COMMENTS
Mike,
Quick question: Were your posts focused on one particular topic or around a particular group of keywords?
John
thanks mike, however i feel the new visitors visit is better between Dec 08 and Jan 09. It is understandable that the repeat visitors and subscription would incresase if your provide consistent information. it will be great what you did differently on Jan 09.
Hi Mike,
I actually found the opposite to be true when I was testing this.
If you post less, you can promote more. Just my thoughts though
Mike,
Do you plan to continue testing this for another month or two to see if the results continue in the same vein?
Also, do you think the increase in Twitter activity could be influenced by the fact that there are just more people out there tweeting?
Interesting study. I have another theory I'm testing. I call it "burst blogging". Instead of blogging several times daily, i'll do a burst of 2-3 in a short time span and surround them with tweets etc. Seems to get peoples' attention better than random shots through a day or week.
Mike,
Interesting test. I generally agree with the findings and have experienced similar traffic increases over time with more blog content. My blog is second only to my website home page in traffic with high time-on-site stats but also high bounce rates.
As a result I'm totally redesigning my blog to make it more of a website with full menu navigation into the main website. I'll go more for conversions without compromising the integrity of the blog editorials. Then, I'll hire you to do the detailed analytics. :)
The results don't blow me away. If the investment in your blog is time and you spend 3X the average (10 posts / mon to 30 posts / mon) and only got a 23% increase in visitors per day (just to pick one metric), no matter how you do the math the roi is not good. Sure the 3-5 posts/ wk has been an accepted norm for a while, but even that takes a ton of time (few hours per post). So what is the best true roi, best visitation rates (or any other metric) based on TIME spent???
@John Haydon - The content was about the same. I tried to mostly just change the frequency.
@Ram - Good point. The big difference in January was that I got a boost from Google in January. My google SEo referrals were Nov: 226, Dec: 225, Jan: 311, Feb: 372. I also got a bit of a hit from Reddit in Jan, which I did not get in Feb. All of it was long tail from blog articles (I also blogged a bit more in January.)
@Leo - That could be true, but I promotedall of mine about equally. I also think if you post a bit less, you can create better content. But I do think that overall, more is better. Daily might be a bit too much for a small blog.
@Michael Mallory - Yeah, I think the Twitter boost is from the growth of the network. I get about 1,000 new followers a month without doing much.
@Bernie Borges - When we added calls to action at the bottom of all of our blog articles, we got a sustained boost in leads from our blog. (Hint, hint...)
@Sam Ruback - You are right that you need to look at ROI. And the way to do it is to look at the time investment and the return, and compare to other available methods. I spent about 30 minutes per article, so I invested an extra 10 hours and got 300 visitors. Now, if my time were worth $75 an hour, and I got 10 new leads off of those 300 visitors (only a 3.3% conversion rate, very achieveable) then I woudl have gotten more leads at a cost of $75 per lead. For a B2B company, that's pretty good in my experience. Of course there are lots of other factors, including that this experiment was on a personal blog without any desire to generate leads, etc. But, when we surveyed 150+ small businesses, the ones focusing on inbound marketing reported a 61% lower cost per lead.
Instead of blogging everyday or even every week, I'd rather blog something that holds real value for my viewers and come from more of an authoritative voice on a particular subject.
Getting started with videoblogging
Videoblogging is the next generation of posting ideas and products over the internet. Everybody knows about textblogging. Now they use videos for a better way of expression. This form of communication may entail a lot of resources, but it is all worth it. If pictures say a thousand words, videoblogging exceeds that by far.
A videoblog requires larger disk spaces on websites, a faster server, and a whole new set of programs to support it. Videoblogs can be fed through RSS. This is technology of syndicating your website to other RSS aggregators.
Videoblogging works with people on the internet expressing their selves. Now if you put this on a business prospective, you are up to a lot of benefits. Think of it as a powerful tool in making showing your prospective customers your line of products or your services. It’s just like showing a commercial all for free. And if you videoblog through RSS, then most probably you are getting your target market.
People like to see what they are going to buy. Some would like to see proof and be sure that they are getting their money’s worth before shelving their dimes on it. All of us know the influence of a thirty second commercial. The effect of videoblogging is similar to that. You show your product, people watch it. If they like it, they buy it. If you present it good enough, they’ll buy the product even if they don’t need it.
Now on the web, things are pretty much static, unlike in television in which all are moving. If you post something that is mobile, it would most likely catch attention. Now imaging your product parading in all it’s royalty through videoblog. You’ll get phone call orders in no time.
If your business is just starting up, you can create a videoblog right at your own home. All you need is your web camera, microphone, video software, and lights. For as long as you know how to use your camera, then you can create a videoblog.
Invest in a good web camera. The higher its resolution is the better the output. And you like to present your goods in the optimum way so get the best one possible. Make a short story, or just capture your goods in one go. Just make sure you are getting the best profile for each. Get those creativity juices flowing.
Lights are important in a production. Make sure you illuminate entirely the area you are going to use to create videoblog. The brighter the area, the crispier the images will be. You can also use lighting effects for added appeal to the presentation.
Should you require sounds for your videoblog, you need a microphone. Record you voice as a voice over for promoting the product and its benefit to consumers. Sounds are as important as videos on a videoblog. It is advisable to make your sound effects as enticing as the video.
Your video editing software can be any program. You need this to finalize your work. You can add sounds, delete some bad angles, or insert some still pictures in there too. Some programs are user-friendly and can be used even with zero knowledge on video editing. Even simple video editing programs should do the trick. Select your background carefully too. The light affects the presentation so make sure that the background and the light complements each other.
Videoblogging is a great tool but it also has it downside. It may slow down the computer so other may steer clear of it. Download time may also be time consuming especially if customer is still on a dial- up connection.
But don’t let those stop you. Let videoblogging be an alternative for you, though it is best to still keep the text and pictures present in your presentation to accommodate all possible viewers of your site.
Nowadays, the more creative you are in presenting your product to the market, they more you are likely to succeed. Videoblogging offers an interactive way of selling. You involve the customers. You instill in them the advantage of your goods. And at times, those are enough to make a sale.
Every successful website needs traffic, and my site didnt have much traffic. I started talking to this guy who sells traffic and he convinced me to buy some visitors. I was sceptical, but the result was fantastic! Very good traffic, indeed. The link is here:
www.realtrafficsource.com/ts.htm
Great experiment Mike. Clients love frequent blogging as they feel informed so they continue to follow and return.
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