- InTrade is 7/10. BetFair 6/10. HSX 6/10. HubDub 6/10.

- BetFair’s blog (Betting @ BetFair) is 5/10, proving, once again, that it is a mediocre publication run by mediocre people. BetFair’s second blog (BetFair Predicts) is 4/10. Midas Oracle is 6/10.

- For the record, the goal to attain (for both exchanges and publications) is 7/10.

- BetFair News @ Twitter

- BetFair Canada @ Twitter

- Mike Robb @ Twitter

- Michael Owen @ Twitter

- Pete Nordsted @ Twitter

- ??? – ??? – ???

Once again, we can see plainly the incompetence of the BetFair team when it comes to blogging. They don’t have the first clue. In spite of my blogging and e-mailing this issue for years. So, not only are they totally incompetents, but they are also stubborn in their ineptitude. RSS is no MIT-level business —it is spelled “Really Simple Syndication”. If it “simple”, then BetFair should be able to figure it, one day, in the next coming decade —we hope.

For your information, here’s the webpage with the chart widget.

Addendum: InTrade, NewsFutures and HubDub’s chart widgets do go into feeds. They got it. And they have gotten it for years.

Summary

I am a communications professional with a broad mix of experience. My strengths include media relations, campaign management, corporate communications, digital communications and creativity.

Specialties

Print, online and social media, digital and online PR, corporate communications, marketing PR, experiential PR, direct marketing, research, stakeholder engagement, strategic partnerships, online activism, online campaigns, political campaigning, project and vendor management, leadership, press releases, copywriting and editing.

The word “blogging” is missing.

It is a good theoretical material. The only thing: The BetFair SEOs have been incapable of raising the PageRank of both Betting @ BetFair (PR5) and BetFair Predicts (PR4). So, if their advice are so precious, why can’t they get results at home?

Addendum: Both MidasOracle.org and PoliticalBetting.com are PR6.

- Google PageRank of BetFair Predicts: 4 / 10.

- Number of feed subscribers at Google Reader for Betting @ BetFair: 29.

- Number of feed subscribers at Google Reader for BetFair Predicts: 17.

All this in spite of the 45 part-time writers and the SEO experts (or so they think they are) that BetFair is employing.

I would fire them all —from top to bottom.

As a consumer, when’s the last time you read an advertorial and walked away inspired or informed?

Never.

And this is my version of the question:

As a consumer, when’s the last time you read a post by BetFair Predicts and walked away inspired or informed?

Never, as for moi. Do give your answer in the comments. Commercial companies are just incapable of publishing things that can be trusted. It is by essence impossible. [As a side note, this is an interesting challenge for a young startup that could solve this problem. I am discussing this with some people.]

Best of luck to you.

PS: BetFair Predicts, which received much criticism from my part in the past, is now under a new direction. We wish them the very best, and we look towards a good cooperation and understanding between all prediction market bloggers of all stripes and continents.

- InTrade: 7 / 10

- BetFair: 6 / 10 — It was 7 / 10, at one time, in the past.

- Iowa Electronic Markets: 6 / 10

- HubDub: 6 / 10

- NewsFutures (US): 6 / 10

- Hollywood Stock Exchange: 6 / 10

- Betting @ BetFair (a group blog): 5 / 10

- BetFair Predicts (a sub-website): 4 / 10

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Clearly, the PageRanks of the BetFair website and sub-websites are not in line with its business weight. Two factors:

1. BetFair is situated within the British Web, which is smaller than the American Web, and there are less bloggers, and hence, less opportunities to get linked to.
2. BetFair is pursuing an aggressive SEO strategy. They e-mail bloggers like me to request a link to Betting @ BetFair, and it seems that they pay people to insert a link to BetFair Predicts in blog comments. They might be using other SEO tricks of this kind. These SEO tricks are not the right way to build an Internet presence. (The right way is to build high-quality content, and to engage in a fruitful conversation with the bloggers.)

The Hollywood Stock Exchange / Cantor Exchange is paying a community service provider.

HubDub’s community services are performed in house.

Should community building be a core constituent of a prediction exchange? I’d say “yes”. It is not something to outsource.

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Previously: Cantor Exchange

Previously: Should the Hollywood Stock Exchange become a real-money betting exchange? – 2007-10-04

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