Bloggers can now extend their reach and engage their audiences by teaming up with other blogs they like.
That’s the premise behind CLIQ, a new blog merchandising platform officially launching today at BlogWorld & New Media Expo. CLIQ is developed by StepChange, a technology consulting services firm, and Offermatica, a targeted content delivery platform.
Members of CLIQ promote each other’s blogs through the CLIQ blog widget, which recommends other popular and related posts from around their CLIQ. Members can control which posts are featured, see reports on how traffic is moving around the CLIQ, and measure which posts are performing the best.
“People who are passionate about their blogs want to promote them, but they also want to maintain control,” said Kevin Tate, co-founder of StepChange. “CLIQ not only gives them a way to promote their content, but it also gives them control over the blogs they choose to team up with to increase readership.”
Since opening its beta program one month ago, over 250 bloggers have started or joined CLIQs around a wide range of topics including “Blogging Parents,” “Portland Web Technology,” “Law Librarian Bloggers,” and “Screenwriting.” Some bloggers are seeing up to 14 percent of their audience shared with other members of their CLIQ.
CLIQ is based on Offermatica’s content relevance engine, and takes advantage of three critical dimensions: social networks, formed by bloggers that share interests; content promotion by each individual blog; and popularity according to their readers. “The goal is relevance, and people create relevance through their connections and their behavior,” said Matthew Roche, CEO of Offermatica. “Just one of these elements alone is not enough.”