Steve Rubel discusses the analogy of blogging being like baseball. In a discussion about whether the linking in blogs or the mention in blogs is the more important gold standard. Rubel suggests:
Baseball is a good metaphor here. A blog link/mention combo is like a home run - a four bagger. You get attention, Google Juice, traffic and branding. Blog links without mentions and plain old mentions are like doubles because in either case you get two out of these four bases.
Ahh, but what about RSS? RSS is opt-in and it’s attention. What if you score a blog link/mention combo in a popular feed you know has a high degree of attention among your target audience? Then we’re talking about a Grand Slam, right?
I’m thinking that maybe Rubel is a down and out Yankee fan, but he does hit on a good point in his metaphor.
Steve makes a good distinction that should probably be added to the discussion. RSS is the ultimate in currency in this debate. Sure, it’s great to get mentioned in a post, and it is gravy when the mention in the post includes a link, but the real pinnacle is reached when someone subscribes to your feed and returns. This enables the returning subscriber to read that content and mention/link again and again. Of course, I have been known to swing for the fences.
Surely someone is turning in their grave from that absolutely awful analogy of baseball and blogging — but the conclusion makes sense. The grand slam is when you get a loyal reader and you make some sort of connection with that person’s writing as well.