DISQUS

Eve Nielsen · 2 years ago

Interesting that dual posts don't send traffic. I didn't know that, but I've think that in order to let something stand out, it must be set apart. Like this.

Or like this.

A writing trick as well as a blogging trick. :)

Every Square Inch · 2 years ago

I think this observation is spot on -

"a blog’s comment activity is not a good way to gauge how much traffic that blog might receive."

I know that there are a couple of blogs I visit occasionally, that do not get a good comment stream but are very well read. I know from my blog that while I get comments on a regular basis (thanks to all who do), it doesn't draw the same level of traffic as these less commented blogs.

chrisd · 2 years ago

So basically saying that killing yourself writing doesn't help?

Hmmm.

By the by, did you know that you're listed for the CSFF Blog Tour? which is going on now?

L.L. Barkat · 2 years ago

Oops.

Marcus · 2 years ago

Hey, Chrisd. I'm was getting to it. We have three days to post remember.

And one of the biggest things I learned about blog tours is exactly what you pointed out. "Killing yourself writing" doesn't send any more traffic.

That means the more I post about The Sword Review, the less likely I am to send them much in the way of immediate traffic. That said, I put up my post at lunch right after you commented.

Marcus · 2 years ago

And thanks for the moral support, there. L.L. Or were you referring to the dual posts thing? No worries. It's just as important to know what doesn't work. And you certainly generated so much buzz in everyone's comment fields that you more than earned your pay! Er. We didn't pay you, did we?

L.L. Barkat · 2 years ago

Dual post thing. Did it matter whether people posted only one day or all three?

Every Square Inch · 2 years ago

I did the dual post as well...I must confess after reading LL's blog, I thought that it was a neat way to go so like a lemming, I...

Eve Nielsen · 2 years ago

Mark, lol-we paid her peanuts, remember?? Or was that peanut butter...

Susan · 2 years ago

what cracks me up is that after reading this post - twice - I couldn't tell you what my blog entries classified as - so, I suppose that as long as they didn't decrease traffic, that's ok...

were you able to differentiate between xanga versus blogspot even if the blog has the same name in each place?

Rebecca LuElla Miller · 2 years ago

Not sure I'm understanding, Mark. Are you judging the traffic you send to TheHighCalling.org (love that!) based on direct clicks from your site? See, I would suggest that's not the only way to judge. I'd say what we need to do is find out from TheHighCalling.org's webmaster what he saw in blog traffic. People may come to your site, go to something else (like work), then come home that night and settle down for a good read.

In other words, you may never know how many people you influenced to visit a particular site, or to buy a particular book.

Once in a while we get feedback from featured authors or site creators and the response has ALWAYS been favorable. Wherethemapends.com would be one example. Randy Ingermanson's site would be another. Both told me in person that traffic was up after the tour.

Becky

Marcus · 2 years ago

Becky, great points. I don't mean that traffic is the only way to measure the effectiveness of a blog tour.

Your CSFF blog tours are invaluable--because they are beginning to connect the community of people who like to read similar stories. So we know we aren't alone.

As a volunteer service that you provide, it is completely completely completely invaluable.

I mean that sincerely.

But some of the organizations I work with are considering how much (if any) money they should spend on social media. And so they are looking for measurable outcomes that will either be achieved or not.

Traffic is the measurable outcome I was able to track. So I went with that on this particular test.

I hope to set up a test where I check more elaborate actions from blog readers. But I haven't though up how to do that yet.

Rebecca LuElla Miller · 2 years ago

I sorta came into the middle of your discussion--this was the first post I read, so spoke out of ignorance. I was thinking you were talking about traffic that went from a blogger's site (yours) to the featured site. You were actually speaking for the featured site and looking at the affect of all the bloggers.

I'm obviously very interested in all this. I've even done a post on whether or not the tour phenom accomplishes what we aim for.

I have nothing scientific, only personal observations and some feedback from sites we've featured (as noted in last errant comment).

Anyway, I can already tell, you subscribe to the cliff hanger method of getting readers back!

Works for Brandilyn Collins! ;-)

Becky

Susan · 2 years ago

OOH - busted again for cliffhanging!

Glen · 2 years ago

Hey, I stumbled on to your blog by looking for images of Albert Einstein, many people don't realize how almost all parts of the blog work together to increase traffic. I also find cool blogs by looking at interesting comments. As a blogger I try to avoid obvious sales pitches. Cool Blog!

Marcus · 2 years ago

Glen, that's a great point. I noticed this week that I'm beginning to get a significant traffic from people looking for images. I grab mine from a stock photo site where I have a membership. But I use wikicommons a lot too.