Villager's Black Blog Rankings Are No More

The hot summer weather has eased into fall and cooler days. Football season at the high school, college and pro levels is in full swing and Halloween is coming

But unfortunately there will be no more posts in November and beyond on TransGriot tracking my progress up the BBR's.

Due to changes in the Technorati rankings that the Villager used as the basis for the BBR's, he's made the painful decision to shut down the Black Blog Rankings.

As I've stated in many of those BBR posts, I not only looked forward to those monthly rankings, it was one of the things I used to measure my progress in growing TransGriot.

In some cases it motivated me to push my blog to even greater heights.

I was so pissed about my tie with Bossip being broken and getting bumped out of the top 25 BBR blogs that it inspired a new burst of activity and a goal to be permanently ensconced in the BBR Top 25.

Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it.

As of the October 3 compilation date, I am back in the BBR's Top 25 at number 24 with an 88 old school Technorati ranking.

Under the new Technorati rankings I have a ranking of 592.

And yes Renee, Womanist Musings is still in the Top 10 BBR blogs at Number 8.

And what is our number one BBR ranked blog? All together now gang, Pam's House Blend!

But my joy is tempered by the fact that unless Villager changes his mind about it, I'm permanently ensconced in the BBR Top 25.

I set a goal to get a repeat nomination for Best GLBT Blog in the upcoming 2009 Weblog Awards as well. If I get another finalist nod, I want to do better than the 9th place I got voting wise last year.

I understand why Villager made the decision, it's just saddens me to know that I won't see the BBR's pop up by the 8th of the month anymore.

I thank the Village for putting together the BBR's in the first place, and hopefully someone else will come up with a system just as good or better that will rank Black blogs and give them and the Blackosphere the attention that they need.

September 2009 Villager's Black Blog Rankings

Many people are spending this Labor Day holiday weekend firing up their grills and getting their last shots in at summer fun before the weather starts turning cooler and colder.

Well, hot on the heels of the August BBR rankings he just revealed is this month's edition of the highly anticipated and increasingly prestigious event in the Afrosphere.

Villager made some adjustments to the BBR's that resulted in a 19 blog dip in the number of ranked blogs. There were 1747 blogs ranked this month as opposed to the 1766 blogs ranked last month.

Villager has instituted a new policy in which any blog not updated in 120 days gets sent to the bottom of the BBR list.

One that will never be at the bottom of the BBR's is Pam's House Blend. For the 15th consecutive month, it's the BBR Number One ranked blog.

Renee at Womanist Musings finally reached her goal of cracking the BBR Top 5. Congratulations my Timmy's icecap sippin' sister, you're BBR number 5.

For the rest of the Top Ten and Top 25 BBR blogs, check out his post at Electronic Villager. Here's the September 2009 BBR list.

So did I hang on to my BBR Top 25 ranking? Well, yes and no.

As of the September 1st compilation date I'm tied with Crunk & Disorderly with a 94 Technorati ranking. But due to the BBR tiebreakers I slipped two spots from BBR number 24 to BBR Number 26.

The BBR's are set up where there are no ties. According to our illustrious BBR compiler:

If a blogger's authority number drops ... they are placed at the TOP of the grouping of blogs at the new rating.

If a blogger's authority number rises ... they are placed at the BOTTOM of the grouping of blogs at the new rating.

If a new blogger is added to the BBR ... they are placed at the BOTTOM of the grouping of blogs at the rating found for them when they join the list.

If a blogger is no longer being rated (either link unknown or authority rating is > 120 days) then they are placed in alpha order in that portion of the BBR.

If it seems like I'm angry about it, yeah I am.

I've worked hard to build and put together a quality blog that a cross section of people would find interesting, entertaining and informative. I've used the BBR's as one of my measuring sticks to grow TransGriot.

To be bumped out of the BBR Top 25 on a tiebreaker sucks.

All it's done is to piss me off and motivate me to set a new goal. I want to grow TransGriot to a point where I will NEVER be bumped from the BBR Top 25 again.

August 2009 Villager's Black Blog Rankings

Depending on where you reside, school has either started or will be doing so shortly. Yes, it's a wonderful time of year for the parents, but not so wonderful for the children whose summer vacations have rapidly come to a close.

