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What We Look For In A Site
Written by Scrivs on November 10, 2005
Tyme is right. I should’ve answered one of the most basic questions asked of us when we announced Round 3 and that is what we are looking for in a site. Our default answer is anything and everything, but obviously that isn’t true since we are selective of the sites that get into the Network so I will try my best to list the qualities that we are looking for.
- A passion for the subject that you are writing for. This is evident from the writing on your site.
- Quality writing. If it’s supposed to be funny then make sure it is funny. If it is supposed to stimulate the mind, then make sure it is intelligent. Mistakes happen within entries, but too many mistakes on too many posts definitely raise a red flag.
- Consistency in writing quantity. We don’t expect sites to have entries on them every single day, but if you have a site that posts one entry a month we expect there to be at least one entry a month. If you write every single day for 6 months and then disappear for 3 months then we begin to raise questions.
- Topics. Obviously we offer a wide range of topics (as can be seen on the homepage) and we are always looking to expand. If you have another web design blog or another blog that has its niche filled (10 or more sites) within 9rules you should make sure that you are offering a really kickass site.
- Design. We don’t base our decisions on the design of your site, but a clean design definitely makes us look more carefully over your site and a unique design often shows a passion for your site.
- Blogger/Blogspot domains. In all honesty I don’t like adding sites that are hosted by blogger or blogspot since there are so many other parts of the design of those sites which don’t really distinguish them from the rest, but if your site is worth it we will add it.
That’s all I can think of right now. Nothing too specific, but these are definitely things we keep an eye out for.
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November 10th, 2005 at 1:27 pm
Excellent! Thank you for answering – and responding so quickly.
November 10th, 2005 at 1:58 pm
This was a very useful post, thank you! It answered all of my questions except one:
Are there any niches/topics that are simply outside your field of interest?
For example, my blog is for game masters, the folks who run games like Dungeons & Dragons. I love this niche, I’m passionate about my subject matter and my blog, and it hits every other criterion on your list — but most networks don’t carry any blogs in niches even similar to mine. “Video games” is about as close as they get.
I’m not asking what my chances of joining 9rules are like, and I’m going to apply regardless — but will I be disqualified outright because of my niche?
November 10th, 2005 at 2:01 pm
With the exception of some adult-oriented sites (those can go in the sex network…*cough*) I would say any niche is game (no pun intended).
November 10th, 2005 at 3:41 pm
[...] rateful! AND – it just feels da** GOOD! 11/10/05 – Update! Scriv’s has just posted “What We Look For In A Site”.. You might want to give it a [...]
November 10th, 2005 at 7:32 pm
Thanks, Scrivs. I’m looking forward to Monday.
November 10th, 2005 at 11:05 pm
Thanks for the followup information! I’m still planning on submitting, but it makes me curious if I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t blog on a single topic. My site ranges from web development to movie and video game reviews to personal entries and photos. I can’t be the only one?
November 11th, 2005 at 7:54 am
Scott: no, you’re not.
November 11th, 2005 at 10:40 pm
As an owner of a blog using the Blogger platform, I hesitate to switch to something else because I don’t want to lose all those pages that are already indexed in the search engines. Do you have any suggestions if I’m considering moving my blog to another platform on how I can maintain the archives?
November 11th, 2005 at 11:42 pm
Hock: I switched from Blogger to WordPress myself, without losing a single post or comment. I wrote about it on my blog, and included links to the resources I used.
November 12th, 2005 at 12:53 pm
Tips Direct From 9rules
This entry might already be late by 4 days but I suppose it’s something worth keeping over here in the case of anyone needing it. Scrivs who recently visited here and left a comment in my past entry, One Week…
November 12th, 2005 at 3:14 pm
9rules Round 3
The excellent 9rules network will again be accepting blog submissions on Monday! I am definitely planning to submit this blog again. It seems like a great community and I really hope I will be selected to join. If you are looking for some more excelle…
November 12th, 2005 at 11:30 pm
I have a comment to make! LOL
How come there are not that many ladies added to 9 rules? LOL
The number of women that belong to 9rules is very low.
You guys need more estrogen around here. *hehe*
November 13th, 2005 at 6:35 am
Thanks for the heads up, looking forward to submitting first thing Monday!
November 17th, 2005 at 3:44 am
nice post! thanks for this useful info.
February 9th, 2006 at 5:08 pm
[...] alize nothing is being done to keep any kids away from any sex blogs now but 9rules have a higher standard for it’s writers, should we hold them to a higher standard with [...]
February 10th, 2006 at 10:47 am
I have looked through the site, and I cannot seem to find any info on when the next round for acceptance of new sites will be open. Is this a closely guarded secret ??
Please can you update me as to how to ‘actually’ go about in tying to join this network.
Many thanks
Arun
February 10th, 2006 at 11:02 am
Hey Arun,
The next round of submissions will probably be in March and we will make sure to keep you updated on when this will happen.
