The Z List

What is the Z list?
Mack Collier from The Viral Garden started the Z list in December 2006, he had this to say about it

"I've visited countless blogs for the first time because of the Z-List, and left numerous comments on blogs and to bloggers that I had never previously heard of. On one of the blogs, someone left a comment in response to the Z-List saying something like 'This is just a way to get links'. I added that if that was all you wanted from the Z-List, that would likely be all you would get.

And the Z-List does give everyone on it a buncha links. But as we can tell... it also gives community. Bloggers that had likely never heard of each other a few weeks ago, now share a sense of ownership in something bigger than themselves, and want to see that creation grow and thrive."

I was Z listed on my 18th Birthday (6th Feb!) on How to Earn Money blogging. I was thankful, but I had by doubts about the Z list and so I didn't actively participate. I had also read a of a few bloggers who disapproved of the Z list, because it 'undermines the Technoratri rankings' which are based on the number and authority of inbound links. I admit, I sort of agreed with them, so I just let it go; but then the links started to flood in. I moved from the Technorati rank of 120,000 to 44,000 in the space of a couple of weeks. I thought ‘I can't keep taking credit for this’, because I did nothing to deserve it. Maki, over at Dosh Dosh provided me with some conscience soothing arguments and showed me I had been looking at it all the wrong way. I hope it has the same effect on you:

"I do however, think that the main motivation you should have for this exercise is generosity. You’re trying to share the blogs you find interesting with other bloggers and you’re not primarily linking out to get links back, even though this will be a natural result of participating in the meme.

Note that by linking out, you’ll also alert other bloggers and their readers to your blog’s presence which will lead to more exposure for your blog and possibly, even more readers.

The Z list is initially an exercise to promote blogs outside of any veritable link-based ranking system and is a great way to gain exposure, traffic and readers for blogs that should be read but are not. The explosion in backlinks and increase in future Page Rank should be a side benefit and not the main focus."

So, other than those 'community love creating' reasons, what are the precise benefits of posting the Z list on your blog?

- New incoming links from other blogs
- Increase Technorati ranking
- Open your blog to a new pool of readers and possible subscribers
- Increase chance to gain higher Google pagerank
- Discovering new and interesting Blogs
- Make new friends and network
- Lots of appreciative bloggers

Heres how to participate:

1. Create a new post on your blog.
2. Copy and Paste the entire list of blog links below
3. Add any blogs that you want to include near the top of the list. (This isn’t compulsory, so you can either add as many blogs as you want or none at all.)
4. Include the blog where you first got the list from, on the list in your post.
5. Do not include your own blog links on the list in your post.
6. Make sure that all links point to each blog’s homepage.
7. Publish the Post.

My Z-list Blogs:
How to Make Money Blogging - blog of origin
DotmySpot
Rugreff's Blog about Blogging
Million Dollar Journey
Quest to Make money on the Internet

Z-List at How to Make Money Blogging
Make Money On The Net
Dosh Dosh
Money Money Money
Money Making Quest
Connected Internet
Blog-Op
Mike's Money Making Mission
Time to Budget
Can I Make Big Money Online
Blogtrepreneur
Flee the Cube
Blogging Secret
Blogging to Fame
Million Dollar Experiment heads Down Under
Quest to make money on the internet
Kumiko's Cash Quest
Calico Monkey
Internet Bazaar
Shotgun Marketing Blog
BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim
Pow! Right Between The Eyes!
Billions With Zero Knowledge
Working at Home on the Internet
MapleLeaf 2.0
Two Hat Marketing
darrenbarefoot.com
The Emerging Brand
The Branding Blog
CrapHammer
Drew's Marketing Minute
Golden Practices
Viaspire
Tell Ten Friends
Flooring the Consumer
Kinetic Ideas
Unconventional Thinking
Buzzoodle
NewsPaperGrl
The Copywriting Maven
Hee-Haw Marketing
Scott Burkett's Pothole on the Infobahn
Multi-Cult Classics
Logic + Emotion
Branding & Marketing
Popcorn n Roses
On Influence & Automation
Bullshitobserver
Servant of Chaos
converstations
eSoup
Presentation Zen
Dmitry Linkov
aialone
John Wagner
Nick Rice
CKs Blog
Design Sojourn
Frozen Puck
The Sartorialist
Small Surfaces
Africa Unchained
Perspective
gDiapers
Marketing Nirvana
Bob Sutton
¡Hola! Oi! Hi!
Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!
Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together
Community Guy
Social Media on the fly