Just in time for back to school is the latest edition of the Afrosphere's most anticipated post on Electronic Villager, the Black Blog Rankings.

After a one month hiatus, the Villager has released the latest edition of the Black Blog Rankings, or BBR's as we fondly call them in the Afrosphere.

I'll give you one guess what the BBR number one ranked blog is. It's been holding down the Number One spot for the last year, and is still the undisputed BBR champion, Pam's House Blend.

This month's BBR ranked 1766 blogs, an increase of 62 blogs from the June 2009 rankings. To see the full list click on this link.

In my last blog post that chronicled my progress up the BBR charts, I was nine tantalizing spots away from cracking the BBR Top 25. As of the June 2009 BBR's I was number 34 with a 138 Technorati ranking.

Renee's Womanist Musings jumped to Number 6, just missing the Top 5. You can check out the rest of the Top Ten and Top 25 here.

Speaking of the BBR Top 25, you'll see a new blog listed there. As of the August 24 compilation date, I FINALLY cracked the list of BBR Top 25 blogs! TransGriot is now at BBR 24 with a 102 Technorati ranking.

I jumped ten spots to accomplish my goal and beat my Labor Day deadline for doing so.

I'm concerned like everybody else in the Afrosphere about what's happening with Technorati since it's one of the primary ways Villager compiles these rankings.

I've gone from a 159 ranking to a 102 despite having more readers from around the globe, having various blogs link to my posts and getting 1500 to 2000 hits per day.

But I'll worry about that later. Break out the Champale! TransGriot is in the BBR Top 25. I'm BBR number 24! Next stop, the BBR Top Ten.

Can't wait to see next month's rankings!

Where's The Villager's July 2009 Black Blog Rankings?

I know that like many of you, I eagerly await the revelation of the Black Blog Rankings every month.

The BBR's have become an important tool that helps me gauge the growth of TransGriot and set goals that help nurture and sustain that growth.

I'm probably not the only one who feels that way, people across the Afrosphere do as well. So when July 8 came and went without updated BBR's, that triggered concern for the Villager and made many of us in the Afrosphere wonder what was up.

In my last episode of my monthly tracking posts pertaining to TransGriot's progress up the BBR ladder, I was celebrating the fact that Renee got her early birthday present and finally cracked the BBR Top Ten. I climbed to number 34 in those same June 2009 BBR rankings despite taking a massive hit in my Technorati rankings.

I am still only nine tantalizing spots away from reaching my goal of cracking the BBR Top 25, but lost ground toward reaching a Technorati ranking of 200 by Labor Day.

So TransGriot readers, lets see how well I do next month, since the Villager has let us know he'll do his best to have a BBR post up for August.

And when he does, I'll be right behind him letting y'all know if I finally cracked the BBR Top 25 Blogs.

Villager's June 2009 Black Blog Rankings

The first day of summer is fast approaching and we are halfway through 2009. We're also approaching the 40th anniversary this month of the Stonewall Rebellion. It's also time for another edition of the Afrosphere's highly anticipated Villager's Black Blog Rankings.

This month the Villager and his team ranked 1704 blogs, an increase of 45 blogs from last month.

The runaway Number One BBR ranked blog is still Pam's House Blend, which is approaching a year in the top spot. Congrats to my homegirl Renee's Womanist Musings for finally reaching the BBR Top 10!

For the other nine members of the BBR Top Ten you can check out the Villager's post.

Villager and I noted that the Technorati ranking scores of Black owned and operated blogs have been declining. Since the Technorati rankings count links on a rolling six month calendar, the drops in rankings are probably related to the increased traffic we garnered from the historic 2008 presidential election and reflect those links now dropping off the rolling calendar.

I think it's time that we tackle this problem by immediately beginning to cross promote other Black blogs.

While I'm proud that I have a diverse readership, I'm always looking for new readers who haven't perused TransGriot. I don't think we do a good enough job across the Afrosphere of promoting each other's blogs.

It would also be nice if I had my own people linking to this blog as well.

Just as Villager created the BBR's as a measuring metric to track our progress and a tool to aid us in goal setting, it's time to apply the same FUBU principles to promoting the Afrosphere and our blogs.

Since no one else is going to do it, we'll have to do it for ourselves.

Read Black Blogs, Promote Black Blogs!

