I’ll admit it; the hit counter on this blog fascinates me. I refresh it several times a day. I get a kick out of high traffic days and chagrined when the visits drop off to just a few visitors.
But I’m an old marketing hand and I do know a thing or two about traffic. You ready for the big secret?
It doesn’t mean squat.
Any idiot can generate traffic and claim his or her fifteen minutes of fame. It’s easy. Just do something stupid, offensive, or something that adds to the current on-fire trend. But if you want to build a sustainable following, to convince someone of an argument or sell a product or service, you’ll find that merely attracting visitors in volume is futile.
It’s no surprise that there are a lot of idiots out there willing to do just that.
It’s not about the traffic; it’s about finding an audience. In marketing we call them “prospects.” A prospect is someone that is likely to buy what you’re selling. A lead is just another name, just another face in the crowd. Everyone is a lead, but a prospect, now that’s someone special, someone that has the potential to become a customer. To attract prospects and convert them into customers you have to find a way of both attracting them and offering something that’s valuable to them. That may seem basic, but it’s actually very difficult to do well and in any volume.
Which makes this a good time for me to talk about what I’m selling here.
I’m selling an experience. The cost to you is your time and some mental energy. If I’m doing my job, my best customers will be able to spend a few minutes, five days a week, reading something thought-provoking, perhaps pleasurable, and even useful. I hope that they’ll celebrate the value of good writing and put it to use in their own lives, businesses, and activities.
If someone becomes a client because of something they’ve read here, that’s terrific, but that’s not why I do it. I’ve got a substantial enough portfolio and a strong resume and contacts. That’s how I land clients. But it doesn’t hurt to demonstrate that not only do I have the writing chops, but that I practice what I preach. I write this blog because I’m a writer and the act of creation is central to my character. I really enjoy thinking about subjects and writing about them. I publish this blog because I’m interested in the conversations it generates and the connections it helps me make.
Now back to the hit counter.
One of the more interesting things I’ve noticed is that really good posts keep on attracting visitors. Sometimes it takes a while for an audience to find its way here. With a lot of good content published over time – five days a week, every week – the search engines begin to recognize something is going on. Links begin appearing on other sites. Slowly, the low traffic days begin to pick up. Someone, somewhere, is reading something I wrote about months ago, not just what I published today.
For example, a couple of weeks back, I did five posts on writing tips. I didn’t see much daily traffic from them, but I’ve noticed them being read consistently since their publication. And I’ve had requests to redistribute them as an ebook, which I’ll likely put together soon with other posts on the art and craft of writing. I expect these posts to continue to generate traffic for months to come, so the amount of hits they generated on the day of their publication is insignificant compared to what they do over time.
I’ve seen this be very effective for companies that I do work for, too. Good content, published frequently, is the best traffic generator. It’s better than the black magic of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It’s more effective than buying online advertisements. It takes the pressure off any given post, but puts the pressure on doing very good work consistently and publishing as often as possible. That’s difficult for many companies. It’s a commitment and it’s expensive and it’s time consuming. But it works.
So if you’ll excuse me, I have to go check my hit counter.
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{ 46 comments… read them below or add one }
Love this post - I also suspect that some people inflate their published stats (because you can have any starting number you choose). I’m a skeptic that way.
You should be. I have clients that are always worried about their hits, but what they should be interested in is their conversions.
I can’t tell you the tens of thousands of dollars that companies are wasting on SEO schemes trying to attract more traffic. It’s all black magic, voodoo. And it rarely works. But when they publish really good content, aimed at their model prospect, their traffic pics up and usually sales do as well.
But as I’ve said before, writing is hard work. It’s expensive. It’s not the latest secret method that will make Google love you and have money fall in your lap. It’s just the tired and true method that has the best chance of working.
I recently set up a blog to sell a stretch marks solution. I am not yet in the search engines but have had a reasonable amount of hits and some sales. This articles is food for thought though, but until I am listed in the main search engines I cannot tell what my conversion rate will be.
I can’t claim to know anything about stretch marks, but I’d recommend not just selling a solution, but offer long, information rich pieces on what they are and how to deal with them. And you might consider a forum as well, letting others share their experiences.
I do offer some information regarding them and possible treatments, but to be honest, there is an abundance of information already on the web and freely available. What I am offering is a solution that actually works and is low cost. It might seem hard to believe, but most dermatologists do not have a clue about them and just regurgitate the same old information. There is actually a home remedy that works very effectively and is relatively unknown. I guess I am pioneering it. With regard to forums, lots of those too, they should be unnecessary if the routine I have developed is followed as it removes marks 95%.
