Where New Blogs Get Their Traffic From (The Finale)

Glenn — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:44:34 +0000

Today I start this post with every intention of making it the last one in regards to traffic for blogs, in particular new bloggers. In the previous post I covered some of the major points and want to finish up this series, so that I can stay on track with what this blog tries to do and deal with men’s issues. God knows we do have them.

So this post will be consisting of two parts the first is a quick list of the best blogs I have found to get expert advice. The second is what I have found very helpful to my blog, besides the Big Three we had mentioned.

I was originally going to give you my take on this post delving into all the great comments and feedback from the first few posts. We had many great ones that I feel need to be reiterated upon and give you what my experience with each. As not to make this post any longer, I will individually reply to everyone’s comments on the previous posts.

Again not that I am some SEO expert, I am not, but I can assure you I am a voracious reader of many of the best blog experts and if there is something you need to find out, then these blogs are a good start. Here is my top ten blogs for great information.

By the way I got list from doing a simple search many moons ago from one of the blogs that is in this list and like to give them props for helping me many times over the years. That blog is Daily Blog Tips. If you click on the link it will give you their top 25 Blogs they recommend by using the criteria of rankings from Google, Alexa, Bloglines and Technorati. (Authors note Problogger and Copyblogger are my personal two favorites)

Final note on good blogs for information and advice. Many of our readers and friends run their own successful blogs on this very subject. In the comment section of each post here, you can click on their names and go directly to their blogs. Under many of their comments are also a brief segment of their latest post to. They have wonderful, insightful information for you there. I know I visit them also while dropping EC’s and spend time reading their newest posts. Hmmm maybe that’s why it takes me 4 hours a day to drop my Entrecards.

If you want to make your blog better, become more reader friendly and start to receive more organic traffic, then the very best advice is, to work harder at it and take small steps, you will not become a one hit wonder overnight. And my all means you need PATIENCE!

What I believe so far has been the most successful, free and amazing builders of traffic for this blog so far has been through Social Media. Some of the sites you already know are all part of Social Media. Some of them are: Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Mixx, Flickr and on and on. (One word of caution I just read that MyBlog Log, Yahoos attempt of being in the mix, is now shut down).

The largest contributor to this blog is by far StumbleUpon. Every blogger should have on their blog a place where people can use these applications made ready available to be able to tell others about what you blogged about, whether it be a post or even a page. In my case after I write a post, I usually send it to Twitter, Facebook, Digg and StumbleUpon. I will go into depth about this part in a minute.

Anyone not using WordPress can get these plug ins or add-ons by going to their respective sites, many programs like Share This, Disqus, Intense Debate among many others will give you a large number of them to offer your reader. DO THIS!!! The one thing a new blogger can capitalize on is making sure your post is in front of many readers as possible. By doing this, one of your posts can get readers from all sorts of places, you never knew existed.

In my case Stumbleupon as taken 5 of my posts so far and have blown them up. When I say blown them up I get maybe 500 readers that come directly to read the post and it could have been something I wrote about three months ago. You never know. In one day I have had as much as an extra 1000 visitors to my site because of Stumbleupon. I am sure the other social sites can do the same for you, I just happen to have luck with StumbleUpon.

I am now currently working a lot with different Twitter and Facebook apps that I am starting to see the pay off with those also. I cannot stress the importance of these outlets, in the future, with tantalizing titles and good consistent writing, you will also get traffic “out of the blue” and you will be very glad you did.

I will make sure to go through every comment in this short four-part series and reply to each comment in regards to my thoughts. I was originally going to do it as part of this post, but that would mean I would lose my readers and make them scanners.

Finally, there are so many ways to build your blog, increase your readership and write better posts. To name just a few, getting back-links, commenting on blogs and joining discussion boards, making guest posts, bartering for advertising, to name just a few. I guarantee you, if you spend the time, read more and keep yourself motivated you will achieve a small, nice piece of the blogosphere you can be proud of.

Learn from 15 Successful Bloggers: Grab Your Copy of Beyond Blogging Today (problogger.net)

Battle Of The Sexes – Do Men Dominate The Blogsphere?

Glenn — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:37:38 +0000

Hi, I’m Joella and it is awfully kind of Glenn to invite me to guest
post on his blog, especially when he should by all rights consider me
“the enemy”. I say this because Glenn is intent on producing a blog
with a male perspective. I am most decidedly not male, but I enjoy
reading Glenn’s blog. He has a very entertaining writing style and I
love the opportunity to poke around the male psyche, its such an
amusing mystery!

That brings me to an email conversation that Glenn and I recently had.
In one of his emails he lamented that he appeared to be in the minority
as a male blogger. He stated that it seems to be that “90% of bloggers
are women”… Ah poor boy, I felt sorry for him and proceeded to
comfort him with what I consider to be some well-known facts. It went
something like this:

Women are more verbal and that’s why there are so many women
bloggers. We love to connect, we do that by communicating, we love to
talk and share, we are generally better at writing than men. No I’m not
sexist, there are some awesome male authors from all walks of the
journalistic world, but women are generally more hard-wired for verbal
communication. It’s an evolutionary thing. We give birth, we tend to be
more nurturing, nurturers need communication skills to care for and
interact with others. (Did I mention I have a degree in
psychology?)

Sheesh, do I really sound like that? I can be such an annoying know-it-all!

Anyway, after I wrote that splendid bit of blabber, I got to thinking
about all the blogs I read and review on a daily basis. I started doing
the math in my head (I hate math) and I began to have my doubts. I began
to suspect that Glenn was wrong and that the great lengths that I had
gone to in consoling him were totally wasted. So I decided to do a
little research. But where would I find reliable statistics? Why Technorati of course, after all monitoring the blogsphere is what they do.

Well it turns out that Glenn was mistaken and I was wrong to console
him. Are you ready for this? The statistics seem to indicate that a full
two-thirds of bloggers are male. (Gasp!) Here are few more findings on
who bloggers are:

75% of us have college degrees
40% of us have graduate degrees
1 in 3 has an annual household income of $75K+ (I wish!)
1 in 4 has an annual household income of $100K+ (I double wish!)

68% have been blogging for 2 years or more

And here is an interesting one:35% have worked within traditional media as a writer, reporter,
producer, or on-air personality.

Where do you fit? Are you in line with the statistics? You can check out
the 5 day report from Technorati, starting with day one, here: Day
1: Who Are The Bloggers? SOTB 2009

In conclusion, I think the fact that most of the comments Glenn gets on
his posts are from women is what had us both fooled. I’m not sure why
more women are commenting on his blog, but maybe more women read blogs or maybe more women leave comments than men. Maybe both. Who knows, in any case, Glenn and all you other male bloggers can celebrate that you are in the majority, you dominate the blogsphere – for now.

About the author:
Joella Molson a.k.a. Blog Angel is the creator and caretaker of Blogs With Wings, a blog designed to help bloggers create and maintain successful blogs. If you want more

great blogging tips and ideas, you should visit her at Blogs With Wings
and learn all the ways you can teach your blog to fly! Visit today: http://www.blogswithwings.com

Technorati: Full-time bloggers are making more money than ever (venturebeat.com)
Now That You’re Blogging, Next You’ve To Tweet. (streamxy.com)
Is Blog Reading Mainstream? (avc.com)
State of the Blogosphere 2009 is Out (buildabetterblog.com)

Man Over Board » Technorati