On that note, time to get off the soapbox and find out what my TransGriot BBR ranking is this month?

In the May BBR rankings TransGriot had a BBR of 37 with a Technorati ranking of 159.

As of the June 8 compilation date, TransGriot is now number 34 on the BBR rankings with a 138 Technorati ranking. I lost 21 points on my Technorati ranking but gained three spots in the BBR rankings.

I'm also just nine tantalizing spots away from my goal of cracking the BBR Top 25.

I have much work to do if I'm going to reach my goals of the BBR Top 25 and a 200 Technorati ranking by Labor Day.

Villager's May 2009 Black Blog Rankings

Go Moni! It's your birthday month! Go Moni! It's your birthday month!

And now that the celebration of the blessing of me getting another year older is out of the way, let's see if I'll be doing more dancing as I peruse the latest edition of Electronic Villager's Black Blog Rankings.

The BBR's started in September 2007 with 75 ranked blogs and has exponentially grown since them to become a much anticipated monthly event in the Afrosphere.

In our last episode of tracing TransGriot's climb up the BBR mountaintop, I was still as of the April 12 compilation date of that month's BBR's whining about my stagnant 150 Technorati ranking, but for some reason still managed to climb to a Number 43 BBR ranking.

In May the BBR's ranked 1659 blogs, which is an increase of 30 blogs over the last ranking period. The runaway Number One BBR ranked blog is still, all together gang, Pam's House Blend. (bowing in direction of North Carolina) If you wish to see Numbers 2-25, check the link. The full May BBR ranking list is here.

The 2009 Blogging While Brown Conference is June 19-20 in Chicago, and the TransGriot is seriously thinking about going if I can make it fit my schedule. If I can commit to it, I'll announce it on the blog.

So let's get to it, how did the birthday girl do this month?

Well, I'm a little disappointed I didn't make it to my goal of reaching the BBR Top 25 and a 200 Technorati ranking by my birthday. I did finally start making forward progress in both the upward mobility and see a rise in my Technorati ranking after three months of stagnation, but the three months of treading water around the 150 mark killed any shot I had of achieving that goal.

So where's TransGriot now? As of the May 10 compilation date the blog has a BBR ranking of 37 and a Technorati ranking of 159.

I jumped 6 spots in the BBR's and gained 9 points. I knew that continuing to create quality posts and adhering to that standard would eventually pay off.

So that means I need to set a new target goal. It's still reaching the Top 25 BBR's and the 200 Technorati ranking by Labor Day, September 7.

Since it's going to take a lot of labor for me to get to that level by that date, making that a target date seems apropos.

Okay, time to me to blow out the candles on my birthday cake and get busy.

Villager's April 2009 Black Blog Rankings

The 2009 NCAA college basketball champions on both the men's and women's sides have been crowned, the 2009 major league baseball season has started, I'm a few weeks shy of another birthday, and the Afrosphere is ready to peruse the latest edition of the Villager's Black Blog Rankings.

This month the BBR's ranked 1629 blogs, which is an increase of 8 blogs over the last ranking period. The runaway Number One BBR ranked blog is still Pam's House Blend.

For the rest of the blogs ranked 2 to 25 and beyond you can click on the rankings link to discover who they are.

As for TransGriot, in last month's rankings I was as of the March 8 compilation date sitting at Number 46 with a Technorati ranking of 150.

So how did I do this month? As of the April 12 compilation date, TransGriot was Number 43 with a Technorati ranking of 150.

My Technorati ranking is making as much upward progress as my 401k lately. I've had the same ranking for the last three BBR's, but inched up three more spots in the BBR's.

Go figure.

I'm also running out of time in terms of getting up to my goal of the BBR Top 25 and a 200 Technorati ranking by my birthday.

But all I can do is suck it up, go back to writing the same insightful, informative and entertaining commentary I've always do and have faith that the rankings and Technorati rating catch up with the quality of the writing.

Villager's March 2009 Black Blog Rankings

It's a new month, spring is here, and to the breathless anticipation of the Afrosphere, the Villager has compiled and unveiled his March 2009 edition of the Black Blog Rankings.

Will I get closer to my Top 25 BBR pot of gold, or will I be just looking at the rainbow in the sky from last month's position or worse in the BBR Top 50?

