I have used the Mybloglog widget in the past but wanted to run a test to see if removing it would help my click through rate on my blog. I do this for a while. I might consider placing it on the lower portion of my blog instead.
I have studied a few popular blogs and noticed that most of them do not have the Mybloglog widget in a location on their blog that is close to their adsense or other monetizing.
I have studied the pros and cons of using Mybloglog on my blog and here is what I have come up with so far:
Pros of Mybloglog:
*It makes your blog look more popular
*You can see who visited your blog and return the favor. If there is one thing that i have learned it is that not everyone that visits your blog is going to leave a comment but if you know that they were there then you can thank them by leaving a nice comment on their blog or Mybloglog profile page.
*More people can click on it to be added to your community even though I have a Mybloglog community, I hardly ever see who is on it. I am also a member of others communities and hardly ever look at theirs either.
*Bloggers have claimed that they like seeing their face on the widget when they visit a blog. Still unclear on this one, though.
Cons of Mybloglog widget:
*It clutters your blog, especially if you also have a blog catalog widget on it. I am trying to keep my blog uncluttered and I still have a lot of work to do since I will add and deleting a lot of stuff on here to make it more user friendly.
*Seems to decrease the click through rate, but I am still testing this theory.
I still have tons of work to do and will test a lot of fresh stuff, but I plan to update when I find the solution to as much things about my blog as I can.
Question
What do you think about the Mybloglog widget being on a blog?