I also received the nomination and access to the badge. I did put the badge up on my site and will leave it up for a time, I think... as I haven't been nominated for anything up to now, and I am working to connect with readers outside the personal finance niche. At this time, I think I'm OK with having something to show for having a decent blog. It's like a status thing - and if others outside the PF niche perceive it as a bonus, then so be it. 

While I don't have a huge student following, and I don't cover a lot in regard to student loans, etc. - I did write a post that touched on the topic... who knows, maybe the student population will "discover" my blog. ;) 

I will likely take it down in a couple weeks. 

A few years ago, I put the badge on my site because my site was PR0, and I thought the badge actually looked cool.

A few of my friends at the time include the badge, but instead of including the link back to their site, just left it as an <Img > reference. :)

Evan at myjouneytomillions.com actually wrote a great comment on this a while back, but alas I'm too lazy to look it up in the forum.

Hi Pauline,

 

I have seen this before in the hypnotherapy niche. It is like a mutually beneficial thing. You get to show off that you have won a quality award and they get a link. This award could probably help your reputation, and might increase sales, signups etc. a little. If they do it right, then they should only give this "award" to sites that are of a high quality, not just to anyone.

 

It's up to you as to whether you think it is worth it for your blog. A blog like Problogger is never going to go with this in a million years, cos like you said it is taking up advertising space and for a huge blog it would be very costly. For a small blog that doesn't get much advertising dollars, it might be worth it for a while. However I would definitely remove it once I got bigger though.

Hi Pauline,

It seems like every year I get that email too.  When I first started out I included it on my site, but you get receive no benefit from it's inclusion.  In fact, the site receive PR benefit from your site because it links to their primary address and not the rankings page (or at least that's how it was when I did it).

What really gave it away though was when on the list the person's blog above mine wasn't even a live site anymore.  Don't fall for it!

I think it is pretty brilliant on the eCollege side, and noticed that they have similar lists in just about every blogger genre.

And no.. We won't be putting up the badge on See Debt Run.

Search the old forums.  This was a HUGE thing like a year or two ago.  Everyone was "winning awards" which don't mean shit just so that the award giver can get a link back when some new blogger put up their badge.  Once bloggers figured out what was going on is when guest posts became HUGE.  

 

Regardless, link juice is pretty much the only commodity most bloggers have – guard it/commoditize it, but don't just give it away.  

Agree 100%. These sites usually target smaller blogs/sites who frankly haven't quite learned the "game" in its entirety.  There isn't a lot of social recognition on small sites due to the lower number of visitors.  IMHO this is 100% about getting back links to improve Domain Authority, mozRank and Page Rank benefits.

Regardless, link juice is pretty much the only commodity most bloggers have - guard it/commoditize it, but don't just give it away.  

While I don't have a huge student following, and I don't cover a lot in regard to student loans, etc. - I did write a post that touched on the topic... who knows, maybe the student population will "discover" my blog. ;) 

I will likely take it down in a couple weeks.