Skin care is a massive industry, just look at things like bio oil, which is now barred by ASA from saying it improves stretch marks, scars etc..Really I need to concentrate on marketing solutions, and how to convince people that I actually have an excellent solution to the problem.
This is a conversation that I’ve had with my husband many a time. I get hits on my blog (which serves as a kind of journaling outlet for me), but rarely get comments. He seems to think that they are one and the same, but I know that hits without conversation, just as you said, aren’t worth much.
Thank you for your comment!
You might consider asking your readers to share their comments with you. And you may have to think about who you want as your reader. If it’s only an outlet, then I think it’s fine to not care what you publish. But if you want to speak to a specific market or audience, you’ll need to refine.
Good luck!
Randy
I needed this one this morning! new to the blogging, and can’t tell you how I love looking at the stats…and yet, it isn’t the most important thing! Far more exciting is when I know I have “hit home” with someone…just with some words on a screen! thanks!
Doing the work you set out is what is most important. But it is gratifying when you connect. Better that you connect with a few than just generating a lot of faceless “hits”.
Good for you - keep up the work!
Randy
Randy,
This was very well put!…. Some people think they will thrive if they have lots of comments, but not all types of blogs really “ask” for comments….. To present worthwhile material to others on a daily basis is much more satisfying to a person who enjoys writing and sharing.
The satisfaction is in the numbers that evidently are searching for the kind of material the writer presents and in the slowly, but steadily, growing numbers that seem to represent people who come back every day — just because they want to.
I think I like your style of writing because it seems like you enjoy sharing.
Margaret
I do enjoy sharing and it is both rewarding and gratifying to find an interested audience.
Thank you for taking time to comment!
Randy
I love the way the world works sometimes. Your post about the meaninglessness of hits is going to get you a whole lot of hits. Well done!
Life is odd, but not altogether unkind.
Thanks for commenting and welcome Wordpress.com Freshly Pressed Alumni!
Thanks, Randy, for this. Like a poster above me, my blogging adventure has only just started (though I’ve been reading through the blogosphere for ages). I think the whole ‘connecting, rather than just gathering eyes’ theory strikes home with me.
Good timing for this post!
Thanks - and good luck to you.
Randy
Managing blog is fun but hard.
Hi!
Pardon my occasional not-so-good English, cause I write to you from Macedonia (the country in Europe, not the town in Ohio)
Oddly enough, independently I reached the same conclusion like you, that it is not the number of visitors to your blog that’s important, but the number of actual readers.
I started blogging almost two years ago in my country, and I first had a blog at a site that aggregates automatically a lot of blogs, so when you post a new text on you blog, or someone writes a comment on your blog, every member of that blog community site is informed.
So, I had a lot of visitors that came to my blog just because they saw a notification that there is some new comment or some new post somewhere.
Recently, I migrated to a wordpress blog, that is not a part of the blog aggregating site mentioned
above, so I was eager to see how big will the drop of the number of visitors be.
I have a sitemeter tool, so on my old blog I had roughly about 2.000 unique (by IP address) visitors per month (which in my country is a relatively good figure, because I blog in Macedonian language, which is spoken by less than 2 million people worldwide)
A month since I migrated, my new blog gets about 600 visitors a month, with 4 posts a month posted (my weekly “column”).
Those are people that actually remember to come to my blog every Thursday, the day I publish my new stuff.
I can see where these people came from, so about 20% of them are from facebook, or some forums, or some other guys’ blogs where somebody recommends me to the readers that I have a good text they ought to read…
A classical case of Word of mouth.
And about 80% are the regular readers. Dedicated fans so to speak
And the numbers are growing with each passing week.
The numbers of actual readers and dedicated fans, not visitors!
I often enhance my texts with creative graphics, like this example http://blogatash.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/mobing.gif where the captation reads “the predator named bureaucracy is chasing away economic development”
The word bureaucracy is red, and economic development is green.
And I am told by my readers in their e-mails that they like that part a lot, besides the texts. (and sometimes in spite of texts, with which some of them don’t agree with, but still come to read them)
.
.
Sorry for the long comment. The point was that I came to the same conclusion like you, so… we must be right, no?
BTW, how was my English?
All the best, from Macedonia
Your English is very good. And congratulations on experimenting with and building your blog. I think you’re right, you’ve defined a very narrow audience and are working to give them content that they want and need. And that’s working for you. I think that over time you can build that into a respectable audience size.
Good luck!
Randy
Thanks! A Perfect post for me to have found on a blizzard day in NYC.
I agree 100%. I began my blog last August, and have watched my traffic triple each month since. A fascinating process, to be sure.
My blog is not for everyone. In fact, it’s barely for anyone! It’s about a serial sexual predator who’s incompetent. Think Inspector Clouseau crossed with Woody Allen in Take The Money and Run. Or, some related combo of ineptitude.
