Just a quick note today about some interesting mainstream coverage of a Bleacher Report writer…

The Rich Rodriguez saga has been covered to an exhaustive level on Bleacher Report since the story broke that he’d be leaving West Virginia to coach the Michigan Wolverines. Literally dozens of articles have been written—and hundreds more comments made—about RichRod’s decision to leave the Mountaineers for Ann Arbor.

Frank Martino had one interesting take on the situation, suggesting in his “Follow That Plane” piece that readers should take a closer look at the plane that shuttled Rodriguez back and forth between Morgantown and Ann Arbor—and the curious flight patterns the same plane has followed over the last few weeks.

With some persistent prodding, Frank managed to get Charleston Gazette sports editor Mitch Vingle to take notice and quote heavily from Frank’s article in today’s column, Digging to Find the Truth. Vingle considers the ins-and-outs of Frank’s theory, but ultimately comes away with his own conclusions.

Nice work by Frank to get the word out and get the mainstream press to stand up and take notice of the great analysis you can find day-in and day-out at Bleacher Report.

So the guys over at Busted Coverage have organized a March Madness-style bracket to determine the “Sports Blog of the Year”. Even though Bleacher Report isn’t technically a blog, they’ve included us as an 11 seed in the East Region, facing off against baseball humor blog Bugs and Cranks.

Really, an 11 seed? What are we, Creighton?

The voting ends today and we’ve got a sizable deficit to overcome (could B&C be stuffing the ballot?), so if you have a chance hop on over to the site and cast your vote.

Thanks to Bleacher Creature Nino Colla for the tip.

As Bleacher Report has grown from a small community to a burgeoning home of the best independent writers in sports journalism, we’ve had the pleasure of being linked to and written about by a great variety of sports sites around the web.

Last week we added another great one to the list as Sports Illustrated on Campus’ Andy Gray linked to Jux Berg’s article on the Five Most Mediocre College Football Teams in his column Campus Clicks.

Two days later, Andy linked to another article. Then another. And another.

Soon enough, what was beginning to be readily apparent became official when Andy named Bleacher Report his new favorite site.

Thanks Andy! Now if you could only start referring to us as Bleacher Report instead of The Bleacher Report. Oh well, all in due time…

Full screenshot and more self-congratulations after the jump.

The question:

How do I get my writing featured on Bleacher Report?

The sixth and final answer…

6. Just Keep Writing

It’s a long way to the top, at Bleacher Report or anywhere else. Our Senior Writers have been at it for awhile. You can get where they are—but it’s going to take time.

Every article you write boosts your ranking on the network. Change won’t come overnight—but it will come, so long as you keep your nose to the grindstone.

Not that you should need the motivation. After all, this ain’t exactly work, is it? At Bleacher Report, anyone who follows sports can be a sportswriter. We always figured the opportunity was all that mattered.

So have fun, and keep at it. Everything else will take care of itself…

It’s a question all Bleacher Creatures want to know the answer too: how do I get my article on the front page?

Articles are placed on Bleacher Report according to an algorithm that considers a variety of factors, including:

1) Average star rating of your article.

2) Comments and hits generated by your article.

3) Your overall site ranking, largely determined by the number of articles you’ve written and the numbers of “Fans” you have (a fan is someone who adds you to their Lineup).

Thus, if you’d like your articles to get higher placement, here are a few strategies you might want to consider pursuing:

Write more frequently

The easiest way to boost your Bleacher Report ranking (and thus to get your articles on the front page) is to write more articles.

This is not to suggest that gutting the quality of your work so you can increase your total submission count is a good road to go down. Doing that is likely to drive down your popularity on the network, and thus you very well may end up right back where you started.

That said, contributing a steady output of quality articles adds up overtime. More often than not, the writers who’s work appears on the front page have devoted quite a bit of time to writing for Bleacher Report, and thus even their articles that don’t attract large scale attention on the web can find their way into the site’s prime real estate slots.

Give your fan base a boost

The more popular you are on the network, the likelier it is that your work will end up on the front page of Bleacher Report.

There are a few different ways of expanding your fanbase that are worth considering:

a) Start conversations with other Bleacher Report writers who share your sports interests. You can do this either via the comment threads or by posting on other members’ bulletin boards. Getting your name out within the community is a surefire way to increase your fanbase and thus improve the placement of your articles.

b) Encourage non-member familiar with your work to sign up for Bleacher Report, and add you to their Lineup.

Have friends, family, co-workers, or online cohorts that might be interested in reading your analysis? Bring them to Bleacher Report and make them your fans! There’s nothing wrong with a little shameless self-promotion.

Write about topics that are likely to attract widespread attention

Don’t want to take the time to write regularly or acquire a fanbase? Feel like going straight to the front page on your first, second, or third try?

If you’re not willing to put in the time and effort to get on the front page the old fashioned way, feel free to try and write a super popular piece to instantly elevate your article’s real estate.

Writing a popular or viral article is no easy task—it’s an art entirely of its own. That said, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

-Choose a story on a controversial subject that is in the news. You want to have tens of thousands of people read your article? Better write about something they’re actually going to stumble across.

We encourage members of the network to write on topics of all sorts, including obscure ones—but if you want to maximize the traffic your article generates, you should pick a topic that people are going to naturally be searching for that day.

Arod gets caught with HGH = good article topic.

Derrick Pope is an above average tackler = bad article topic

-Assume a unique position on the matter at hand that nobody else is talking about. If you and ESPN cover the same story and essentially say the same thing, you’re gonna get schooled. Take on a fresh perspective and argue the subject in a totally unique manner, and the people will come.

-Choose a keyword rich title. To put it simply: stuff as many proper nouns in the title as you can (to a reasonable extent) to maximize the article’s presence on search engines. “Why the Yankees and Alex Rodriguez use HGH” is preferable to “The Opium Den of the Bronx.”

-Be The First To Editorialize on Breaking News. If a story is just breaking, and you’re the first to write a personal take on the news, you stand the chance to not only attract a lot of readers, but to set the pace of the discussion on that subject—both on Bleacher Report and elsewhere. Even if it’s not the biggest story in the sports world, that early mover advantage can have a humongous effect.

Any other tips for writing articles that go straight to the front page? Share them in the comments.

The question:

How do I get my writing featured on Bleacher Report?

The fifth answer…

5. Learn By Example

At the risk of stating the obvious: The articles featured on Bleacher Report didn’t get to the top spots by accident.

Again, our veteran writers have learned a trick or two in the online wars. You’d do well to steal any insight you can—be it in terms of substance, style, presentation, or tone.

Imitation, they say, is the sincerest form of flattery. It’s also the best way to climb over the guy in front of you.

So take the time to read through the site’s spotlighted content before you submit your next piece. You never know what you might learn.