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Introduction
It's amazing how the phenomenon of blogging has exploded into popular culture. And, as the popularity of blogs grew by leaps and bounds, so did the sheer volume of blogs. Each day, thousands more are added, to the point that it has become virtually impossible to get a handle on which blogs do a good job of covering any single topic.
This site is our attempt to make sense of the Blogosphere. Not only do we aggregate blog entries from a wide variety of bloggers, but we also enable the audience to vote on their favorite posts.
Benefit to Bloggers:
- JBlog Central introduces your blog to a new readership and provides feedback on each of your posts.
- Each new blog post will automatically receive multiple links back to your site.
- Being on JBlog Central is like running a commercial to make people more familiar with your blog's name and what it's about.
- Posts that are rated highly among our readers are automatically placed right on our home page, which multiplies all the other benefits.
- Being on JBlog Central can provide you with a better understanding of how readers react to the different topics you write about.
- JBlog Central provides you with real-time information on each of your posts.
- JBlog Central provides you with a convenient viewpoint of other blogger's posts, and how the audience perceives them.
- JBlog Central introduces you to other bloggers, and vice-versa, making you part of a community and making it more likely for other bloggers to blogroll you.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- How Do We Decide Which Blogs to Include in Our Service?
We currently include several hundred Jewish and Israeli blogs.
In general, we include most blogs that are Jewish-oriented or pro-Israeli in the conventional sense. We
try to avoid blogs that promote hate, illegal activities, adult content, etc. But we cannot guarantee
that we will be 100% successful at our attempts to avoid such content. We rely on our readers to report
content that is clearly inappropriate, but we cannot promise that we can act on those reports as quick
ly as some readers would like. We reserve the right to include or exclude any specific blog at our sole
discretion.
- How Do We Get the Content from Blogs?
We only provide content that the respective blog owners specifically put on a syndication feed on their sites or on a syndication service. The blog owners control exactly which content and how much of it they place into their syndication feeds. We have no control over the content that blog owners provide. They alone control the syndication of their content, and they maintain all rights to their content.
For example, a blogger can decide to only put their headlines and links on their syndication feed, or a blogger can decide to put their headlines, links and posts (partial or complete) on their RSS feed.
- Will My Traffic Increase?
It is likely that a blog's traffic will increase, because each post receives multiple links back to the original blog. It is also likely that, as a result of those links, the blog's search engine ranking will increase, which produces more traffic flowing into the blog from search engines.
However, the primary benefit of being on JBlog Central is having your blog read by a larger audience than would otherwise read it, and getting feedback on each post.
- Won't some people prefer to read my blog here rather than on my site?
While a good starting point, JBlog Central does not offer the unique visitor experience that your blog does. JBlog Central also does not offer all the content your blog does -- it only showcases what you choose to put on your RSS feed.
That's why favorite blogs are always an attraction for readers, far beyond an RSS feed aggregation service like JBlog Central. We're good at some things, but we do not provide the experience of an original blog.
- How much of my posts should I put on my RSS feed?
Statistically speaking, blogs that syndicate more of their posts, are rated more highly by our audience.
An extensive analysis of ratings shows that full posts are rated highest.
However, since you may change your RSS feed settings at any time through your own blog software, you have as much flexibility as your own system will allow.
- Is there a charge to use this service?
No. Being listed on JBlog Central is free of charge.
- What is the motivation behind JBlog Central?
JBlog Central is a non-commercial, volunteer-based service with time, effort, and resources donated to it by the management of IsraelForum.com, which was established approximately 6 years ago and has become a popular, well-known pro-Israel advocacy forum. It is also run by volunteers and is a non-commercial service, as is JBlog Central.
The goal of JBlog Central is to give a high-quality publishing and publicity tool to JBloggers, free of charge, in response to the overwhelming amount of anti-Semitism found on the Web.
- What if I want to discontinue my listing at JBlog Central?
You decide whether or not to publish your RSS feed, and can change your mind at any time. Simply use your own blog software to change your RSS (or ATOM) feed settigns to stop publishing a syndication feed altogether, or to publish a headlines-only feed. Once you discontinue your syndication feed, JBlog Central and other aggregators' software will automatically know that you no longer wish to syndicate your content. There is no need to notify us when you discontinue your feed, because our software is largely automatic.
- Sounds Good! How to I get lisetd?
It's easy. Click Here to add your blog, or use the 'Add a Blog' Link located at the top of the page.
How the Rating System Works
New blog entries are posted on the front page. Readers and blog owners are invited to read, then rate each entry. A 'rating' is a vote of confidence. By default, each post receives an initial rating, based on certain characteristics of the post. The audience is then invited to rate each post as it pleases.
An average rating for each entry is calculated as follows: Total score divided by the total number of votes. For example, if one reader rates an entry a '4', and another reader rates that entry a '1', then the average rating is 2.5.
A total score is calculated as the sum of all ratings for that entry. For example, if one reader rates an entry a '4' and another rates that same entry a '2', then the total score is 6.
It's that simple.
We also take the cumulative data for all entries for a particular source and calculate an overall average rating for that source. By 'source' we mean blog or news feed.
Ratings range from 0 to 5 stars. Zero is worst, five is best. Each reader may vote once a day for any particualr article and may rate as many articles as s/he wishes to read.
Which entries get displayed prominently on the front page?
The front page gives prominence to the entries that have the highest total score.
How can I increase my blog's ratings?
1. The best way, of course, is to produce content that readers will enjoy reading.
2. After uploading a new entry on your blog, come here and vote on it.
3. Invite your blog readers to vote on your entries. Add a link following your posts, where you would place keyword tags, or link to Technorati, etc. The best way to create a link is to find the page URL of your blog entry, and link to it directly. This is the most effective way to quickly raise the level of interest in your entry. For Example:
JBlog Me
The code for the example above:
<a href='http://www.israelforum.com/blog_article.php?aid=91894'>JBlog Me</a>
Of course, you can make the link and the code as fancy as you like, depending on your knowledge of HTML. This is just a simple (and effective) example.
What if someone consistently gives a particular blog low ratings, or consistently gives their own blog high ratings?
Any blogger or site visitor may rate any particular post as they see fit, whether it is in their own blog or the blogs of others. We encourage bloggers to participate in rating posts, because they are often the best judges of quality and can point out their best posts or those of others.
To help ensure that the voting is conducted fairly, we use specialized software to record and analyze certain technical information about each vote as it enters our system, and we can detect voting activity that is outside the norm. We set strict limits on how often any visit or can vote on any particular post, and we display a detailed history of activity for each and every post in our system. Our system is transparent and all site visitors have access to the voting information in real-time, 24/7.
Since we began operating in June, 2006, we have found that deliberate low ratings and self-promotional ratings tend to balance out each other, and they account for a very small portion of the total votes, although this phenomenon tends to be an annoying byproduct of an open community-based voting system. Still, the advantages of community participation far outweigh any downside.
Is there an error in your blog's listing, or do you need to contact us for some other reason?
Contact us here.
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