I write about sexuality and crime, and always wondered about “the quiet guy next door” who goes ballistic. What makes them go loopy? That’s what’s interesting to me; not the crimes they perpetrate, per say, but what leads them to offend.
Anyway, my blog is a mixture of topics ranging from style and fashion, to human sexuality, to sexual morality, parental oversight, addiction, compulsions, obsessions, pornography discussion and examination and observations about life in Manhattan and how millions of men and women live here, stacked upon one another - any one of them a potential criminal.
It’s kinda hard to get people to endorse it, because, as we all know….sex is B-A-D. Especially if it involves underwear being left on, nipples or nudity.
But, still, my traffic grows.
I thank you for affirming this isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon. And it’s populated - apparently - by people just like…me.
Max
http://www.badflasher.com
Good luck with your work. As long as you’re clear about what you’re trying to achieve and doing good work, you should continue to see your readership grow.
I think that’s true not just for the topics of sex and crime, but even the smallest hobby, product, or service. It’s a big world out there and what may seem small and insignificant, can be a world-wide audience of thousands, if not millions.
Good luck!
Randy
Thanks. And to the woman who - hopefully she’s reading still! - is doing the stretch marks blog/solution thing - Randy’s advice is solid! Follow it. Engage people. Ask what they’ve done. Tell us what is being done in medical communities about stretch marks - world-wide. Therapists? Holistic approaches? Etc….
And to Randy…my boss asked me to remove/end a blog I began over a year ago at work to sell a very expensive, non-essential product. Thing is tho, I sold thousands of dollars worth of product thru that blog! He’s a techno-phobe and old school salesman, who believes only in mano-a-mano sales. Well, last week, he took me to dinner in a weak attempt to feel me out about…hold on now…starting the blog again, ’cause business is slow. LOL! I’m happy to do it! More commissions to me $$$. But, I may show him your article up top here, and say, “You know, I began that on my own initiative, didn’t ask for extra pay, etc, etc…and you squashed it. NOW you want it back? Well…well…about that pay cut you gave me six months, blaming the economy….”
Thanks.
Good for you, Max!
You’ve demonstrated that really good content can and does sell, so yes, you should receive compensation for the value you provide.
So yes, please, show him this article. I think you’ll find some other helpful pieces on business blogging here, too, so feel free to poke around!
And be sure and let me know how it turns out for your new blog!
Randy
Randy,
Thanks for this brilliant post. You’re absolutely right - a good post is more about the conversations and connections it generates than the hits it incurs.
I’d also add that those who write about things that matter to them are more likely to find an audience in the long run.
Regards,
Kailash.
Thanks, Kailash!
And I agree. If you don’t deeply care about what you’re writing about, or selling, for that matter, it’s going to run thin eventually. I publish 5 days a week, and I couldn’t do that if it didn’t matter to me. That other people are interested, that’s gravy.
Randy
Beyond meaningless I have found it impossible to determine how the counts are calculated.
Some of my posts have incredibly low numbers (1-3)-unlikely since I have personally hit them from different computers and locations many more times than that- while others from two years ago appear in search engines everywhere and generate more daily hits than new posts.
It is a mystery.
Not to mention Wordpress front page blogs which seem to be selected by hand and “sticky” posted for days beyond their actual interest quotient.
JJH
It is confusing.
I think your point about old content showing up is one of the keys to real success. It’s certainly what I’m seeing here and for my clients. Really good work, build up over time, is what brings your base regular traffic in. That new piece for today (OK, today on my site is an exception thanks to Wordpress.com’s “Freshly Pressed”) doesn’t matter for today, but it matters for every day afterwards.
Good luck with figuring it all out.
Randy
This is very interesting because I will also admit that I’ve been fascinated with my hits. Thanks for the new perspective. I have clients that come to check out the services I offer in my photography business, but I also have a steady flow of paying customers that have come to me after viewing my blog or website. Perplexed by exactly what causes peaks and valleys in my stats, I had been trying to narrow down what posts attract viewers, and which ones don’t and attempting to tailor my posts to my readers (not as easy as it sounds since I have a broad range of viewers). I also tried to understand the SEO thing, which is over my head right now….I want to say thanks for the new point of view about how search engines work, and “recognize” the buzz (figuratively speaking). What a help!
http://www.jcphotographymaine.wordpress.com
This is why I don’t put a publicly viewable counter on this site. It’s not an accurate representation of what’s going on.
Thanks,
Randy
How does one convert good content into something next level?
Ah, we get to the heart of the matter.
My first answer, the one I would give to a client is this: bring in a professional.
