This New Ranking System Rocks!
I know this will be slightly controversial, but I for one am extremely pleased about this new improved ranking algorithm. It makes perfect sense!
It's funny how when I first came to WA that I, as probably many of you did, start following people in the top 100. Hey, a ranking is a ranking! It didn't take too long for me to realise that the ranking was based purely on the amount of blogs and followers that people had...and NOT on the expertise of the internet marketing industry. Two sentences of useless drivel does not a good blog make!
I'm not saying all the ambassadors in the previous ranking system were useless, but I had a great deal of ambassadors drop by my posts and say very generic things like "thanks for sharing". Not particularly helpful if you ask me...
Now that I look through the top 100 (even the top 200), I can see that the people that are ranked there really do deserve it because I've known each and every one of them to be helpful - the true role in my opinion of what an ambassador should be.
Something else that I find quite funny about it is that if we were all out in the real world and someone put a number on us based on how helpful we are to the community, we would probably laugh out loud! I know I would. No one knows what we go through trying to learn and expand our businesses and trying to measure that with a numbering system is never really going to show a true representation of what people's true value is, so don't take it so personally.
There's no point in complaining about how your rank dropped overnight. Mine went from 1118 to 6148! I thought GREAT! My purpose for being here is to build my business and when I have a true understanding of how to do that, then I can help others to do the same. There's SO MUCH to learn here and it's taken me from my skill level nearly a year to become as comfortable with internet marketing as I am now. I will continue to learn all aspects as much as I can when I can. That's what I'm here for. I can remember when I started here at WA that I suggested a couple of things to a few people that I was trying to help only to realise a week later as I was going through some of Jay's training that I'd said the completely wrong thing. I was quite embarrassed about it as I hoped that I hadn't steered them in the wrong direction.
The other thing that I'm not going to do is bore people with trivial 2 sentence matters in my blogs. Who has the time to read all that BS? I've had to stop following a lot of people because my email inbox was filled with useless and boring irrelevant information. It was getting just as bad as the spam folder. All in an attempt to jump up the ranking system. I guess some people must have been under the impression that the ambassadorship got you paid or something...
Now, I know that we are all here for many different reasons and we all have many different levels of experience in the wide and wonderful world of internet marketing. That is why I think this new ranking system rocks. It's finally sorting the $h*t from the clay. I do understand that we need a "safe" place to practice our internet interactions and get used to commenting and replying as it's a huge part of our business, so I feel that's why Kyle and Carson set up the previous ranking system way that it was, but now that it's based on truly helping people and not just blogging a couple of sentences, it'll hopefully be interesting to read the blogs here again.
I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions because like butts, most of us have one...;)
Cheers,
Peter
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I agree with your assessment completely. Amazing how you dropped from 1118 to 6148. And here I thought mine had plunged drastically from 158 to 213. LOL
I just blogged about the shake-up, myself. Pretty much said what you said here. Feel free to read my take on it if you like... All The Right Reasons I think for the most part, people have found this latest development to be a positive thing. And I'm sure it will all change again in time. We should never get too comfortable. It only results in complacency. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Peter.
I hope it's seen as a positive thing, Hal. I guess if people are more interested in whinging and whining than creating content and learning then they probably aren't really internet business material in the first place. And yes, the numbers we see in our PayPal accounts are far more important than WA ranking numbers!
"It didn't take too long for me to realise that the ranking was based purely on the amount of blogs and followers that people had...and NOT on the expertise of the internet marketing industry. Two sentences of useless drivel does not a good blog make!"
I'll confess, I've always been pretty much ambivalent about social posting. In truth, just a few months back I actually supported those who were in favour of keeping it.
I'd hoped there would be restraint on both sides.
I was so wrong. In a matter of weeks, the victors cried havoc, and it proliferated into an avalanche of wranking spam that buried members legitimate questions within seconds of them posting.
And for what?
I mean, this is my second or third time that a ranking update has made me an Ambassador. I've no idea why anyone obsesses about it. It's not like you immediately get granted unlimited Ferrero Roche!
I've always begged members not to get hopelessly distracted by following, socialising, blogging and "competitive" ranking within WA to the detriment of their training.
Why?
Because I've lost count of the number of high ranking members and Ambassadors who start whining that they are still not earning after being here years, even sometimes complaining publicly that "WA doesn't work".
It often only takes a quick glance at their profiles to realise they've ended up with hundreds — sometimes thousands — of pieces of content here at WA, but hardly any by comparison on their own websites, where it would might actually have done them some good.
I honestly don't believe anyone here should even be thinking about their WA rank before they've built a successful online business.