February 11th, 2006 at 2:30 pm
Thanks Scrvis, thats kind of you to do so.
And thanks for the prompt response too.
February 15th, 2006 at 10:01 pm
[...] don’t own the sites, unless of course you’ve got something secret planned) the quality of writing criteria was applied to the blogs when they joined in the first pla [...]
February 23rd, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Not that I’m applying, but what are the nine rules?
March 20th, 2006 at 12:52 am
How do I find out exactly when the next round of submission will be? Do I have to subscribe to the 9rules blog? How often is this conducted anyway?
March 26th, 2006 at 5:48 pm
Heh… if you can count me in on the next submission round, I’ll be seeing stars… but then, I’m sure content won’t be a problem by then. Keep up the great work, guys.
March 28th, 2006 at 11:53 am
You guys need to check out Santa’s Journal and add him to your community. Santa’s Journal won best christmas blog by the blog herald and the site is fun. My kids love it! Just a thought. http://www.santasjournal.com
March 28th, 2006 at 11:41 pm
How do I find out about your next submission date? I’m on blogger but hopefully you won’t hold that against me or you’ll help me figure out somewhere to port to and how to do that without losing my archive and my readership. You’ve got a great network going and I’d love to be a member.
April 11th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
It may be best for us just to add the 9rules blog to our readers and wait it out … I’d like to be added, too, after seeing that Guy Kawasaki is linked (and he has very graciously linked to me).
April 18th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
It’s funny how a simple idea spreads and becomes the get in place to be.
I’ve seen numerous 9rules bloggers and I have the say that the quality is great. Keep up the strong standards and for all the blogghers… the great writing.
May 5th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
Can anybody tell me when the next submission round will be? I can’t say I follow 9rules every single day (3-4 times a week) and I might just miss it …
Thanks …
June 4th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
[...] usion in the 9Rules Blogging Network. Wow! What an honor. According to 9Rules, in order to qualify for inclusion in 9Rules, your site [...]
June 18th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
This post has made it clear, yet again, that 9rules emphasizes good writing. But what about art or photogarphy or other types of content? There are only 3 photoblogs on 9rules (FILE mag doesn’t count), and they don’t have much writing. On my photoblog, the only writing is the title for each photo, and even then it’s hidden behind an “info” button. Is this a bad thing? Is 9rules only looking for good writing, or is 9rules looking for good content in general?
July 10th, 2006 at 10:59 pm
This is an interesting project. While I do feel some of the posts on my site are rather well written and comedically buoyant, we are consistantly not the most prolific writers. Instead we deliver short lethal doses of text, often in g33k slang. We do however post 10-20 things a day and do have some longer articles from time to time. I’m curious if you’d find us a suitable fit. We’re a bit of a fanatical video game community that sprung up overnight – dtoid.com
July 19th, 2006 at 9:49 am
The 9rules
The 9rules Network est une communauté des meilleurs blogs du monde (modestie, quand tu nous tiens…). Bien sûr, il y a un bon fond. Les bloggers concernés doivent être passionnés, productifs. Comme il est assez difficile de trouver de bons blogs…
July 29th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
When is the next call? Are pure graphic sites allowed?
August 14th, 2006 at 7:17 am
[...] They only accept the best blogged content from around the world, and it definitely shows. While they mention in their rules for submission that a great website design isn’t required – they definitely boast a plethora of greatly designed blogs. [...]
September 1st, 2006 at 7:28 am
I would really like to submit my site but can’t find any info on when the next submission date is?
Is there another coming up soon?
Is there anywhere you can plug your email in to get updates?
As there are only 2 sites listed in travel I’d like to join those
9rules rules.. uhm.., 9rules rocks.. hmm…, 9rules.. The place you know, you want to be!
Cheers guys.
~ really nice to know there’s somewhere you can go that filter the wheat from the chaff
September 1st, 2006 at 1:56 pm
Send me an email: tyme [at] 9rules.com.
September 2nd, 2006 at 4:26 pm
It’s so interesting project, but how about blog written in another language other than English? humm…
September 10th, 2006 at 4:05 pm
This post caught my eye. I’ve been running a series of posts on an open source decentralized social network as the future of the Internet, and one of the core ideas in the whole thing is the concept of owning your online identity. When I read things like the comments above (“As an owner of a blog using the Blogger platform, I hesitate to switch to something else because I don’t want to lose all those pages that are already indexed in the search engines.”) I realize just how important owning your own domain is. You might be interested in reading the relevant post here.
October 4th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
Relationships are made of a couple, but before the couple make it to the altar and decide what they want they must be friends most of all….
Your partner can be your best friend…I have been married for over 37 years….and I love my husband very much, its not a perfect marriage, but there is not violence, no hitting or putting down of one another.