But let’s say you want to learn and do this on your own. You have to work at deeply understanding both your offering and your audience. You as a writer have to work and test your ideas, making sure that they are clear, well reasoned, and imaginatively presented. And although blogging sometimes seems a solitary pursuit, you really need a partner, someone that can read and edit your work before you publish and help you continue to focus your content - making it ever better.
Think of your ideal reader sitting down to a dinner with you. How would you entertain, delight, and enlighten them? During this dinner you’d watch, see how they react, find what interests them, what bores them, and what excites them. And over time, and over many such dinners with different readers, you’d become a skilled raconteur - and an in-demand dinner guest.
On your blog you need to do the same thing. Think, write, test, listen, refine.
Good luck!
Randy
I remember being told when I first started out that hits were gold and as a blogger your aim is to generate as many hits as possible. I believe content is what should matter the most over hits. Hits mean naught if they aren’t doing anything for you.
I’m still learning the ways of blogging but Ive noticed good blogs are blogs that are content rich and the writers ooze passion for their subject of choice.
Exactly. Hits, leads - all meaningless. Readers and their conversations are the real gold.
Thank you and all the readers and commenters here today. It’s made my day!
Randy
I was just about to log in and get my daily stats fix and I saw your post. It’s weird but I also get excited when I get a lot of hits and feel like throwing in the towel when it drops unexplainably to a couple of visitors, even though I know hits don’t mean anything there’s something mesmerising about watching those numbers go up and down, a bit like the stock exchange, I’ll keep writing and hope I get more comments but thanks this was a good read!
lol excellent article. I myself just transfered to Wordpress looking for a different audience, but it sure will take some time!
Good responses to the comments as well! Networking on blogs isn’t easy as it seems, as I am finding out: I was used to sites that didn’t show your stats.(Terrible, right?)
And being informative, entertaining, creative-it’s what we writers do, but keeping your blog content fresh is work.
Some people respond to your comments on their sites, others ignore them. But at times you connect with someone’s work that helps you, then you turn around and help them, and the networking has begun!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Not many days like this come around, so I pushed aside my planned work and enjoyed the conversations with readers. A very good day.
Thanks for taking the time to connect with me.
Randy
Excellent post, great words of wisdom! Thanks for the info. That’s what I want more regular readers and not so much the one timers.
I’m finding that if you do your best work, do it often, that you get days like today. Believe it or not, I had an even busier day last week when I let loose a rant on all of the iPad hate. I’m still getting traffic on that piece.
Thanks,
Randy
I hit you through the main page, and I’m glad that I did!
I’ve had three idiosyncratic blogs since 2005, one of which took off and which I turned off when I had a major relocation/life event. I realized I was expending too much time and energy and that I wasn’t having any fun.
Your post was useful to me because you reinforced the idea of the prospect. My current gig is finding donors for a children’s theatre. The post reminded me of how many people don’t apprehend the distinction between a lead (basically, whatever anyone finds in the phone book) and the potentially motivated prospect. I’ve been struggling while trying to communicate that, and now I can refer them to your excellent post to support my own explanation.
Thanks!
Thank you for your most gracious comments.
The theatre is a particular love of mine. I have a MFA in playwrighting and think of myself primarily as a playwright, even when writing for business or working on a novel.
You have the difficult task of locating and nurturing supporters for children’s theater. It’s not just finding people that have money and can be convinced to part with it, but the much more difficult task of finding people who understand the power and beauty of theatre and what it can mean for both children and the community.
Good luck to you!
Randy
Thanks. needed this. I love writing my blog, but am daily, daily, daily discouraged by the lack of comments, even though my “hits” keep going up.
Anyway, this is a thought-provoking, came-to-my-screen-just-when-I-needed-it kind of post. I’ll be back (read like the governor of California)
Gloris
Great post, I completely agree. What’s the point of “hits” if they just read one post and leave or leave and never come back.
Another way to broaden your horizons as well is to look for people with the same interests as you and comment on their posts, post your thoughts, link people, mention people who share similar views etc; that way you build on people who are in your category so to speak and you can find cool blogs and potentially be a cool blog just waiting to be found.
I share the same thoughts. Thanks for this post
I will be honest, I was worried about my own blog and the traffic it was getting.My peak time was when in one day my blog got 150 hits, and then that post in the coming days picked up more traffic.SO I was always wondering if my blog is even good or not.
Your post however has been very helpful, and now that I think about it, this is also true for my blog. When people do come over they do see my old post and the search engines have also been a bit kind on me in this regard.
Thank you so much for this very helpful post.
Well said. Numbers alone mean little. I like to think of repeat visitors-readers who stopped by and thought enough of the content to return.
I’m just getting started in blogging and I do appreciate your blog as a guide on developing some of my writing skills. Many Thanks!
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