This month the BBR's ranked 1621 blogs, which is an increase of 22 blogs over the last ranking period. The Number One BBR ranked blog is, all together now gang, Pam's House Blend. For the rest of the blogs ranked 2 to 25 and beyond you can click on the rankings link to discover who they are.

As for TransGriot, in last month's rankings I was as of the February 8 compilation date sitting at Number 48 with a Technorati ranking of 150.

So how did I do this month? As of the March 8 compilation date, TransGriot was Number 46 with a Technorati ranking of 150

Talk about the luck of the Irish. I'm chuckling to myself and shaking my head because I had the same Technorati ranking, but GAINED two spots. The good news is that I'm STILL in the BBR Top 50 blogs, but progress toward my goal of a 200 Technorati ranking and a Top 25 BBR by my May 4 birthday has been glacial at best and the clock is ticking.

It's been a frustrating month for me Technorati wise because TransGriot's Technorati ranking has yo-yoed up and down and I know it should be far higher based on the traffic I get. It was as high as 154 at one point and has slid to 146. Since it's based on links people, if you like what I do here at TransGriot, show me the love by linking to the blog.

That still won't deter me from channeling my inner Taurus and continuing to come up with fresh commentary on a wide variety of subjects. You can also hear me run my mouth along with my partner Renee of Womanist Musings on our new twice monthly Blogtalkradio show.

So thank you for spending your valuable blog perusing time here, it's deeply appreciated. Hopefully, when I do next month's BBR post I can report some more substantial forward progress.

Villager's February 2009 Black Blog Rankings

The Villager has compiled the Black Blog Rankings for February, so lets see how much love I received in them since I won't be getting any chocolate hearts or stuffed animals on Valentine's Day unless I buy it for myself.

This edition of the BBR's has 1593 ranked blogs, an increase of 43 blogs from the last compilation date of January 1. The Blackosphere continues to grow based on the continued increases in Black blogs beings added to the BBR's every month.

The runaway Number One BBR ranked blog is still Pam's House Blend, and if you wish to find out who the other Top Ten blogs are, here's the link to check them out.

My goal is to by my May 4 birthday, be at a 200 Technorati ranking and in the BBR Top 25.

My momentum toward the Top 25 hasn't been as meteoric since the historic election ended, but by continuing to focus on quality posts, adding some new features like my Shut Up Fool! awards and my upcoming discussion series, I hope to resume forward progress. I also want to earn some awards love from my own people in addition to earning a repeat trip as a Weblog Awards finalist.

I'm also pleased to see that I get a lot of international traffic. Welcome, glad you stopped by and appreciate you spending your web surfing time here. Please take a moment to peruse the posts on a wide variety of subjects and drop an occasional comment or two. If you like it, link to TransGriot as well.

Okay, so how much love did I get this month in the BBR's? In the January BBR's TransGriot was sitting at Number 46 with a 144 Technorati ranking.

As of the February 8 BBR compilation date, TransGriot was at Number 48 with a Technorati ranking of 150. I dropped two slots, but gained six points on my Technorati ranking and I'm still in the Top 50 Blogs.

It's frustrating right now because I'm not progressing like I think I should, but I still have a few months until my birthday.

Villager's January 2009 Black Blog Rankings

The Electronic Villager has released the January 2009 edition of the Black Blog rankings, so let's check them out and see how TransGriot fared.

The rankings continue to grow with 1575 blogs now ranked, an increase of 59 blogs since the December 20 holiday edition of the BBR rankings.

The Number One BBR ranked blog is still Pam's House Blend, who was nominated as a Weblog Awards Best LGBT Blog finalist for the fourth straight year.

I fell short of my goal of having a 150 Technorati ranking by January 1, but I did achieve my goal of being in the BBR Top 50 blogs before that date.

My new goal is to be in the BBR Top 25 blogs and have a Technorati ranking of 200 by my May 4 birthday. One unexpected pleasure was being nominated for and becoming a 2008 Weblog Awards finalist for Best GLBT blog.

So how did I do?

As of the January 1 compilation date for this edition of the BBR's TransGriot gained one spot since the holiday rankings. I was sitting at Number 46 with a 144 Technorati ranking.

