That title caught your attention, huh? How to instantly boost visitors to your blog! Now that would be something… before I tell you the secret, first have a look at this pageviews graph screenshot within my WordPress dashboard. I took this screenshot right before midnight, so the day was almost over – I’m sure you can spot that something instantly boosted my visits and pageviews:
The Secret
The secret is actually not even a secret. It’s a well known and often used technique but also easily forgettable by many bloggers as they go on with their daily lives, writing good quality content, such as tutorials, how-to’s, top 10’s and what not. Here’s the secret that’s not really a secret:
Provide a solution to a problem, or…
give something away that people want!
The bigger the problem/desire – the better!
Yeah I know, it’s simple and you were probably expecting something really secret, by looking at the title of this post, sorry 🙂 (hey, it’s better to ask for forgiveness than for permission, right?)
I mentioned this “secret method” in my September Blog Summary & Income Report, on how a few blog posts during September probably were the sole reason for me seeing more than twice the amount of pageviews that month, compared to August.
The same thing happened to me yesterday. To be honest, I had a feeling it would bring in some new traffic, but not that it would be that much. ProBlogger, and all you other big guys out there, if you’re reading this, I know you probably don’t think that 400 pageviews a day is a big deal but for this site, it’s twice as much than average – so it’s a big deal for me 😉
Time to spill the beans.
I was recently given access to Google Wave. With it followed a bunch of invitations I could use to nominate people to gain Google Wave access. I instantly decided I wanted to give them away to my readers if they would just tweet and digg my post, trying to get some traffic to my site and hopefully a few new RSS subscribers and/or twitter followers.
The post was written and published. Less than 2 minutes after, the first 5 visitors had arrived from a live FriendFeed search, since FriendFeed automatically pulls my blog posts and publish them there as well. In just 25 minutes I had received over 20 comments to my post, 4 diggs and 9 tweets (plus some extra cause some people dugg and tweeted the “wrong” link for the post, they used the one going to the comments section).
By the end of the day (a few hours later) I had 270 pageviews on that post alone.
Even though Google Wave Invitations go for more than $30 a piece on eBay, I still decided to give them away for free…………. Who am I kidding – everybody who received a Google Wave invitation from me: Fork over some dough!*
Monetary Value Of Digg/Twitter Traffic
If you’re blogging for money (which I don’t think should be your primary motivation), then you’re probably not looking to get traffic from Digg or Twitter, unless you’re able to attract the kind of traffic where the users are already in a buying mood. But, I’m afraid most Digg users, not as much Twitter users though, are not browsing Digg to buy products… they’re looking for great stories or blog posts and to visit those sites – and that’s it. Their ad blindness might also be increased compared to regular search engine traffic.
Here, let me show you my AdSense for yesterday, the highest daily pageviews for TechPatio this month so far:
Nothing.
Real Value Of Digg/Twitter Traffic
This is what matters to me. I blog for the enjoyment and I like to help people with (some) of my blog posts. It’s also challenging to see how many RSS subscribers you can get, how many twitter followers is possible, how many pageviews per month – and of course, how much money can be made from a blog.
What I achieved from this little visitor boost:
- A record high for visits/pageviews in October.
- Around 10% more RSS subscribers (only 10 subscribers or so, but it’s still around 10%…).
- A few more twitter followers.
- I got to follow a few more on twitter that looked interesting.
- Some diggs on digg.
- Some tweets on twitter.
- A taste of what social media can do for your blog, if you do it right!
Often I find myself without any digg action or retweets at all. Sometimes I digg or tweet a post of my own just to get the ball rolling if I feel the post is worth sharing with the world. Okay, that came out wrong, of course I think a post is worth sharing with the world, otherwise I wouldn’t publish it in the first place. But, I don’t want to “pollute” the social media sharing/bookmarking sites, so I only add my own stuff every now and then – and not for every post I do. With a little bit of luck, somebody will see the post has already been tweeted or dugg and it would be very easy for them to just click the digg/tweet button and that’s it, no need to fill out a description, tags, categories etc., I already did that.
Thanks to Woopra, I was able to monitor everything on TechPatio.com, live, as it all went down. It’s very interesting to see where visitors are coming from, what they click on, what makes them “tick”, if you know what I mean. Of course you can see all this data in Google Analytics too, but it’s not live.
One More Thing…
To end this story, I’d like to share with you a tip I recently got – using Google Insights to spot what people are searching for. If you’re good, you might be able to turn that information into a blog post that could end up giving you anything between little traffic and a ton of traffic. I don’t know if it works, I haven’t personally tried it yet, but what do you think, could Google Insight work as spotting “trends” in searches and give you an edge in providing great content before everybody else? Leave your thoughts as a comment below…
Finally I’d just like to say welcome aboard to the new RSS subscribers and twitter followers, nice to have you around 🙂
*) I actually don’t want anything from the invite, so please don’t send anything. They were free and I hope you enjoy your Google Wave access!
Hey can you please give me an Google Wave Invite! I desperately need it. Also, your adsense earning appear low man. more than 450 pageviews without a single Ad click is a grave sign that there is something surely wrong!
.-= Rohit Sane´s last blog ..Even Famous Bloggers Copy Content! Let us know How. =-.
