Monday, April 28th, 2008
Traffic Growth #4 - The moment you stop, traffic drops
As much by force of circumstance as anything else, this week’s analysis is about the importance of continued activity on a blog. I imagine this is need is even more important for an embryonic blog like Fog of Eternity. Various work related commitments meant that I wasn’t able to post for a few days, and it’s clear that even a few days’ lack of activity can have a serious negative impact on traffic.
You’re competing with millions of others
There are literally millions of other blogs on the internet, so it’s easy for readers to move on quickly. Without long term development of…effectively…brand loyalty for a blog, why should users spend more than a day or two checking back for new content. The web is a transient medium, where there are so many other options out there and ones that are eminently easy to move on to. It’s clear from the figures of visitors to Fog of Eternity this week how quickly patience can be lost in the absence of new posts, even on a day to day basis.
No social networking
Social networking benefits traffic to a developing website when articles are submitted. Even better when such articles are submitted by better known or regarded social networkers such as DoshDosh’s Maki. A lack of activity on a blog obviously limits the options that can be submitted, but it also leads to a reduced numbers of visitors who can submit those articles.
Social networking is a virtuous circle when it’s working well - good quality regular articles mean a greater chance of being submitted to networking sites, with a subsequent increase in traffic, and so on. But the alternative is also true, failing to create articles means that there’s nothing to submit and the visitors coming in from previous submissions see inactivity and have no motivation to return - it not only reduces current activity it also reduces the chance of repeat activity from those who find the site for the first time.
If you’re not posting you’re probably not busy elsewhere
I’ve noted in previous posts the benefits of commenting on other blogs regularly. If real life commitments make it difficult to find time to post then presumably there are similar time limitations on general online activity in blog commenting and activity. That’s certainly been the case for me in the last week, and that’s had a minor but noticeable impact.
Being busy is vital
I’ve seen various pieces of analysis on how regularly you should blog, suggesting from two or three posts a week to more than one a day. But I think for an incipient blog that hasn’t yet had the opportunity to develop deep traffic, the importance is ensuring consistency and regularity. Don’t show significant drops in numbers of posts from week to week, don’t give the impression that your enthusiasm is waning.
My general aim for Fog of Eternity is to hit a minimum of five posts a week. Last week had three posts, but I think more importantly was that the three posts were Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I strongly believe the negative impact would have been reduced if those posts had been spread out evenly over the week, giving the impression of more regular activity.
Related links
- How Often Should You Publish Your Blog Posts? (Blog Herald)
- Traffic Growth #3 - Growth from Social Networking
- Traffic Growth #2 - Commenting Works, LinkedIn Doesn’t
- Traffic Growth #1 - How Much Traffic Can I Get Through Viral Methods?
April 28th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Great post. I’m really enjoying the series. I’ve noticed the same thing; people flock back when they see new content, but in-between days can see a drop of 25%-75%. How do RSS subscribers figure into your numbers?
April 28th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Glad you’re enjoying it.
I think the greater danger is if you leave it long enough that people *don’t* flock back. I can understand the idea of people checking back two or three times, but after that are likely to give up on a site.
RSS feeds are the subject of a whole other post I think. But I do note that given the relatively low traffic to the site at the moment, feed subscribers tend to equate to roughly half of the number of visitors. That’s been the case this week also.
April 29th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Frequency is undoubtedly important, particularly for new bloggers. Without new posts traffic becomes non existent. I know… I’ve experienced it myself.
But it is important to always uphold the quality of your work. I would never blog just for the sake of it to make up a certain quota. Lowering the quality of your work is more likely to turn readers away than a slightly lower frequency when you’re busy.
April 29th, 2008 at 2:47 am
True enough, and in some senses that’s why I didn’t post, when I probably could have dashed off a couple of lines of fluff. That would have been pointless in terms of the long term development of the site or in providing any quality to readers though.
Blogger also means that posting is a bit more of a pain, actually, and hence limited time becomes more of an issue. One thing I’ve been working hard on in the past week is installing and learning how to skin WordPress. The advantage of having a “fun” blog site at http://www.babbleandstuff.com means I can experiment without it having a negative impact on Fog of Eternity.
As you’ll see from that link I’ve got my head around the basics of WordPress design, and so this week or next will likely see the migration of Fog of Eternity to that platform as well.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
[...] a complete redesign, and consistent posting. It offers a good comparison to last week’s analysis of a low activity week. Traffic from both social media sites and general flow is up, and a landmark on Sunday with the [...]
May 16th, 2008 at 10:14 am
[...] couple of weeks ago I had a few days inactivity and highlighted the negative impact on my traffic. That was a four day gap between posts and it saw visitor numbers decrease dramatically. But the [...]