My Technorati ranking is still tripping, but I'm still in the BBR Top 50 Blogs. Hopefully by next month's rankings whatever drams happening with my Technorati ranking will straighten itself out and begin to actually reflect the progress I've made toward building this into a quality blog.

Holiday Black Blog Rankings Update

Electronic Villager updated the BBR's on December 20, so let's check out where I stood as of that date.

In this holiday update, 1516 blogs were ranked which was an increase of 20 blogs and puts the BBR's over the 1500 mark. Pam's House Blend is still Number One.

So where's TransGriot?

TransGriot is still in the Top 50 Black Blogs at number 47 with a Technorati ranking of 144. Moved up three spots toward my new goals of being in the Top 25 BBR and at a 200 Technorati ranking by my May 4 birthday, but I'm concerned because I only picked up 1 point since the early December rankings, and I know that's questionable.

So close to my previous goal of 150 goal but yet so far. Hopefully whatever problem my Technorati ranking is having updating itself will go away.

December 2008 Black Blog Rankings

Merry Christmas peeps! The Electronic Villager and his elves were busy over the holiday weekend compiling the latest edition of the Black Blog Rankings while I was enjoying some classic Christmas songs with soul.



This month there were 1496 blogs ranked, only one less than last month. But seeing how popular these rankings are and how they've come to be viewed as a highly anticipated event in the Blackosphere and a valuable tool to monitor the progress of Black blogs, I have no doubts the January edition will crack the 1500 blog mark.

Top Black blog is Pam's House Blend. You can check out the rest of the Top Ten and Top 25 blogs at Electronic Village.

Okay, so did I reach either one of my goals of cracking the BBR Top 50 and having a Technorati ranking of 150?

As of the December 1 date of these posted rankings, the number 50 BBR ranked blog is survey says, TransGriot!

I jumped up 13 spots from last month's rankings and the Technorati ranking went up 11 points as well. I have as of this date a Technorati ranking of 143. I'm only 7 points and 30 days away from meeting my Technorati goal of 150 by January 1.

Seeing that I've finally hit the Top 50 BBR blogs, I've set my sights for my next goals.

I want to be at a Technorati Ranking of 200 and in the Top 25 BBR blogs by my May 4 birthday. If I get there sooner, I definitely won't complain.

Now where's my champagne bottle?

Oh yeah, killed it last month celebrating Barack's election. Champale will do nicely, too.

November 2008 Black Blog Rankings

Electronic Villager finally got the opportunity to update the BBR's for this month. This month there were 1497 blogs ranked, 57 more than last month, with the Number One BBR blog still being Pam's House Blend.

You can check out the BBR's for the rest of the Top 10 and beyond and see how your blog stacked up.

And congrats Renee, Womanist Musings is at Number 23 while the Electronic Village rounds out the Top 25.

I deeply appreciate as all of us in the Blackosphere do the Villager taking the time out of his busy schedule to compile these ranking so that we have this important tool to measure our growth and progress.

As you know, for several months now I've been posting my goals for TransGriot. I want to be breaking the BBR Top 50 blogs and hitting a 150 Technorati ranking by January 1, 2009. You also get to witness in these BBR posts how I'm doing in terms of realizing that goal.

The BBR rankings usually get posted the first weekend of the month, but I totally understood why it didn't happen this month. There was some historic presidential election we (and the world) were all breathlessly following, and I know the Villager has been busy with real world concerns that have cut into his allotted blogging time.

TransGriot was also nominated in two categories for the 2008 Weblog Awards. 'Best LGBT Blog' and 'Best Small Minor Blog'.

The nominations have closed and they are now in the process of whittling it the nominations in each category to the 15 blogs that will be voted on starting December 8 to determine the winner. Pam's House Blend took the 'Best LGBT Blog' Award in 2005-2006 and I'd love to be in that company.

So now I've caught y'all up on some housekeeping stuff, let's get to what y'all want to know: What's my BBR this month?

The October BBR's were good news, bad news. I lost ground and slipped to number 70 after several months of major progress, but my Technorati ranking went up to 136. My Technorati rating actually bottomed out at 130 probably due to my Ike hiatus and some old links rolling off before it started its current climb to where it is now.

According to the posted rankings as of November 26, TransGriot was at number 63 with a 132 Technorati ranking.

