Know-How Exchange : Just for Fun

Your traffic will be in direct proportion to how many people you tell. Like you said unless you have something incredible you won't get a lot of viral traffic.

You know I think there was a weird vibe yesterday as it applies to technology. I had tech problems ranging from multiple servers being down to may garage door not closing. (:-)

Traffic to a blog depends on many factors. Much depends on your content, your audience, your linking on the web and other blogs, your reputation and how others perceive the value of your content, and the 'news of the day'.

I've been involved in a few blog projects as a 'technical consultant' (a fancy term for a guy who has been hacking around with far too many software programs and has probably broke more software than you and still managed to get more than a few web sites running reliably). Let me break down paragraph one for you based on experience from a guy who has 'been out there' (in more ways than one) for some time.

Your blog content is a great place to start. Perhaps you intended to target some key words in your content to draw search traffic, or perhaps you got lucky and just wrote a few words that folks just happen to be searching for today. The blog topic 'Web Designer's Code of Ethics' is not only catchy, it is a theme, topic, or search term that in itself draws interest. There are a lot of folks who want to know about the web, how it works, and how to make it work FOR them, so that topic is researched heavily.

If you are surprised that you had some hits, then that tells me you just got lucky. How would I know if you just got lucky? Well, I'll let you in on a little bloggers secret - 'Server Stats'.

Yes, there are software programs that you can install into your blog template code, and these programs will monitor your site traffic. These programs will generate reports that will tell you if someone came to your page naturally (by typing in 'https://jpoyer.wordpress.com' into their browser address bar), or if they were referred by another web page by clicking on a hyperlinked reference embedded in another page (just like this post on Marketing Profs where I'm embedding another link back to your web site: https://jpoyer.wordpress.com). These same programs will also show you the number of hits that are coming to your page based on search engine traffic and what key words were used to find your pages, even how many hits from each word(s) from each search engine. These programs also will allow you to recreate each browsers session, so you can 'follow in their footsteps' as the navigate your blog.

The whole point of these software programs is to be able to monitor your traffic and separate fact from guess work. You will be able to determine what is happening instead of guessing what is happening. Your stats tell you the story. You can use some free programs like Google Analytics, or ask your hosting company if they offer AWstats. I use a few more commercial programs like 'Mint' with my clients as well as some free and opensource server stat systems. I generate all kinds of information so I can find out what is triggering traffic, or can look back and find out what triggered increases in response, be it comments, change of interest in the general population into something that was said previously and is just discovered, or how effective a change in blogging efforts to draw traffic is performing.

Yes, some folks DO sell out and begin to blog for traffic. News sites do this, some companies (Like Walmarts paid bloggers) and even individuals are blogging for traffic or to change public opinion. There is much debate over the ethics of such blogging, but hey, I get paid to help folks measure effectiveness of such efforts, or not (DISCLOSURE: I'm a hired gun, I get paid for this, so don't call me down for not saying I have vested interest, nor am I hiding the fact).

So, back to the long reply.

Your content can be part of the reason why you are drawing traffic. Use server stats to find out and measure what's going on, and why. Draw your own conclusions from the numbers, or if you wish, hire someone like me to interpret them for you and council you.

Your audience is a big factor. So, your mom told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on, an so on, and now you have 245 hits! WOW, you got audience! Some blogs just grow from the get go. Again, by design or pure luck. Earlier this week, I responded to Chris Blackman's question, and said some bloggers have to wait a year or more to develop or acquire an audience, others get an audience from day one. Its still early days for your blog, and it can still go one way or another, or not.

People tell people. If you have valuable content, great brain farts that you put down on paper in your blog, or wonderful information, you WILL get traffic and link love. People will come to read your amazing words or brilliant thoughts. People will tell other people to come and read for themselves. Some will print it out and put it in a file. Heck, some folks will pay you the ultimate compliment and shower you with Link Love. Link Love is people linking their web site to your content (just like you did in your question above, you paid link love to Chris Blackman's blog at: https://www.asvpgroup.blogspot.com - and now I've paid Chris some Link Love).

