look forward to meet new Personal Finance bloggers in the community. If anyone would like to introduce themselves, feel free to contact me as I am excited to meet new bloggers and help others promote their sites.
I look forward to your involvement! I’ve seen you around Yakezie.com. Good luck and have fun!
Thanks! I’m new to the forum and a little lost with all the layers. Any advice? :)
Yep, methodically break down the layers. Everything good takes work! It’s just about building relationships and staying consistent with your site and help others succeed.
Just getting started on the challenge. My current Alexa Rank is 872127 for my Write and Get Paid blog– which was created to share my knowledge about how to make a living by writing. I also write about finance for MyBankTracker. I am always interested in meeting other bloggers and helping each other meet goals we have set.
Hi Denise, it’s a great topic that naturally fits with all of us bloggers. I look forward to reading some of your advice on how to make a living as a writer!
What a great idea. I’m really excited to start the Yakezie Challenge. Currently I’m ranked 9,637,051 and I’m pretty sure that you break the top 10 M by simply being alive. I know there a huge amount of great talent out there and I’m looking forward to meeting and getting to know the community.
Iain – Yep, exist and one should be in the top 10 m :) Let’s get you under 200K! See you around.
I’m going to give it a go and see what happens. Currently ranked 58,227. Not sure what results I can expect, but let’s say 40,000 by the end of the year???
Welcome to the Challenge FMF! 40,000 is a great goal by year end! It’s pretty tough since you are already so low already, but why not! It will be great to have you as a Member come Jan 2012. I’m sure many PF bloggers know who you are already, but I’m sure there are plenty more out there just discovering your site as well.
See you around the sphere and in the forums! It’s a great place to leverage.
Decided that it’s about time I signed on as well. Looking forward to becoming a part of the community!
Eric, curious to know how long you’ve been thinking about it, and what were the thoughts you’ve been thinking about before joining?
Well Sam, I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of months. To be honest, after slacking for a loooong time on blogging and then rebranding my old blog to the current version, it’s only been about a month. I really wasn’t sure if I was worthy of joining, especially considering who is part of the community, but I figured why not do it so I can learn from the best
Jay, hope to see you around the Yakezie Forums and around the Network. Good luck!
How are things going? You still rocking it?
Nothing but upside indeed! How are things going?
It’s never to late for a PF party!! Glad I found you! I currently have no rank at all but I hope the rankings kick in soon. See you soon. Karoline
Hey all… I finally did it… I joined the challenge and I’m excited. I’m looking forward to your input, thoughts, and I’m looking forward to contributing to your development and ideas too.
Drop me a line!
After joining Yakezie, finally broke the 200K level in just 2 weeks. This forum is amazing.
Let’s shoot for breaking 100k and then 50k in the 6 month process. Don’t forget to help others and build relationships!
Hi guys, I just joined today with #8,221,358 :( Hope I’m not too late. But I’m very excited about starting my journey here with Yakezie. Any suggestions, comments, or criticism please let me have it, I’m always strive to improve myself and what I do:)
I just joined the Challenge and would love for all your readers to drop by my site:
I would love to add them to my blogroll and hope they can do the same for me.
Update it is now #8,208,072 wooo
I have just joined the challenge and I have 7 reasons for it @ 7 Solid Reasons to Take the Yakazie Challenge:
Thanks
I’d like to throw myself in the challenger ring. Currently ranked #351,832. Would love to see 100k by the six month end.
Would love to see you do it!
Throwing my hat into the ring here and ouch starting at #4,955,333! Have my work cut out for me. SO April first I hope its not a joke when I say Ive broken 200,000
Hi Paula, looks like you’ve really been making a move since you joined. Well done and see you on the other side! Sam
Welcome John. You buying r selling the markets w/ the Dow back at 11,000 here?
I think now the challenge might be made a little bit tougher, a target of Alexa 100K would be more appropriate…what you think, Sam?
Perhaps. 200K is only the beginning. We should all have the self motivation to continue improving as much as we can.
Just started. I have a ridiculous ranking of 15,487,000 there or there-abouts. Here’s hoping I last 6 months and get to 14,999,000 :D See you all on the other side!
