Oil Rig Hopping – Oil Rig What?

Max May 28, 2010

I just got back from Oil Rig Hopping. No, I’m not mad and I don’t own an oil field. Frankly, with what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico now, would you want to own one?

Oil rig hopping is a phrase coined by Alex Jeffreys (yes, I am following his coaching program; best thing I have done in a very long time) for visiting blogs and forums and contributing to the discussion. The purpose is to generate backlinks and, therefore, traffic to your site through a community of like minded people – like minded as in ‘being active in the same niche.’

Oil Rig Hopping
Types of Offshore Oil and Gas Structures for Oil Rig Hopping

‘Nuff theory. Now for the practical bit. Today, I visited a number of blogs and commented on one forum. What did I get out of it?

Loads. I understood why the autoblogging feature in WordPress sometimes doesn’t work and what I can do about it (it’s both, WordPress and the hosting provider). This took less than 5 minutes reading rather than days of testing, scouring the Internet for information and getting nowhere. Thanks to Gary, who did this for me, I now only need to take the right action.

Jorge’s blog explained social bookmarking in a way that I hadn’t understood before. Time: less than 5 minutes.

Bryan’s blog showed me how to organise my sidebar better. We use pretty much the same tools but his layout is far superior. Time: How long does it take to look at a superbly organised widget and see a bulb going off in your head? 20 seconds, if you are as slow as I am.

Cliff’s last blog post and Marcus’ video gave me the boost I needed to crank up my activities.

Reading Brocha’s post on video marketing helped me focus my ideas and highlight where I want to go. I am definitely going in that direction.

Well, all this took a little longer than 20 minutes as I thought it only right to leave, hopefully useful, comments on my hosts’ blogs.

Here is the funny bit: I’ve known for the last 18 months or so that visiting other blogs and commenting (sensibly) is a great way to drive traffic. I never did any of it. Why? Not the right framework, motivation, time, weather, indigestion, tooth ache, and a myriad of even more convincing excuses.

What made the difference now? The community of interest Alex created, the spirit of helping each other, and Alex’ enthusiasm were the spark that ignited the flame. What used to look like a chore now is a pleasure and that independently of the fringe benefit of increased search engine exposure. What a nice morning it has been so far. And it isn’t even half over yet. Way to go on your Internet marketing journey.

What are your thoughts on this?

19 thoughts on “Oil Rig Hopping – Oil Rig What?”

  1. Pingback: My Internet Marketing Journey – Stage 1

    1. Thanks, Steven.

      The picture is from the mother of all Creative Commons images: Wikipedia 🙂

      Max

  4. Hi Max,
    Another excellent post. I love the picture.
    I have also known about oil rig hopping for about 8-9 months and never did any. Didn’t believe i suppose, Doh.
    If i don’t post any comments for a couple of days my traffic drops off.
    Verdict- oil rig hopping works
    Pete
    .-= Peter Carr´s last post was Flexibilty 2 Theme For WordPress =-.

    1. And the best thing about it is, the more you hop the more topicss pop up in your mind to write about. And not just write anything but useful contributions.

      Let’s hop some more 🙂

      Max

  5. Hi Max when I started with Alex last year ,I used to do a lot of blog visits,
    trouble was I neglected it,and visits to my blog soon dropped off,so yes its a great way of driving good quality traffic to your blog,and as you rightly said
    you can learn so much.
    Cheers Mick

  6. hey max,

    just doing a bit of oil rig hopping myself and wanna say GREAT post
    and i agree with sally … FAB picture 🙂

    I did a REAL bit of oil rig hopping the other day in Saudi Arabia while
    scuba diving in the red sea from Egypt.

    i’ll share the video with the students in our private forum shortly

    talk soon

    alex jeffreys
    .-= alex jeffreys´s last post was Gurus Nightmare Is Live! =-.

    1. Thanks, Alex.

      Great to see you’re back from your oil rig, and this time without an ash cloud :-).

      Looking forward to your oil rig video, and thank you for your coaching. I’ve been on quite a few coaching programmes, and based on that experience all I have to say is that your MWA 3.0 knocks them all clean out of the water.

      I count myself fortunate to be able to participate.

      Happy weekend

      Max

  7. Hi Max,

    You’re right about our community, it is an awesome one and one that offers a lot of support and encouragement.

    That’s great you got bits and pieces from different people and put them together because that is what it is all about. Putting the pieces together and making them work for you as well as others.

    Great job once again and keep up the good work!

    Anna
    .-= Anna Haller´s last post was Contest for Alex Jeffreys Coaching Students =-.

    1. Thank you, Anna. Much appreciated.

      Well, the way things go, I woke up this morning with ideas for three brief videos. 😉

      What a way to start the day.

      Max

  8. Hey Max, nice blog, really enjoying your posts.

    You hit the nail right on the head when you said:

    “Here is the funny bit: I’ve known for the last 18 months or so that visiting other blogs and commenting (sensibly) is a great way to drive traffic. I never did any of it. Why? Not the right framework, motivation, time, weather, indigestion, tooth ache, and a myriad of even more convincing excuses.”

    You’re absolutely right! And it’s being part of Alex’s group that provides the momentum for all of this.

    I’m learning so much useful info from other people’s blogs – and reading about their experiences – and making some great contacts.

    So here’s to more oil rig hopping!

    Paul

    PS Knock this off the comment if you’d prefer not to have it here, but I did a post about sources of images, what you can and can’t use for copyright etc here: http://www.web-work-at-home.com/website-images.html
    .-= Paul Teague´s last post was 5 Different Traffic Generation Techniques =-.

    1. Thanks for your comment, Paul. I had a quick look at your blog with your link. Great, you list sources that I didn’t. The more, the merrier.

      See you on an oil rig or other.

      Max

    1. This one is from Wikipedia. The main thing I look for is copyright as in ‘no copyright infringement’. Wiki is usually Creative Commons and some of the images are great.
      Another source is istockphoto.com. It’s not free but images are royalty free and free for commercial use.
      Then there is Stock.XCHNG (sxc.hu – free but not so great), and also en.fotolia.com (paid and royalty free).
      There you are, Sally, my secret sources revealed ;-).
      Max

  10. Hello Max:

    Just read through your blog posts. These are great. Full of good information and good humor. I’ve been slow to make my way through all the blogs from the other students in Alex’s 3.0 class, but now that I’m on it I’m uncovering a mass of great ideas and info. Yours is certainly one of them!

    By the way, “Fame at Last!” was great. I look forward to your …step-by-step instructions for “Free Video Creation For Everyone!”

    Take care,
    Jerry
    .-= Jerry Cooper´s last post was Staying Organized =-.

    1. Thank you for your comments, Jerry. The step by step instructions are currently in the proof reading and testing loop by a few very kind volunteers. As soon as all the crinkles are ironed out, I’ll make them available.

      Have a great weekend

      Max

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