A-List Bloggers Making Excuses For BlogRush

No doubt you have heard of BlogRush by now.
The hype-train for BlogRush hit a frenzied pace as many of the most well-known bloggers were posting about the new service intended to drive targeted traffic to your blog.
Many of the “B through Z-list” bloggers recognized how the A-list bloggers were advertising the service and building up their referral number so they jumped on board with their own posts. But now that the service has actually launched, I’ve seen a few of the top bloggers trying to rationalize why the traffic numbers are not what they expected.

Poor Headlines

Two of the more well-known bloggers that I read on a regular basis have both indicated that the traffic from BlogRush has been quite a bit less than they expected. In both cases, one possible excuse explanation is that the headlines have been less than enticing.
Darren Rowse from ProBlogger says,

Now that could have something to do with my headlines (although I try to write engaging ones)

John Chow echoes the same sentiment when he said,

Mind you, part of the reason for the low click rate is my fault. I haven’t been using the most captivating headlines for my last few posts.

I’ve been reading both ProBlogger and John Chow dot Com for quite some time and I would not lump them into the category of bloggers that use poor headlines. Is it a coincidence that they both just happened to start writing poor headlines during the launch of BlogRush?
Not likely.

Location of Widget

Both Darren and John also make reference to the location of the BlogRush widget as a possible explanation for the extremely low click-through-rate.
Darren mentions,

…however I suspect it also has something to do with the positioning that a lot of bloggers are using for the widget. I’ve seen a lot of widgets low on pages where I suspect they’ll rarely be seen by readers – let alone clicked.

John relays the same thought when he said,

Another reason for the low click rate is many bloggers are placing the widget in low click sections of their blogs.

The location of the widget seems like a very valid explanation to me. Many bloggers are going to stick the BlogRush widget in an unobtrusive location that is not likely to bring many clicks. While they will be receiving a substantial number of credits and impressions with BlogRush, I suspect the CTR will remain extremely low if the widgets remain relatively hidden.

Is BlogRush a Flop?

While I do not have plans to jump on the BlogRush train at this time, I wouldn’t classify it as a flop because it is still very early in the game. The people at BlogRush will likely try to make their own improvements and bloggers will make their own tweaks to try and improve their CTR.
Time will tell whether or not BlogRush will be successful. One popular blogger, Andy Beal, has given the BlogRush widget 24 hours to prove itself before he removes it from his site.
I’ll admit that I was almost caught up in the hype and wanted to sign up and begin advertising the service here to try and rack up a few referrals. But now that I see A-List bloggers making what I consider to be excuses as to why the traffic from BlogRush is nearly non-existent has made me feel like maybe I haven’t missed anything.
What do you think?