I really like what you guys are doing here. ..so I am officially in. I just launched my site at the end of July and I’m excited to gain momentum. It nice to know that there are others out there willing to reach out to newbies, network and mentor. I’m new at blogging but will do what I can to help others!
As for my rank, well personally, I’m looking forward to to even receiving a ranking. Stop by and drop me a line…I could use the company!
I recently found out about the Yakezie network and I’m excited about joining.
My current Alexa ranking is:
Global: 259,191
US: 87,084
I’m currently at 3,519,413 … =( A pretty high number (and pretty far to go), but I’m going to get to it! (btw is this where we post so y’all can track it?)
I would like to join the Yakezie Challenge. My current Alexa rank is: 361,684 world; 61,816 US. I hope to get below 200,000 within the next 6 months.
Welcome to the Challenge! With an Alexa ranking of already 361,000, shoot for sub 150,000 in 6 months!
See you around.
Working hard on it! In two weeks, my alexa score has dropped to 326,297. US is 53,522!
I did not realized that writing a post on my blog that I joined yakezie challenge is one of the requirements. I will have to post this soon. Thanks for sharing all the requirements for the yakezie challenger. It was unclear in terms of the requirements on the yakezie site so I was not sure what I needed to be doing. This is a very helpful post.
By the way… Is there a time limit to writing a post on my blog announcing about my yakezie challenge? Thanks, again.
I’m a new guy and have no ranking yet. The sound you hear is the sound of my knees knocking together.
It all depends on when you announced you joined the Challenge on your site, and whether you’ve developed enough relationships.
Congrats on breaking 200K though!
I knew nothing about this months ago and had a ranking of 10 million. Hurts to even say it. I have only recently started to focus or refocus my attention on ranking and now I am 5 million. Gotta make some more changes but hey I am in the middle of the crowd now.
Question? Can my personal site (which is my personal blog) get in the challenge?
Sure Jai.
The Challenge is open to everyone!
Thanks for taking the time to get back to me. I will be coming back real soon.
Hi everyone,
Well I feel like I’m a little late to this party, but I’m excited to join this group and meet everyone :) I’m kicking myself for not joining months ago. I just posted my intro to joining Yakezie.
Look forward to meeting lots of new people, and some familiar faces from FinCon11 as well. Feel free to drop by and say hello.
Alexa Rank 392,241
Cheers
Avrom
I’m up for the challenge and excited to become a part of this growing community! My Alexa Rank is currently: 1,231,576.
I have decided to take the challenge. A lot of my fellow bloggers are members and they have nothing but good things to say about it. I look forward to being an active member in the community. My Alexa Rank is 5,031,011.
I’m in! I’m up for the challenge and look forward to becoming a part of this growing community.
Current Alexa Rank: 938,563
Welcome Kanwal! I’ve seen you around Twitter for a while now.
Good luck getting to know everyone!
Hi there,
I’m up for the challenge. Just started my blog. Hope to be a full member in six months time.
Loving this community so far and I’m pretty sure I’ve only scratched the surface.
Current Alexa Rank: 13,158,677 so I’ve a long way to go. Wish me luck.
Ok I’ve joined! i guess I’ve tossed around the idea long enough. Only problem is there is no Alex toolbar for a Mac…I’ll deal manually I guess!
The Alexa toolbar is not PC or Mac related. I have a Mac.
Good luck! I know you will find the solution with Google!
Download mozilla firefox and then you can get the alexa toolbar!!
I’m in. My rank right now is 15,920,114. Long way to go.
I’ll throw my hat into the ring! Right now my Alexa rank is 5,028,379 :( Getting under 200,000 in 6 months might take a miracle, but I’m going for it!
I am in!!! My current Alexa rating is 4,115,670. I am excited to take part in this goal and bring another level of excitement to my blog!
6,204,728. I take it the more often you blog and participate, the lower the score gets and the lower the better? Sorry, newbie question! Already blogging a lot though and honored to join the challenge.
Yep, the better you write, and the more content you produce, and the more people you get to know, the better everything is!
