The Benefits of Risk and Reward – Tricking The YoungestBlogger System for Traffic
Posted on January 22nd, 2009 by Jim under Market Research, ObservationsRecently, I had a huge burst of traffic on tailwinds coming in from one website in particular. The website is called “Youngest Blogger,” and it is one of many ranking 
websites for the best bloggers on the internet. This one features a list of bloggers under the age of 18, so in general these bloggers are very much the overachiever type.
I’m not under the age of 18.
This is a disclaimer, haha, because what I decided to do was literally trick the system to see what would happen. The downside? Five seconds of my life lost, and I would probably be blocked from a list that I could never get on in the first place. The upside? My fifteen minutes of fame! Hmmm… well it doesn’t take a Quantitative Risk Analyst to understand that the upside FAR outweighs the downside risk.
What I Did to Exploit Huge Traffic
Okay, so I come across a website that is claiming to rank the “top bloggers under 18″… and it sounds like something I would be interested in. Naturally, because I am over the age of 18, this would be a website that I just passed by. However, there is in fact a manual submission system in place that allows you to enter your age and website on my own. (evil thoughts) 
Hmm… so they are going to allow me to choose my own age, eh? Excellent. I think that I will be 15 years old today. This is exactly what I did after checking with the terms of service. While I am sure that Carl O’Cab (the owner) would have loved for me to only support accurate age information, the last time I checked, I am not legally bound to give away my birth date to strangers. 
At any rate, the worst that can happen is being banned from the website… which I could care less about if I have my link placed, right?
This system is actually still in place, and the owner Carl O’Cab obviously doesn’t check through submissions… because I submitted theNetFool.com as being my blog, run by a 15 year old. It got approved quickly, and stayed in the #1 slot for a few weeks… taking traffic and subscribers along with it. I got around 50 hits a day from this site alone (in its prime). I’m sure that the website isn’t doing as well as it was when it first came out… but traffic is traffic, and it took me 5 seconds to rake in hundreds of unique visitors.
What is Unethical, and What is Just Plain Smart?
So this entire experiment begs the question… was I being completely unethical to do something like this, or just a bit smarter than your average bear? This is debatable, but I like to think that I am a very ethical candidate. So, yes, I cheated the YoungestBlogger.com system and gained a #1 ranking despite the fact that I was nowhere near the age of 15 anytime recently. Some might applaud this, and some might frown upon it. At any rate, this is something that I knew would never hurt anyone… and at bare minimum would keep ol’ Carl on his toes so others don’t do this with malicious intent. 
If I was REALLY smart, I would have done this with an affiliate blogging website to get traffic to that location fast and easy. Maybe you will go and do this after reading? But I encourage you to refrain from doing so. This was more of an experiment on my part to see whether or not a simple submission could benefit my website in a major way.
My conclusion? Always, and I mean always, shoot for the win in situations like these. If you come across a ranking system that allows for manual submissions… why not give it a shot? What’s the least that can happen. By maintaining the risk/reward understanding, you can run a much more successful blog. I’m interested to know where your stance is on the issue… was it unethical, or smart? You be the judge.
-The Net Fool
Disclaimer: This post was meant as an example case, and nothing against Carl O’Cab, who runs a terrific service which I encourage you to use ethically and legally
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Yeah I noticed that too.
How can a Penn State undergrad be under-18? Must a real genius.
Great tactics you are using in blogging Jim. I was also told to just decrease my age while giving the age. But as I am still below 18 I gave the accurate one.
Probably Taking risks sometimes when you think that it would benefit you, can be no where wrong. The tactics you used might be a lesson for those who don’t take risks on any occasion.
I must say that is a pretty genius idea. The funny thing is that I actually saw you listed on there and thought it was true!
I saw your name and age there…. the first thing i thought was this guy (Carl) doesn’t know Jim very well… lool off course i thought it was carl who made the list…
I don’t mind people cheating a website or going into grey area.
I do find it annoying when people say they’re a genius for it.
What’s the point of this article? Go around dropping your link everywhere?
Hahha, now that was great !
Indeed smart ! Without much thinking, I would probably quit that site. Good thinking…
Cheers.
You unethical bastard… but at the same time, you unethical genius! LOL! Honestly, I’ve exploited a few systems and sites like this as well but instead, I think I’ll keep the secret a hush hush for me!
Jay
Even though it’s hilarious what you did, there really isn’t any point in adding affiliate links on that page, the people that go on there are simply going there to see the top youngest bloggers not pay for a service which is what you usually have to do with an affiliate offer.
Nice work, you are slick brother.
What a great post you are so smart. I got smart blogging tips here
Ya i also think that you got befit if you take risk, their is two side of coin like that same way benefit and risk in business, if u are not ready for risk then you can’t get benefit, and i also hear that, a leading market research company in China have decided to focus on resources on high margin broadcast business with a particular focus on sports,” said Ms. Fredy Bush, XFMedia CEO. ”We believe this transaction provides the best environment for both XFMedia and Hyperlink to achieve a new level of success.”
That is funny that you made a post about this because I am listed on this list to and I am over 18 years old. They automatically put me on this list because the previous owner was 15 years old.
This evil move reminds of John Chow, lol, I for one do not blame you Jim, whatever works.
I agree its a wise move but let me share my 2 cents with it.
I think everytime you put yourself/your blog on risks there is always a punishment and a reward waiting. But one thing most of us don’t actually see are the other consequences that aren’t that noticeable. So basically you could not blame anyone for thinking what you did was lame. You put your blog there, and yes the image of your blog so I guess most people who don’t actually follow you that much would feel terrible for what you did and in my opinion its like putting your brand out there and getting an exposure in a negative way, a way that “may not be” good…
Eh, I feel that my blog is so blatantly non-negative in nature that anything like this will simply be recorded as clever marketing techniques. Who knows, you could be very much correct! I like to mix it up every once and awhile… because sounding like a robot is never a good idea
Nice post. Who really cares about under or over 18 in the blogosphere, atleast i don’t.
Haha that is funny. Whatever works huh?
Actually I see about 35% of them in the list not really below 18.
Not so ethical… but then… we are not angels in heaven too lol
That is a great tactic, It looks like you got a lot of traffic from it. If they really care about it, they should check your real age before they approve sites
Hi Jim,
Are you becoming the next John Chow? LOL. It seems a fair smart move, I guess it will be a very difficult to sptop people to go there and pretend to be less than 18 and even harder if told people not to go, thats like saying GO Now, I guess its human nature going against rules, lol.
Thats pretty clever Jim. I submitted my site too but for some reason it hasn’t even been put up yet lol.
Pretty clever. Although not very ethical but who cares?
Sneaky sneaky catchy monkey haha, but in all seriousness i dont think you did anything particularly wrong. I’d wager a few of the top ten sites aren’t owned by people under 18.