Where New Blogs Get Their Traffic From
I have only been blogging for about 3 months and I use Entrecard, CMF and Adgitize as my three main traffic advertisers. You can see their widgets on my sidebars. Let’s call them the Big Three. I have tried others (traffic exchanges) where you sit there and wait 30 seconds then click some picture or number and go on to the next site. This becomes very boring and I don’t see the use, other then to have other people who are doing the same thing to your blog. They do bring traffic, but no other benefits, like time they spent on your site or actually going to articles to read them. On top of that, most of the sites you sit through and wait 30 seconds for, bring up yet another site that is basically the same type of service and they also want you to sign up with them. These traffic exchanges are to me, anything but legitimate, most real blogs I believe for the most part, do not use them.
I have been trying to get accepted to Blog Explosion which I believe is also a traffic exchange, but with more benefits, I have been told. I even have their widget at the bottom left of my blog, waiting to get approved. But they have never have gotten back to me, nor answer any of my questions, so I have no idea if they are any good or not. But looking at the customer service aspect of it, they are probably very poorly run and again not worth it.
So this is mainly about the main three traffic builders we bloggers use most, EC (Entrecard), Adgitize and CMF (which I have no idea what CMF stands for) They all have their good and bad sides.
Adgitize brings in the most traffic but their traffic averages about one minute on my site, they have a very high bounce rate and the lowest page view with just over one.
Entrecard is a very close second in traffic, about the same in page views but they average over 4 minutes on my site, so I believe that people are really reading my posts, but again a high bounce rate.
CMF comes in a distant last of these three, while EC and Adgitize in the last 30 days have brought in well over 3500 readers each, CMF has one tenth the amount with just under 300, which is pretty bad. And I do a lot of adverts on their site also. That is why in my opinion they are starting up this new program Spikes, to get bloggers to go to the actual blog and bring in more traffic, but I don’t think they way they have it set up, the average time on site will be very long. Not sure but time will tell. They have the most page view average with about 2 , they average almost 3.5 minutes on site which is not bad either and have the lowest bounce rate at 75%, which is still high. But again with only 300 total visitors the averages really doesn’t help bring up the total analytics at all. I am not that enthused either with all the changes they have instituted, there is to much to learn and set up, makes it very time consuming to get in the swing of things. I am sure once we use it more, it will become easier to understand, but at least they are trying to improve their system.
But nothing beats good thoughtful content, updated frequently, maintaining a good RSS list and gaining more loyal readers who comment often. Any high ranking, major money making blog is based on direct/organic traffic, which is what most bloggers strive for.
So find the right niche, work the blog daily for as much time as you can without getting divorced and make sure to appreciate, each and every visitor. Direct and search engine traffic is by far my largest traffic provider to my blog. And to me the most important.
But until you get your name out there and have good SERP and Page Rank numbers, having these three services are a godsend for new bloggers.
I know most blogs don’t give out their stats, but why hide them? Maybe I will think differently if I were ever to make money at blogging. But honestly I enjoy blogging to meet nice people and also it’s fun, most of the time and it becomes ADDICTING.
So to all the bloggers that stop by Happy Blogging!!!
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The wonders of the traffic machine. I tried Entrecard briefly but just didn’t like it. With the way I designed my site this time around, I had trouble finding an area where I would want the cards to show. I decided to just cancel.
New sites are a pain, I’m just sticking to content every so often (on vacation once again for holidays). I write whatever plops in head and publish it either the same day or a few days later. Since I’ve found a new business venture to pursue, its taken a backseat..but I imagine someone who wants their blogs to be everything, will need to sweat some bullets to network and get their site seen. It would be worth it, in the end, as you yourself (Glenn) are an example of the Blogglette dedication.
I’ve also used my site as a sig over random forums, which may or may not have helped. I haven’t been eying up the stats recently!
Anyhoo, happy holidays to all~
Project Wonderful is also a great way to advertise. You spend money, but you can determine how much and in the end most of my traffic comes from the sites I advertise on there because I don’t have a lot of time to surf and drop on Entrecard and Adgitize. You can also make money buy putting their widget on their site. I still don’t understand why more people have not caught on to them.
Hi Mr. Glenn, thanks to some good advice from you I do use Entrecard after having some computer problems out here on the edge of a jungle in the Philippines. Entrecard really gives my traffic a good boost, and I’ve managed to cut my drop time to 1.5 hours! The Blog Angel wanted me to advise you how as to how I managed to cut my time down. To be honest, I think my computer tech guy really boosted my computer’s performance, and I have my Entrecard tabs organized now in my Firefox browser when I drop. I’m going to read your next two entries, have a Happy New Year, Glenn.
Blog Explosion was pretty good, at least interesting. But then it died. They say they are going to get it going again, but…
I was with EntreCard for quite awhile. When they started messing with it, making it kind of exclusive (especially when only certain people were allowed to post in the forum) I left it. The traffic I got from EC was not much compared to the time I spent clicking on widgets to get it. Most people did not become readers of my blog. In fact, now that I have been away from EC for over half a year the only ones who still visit my blog are those who also signed up at CMF Ads. So, EC wasn’t useful in the long run.
I use Adgitize too but I just haven’t taken the time to figure it out. I don’t know if I get any traffic through that one. I doubt it, highly. I’ve stuck it down at the bottom of my sidebar until I get to the point where I pull it off.
I have kept Project Wonderful up for about a year now it must be. I am not up to the $10 I need to cash out. Being from Ontario I also need to make enough to pay tax on whatever I earn there. Kind of insult to injury when it’s taken me this long to get $8.99 on my account. I have never used PW to run ads of my own.
To me it seems that by the time you figure out how to use any one of these services you have put in enough time on them. I don’t find any of them particularly great. I do like CMF Ads cause I can connect with people in the forum there. That is actually worth something to me.
I agree with you.. I have thousands upon thousands of ad page views on CMF.. but very, very few clicks on the ad. Having said that though, I found your site through a CMF ad and I am glad I did.
My recent post JeSdDaDdY Videos
Hiya Jeff and now I also found a new blog in yours
. CMF originally was great to get your name out there if your a new blogger, but the new programs they have in place is quite annoying and time consuming. You can write to them and tell them your thoughts , they are very nice people and customer service is outstanding. But I believe I was talking to Martin over at corney man and if you go down a few comments and click on his newest post it is all about CMF. Welcome aboard and hope to see you again, Glenn
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