Sam,
I just made the plunge and became a proud member. I look forward to 1) writing quality content and 2) to selflessly help other blogger friends in this network.
Shilpan
Sorry, I forgot to mention that my current Alexa rank is 1,974,471.
After going back and forth on this, I’m going to go ahead and join the challenge.
currently has an Alexa rank of 1,721,224 and 151,636 in the US.
I’m going to give this a try, although my blog is just getting off of the ground, after starting it two weeks ago. My current Alexa ranking is 13,358,157, so I have a long ways to go, but its worth a shot! My blog is at JamesPetzke.com, and it is about my journey to graduate college with a surplus instead of a debt.
I joined the Yakezie Challenge today. I have had my blog live since February 5. I have learned alot so far and I am just barely touching the tip of the ice berg…I cant wait to see where I am at in 6 months…Eeeek my current alexa ranking is 20,912,107..Remember I just joined Monday so go easy on me :-)
Hi Sam,
We joined the Yakezie Challenge today and I’m so excited! I’ve wanted to join forever, but just now worked up the gumption to do it. Our Alexa Rank is 381,905, the badge is on, and the announcement post is up! (I included links to Yakezie and you, and quoted you; hope that’s o.k.?) I’ll be headed over to the Yakezie Challengers Forum shortly, and I can’t wait to connect with members I’ve already met and new ones as well. Thanks so much for founding this, it’s a great project! Alright, I’m done gushing:)
I can tell by the quality of sites on the top-100 list that you have an amazing group here, Sam. I put the Yakezie banner on my site last week, and would like to officially join the challenge with this post.
Our website is
Our Alexa rating today is 1,029,249..
Which is about half of where we were a week ago :)
I just joined the Yakezie challenge. My current Alexa rank is 12,133,061. So it looks like I have nowhere but up to go.
I’ve just jointed the Yakezie challenge with my personal finance blog Mo’ Money Mo’ Houses (www.momoneymohouses.com) and I’m currently sitting at Alexa global rank #3,632,067. I started my blog in mid-December 2011 so it’s still fairly new, but I’m excited to see that number not look like my parents are the only people who visit my site. I’ll have a post announcing me joining the challenge early next week.
I am very excited to join this challenge. Like Jai mentioned above, I knew nothing about this group until started following other PF sites back in December. I joined last Saturday with a brand new blog and an Alexa of “nothing”. Today, a week later, my Alexa is 1,633,930. That is due to everyone’s support. Thanks!
My new challenger post is
I joined just 3 weeks ago and already dropped my Alexa from over 1 million to under 500k, thanks for creating this challenge Sam!
Joining right now – Alexa Ranking: 584,881
Hoping less than 100,000 by the end of 6 months. If anyone is interested in swapping articles, especially about real estate — let me know!
Good luck Drew! What type of real estate are you into, and how long have you been doing it?
Welcome to the Challenge!
I joined the challenge! My alexa ranking is currently at 3,835, 763 and I will be posting about it tomorrow morning! So excited to watch that number go down and make some great connections
Hooray, I just joined right now!!!
I’m not so new to blogging, but totally new to personal finance. My new blog – Woman’s Guide to Investing and Financial Freedom is actually attached to my main lifestyle blog, which is already at 131,813 with Alexa. My main goal is to get to know other bloggers and become a full fledged member of Yakezie!
I was going to wait until I finished this semester, but then I thought what the heck. I’m joining the Yakezie Challenge today with an Alexa score of 1,282,896. Eek!
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day everyone. What better way to celebrate than joining the challenge. My current Alexa rank is 3,304,795. I look forward to working with all the fantastic bloggers on this site. Thank you for this opportunity.
Hi Guys,
I’m sooooooo excited to be joining the challenge. My Alexa ranking is currently 4,505,843….that’s much better than my previous ranking of 15,613,649′! So I’m gaining momentum. I’m looking forward to learning a lot and making new friends. Come check me out at http://www.mytakeonmoney.com
Welcome! Make sure you try and get to know about 30 members and challengers in the next 6 months!
