Yesterday I started a new blog and using a piece of software called RSStoBlog I sat back and watched as it was updated a handful of times with content, based on keywords and phrases I had specified, totally automatically. The content is pulled from search engine results and public domain news feeds for those keywords and phrases.
Today, under 24 hours later, that blog is on the front page of Google for my target key phrase. I have done nothing to promote the blog. I haven’t even added it to my Technorati profile.
The blog is called Jerome Callet and can be found at jeromecallet.com. Jerome Callet is a maverick trumpet designer and high note master.
If you search google.com for Jerome Callet you will see my new blog sitting quite happily at position number five on the first page of the results. Furthermore, in the last 12 hours alone the blog has received 77 unique visitors, all from search engines, all searching for keywords that I specified in RSStoBlog.
77 unique visitors might not seem a lot but if I was to build 10 blogs this week and they all got 77 unique visitors in 12 hours I would, potentially, have over 1500 unique visitors per day. And that is a very attractive amount of traffic. Thats the sort of traffic that can generate a good income if used correctly.
The links that I have left in this post will almost certainly boost the blog’s traffic and page rank. Maybe in the next 12 hours it will attract even more visitors. Time will tell.
As you can see if you visit the Jerome Callet blog it is using a standard wordpress theme with no modification whatsoever. The installation is completely standard Fantastico one click wordpress install hosted at AN Hosting on my existing account.
I have deliberately ignored the ethical debate surrounding this sort of software. If you feel strongly one way or the other then please leave a comment and we can have that debate. From my point of view RSStoBlog can be used responsibly or irresponsibly. It can update a site using freely available news and syndicated content or it can be set to literally steal other blogs and regurgitate their posts. Clearly, one of these is legal and one isn’t. The legal way will allow you to build blogs that create passive traffic and passive income, the illegal way will allow to attract law suits and Google penalties.
I’ll do some further testing on this software and report back when I have a greater amount of data. In the meantime, click here to take a closer look at RSStoBlog.
It just seems a bit pointless, in my humble opinion. Looking at the Jerome Callet blog, I can see a load of rubbish. There are endless links to web pages related to trumpets, which may contain some hidden gems of good web pages but since they are chosen by computer software, what is the point.
This seems to me to be a nifty tool for sploggers. That said, I’m sure that somewhere out there somebody has a worthwhile use for this RSStoBlog thingy.
Josh - You’ve hit the nail on the head. If RSS2Blog can get a site listed in Google and on the front page in under 24 hours then there must be a way to harness it for legitimate purposes.
The Jerome Callet blog was simply an experiment to see if the software did what it said it would. And, as you rightly point out, it’s a mess. Thats because I spent around 10 minutes getting things sorted out and told RSS2Blog to grab anything it liked from a number of free sources. It’s pulling news and search listings from a range of news sites and search engines and linking back. Thats all it’s doing.
But that’s the point I’m trying to make. If I can get almost 100 unique visitors to something so basic in under 24 hours then what can be done with the software if some real thought is put into it?
The feeds allow you to publish their content for non-commercial purposes only. I don’t know if there are some that give you commercial rights also. That would mean you are not allowed to use ads on that site. If that is the case maybe the only way to benefit from it would be to drive the traffic to another site. As Josh said there is a lot rubbish in the results and I think it is unlikely for a user to return to that site or follow a link to an external site from there.
But that’s the point I’m trying to make. If I can get almost 100 unique visitors to something so basic in under 24 hours then what can be done with the software if some real thought is put into it?
Hope that will be your next post, because there have to be some strong reason to pull out $247 from my pocket for RSStoBlog.
ciao
alexander
I just wanted to take the time and look at this specific example to see what the results were and I thought to myself… if I wanted to rank well in google for the term ” Massive Heart Attacks ” then all I really need to do to be on the 1st page is register the domain massiveheartattacks.com .. this alone with a little bit of SEO can easily bring you to top 5 results especially in a really specific niche with little competition.
Blank - Odd as it may seem surfers are very often more likely to click out to a prominent ad faster when they find themselves on an ugly site. Look at Myspace.
Big Blogger - It won’t be the next post but it is something I’m going to work on in the next couple of days. I want to see if RSS2Blog can generate a passive income in a legitimate and legal way. If it can, then it’s a bargain at $247.
OYM - You can do most things “with a little bit of SEO”. The point I’m trying to make is that this blog was up and running, updating and pinging 100% automatically, in under 10 minutes. It took longer to buy the domain name than it did to set it all up. The “little bit of SEO” you speak of would take a little longer than 10 minutes.
@Ashley
Blank - Odd as it may seem surfers are very often more likely to click out to a prominent ad faster when they find themselves on an ugly site. Look at Myspace.
I totally agree, the blog witch up to know has brought me the most earnings with Adsense is ugly and has been thought and design for “clickers” not for returning, loyal readers. Off course I wouldn’t handle so if my goal would be to make money with affiliate links, in that case I would search for loyal returning readers with which I’ve grown my trust and authority.
Big Blogger - It won’t be the next post but it is something I’m going to work on in the next couple of days. I want to see if RSS2Blog can generate a passive income in a legitimate and legal way. If it can, then it’s a bargain at $247.
I’ll wait patiently with a lot of interest :-)
Interesting experiment Ashley. I am using a different piece of software to accomplish something similar, but it does not have the ability to use keyword searches, that sounds pretty attractive.
I can see this being useful for driving traffic to my other sites by including them in the blogroll or banners, but I will be very interested to learn of any technique that can drive a passive income without “using the feed for commercial purposes”.