Only one problem. My Technorati ranking on November 26 was 144.

While that's seven spots up from last month's ranking, based on my Technorati ranking on that date, I should be much higher in the BBR's than number 63. (it's at 143 as I compile this post)

My 144 (or even my 143) ranking would put me just two spots away from the BBR Top 50 at number 52 and put me tantalizingly close to reaching and surpassing my goals with a month to go.

But I'll leave that up to the founding genius of the BBR's to sort that out. In the meantime, I'll just continue to focus on as we all do in producing quality blog posts for you to peruse, and worry about the rest of the small stuff later.

October 2008 Villager's Black Blog Rankings

It's a new month and that means it's time to head over to Electronic Villager, sit under the virtual baobab tree and wait for the Villager's October BBR's to come out.

As you regular TransGriot readers are aware, I've set the goals of cracking 150 on my Technorati ranking and being a BBR Top 50 ranked blog by January 1 (the 3rd anniversary of the TransGriot blog).

Then it's on to my 2009 goal of cracking the BBR Top 25 Blogs.

Speaking of the Top 25, Congrats to Renee, one of my regular commenters here and her Womanist Musings blog. She's on the verge of cracking the BBR Top 25 with this month's BBR ranking of 26.

So how did I do this month?

At the time the September BBR's were compiled, TransGriot was at Number 67 with a 133 Technorati ranking.

This month, out of the 1440 blogs that were part of the October BBR rankings, as of October 1, 2008 when these rankings were compiled, TransGriot is at number 70 with a 136 Technorati ranking.

Pam's House Blend is still the number one ranked Black blog.

I knew it was a matter of time before my meteoric progress toward the BBR Top 50 would slow down. I lost three spots BBR ranking wise, but did gain 3 points on the Technorati rankings. Being without Internet access for a few days didn't help either.

So instead of interpreting this situation as a negative, I'm looking at this as a glass half full scenario.

I'm only 20 spots away from cracking the BBR Top 50 and 14 points from reaching my goal of a 150 Technorati ranking.

Oh well, back to the drawing board. I have a historic presidential race coming down to the wire to comment on. I'm going to be headed to Denver next month to be the keynote speaker at a gender conference on the CU campus in Boulder, and who knows what other exciting stuff is going to pop up in my life I can comment on.

And I still have twelve weeks to hit my goals.

September 2008 Villager's Black Blog Rankings

Hotep!
It's that time of the month that all of us in the Black blogosphere breathlessly await. It's time to head on over to the Electronic Village and check out this month's edition of the Black Blog Rankings.

The Villager got to rank 1407 Black blogs this month, up 78 blogs from the 1329 ranked in August.

The BBR's are now celebrating their second anniversary this month and from the initial 75 blogs, this FUBU production has exponentially grown. If you are an African-American blogger and wish to be part of this, just drop the Villager a line so he can include you in next month's rankings.

Speaking of growth, I set some goals that I gave myself until January 1, 2009 (TransGriot's 3rd anniversary) to reach. I wanted to be in the BBR Top 50 blogs and be at a Technorati ranking of 150.

So how did I do? In August I'd just achieved a goal of cracking the BBR Top 100 blogs and was at Number 92 with a 113 Technorati ranking.

When this month's BBR rankings were compiled on September 1, TransGriot was at Number 67 with a 133 Technorati ranking.

So I jumped another 25 spots to put me in striking distance of the Top 50 and added 20 points to my Technorati ranking. Shoot, as fast as this blog is growing I will probably have to set a new goal in October of cracking the Top 25 BBR ranked blogs.

But I couldn't do this without you, my loyal readers. I thank you for taking the time out of your busy day (or night) to read what I post here. Please know that I deeply appreciate it.

I'm also grateful and humbled to note that some of my fellow bloggers are starting to ask me to write guest posts as well on various topics, so you'll probably in the near future start to see my writing in places other than TransGriot or The Bilerico Project.

We'll see where TransGriot ends up next month. With a historic presidential campaign to blog about, I think I can come up with some interesting things to talk about and keep you peeps happy between now and October 1.

August 2008 Villager's Black Blog Rankings

This month the Electronic Villager had the pleasure of ranking 1329 African-American blogs for this month's Black Blog Rankings. That's an increase of 60 blogs from the July 2008 ranking.