Hello everyone, I’m now on board with the Yakezie Challenge! My Alexa ranking currently stands at: 7,528,209…..so plenty of room for improvement, but I’m always up for a challenge! I’ve been PF blogging through Objective Wealth for around 6 weeks now, and have seen the Yakezie badges quite a lot on other blogs, so I don’t want to miss out on the action! Looking forward to making great gains over the next 6 months and beyond. Thanks for having me.
Yes! I’m excited to finally get started. My global ranking is 796,511! It’s about time I joined in on this amazing and awesome challenge.
After a few weeks of blogging, I’m officially joining the challenge. My Alexa ranking is currently at 2,519,000 and like many have said before me, there’s only one direction to go.
I’ve been helping investors for a decade now, but I’ve only been blogging at AllthingsFinance.net for 3 weeks. I’m looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead and the people I’ll meet along the way.
Just signed up my relatively new blog to take on the challenge! Looking forward to seeing if I can maintain the level of consistency needed to succeed. My Alexa ranking is currently “no data”. Does it take a few days before a ranking is generated? Or are sites not ranked if traffic is too low?
In any case, I’m also looking forward to meeting other members and challengers. Best of luck to you all!
W00t! Signed up a few weeks ago, and I’m right at 1,000,000. Here’s to dropping to 200,000 in the next few months!
Just joined the challenge and I am pumped! I have been writing consistently for 1 month and I am ready to take it to the next level. Thanks for putting together this challenge and for bringing together the personal finance community. Check out my blog at https://www.WellKeptWallet.com. I would love to hear your comments and feedback!
Hi Sam and Everyone, I just joined Yakezie and will announce the challenge on my blog (www.TravelByPoints.com) tonight. Looking forward to completing the challenge and becoming a part of this wonderful community!
Sorry, I forgot to say that my current Alexa ranking was 623,318, and am looking forward to breaking 200,000 with the Yakezie Challenge!
Cool. You can join as a lifestyle blogger!
I’m up for the challenge! and a challenge it will be….
https://moolamind.com/
Alexa Rank: 5,612,797
Special thanks to Andrea from for inviting me!
You’ll move up fast. I recall mine was something like 18,000,000 just a few months ago.
I joined the challenge yesterday. Current rank 825,151 at https://livetheneweconomy.com. Looking forward to meeting our goals and helping others to reach theirs!
Finally trying to give this challenge a go.. Current Alexa rank 1,095,164..
Here’s hoping to meeting the challenge and an another reason to celebrate for 2013 New Years!!..
My badge is up and I’m ready for the challenge. My current Alexa rank is 17,899,725 on my brand new blog.
I’m looking forward to joining this great community!
About to start the Yakezie challenge! Super excited!! Current rank: 258,571!!! Looking forward to meeting new members!!!
Scratch that, I’m more of a humble 2,428,646. I have a looooooooooooong way to go ;)
Welcome to the Challenge! Check out the Yakezie Epsilon Application page to get a sense of more thoughts towards the end of the process.
Good luck!
I just joined the Yakezie Challenge! I’m ready to write some epic content :)
My Alexa ranking is currently at 871,822. I just installed the toolbar and badge and I’m going to head over to the forums right now. Let’s do some work!
-Harry @ PF Pro
Officially joining the Yakezie Challenge today. My current Alexa rank is 1,178,184. Goal is to get it under 200,000 by February 18th, 2013.
Installed the toolbar, badge, and added the Alexa widget to my site (making this public is a great idea, I know I will be motivated knowing that visitors to my site will see my ranking).
Heading over to the forums now.
Thanks for putting this challenge together. I think it’s the kind of motivator that can really help me bring my site to another level.
-DC @ Young Adult Money
Good to see you decided to join DC! I’ve subscribed to your blog and left a comment on your post that went up today.
Thanks! I’m really looking forward to the challenge. It should keep me focused and committed to continually improving Y.A.M.
I will be joining this challenge tonight, adding my website, to the mix. My site is currently sitting at 1,562,076 (after jumping from around 9.6M last month after I installed the Alexa toolbar).
My goal is to break the 1M mark by the end of September, and the 500K mark by the end of December.