I can assure them from experience, once they've done that, they'll have no interest in their WA rank anyway!! :)
Peter,
It finally is nice to see a person who posted an article such as you did and who clearly shows a positive attitude about the new WA system. Within the last day or so, the activity dashboard has seen nothing but negative articles posted by members, some of them incredibly angry with the new system. A few people even vowed that they would quit, which is truly sad.
As I commented on another article written about the new ranking system yesterday, some members who are truly obsessed with being ranked as high as possible have completely forgotten WHY they joined this great organization in the first place.
Being ranked as high as possible has absolutely NOTHING to do with how much money a person would be generating as far as revenue in his/her online business.
In addition, unless I'm missing something, (and as a member of WA since early Feb. 2015 I don't believe that I am), Kyle and Carson do NOT hand out monetary bonuses for achieving a high member ranking here at WA.
A member would be much better served, instead of banging his/her head up against a wall with the individual upset at his/her new ranking, by working on continuing to develop and grow his/her website. This can only be done by adding new and highly relevant content to the website.
What Kyle and Carson have done is eliminate a member from being rewarded when he/she posts 8 - 10 new articles on the dashboard daily, some of which do not provide ANY insight, advice or guidance related directly to developing an online business, (as you called it Peter "gaming the system") and the person being rewarded with his/her ranking steadily rising.
As I stated earlier, that member would have been much better off if he/she had devoted this time spent writing articles to be posted on the dashboard with instead writing articles to be posted on his/her WEBSITE!!!!
Perhaps it's just me, but one would believe that a WA member would much rather see his/her website be ranked highly on the Search engines with regard to his/her niche as opposed to being ranked inside the top 25 here at WA.
What do you think?
I think a lot of members here would benefit from reading your excellent article, Peter, and for those who are still ticked off at their rankings, the next thing would be for them to take a long look in the mirror!
Very well put Jeff! I totally agree that ranking on search engines is far more important that ranking here at WA. I also agree that the time spent whinging and whining about the loss of rank would be time far better spent investing in the creation of content for business. I'm not sure why it's that hard to remember the real reason we're here in the first place!
Okay, I agree with your post.
I too started following highly ranked members when I first joined.
I soon realized that I could skyrocket to the top 200 or better by gaming the system. However, unlike some, I refrained from doing this because I didn't want to mislead people (mainly new members) into thinking that I knew what I was doing. It just felt dishonest.
I could have done it simply to boost my own ego, but I knew I didn't belong at the top and I still don't. Just because you can game the system doesn't mean you should.
Absolutely. I still think what is the point? I'm not here to win a popularity contest. I'm here to build a business! Who cares what number they put on me!
When I first got here I started trying to help people and it became a huge distraction from starting my own business. It didn't take too long before I stopped doing that and just focused on learning. I've never ranked higher than the 400's which is totally fine by me. I'm making a decent weekly wage from the things that I've learned here at WA from being here for just under a year, so I'm happy with that.
Hi Peter,
I agree! The previous system did allow for some to game rank when they really weren't Ambassador material. (I said that lovingly).
We all expect for that position to be the ones who know what they're doing when it comes to helping the rest of us who do not. It's also a position of great responsibility that some were probably not aware of. The new system should be a great benefit to us all.
Have a prosperous week my friend!!
I'm looking forward to seeing how the new system works Mark. A prosperous week to you as well my friend!
I totally agree with this and I am always glad when people point out that the reason for being here is to learn and build a business. I do understand the desire for rank, because some people are just naturally competitive and rank appeals to that part of their nature, but when people comment that they are rethinking their desire to remain a member here... well, that makes no sense to me at all.
Besides, several people who dropped dramatically have commented that they have jumped back up in a single day.
Hey Craig,
I agree that the competitive thing can drive people but when it's at the detriment of the reason people came here in the first place, then it becomes just like a high school popularity contest. Here's to us all creating successful business!
Couldn't agree with your comments more. At one time I got ranked in the low 300's and now I am at 1739. I will once again start reading post from ambassadors, but refrain from contributing until I have developed an expertise that creates revenue consistently.
I too agree with you, Roger. It makes sense to help people when you come from a solid place of confidence and understanding. Knowing that you yourself can do it makes it a lot easier to pay it forward.
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Love your comment and so true, I Loved helping members and dropped out of Ambassador quit a few months back, and everything I can find and that may help or work for members I would rather not be ranked and just help them and right posts to guide them.
Making money online is fun and with a little work and knowledge everybody can do it.
Great Post.
Thanks,
Mike.
True Mike!