The AfroSpear is growing as well. I received the honor of being invited to join last momth along with several other blogs. The Black blogosphere even has its own blogging convention now with the just recently concluded Blogging While Brown Conference along with the 2008 edition of the Black Weblog Awards, which are now accepting nominations.

Some unexpected work schedule complications kept me from attending the inaugural Blogging While Brown Conference to my chagrin, but I definitely want to be in the house next year, assuming it's in the ATL.

So what's TransGriot's BBR ranking?

I achieved another short term goal and cracked The BBR Top 100 blogs! I jumped 30 spots from my July BBR ranking of 122 with a 95 Technorati ranking

As of August 1 TransGriot had a BBR of 92 with a 113 Technorati ranking.

That means I'm going to have to set another blogging goal. I mentioned in my July post I wanted to be at a 150 Technorati ranking by the end of the year. Let's add cracking the top 50 BBR blogs by January 1, 2009 to that as well.

So how am I going to do that? By simply doing what I do now. Continuing to write thoughtful commentary that you'll not only want to read and come back for, but link to as well.

Being an AfroSpear member, while I'm still a neophyte to it, I believe over time will be a compliment to what I'm doing now. I have a role to play by telling the stories of the transgender members of our African family, kicking knowledge to you and telling the stories of transgender people in general. I'm also happy to note that other African-American transgender voices now starting to speak on the blogosphere as well, and I welcome the added input and insights about being Black and transgender.

There are far more African-American transpeople than yours truly. I just happen to be one of the peeps with writing skills who's willing to talk about it.

So as you can see TransGriot readers, the blog is making major jumps up the BBR ladder, and I sincerely thank everyone who thinks highly enough of my blog to make it possible. But I've got much work to do. There's 42 blogs between me and the Number 50 slot and I have to add 37 points to my Technorati ranking for my target 150 ranking by January 1, 2009.

So gotta get back to creating more interesting blog posts for you.

We'll see how close I can come to hitting my new end of the year goals next month.

July 2008 Villager's Black Blog Rankings

Well, TransGriot readers, we're about to find out how close I am to the goal that I set for this blog last month of cracking not only the BBR Top 100 blogs, but hitting the magic 100 Technorati authority ranking.

As you regular readers may have noticed, I've reached one goal I set last month with my Technorati ranking. It's been fluctuating between 100 and 102 this week.

But to refresh y'all memory banks, this is what I wrote about last month's ranking:

But to be honest, out of over 1000 Black blogs, TransGriot is ranked 133. It's something I really shouldn't be disappointed about. But I have set a goal of cracking the Black Blog Rankings Top 100 before the year is out.

All I can do to improve on my 133 BBR ranking for June is to just keep writing insightful, interesting commentary so you peeps will not only read it, but link to it as well.

So where is TransGriot this month?

This month Electronic Villager ranked 1,269 blogs, which meant 30 more African-American blogs have expressed their interest in being ranked on this growing and increasingly influential benchmark for the African-American blogosphere.

I'll let y'all surf over to the Village to find out who the new Number One African-American blog is. It wasn't a surprise to me. I felt it was inevitably gonna happen for her.

TransGriot jumped up eleven spots and now has a BBR of 122. My Technorati ranking at the time the rankings were compiled was 96.

So I've resumed upward progress, but there are 22 spots between me and my goal of cracking the Top 100 blogs before the end of the year. I do have to set a new Technorati Ranking goal since it looks like I may have achieved the original short term one I set. I want my Technorati ranking to be at 150 by my TransGriot anniversary date of January 1 in addition to cracking the BBR Top 100 Blogs.

I do have some long term goals as well. I want to earn some blog awards. I'd like TransGriot to be part of the Afrospear, and have applied for membership in it. I'll eventually have to consider when the traffic warrants it moving it to my own server. But as I stated last month and blockquoted in this post, the only way I do that is keep writing commentary you peeps not only enjoy, but will link to as well.

Thanks to Rod McCullum (Rod 2.0 beta) for the private e-mail. It's nice to know one of your blogging role models not only reads your blog, but takes the time out of their busy schedules to tell you. That e-mail made my day. I'll never forget the assist two other blogging role models Pam Spaulding and Jasmyne Cannick gave me two years ago when I was starting TransGriot. They positively responded to my humble e-mailed requests for permission to link to their popular blogs.