-A.M.
I’m officially joining the challenge right here, right now.
I just barely launched my website, https://www.CompoundCapitalist.com, yesterday. I’m sitting pretty at an Alexa rank of 11,457,761. I definitely have a long way to go to breach the 200k mark, but I say bring it on!
I’m hoping to break 5M by the end of September, 1M by the end of November, 500k by the end of January 2013, and be in the 200k region by March of 2013.
I’m definitely excited about this network, and happy to be here.
Brandon Kasteler – Compound Capitalist
Welcome and good luck!
Thanks, Sam! I appreciate it!
Well, let’s see if I can break the 10M barrier before the end of the month. Although I’m really hoping to get below 8M before the end of the month!
I’ve got to start writing more articles.
I’m currently at 13,388,081 and my first blog post was just over 3 weeks ago.
Just joined the challenge. Current Alexa: 754,321
I just joined the Yakezie challenge. Current Alexa ranking: no rank. I suppose any improvement will be a huge improvement from that.
I just joined the challenge. Current Alexa ranking: 5,872,956. I’ve got a ways to go! I’ve enjoyed reading the blogs of other challengers, so I’m excited to join the ranks.
I am joining the challenge. Current Alexa rank is 232,826. I’ve been blogging for about four months and was pleasantly surprised it’s already in the 200,000. My goal is to get below 200,000 in the next six months. Wheeee!
Welcome and good luck! Just make sure you have a lot of fun!
I’m in. I’m starting from scratch with a blog that has less than a dozen posts on it. My alexa ranking is N/A. Excited to connect with you all and learn from you as we grow our blogs together!
I am joining officially on Monday 10/08 and will be posting on my site as such. I’ve been blogging for a month and looking forward to the challenge. My current Alexa rank is 293,812, looking forward to seeing that get below 200k.
I’m also joining, why not give myself a goal!? Good luck!
Awesome! I feel the same way. Looking forward to seeing what’s in store. Good luck to you as well.
I’m back! I’m excited to go through the process a second time with a new niche.
There are so many familiar faces here that I’ve decided to take the challenge. After just over a month my rank is currently 1,324,202. My goal is to reach 200,000 by April fool’s day.
Good luck to all.
I registered on Yakezie yesterday and posted my challenge post today. I am ready for the challenge and I know it will keep me motivated. I am more excited about the networking opportunities. I think this challenge is a great way to get in touch with other successful PF bloggers. My current rank is 2,725,574 and I hope to be down below 200k by March.
Starting today. Alexa is 597.941. Want to get below 200,000 by January.
Starting with the challenge today. My alexa rank is just around 500K
Just registered at the Yakezie forum and published our challenge post! I think this is a great way not only to network, but to stay accountable with daily posts and such. Current rank is 4,204,602 globally, and 369,434 in the US. Hoping to hit 200K by April-May!
OK, good luck Anna! Check out the forums to get to know 30 or more folks during your six months.
Joining the Yakezie challenge today to start the new year off right. My current Alexa Rank is 552,961 for my site at wealthnote.com. I am looking forward to meeting new friends, and making a difference in the lives of others.
Thinking about joining the club here. I have a website (www.sjfpc.com—1,160,000alexa) and a blog alexa) adding content when I can. Tax season is approaching so I am not sure I can give all the time required. I guess I should join under my blog, where I write less technical articles, but not sure. Any thoughts on this?
Your blog makes more sense as we are a blogging network. thx
I think I did it; joined via my blog. thanks
Hi everyone. I wanted to update that my now has an Alexa rank of 319,000 and my https://frommtaxes.wordpress.com has a rank of 261,000. That is quite a change from last year at this time.
I wanted to join the Challenge but my problem is that I am not able to post two to three times a week. My law practice allows me to only post about once a month. So how can I be more involved with this limitation?
One question: Can Twitter have an adverse impact on Alexa rankings in that the bounce rate may increase? I cannot figure out Alexa as I have gotten a lot more traffic to my blog from my recent posts but my ranking went down about 30,000. Cannot figure this out.
Thanks for any response you may have to these issues.