Actually, I don’t think it is. It’s just a sign that people came here looking for what they searched for. How often do you search for something, appear at page where you actually found what you looked for, and then decided to click an ad? 🙂 In this case, the traffic was VERY targeted (google wave invitations) and the users were most likely more tech savvy than average – maybe even geeks – and those are probably also the internet users with the highest ad blindness. So, no surprise there.
Article title definitely grab attention, but it’s really easy to even double traffic in early stage, but yeah..when you’ll get ~10,000-20,000 daily readers..then you really will need something a lot more to get that attention and such techniques as this will not work so well 🙂
And about digg and twitter – it’s pure marketing and networking. To increase those numbers i think you should go a little bit different way..
.-= Dainis Graveris´s last blog ..Easy Way How To Create Forsaken Street Photo Manipulation =-.
Sorry about the title 😉
Well – if it’s “really easy” to double the traffic even in this early stage I’m in right now, I’d love to hear some tips from you 😀 I’m doing almost the best I can so doing a post like the Google Wave invitations that, the same day, doubled my pageviews, is not something that’s “really easy”. Not for me at least.
Oh, but I reserve the right to change my above statement as soon as I figure out the real secret and start doubling my pageviews on a regular basis 😉
.-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Woopra – Live Visitor Statistics For Your Blog =-.
I agree that these are some ways to get traffic but to increase more u need that extra push of content and networking through friends on social media, but it is good u got a surge of traffic in comparison to what u got before
Yep, it definitely takes a great deal of work to get really good traffic through social media etc. in the beginning, where you don’t have a huge following!
.-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Why “Comment Reply Notification” Is A Must Have Plugin For Your Blog – Otherwise… =-.
Great post, I hope i get a google wave invite soon 😀
I’m sorry I don’t have any one left 🙁 I hope you find one soon or Google will give you direct access.
.-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Why “Comment Reply Notification” Is A Must Have Plugin For Your Blog – Otherwise… =-.
Wow you had some serious success with that method, just made me realize how sad it is that I havent even looked at Google Wave, don’t even have a clue what it is. Haha.
.-= Extreme John´s last blog ..Sunday Smash Link Luv, Twittley for Twitter, Yahoo Meme =-.
IMHO, you’re not really missing out on a whole lot, yet at least. It’s a bit sad, I had expected more. But then again, it *is* a preview access, so bugs etc. are expected. I’m sure it might become big in the future.
.-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Why “Comment Reply Notification” Is A Must Have Plugin For Your Blog – Otherwise… =-.
Wow, I am surprised to see no click on 485 page impressions.
Do they just come and leave or what?
“Do they just come and leave or what?”
Yep – don’t you also usually do that when you’re searching for something, you arrive at the page, find the answer, and then you leave again? 🙂
.-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Why “Comment Reply Notification” Is A Must Have Plugin For Your Blog – Otherwise… =-.
Traffic visitors from social media sites are known for quick visits. So that might explain no ad conversions for you compared with web search traffic who are more ready to follow through on the getting solutions to their problems or concerns.
Nevertheless, you’re on the right track. You can’t grow big overnight. In this case, every little thing helps. That this results in a big jump for your stats is something that needs to be celebrated. You’ve hit on a good formula: offering great offer, giving useful posts that answer readers needs. The many friends you’ve gained have their own readership, too. And you’re likely to get that if you play your cards right.
Keep on doing this. You’re doing well, my friend.
.-= jan geronimo´s last blog ..You’re the World’s Coolest Blogger If Only… =-.
Thank you for your comment Jan, and for the tweet as well 🙂
I believe you are correct regarding social media visitors are known for quick visits and that’s also why I believe all those visits had no ad conversions.
.-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Yaro Starak’s Membership Site Mastermind Course NOW OPEN! =-.
How the heck do you get that stats graph in wordpress?
Despite what Dainis said, it is always an accomplishment to double your visits.
.-= Ned Carey´s last blog ..Review of The Go-Giver =-.
I think the plugin is called “Blog Stats”, but it’s something official WordPress stuff, so it also loads in the dashboard.
.-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Top 10 Gadgets I Want For Christmas – And Maybe You Would Too? =-.
I have see the traffic flow from stumble upon. I was busy almost one month for knowing how to get SU traffic, For one post I have get traffic flow from SU . Social networking sites are great for getting instant traffic.
.-= chandan@work at home´s last blog ..Top posts on work at home opportunties =-.
Good job, Klaus! I’m very proud of you! The taste of the first victory was indeed valuable and worth a good pat at the back. In fact, the idea of using Google Wave invitation as an attraction is well done – provide something people need will certainly bring an effect. This is a good start! Keep up the good work. Stumbled the post. ^^
I’m currently on a family trip but I had to drop my congrats no matter what. ^^
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
.-= Ching Ya´s last blog ..6 Twitter Lists Applications to Expand Your Network =-.
Thanks Ching Ya 🙂
I had three Google Wave promotions, the first one being the one with “most requirements” from the users. It was also the one that boosted traffic the most. The last 20 invites I had left about 2 weeks ago, took me half a week to get rid of, and I only wanted the user to retweet ONE post (out of 5 suggestions) – so, very easy. Wave invitations are not worth that much anymore I’m afraid.
Enjoy your family trip – too bad your BENQ doesn’t work anymore so you could shoot a few pictures of the adventures you come across.
I agree to this post! Well, some social networking sites are getting an instant traffic. Thanks for Sharing!