The veteran Internet Marketer known as John Reese has recently launched BlogRush, a blog-specific web2.0 widget which syndicates blog publicity across it’s network. It’s raised some debate among a number of bloggers and more importantly, how effective is it?

The idea is that each BlogRush widget displayed earns you a syndication credit, which in turn earns you a reciprocal ‘widget view’ on another blog within your category. As far as I’m aware, traffic is NOT guaranteed. You’d still need to put some effort to come up with a great headline and quality content.

What’s blogging maestro Jim Kukral’s bone of contention with BlogRush? Read: Don’t Waste Time With BlogRush, It Won’t Work.

Jim’s point about low traffic blogs not benefitting from the network (which functions as a type of exchange) is certainly valid (and likely not to get much traffic)…Unless you’re buying credits as John points out in the comments section of “BlogRush is a smart idea, for John Reese”

BlogRush works well as a cornerstone lead generation for John’s Income project – It builds a huge database of prospects who are pre-qualified as wanting to blog and possibly wanting to make some Internet income.

If anything, BlogRush is the Yahoo! MyBlogLog’s social networking widget blown up to close to its commercial potential.

Rather than adopt the follow-me implementation of BlogCatalog, it’s leaped light years ahead in terms of feeding into the traffic/money making impulse of some bloggers.

The network-marketing element comes in where you build a downline up to 10 generations deep and they help you build traffic in the same way blog traffic syndicator BlogExplosion (of which I’m a member) helps you build credit.

This obviously has had some greedy Internet Marketers foaming at the mouth and firing unrelenting salvoes to their list, pushing the benefit of “free traffic”. [Do note that of the two dimensions – I think traffic quality is much more desirable than traffic quantity alone.] – I don’t have a gripe if you understand it and have actually used it. But as a list owner, if you’re merely promoting it in the hopes of getting traffic and because a big name is promoting it (rather than because you want to help your list members), you’re not putting your lists’ interests first…

While you might certainly get traffic by “doing nothing” as the BlogRush ads claim, I doubt you’d get more than a trickle if you really “do nothing”. You might as well set up a PayPal account and hope that some dummy accidentally transfers funds to the wrong account.

–

So we’re back to looking at BlogRush – It could be worth looking at if you aren’t already active in other communities such as MyBlogLog or PlugIM or BumpZee. I don’t think you should spread yourself further than 3 networks (seems silly to join 10 networks and never have time to participate in any of them actively).

I’d suggest that if you are serious about building your brand and expanding your content distribution, you will get better mileage out of applying to and getting accepted at a top-tier blog network like 9Rules,B5Media, Gawker or one of the established networks listed over at Blog Network List.

Or over at my friend and blogging supremo Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind.

If you’re not willing to put in some effort to generate the right kind of traffic, then I guess it doesn’t really matter which widget you put on your blog…