Servant of Chaos Joins the Junta

Back in January, Joe Pulizzi published the Junta 42 … the top content marketing blogs on the Internet. A few months further on, Joe is announcing the updated list which includes a number of my favourites, including David Reich’s My Two Cents, Mack Collier’s The Viral Garden, Neil Perkin’s Only Dead Fish and of course, Drew’s Marketing Minute. I am pleased to say that Gavin Heaton’s Servant of Chaos blog has edged in, ranking this quarter at #38 (this could well be the only list on which I rank ahead of Guy Kawasaki).

One of the things that I like about the list is that the top 42 blogs are individually researched and measured against a number of elements (you can find the full list here). This is how Joe describes the criteria.

• The number of posts in the five most recent posts prior to and including March 31, 2008, that pertained to a content marketing topic.
• Substantiveness of Posts. Here we worked to weed out posts that fell short of adding value to the collective body of knowledge about content marketing. For example, blogs that simply linked to other blogs or articles without adding new information, perspectives or ideas to the commentary received lower scores than did blogs that consistently delivered unique ideas, thoughtful insights, deep coverage, rich media and the like – you know, high-value content – to the community.
• Regularity of Posts. Here we looked at the frequency of posts throughout the month of March. Those posting on 3 or more days per week (12 or more days throughout March) received the highest number of points.
• Google PageRank. All blogs were checked on the same day to record Google PageRank.
• Junta42 Member Ratings. Blogs ranked on our previous Top 42 list received points for their position and their Hitch! popularity. Blogs that were newcomers to our list received a first-round quality score instead.

Lists such as the Junta42, Mack’s Top 25 Marketing and Social Media Blogs and Ad Age’s Power 150 have an important role to play. They are a great source of "go to" knowledge — and can prove invaluable for new and experienced bloggers alike. When I first started writing this blog I used Mack’s list and aspired to one day be ranked there. And to this day I use it as a reference and reminder of the great blogs that are freely available to us all.

And while no ranking methodology is without its flaws, the most important thing is that lists allow you to identify where it is that you do (or want to) belong. At the end of the day, the list is about community, or as Drew McLellan would say, "tell me your friends and I”ll tell you who you are". Think about it … where do you belong. Oh, and thanks for belonging here!