One of my favourite things to do with my blog is talk about the ever popular 9rules blog network. I have mentioned them many times over the course of the last year or two, partially in hopes of eventually getting in, as well as trying to figure out what they do.

See the previous posts: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6).

I am writing this post because I noticed a recent post on Jonathan Snook’s blog that was about getting advertising on his personal blog. For a while, I thought nothing of it, until I realized that he is a member of 9rules. Since they have what sort of amounts to an advertising service/network, wouldn’t they be one of the first places he would go to secure advertising on his blog? Or on the flip side shouldn’t they have approached him to continue to grow their 9sponsors advertising service?

Now, I am not saying that they didn’t chat about having 9sponsor ads on his blog, but I haven’t seen the 9sponsors service expand into the general 9rules membership yet, and I’d think that they have had plenty of time to organize and develop the service. So far it seems like they are only using it for a few internal things like promoting the ever popular ScrivsTyme podcast and Text Link Ads.

With the uniques that some of the members are getting, as well as their Google Page Rank and type of readership, they could be capitalizing on a fair bit of income. Even a 90/10 model, with the main 9rules organization only getting 10% of the income, they could then be able to expand their membership further while still remaining organized, add new features to the service and network site, and continue to develop their network in awesome ways.

It really confuses me that they really haven’t tapped into their membership yet, as I thought one of the original ideas of 9rules was to help its members and organize them to do bigger, better and more interesting projects, though only if they are interested in participating. I thought there were to be some projects to increase exposure of the members and make them income, and others to just do great things for the world at large like 9charities.

In one of my previous 9rules related posts, Mike Rundle and Scrivs mentioned that the private forum has helped users greatly, and that they will eventually talk more about that information. I read so many blogs every day, and I might have missed certain things, but I haven’t seen anything really featured as of yet. I know it might seem odd to talk about getting a job through being a 9rules network member, but at the same time, I think such transparency would only go to show how giving and helpful the network is as a whole. I for one would be interested to hear some “how 9rules has helped” stories.

Mike said a year ago today, and I quote:

We’ve been working on a “buzz” or “case study” section of the site for awhile now, which would basically aggregate a lot of interesting stuff our members have told us regarding their membership in 9rules, how it benefitted them, how they feel others would benefit, etc. We’ve been so busy with the new functionality we’re working on (and the ad network) that, honestly, it’s slipped our mind a bit. I’ll use this blog post as a motivator to move that up on my to-do list

Seems they are moving a bit slow on letting the world know the great things that 9rules has done…

Back on the subject of 9charities. I would love to see some development in this respect. I know it is early in 2007, but over nearly the whole last year, I haven’t heard anything about Scrivs and gang doing a site for any organization. They “launched” the idea in March of 2006, and it has been silence ever since, at least on the public front.

They continue to add new members to the 9rules network, expanding their communities, but while there is much going into the network, there still isn’t much coming from it.

One of the things they have done right over the last year has been to add the Notes area to their site, which allows a public forum for just about everyone to make their mark on the 9rules website. I really enjoy communicating via the Notes function. Another great thing is that you can syndicate topics from the Notes area onto your site. A great idea for 9rules members to take advantage of.

9rules really has to get their act together like I know they can. They need some strong community voices, some great leadership and a clear set of goals. From what I know of Scrivs, Tyme, and Mike, it can be done, and will eventually be done. They just need to spend the time and effort making it all happen.

Like always though, if they need a new cheerleader to help spur the troops and work on some of the side projects that I know he has swimming in his brain, he could always add DavidCubed to the 9rules membership list.

Sidenote: Anyone else wondering if they will ever feature all 134 blogs added in Round 5 with their own special introductory post in the 9rules blog?