Now, if you say something really controversial in your content (Like perhaps outing a major corporation as engaging in unethical practices such as creating false perceptions of a client company, for profit) and certain key folks pick up on the 'radical' concept and word begins to spread - your blog may go VIRAL, spreading around the globe. Then again, your comments may be discovered as a BRILLIANT piece of writing that explains an element of human nature, and others come to your site like disciples gathering around their messiah - again, you may go VIRAL, and spread all over the net.

This leads to reputation. If your comments are so innovative, so fresh, so invigorating, you will draw an audience and a following. You may become an authority on a certain topic or theme. You might even become famous, perhaps even rich. None the less, you will OWN your particular corner of the net and be a respected authority. (heady powerful stuff huh?)

It really comes down to a little bit of each of the items in my first paragraph, a little bit of luck, a little bit of work, a lot of thinking & writing, a lot of time, and finally some exposure.

That's how it happens, and that's how it happened to you, or not.

Darcy Moen
Customer Loyalty Network

Jennifer, you busted me. I confess, I googled you.

Making a difference is a great sentiment, do it, and I hope you will.

The creative freedom of blogging has opportunity and danger.

Opportunity to be all that you can be, to speak your mind, freely, with abandon, and to perhaps be appreciated for who you are, what your thoughts are, and where your stand.

Danger that one can fall, fail, and to do so terribly, terribly publicly. Worse, to suffer the ultimate blogger death .....NO TRAFFIC.

What is the sound of one person blogging? Tap, tap, tap.....is anybody there? If a blogger falls in the forest, and nobody hears it, DOES anyone care?

You have the right attitude. One doesn't need fame, fortune, awards, audience, link love, or traffic....just appreciation to be read. I think I can feel your head nodding in agreement.

Jennifer, YOU get it.

I came back tonight to revisit your post, and to add a little more.

Is 235 hits good? Well, if you were Scoble, no. For a first few days, providing it wasn't Mom and her friends checking out what you are up to on the Internet, uh-yeah, its pretty good.

Question is: How many return? Repeat visits is where it's at. Digg, Delicious, Furl and book marks is another indicator. The ultimate is to score in the top 100 on Technorati or some other 'impact measurement' site. (Thanks for introducing me to Sphinn, I learned something new today too.) But like I said, if you are in it for personal pleasure and to vent 'creative', well, stuff all other measurements because they really won't matter.

- What has been your experience with your personal blogs? -

Some fly, some fall flat, some languish then fly, some fly then languish, some just sit at flat line barely breathing.

-Has it been positive or negative for you? -

On the whole, positive. Writing, blogging, participating in forums, its all been a wonderful journey. While it was never my intent to become a writer (and I'm sure there are a few former teachers and editors who would argue I still have a long way to go) the folks I've met, the people who said my words or advice helped, and to some degree the recognition (and Marketing Profs expert points) and bragging rights that go along with it, have been very satisfying.

- Do you get "the rush" when you refresh your page, and your count has jumped up? -

Its a thrill I hope to never get tired of, and I hope you don't either. But like you said, its not for fame, wealth and glory, you hope to help others.

What is a normal hits to post ratio? I don't know. It changes from blog to blog, depending on audience, niche, and topic. Sometimes you (or anyone for that matter) can express a thought so succinctly, with such clarity, that like the tone from clapper striking the perfect bell....the thought just resonates through a crowd...leaving no one to answer. Silence doesn't have to mean people don't like it, sometimes it means they were so riveted, they have to digest it...slowly.

Jennifer, I sincerely hope that your first few posts are just the beginning of a long and continuous peal of thought(s). I look forward to reading you again, soon (and perhaps leaving comments).

Darcy Moen
Customer Loyalty Network
P.S. the (_._) should be accredited to my buddy Kelly from https://www.fatpipemedia.com

It sounds like you're looking for both traffic and a dialog with your traffic.

To get traffic, advertise your blog (on blogging submission pages, and also by responding to others' blogs).

To start a dialog, ask questions.

Don't make the reader wade through pages of your article.

If the blog is about you, feel free to ramble on whatever topic is of interest to you. If the blog is about a specific niche, keep in on-topic.

Be controversial/opinionated/useful. Saying what everyone else is saying doesn't make me want to keep tuning into you.