We are most of all best friends first and foremost, cause when the sexual part of the marriage starts to slow down you will see that if the man you are with is your best friend your relationship/marriage will last a very very long time.
October 12th, 2006 at 10:18 am
[...] But to be honest, they’ve lost someone who saw them as something innovative. I remember in previous posts, I talked about Word Press being innovative. Which it is. Word Press is innovative, Google is innovative, Digg is innovative, Drupal is innovative, but 9rules? Nope, it’s not innovative. Not when they do something like this. The idea was good, but as mentioned in one of the comments in the College Startup – 9rules kicked me out post, 9rules now has so many people in their network, that the whole hype that it had before, isn’t there anymore. The privilege, the want, to be part of this network isn’t there, because there’s now so many people added to their network, that no one is unique anymore. Everyone is part of the thousands of people that’s part of the 9rules network. Imagine going to a conference, and you are speaking to someone and you’re like, “Dude, I’m part of the 9rules network, have respect!”, that individual is going to look back at you, produce a huge grin and slap you with this, “Dude, are you kidding me, so am I! We’re like brothers now!” And you can just imagine everyone looking around and saying, like robots; “We’re part of the 9rules network too!” Hmm, I can just see it now. That point is one that opened my eyes. Before, I was working towards developing something impressive, so that I’d be accepted by the 9rules network. Awesome, huh? Now, I just honestly believe that they aren’t even worth my time. I have no desire to visit their website. I have lost all the little respect I had for them, and to be honest, I can see by next year, this network not being as it was before. They seem to be highly hypocritical, and unresponsive to the fact that they are. Some sites get through their “tight” scrutiny, when they select websites for entry, that makes me raise my eyebrow at the decisions these people tend to make. I mean, I’d be honest, some of the sites are impressive. But, what’s the point with discriminating and discarding someone, who clearly is doing something that’s the whole reason behind 9rules. I mean, what are they doing now then, if such sites as College Startup is not worthy to hold their logo anymore! [...]
October 15th, 2006 at 1:02 am
[...] Whatever kind of religious blogging you do, I encourage you to sign up! Check out what they look for in a site, and if you are willing to stick with the membership commitments,[2] then be sure to learn all about 9rules Round 5, a 24-hour window to submit your site, and it’s just 10 days away! Submission doesn’t mean that you’ll be accepted, but you can always check out the 9rules blog for all sorts of information about what they look for when accepting blogs. [...]
October 18th, 2006 at 12:30 pm
I maintain a blog on Blogger and i really dont see why Blogger blogs need a special mention of difficulty in acquiring acceptance in the network. I like Blogger and would like to stick to it and still be able to try to be accepted by 9rules.
I cant really afford moving to my own website right now, but if you could mention the reason/reasons for mentioning Blogger particularly, i would and want to switch over quickly.
October 29th, 2006 at 11:32 am
Hello.
I am a Chinese web designer. And I want to know that a chinese webblog could be added to the 9rules group?
Thanks
November 17th, 2006 at 1:09 pm
I’m new to 9rules and I must admit that I’m impressed with the quality of the content on this site as well as the blogs that they select to include in the community. I’m a serial entrepreneur and currently working with a successful startup. As a result, I recently began a blog of my own related to entrepreneurship and the latest business happenings. I know there are many other like this, so I’ll try to keep it as interesting as possible to my readers. Like everybody else here, I hope to gain a spot on 9rules!
November 30th, 2006 at 11:06 am
One thing to describe this community: WOW. I was amazed, literally. One question arises though, when is the next submit date? I would love to apply!
December 20th, 2006 at 1:58 am
You don’t have a category for health or environment.
December 20th, 2006 at 3:47 am
I have a blog focus on digital cameras, I hope I have the chance to join the big 9rules blog network, but I read so information about the blog network, but I really not know how to join this, would you explain the details, thanks:)
December 24th, 2006 at 4:40 pm
Is there a chance of getting to join your network’s education community with a Finnish blog?
The focus of the blog is on teaching web standards and Internet security to seventh-graders and up, and basically doing that without a budget or decent equipment.
My point being, that I’d be willing to translate the posts to English just to show off the potential of a community like this one.
December 28th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
I am awaiting for the next round of blog submission.It looks really great
December 30th, 2006 at 9:05 am
What i really want to know is whether you add non-english blogs or not.
I have a well known blog in Greece talking about search engine marketing in the greek web.
Of i dont have the daily traffic an english blog has because the market is much smaller but i m doing my best, to create quality content.
Thank you.
January 13th, 2007 at 3:54 am
I can’t wait to be twenty and graduate from Random Shapes to try and join the leaf network! That’s awhile off though…
I’ve been watching a few submissions over there and roughed up some tips that can be applied here to help applicants.
February 4th, 2007 at 5:03 am
9rules is a an awesome initiative and I’ve been reading the blog and following the site for some time now. I would like to join the next submission round, but also have the question: do you include websites that are non-english?