Thanks also to Kid from Pirate Satellite , Minister L. Vazquez and my TransGriot regulars old and new who have left various comments about how much they like TransGriot.

Ms. Deux, hope everything is okay with you and your family. I and everyone else in the Afro-American blogosphere continue to pray for you and your sister. We all look forward to the day that you're ready to come back from your blogging hiatus and grace us with your presence on Mes Deux Cents.

I also found it amusing that the Human Rights Campaign, who I've never been a fan of for various reasons, took the time to quote me on their HRC Back Story blog. That quote is from a post I wrote for TransGriot and The Bilerico Project (where I'm a contributing writer) slamming last week's melanin-free congressional transgender discrimination hearing.

And Villager, thank you for everything you do to uplift Black bloggers and along with the AfroSpear, keep us focused on the never ending mission of uplifting our people not only here, but across the Diaspora. For our allies who read our blogs in order to better understand their fellow African descended people, much love to you too.

So time for me to get busy writing that insightful commentary. I'm also looking forward to finally meeting some of you peeps in the flesh at the Blogging While Brown Conference in the ATL later this month.

The Villager's Black Blog Rankings

The TransGriot is one of the now 1,239 blogs ranked in the Black Blog Rankings compiled by the creative genius behind the Electronic Villager blog.

It started in reaction to an article in a magazine that listed the most influential blogs that was devoid of melanin. So in the best traditions of our people, the Villager got mad, then he did something about it by creating his own ranking list.

He started it in September 2007 with an initial 75 blogs, and the growth has been phenomenal ever since. The October 2007 rankings listed 300 blogs. By January 2008 it had doubled to 602 blogs listed. By the time TransGriot was added to the list in April 2008 the number of Black blogs listrd had grown to 1045. The May rankings included 1,173 Black blogs.

The influence of blogs like mine has been noted. It was the Black blogosphere that pushed the Jena 6 issue into mainstream news coverage, and got the word out about the march held in Jena, LA. While my blog focuses on transgender issues from an African-American perspective, I'm also concerned as an African-American about what happens to my people as well. Me being transgender does not exclude me from that discussion and desire to have me contribute my talents and my voice to help my people survive and thrive.

We are part of the African-American family as well and one of TransGriot's missions it to emphatically drive that point home.

The growing influence of Black blogs not only led to the DNC listening when we griped about the lack of blogs of color involved in the upcoming Democratic convention and other Democratic sponsored blogger events. It has led to the formation of an an upcoming conference in Atlanta called the Blogging While Brown Conference. I'm planning to attend this event which will be taking place July 25-27.

Now that I've stepped off the soapbox for a minute, what's my ranking for this month?

Black Blog Rankings (BBR) lean heavily on the Technorati Authority and Rank score for each blog. In April 2008 I had a 107 BBR with a 98 Technorati ranking. I had a massive drop on my Technorati rankings that hurt me. It pissed me off since I was about to crack the magic 100 Technorati ranking barrier, was on the verge of cracking the Top 100 in the BBR rankings and lost some ground.

But to be honest, out of over 1000 Black blogs, TransGriot is ranked 133. It's something I really shouldn't be disappointed about. But I have set a goal of cracking the Black Blog Rankings Top 100 before the year is out.

All I can do to improve on my 133 BBR ranking for June is to just keep writing insightful, interesting commentary so you peeps will not only read it, but link to it as well.

And I especially want to see more love from my own people in terms of reading it. I want them to understand that African-American traspeople not only have their own history, it's intertwined with the fortunes of the larger African-American community as well.

I'm Number #107!

The Villager's Top Ten Black Blog rankings for April just came out and TransGriot finally made the list. Out of the 1045 blogs ranked this month mine is #107.

If you're a blogger of African descent and want to see where yours ranked head on over to the Electronic Village and see your ranking.

The Villager started ranking Black blogs after this list of influential blogs was chosen which was devoid of melanin. That pissed off the Villager to the point where he started this FUBU production.

Speaking of FUBU productions, the Blogging While Brown conference for bloggers of color will be taking place in the ATL from July 25-27. I'm definitely leaning toward being there for it