Something else I don't understand -- this time it's about who's got a bigger PR. Doesn't that sound wrong somehow?

My Scottish blogfriend Chris, in his Blog-Op incarnation, is promoting a contest by the proprietor of Binary Moon, Mr. Ben Gillbanks. Mr. Gillbanks, says Mr. Lodge, is giving away free PR7 links.

Now regulars here know that I don't really understand this "PR" business. But I am all in favor of "free."

So, naturally, I looked.

Here's what Mr. Gillbanks proposes to give away:

1. All entrants will get a link in a round-up post of the entrants. This will appear on the homepage for at least a couple of days.
2. All the winners will receive links in my blog roll/ link list/ whatever you want to call it. I will have at least 3 top winners, however I may (hopefully will) add more than 3 links. Text-Links on Binary Moon currently cost $150 a month, and these links will be available indefinitely.
3. The top prize will receive all of the above plus a review of their website on Binary Moon. Reviews currently cost $200 on ReviewMe, and the review will be permanently available.

So... trying to understand all this... if this brings in more readers, that would be a good thing, right? Unfortunately, I see nothing in these materials about new readers being obliged to stay. Or return. Or leave comments. And we haven't even mentioned book deals yet.

Nevertheless, I undertook to browse through Mr. Gillbank's archives because that is what is required to enter the contest. I was looking for something that might explain this "PR" business -- and I did. Here is a link to Mr. Gillbank's post of October 3, 2006 wherein he reports on the pending conclusion of Google's latest page rank update.

PR = Page Rank? A ha! A glimmer of understanding!

And this may be timely, too, since RT noted in a recent Blog Drive-By that a new Google page rank update is or will shortly be underway. (RT's drive-by linked to this post on Savvy Affiliate. This RT post may also be helpful....)

But back to Mr. Gillbanks. In the October 3, 2006 post, Mr. Gillbanks linked to future page rank tool. I thought I'd successfully copied the code for this widget, but the result looked awful. So this has been edited out. The link will take you to where the widget is anyway.

Now I don't know if this widget can truly predict the results of the pending update. I do know that I was a PR4 and the widget says I'll be a PR4. So I haven't lost ground. But in relation to Mr. Gillbanks, I apparently have PR envy.