In September I extrapolated from Tim Selwyn's Tumeke Blog rankings, and published the top 10 New Zealand Christian blogs on public discourse. The post where I did this proved surprisingly popular and as other bloggers have since requested that I do this every month, I have decided that I will.
At the moment I rank the top 10 as these fall in the top 150 of all NZ blogs on public discourse but if more Christian blogs climb the public lists then I will expand my list accordingly.
I think it is only fair that I explain how I identify a Christian Blog as some blogs that are run by Christians did not make my list. It is simple. To be a Christian Blog you must self-identify that your blog contributes to the public blogosphere from an overtly Christian perspective and this must be recorded on Tumeke's stats. In other words, and because I don't have the time to replicate what Tim Selwyn does, you can't have it both ways, you cannot appear on Tumeke's stats as seemingly secular or "neutral" and then quietly pop up on mine as Christian; a Christian, by definition, does not hide their faith.
That's not to say there is anything wrong with a Christian running a blog on public discourse who chooses to not make their blog a Christian blog. If someone does not wish to overtly identify their blog as a Christian blog it does not make them any less a Christian as everything they write will naturally be coloured from their faith anyway and ultimately it is their choice as to what format their blog takes and how they pitch it to the blogosphere.
Likewise, it is my choice as to which ones I will rank and it is easier and seems to me more fitting to rank the overtly Christian blogs.
How to Make the Rankings
To rank the top 10 Christian blogs I wait for the monthly blog rankings to come out, usually towards the end of the following month, then I run a search for terms such as 'Christian', 'Christianity', 'Theology', 'Faith'. Any blogs that come up with those terms then get listed in the order that Tumeke ranks them.
As such, if you wish your blog to feature in the top NZ Christian Blog Rankings do not contact me, rather observe the following as to make my rankings you have to be on Tim's Tumeke rankings, if you think your blog meets the criteria, e.g. is NZ related and focussed on public discourse, then:
At the moment I rank the top 10 as these fall in the top 150 of all NZ blogs on public discourse but if more Christian blogs climb the public lists then I will expand my list accordingly.
I think it is only fair that I explain how I identify a Christian Blog as some blogs that are run by Christians did not make my list. It is simple. To be a Christian Blog you must self-identify that your blog contributes to the public blogosphere from an overtly Christian perspective and this must be recorded on Tumeke's stats. In other words, and because I don't have the time to replicate what Tim Selwyn does, you can't have it both ways, you cannot appear on Tumeke's stats as seemingly secular or "neutral" and then quietly pop up on mine as Christian; a Christian, by definition, does not hide their faith.
That's not to say there is anything wrong with a Christian running a blog on public discourse who chooses to not make their blog a Christian blog. If someone does not wish to overtly identify their blog as a Christian blog it does not make them any less a Christian as everything they write will naturally be coloured from their faith anyway and ultimately it is their choice as to what format their blog takes and how they pitch it to the blogosphere.
Likewise, it is my choice as to which ones I will rank and it is easier and seems to me more fitting to rank the overtly Christian blogs.
How to Make the Rankings
To rank the top 10 Christian blogs I wait for the monthly blog rankings to come out, usually towards the end of the following month, then I run a search for terms such as 'Christian', 'Christianity', 'Theology', 'Faith'. Any blogs that come up with those terms then get listed in the order that Tumeke ranks them.
As such, if you wish your blog to feature in the top NZ Christian Blog Rankings do not contact me, rather observe the following as to make my rankings you have to be on Tim's Tumeke rankings, if you think your blog meets the criteria, e.g. is NZ related and focussed on public discourse, then:
- Check to see if your blog currently features in Tumeke's stats.
- If it does not, or if it is not described correctly, then contact Tim Selwyn and provide the following information:
Blog Title and Blog Address
Very short description as to what your blog is about (less than 8 words)
The name of each blogger
The general ideological position of each blogger e.g. right, left, centre
The specific ideological position or political affiliation or religion of each blogger - Check your site is listed with Alexa, if it is not, take 5 minutes and register it - click the link and type your blog address into "lookup website" then add your site info. You don't have to download the toolbar or place a widget on your site though doing this will help your stats rise. (Tim's formula uses your Alexa ranking)
- Is your site is listed with Technorati? If it is not, take 5 minutes to register and claim it - click the link, create an account, add and claim your blog. You do not have to do anything else though adding a widget will help your stats to rise. (Tim's formula uses your Technorati incoming links)
- If you make the Top NZ Christian Blog list put one of these buttons on your site pointing to this link:
- Put a good free stat counter on your blog, set it to both not count your visits and to count uniques and email Tim your stats for the relevant month he is working on. (This step is not vital, but if you don't do this, Tim will rely on Alexa's unique count for your blog or he will assign you a guestimate and this may not be accurate.)
- Make sure you link to MandM (ok well, links to MandM are not part of Tim's formula but think how cool your blog will be!)
Now, climbing the rankings is another story entirely and while the net is full of ways to aid this the best way to climb the rankings is to make sure your content is interesting.
One problem/qualifier/quibble: Tumeke ranks political blogs, so you're really ranking christian political blogs.
ReplyDeleteSee Tumeke's criteria
ReplyDeleteHe ranks NZ blogs that engage in public discourse.
Elsewhere he states "A comprehensive list ranking of New Zealand political and news blogs"
I am ranking the overtly Christian blogs that feature in Tumeke's rankings.
Thanks for the detailed instructions, although already on the list I hadn't signed up to technorati or alexa yet, or got a decent stat counter, so have made some good improvements to my blog. Thanks for the image too, I'll put it up sometime shortly.
ReplyDeleteMr Dennis, I am so glad to see that you will not be hanging up your blog because of the election result like so many others have.
ReplyDeleteNo justification to stop now, we've just had a hard Left / socially "liberal" government replaced with a slightly left mildly socially "liberal" government that is doing its best not to listen to the only 5 right-wing seats it has! Sure it's a change for the better, anything would have been, but there's a long way to go yet.
ReplyDeleteI won't be giving up the politics. I'll try not to give up the blogging - but it is a distraction from my real work!
Who has stopped blogging because of the election result?
Roar Prawn, Hooton, The Hive, Christ Trotter, to name a few have quit blogging in the wake of the election.
ReplyDeleteHi MandM,
ReplyDeleteI've just asked Tumeke to add my blog to his rankings - so keep an eye out next time :)
Ok, and just remembered, I should update your link!!!
Regards.
Will do Andy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for attending to the link. Each time the stats come out Tim is not counting the links from each of the blogs you are associated with that link to us because they point to the wrong site so we are sitting lower in the rankings than we should be.