Blogging part 2
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This document discusses analytics for blogs and tips for increasing blog traffic. It provides definitions for key analytics terms like unique visitors, page views, and bounce rate. It recommends measuring blog growth over time, tracking referrals, and determining popular content using analytics. Tips for increasing traffic include writing good content, branding, engaging comments, and offline/online marketing through forums, comments on other blogs, social media, and causes. The most important tip is to listen to readers and give them what they want.
Blogging part 2
- 1. BLOGGING PART 2 THE TREND, THE HOBBY, AND THE BUSINESS
- 2. ANALYTICS REPORT TERMS • Unique Visitors. A report of unique visitors shows you how many unique, individual visitors pass through your blog. If your blog was a busy coffee shop, this report would reveal how many individual customers visited your store, not how many customers came back twice in one day for a refill. • Page Views. Page view reports show the number of times your blog has been viewed over a specific period of time. This number includes new visitors and returning readers alike. • Visits. The visits report indicates every time that every reader has been to your blog’s website. This includes the new reader who found your blog on a message board and the three separate times a reader came back to your blog to refer to a single post. • Bounce Rate. Your blog’s bounce rate refers to how many readers begin on your blog page and then click off to a different website, versus how many readers begin on one blog post and continue clicking on pages within your own site. A low bounce rate indicates that people enjoy your content and are sticking around to read several posts when they visit. • Time Spent on Site. The details of this report are simple – this statistic shows how much time people are spending on your blog website when they visit.
- 3. MAKING ANALYTICS WORK FOR YOU • 1- Measuring Blog Growth. Typically, analytics programs allow you to specify a certain period of time to display a graph charting the growth of your blog. This way, you can review the past three months, the past year, or the growth of your blog since its beginning – whatever information you need! . • 2- Referral Tracking. Many bloggers enjoy viewing reports of which websites most refer readers to their blogs. These types of reports enable a blogger to see which search engines display their blog post information, determine if the time they are spending posting on message boards and leaving blog comments is paying off, and more. When it comes to generating blog traffic, a referral report is a fantastic asset for seeing what methods are worth investing your time in and which are better left to the wayside.
- 4. MAKING ANALYTICS WORK FOR YOU • 3- Determining Popular Content. Since analytic reports show which blog posts receive the highest number of views, bloggers who spend time reviewing these reports can make wise decisions about the types of content they choose to publish most. For example, if a company that sells dietary supplements finds that a particular supplement they have been posting about is getting a great deal of page views, they can plan for posts that include more content specifically about this supplement in hopes to provide their readers with more information and to draw in new readers who may be searching for information about the product as well. • 4- Keyword Search. Reports that show which keyword searches led readers to a particular site can be very informative. If a blogger notices certain web searches are routinely leading readers to the blog via search engine results, the blog owner can incorporate these keywords into blog posts more often in hopes of creating SEO paths that lead readers consistently to their blog website.
- 5. TIPS FOR INCREASING BLOG TRAFFIC • Good Content. It’s a simple fact that readers will not waste their time on content that is poorly written, uninteresting or overly wordy. Experts say that a successful blog is made up of 90% content and 10% everything else. When you write, do it well. • Branding. Use your blog’s name constantly. In social media posts, on written documents, in message board discussions – anywhere you can. The more people see your blog’s name, the more readily it will come to mind when they’re seeking information specifically related to your field of business.
- 6. TIPS FOR INCREASING BLOG TRAFFIC • Don’t Over-Sell. It’s important to be concise in all forms of content writing and blog promotion. Overly-wordy posts – in internet forums, on social media sites, or on your blog itself – quickly bore readers and will cause them to stop returning to your site, thus decreasing traffic. • Solicit Comments. End your blog posts with a question. Invite readers to tell a story about a personal experience. Hold contests and giveaways on your blog that require users to use the comment form. Get your readers talking, engage with them, and watch them return repeatedly.
- 7. TIPS FOR INCREASING BLOG TRAFFIC • Banter. Be interesting! Witty, funny, sensible blog posts are key to gaining readership and to keeping existing readers interested. • Be Solid. Have a solid opinion about issues concerning your field of business and stick to it. Not only do readers respect consistency, but hearing you state your opinions firmly establishes you as an expert in your industry. • Always Answer Email. If a reader takes time to email you – respond! Answering a small question or responding to a complaint may seem like a trivial task, but the more you respond to the needs of your readership, the more you build your reputation as a trusted member of your field of expertise.
- 8. TIPS FOR INCREASING BLOG TRAFFIC • Link to Posts in Posts. When a topic that you’ve posted about previously comes up in a post you’re writing presently, be sure to link back to the previous post. Allowing readers easy access to past posts encourages them to cycle back through previously unvisited parts of your blog, causing them to learn more about you and your company. • Don’t Over-Spam for SEO. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a method of placing specific keywords within blog content, in hopes of causing your blog to show up more frequently in search engine results. While SEO has its time and place, be careful not to list too many keywords or appear spam-like in your writing. Allow SEO to flow naturally within your posts, otherwise you risk annoying and eventually losing readers.
- 9. MORE TRAFFIC TIPS • Offline Marketing. List the web address of your blog on printed business materials such as brochures, business cards and flyers. Also consider posting advertisements for your business blog in places such as coffee shop community boards or grocery store bulletin boards, especially if your business is most focused on serving your local area. • Discussion Forums. Browse the web for discussion forums pertaining to your field of expertise. Participate in forum discussions, being sure to reference a link to your blog within your post. Similarly, consider answer-based websites like Yahoo! Answers as a way to promote your blog. These types of sites allow you to answer questions asked by other users who are seeking information about your field. In addition to helping someone answer a question they have, you’ll have the opportunity to promote your blog by listing the URL within your answer. • Comment on Blogs. Similar to the above tip – be sure to leave your blog URL whenever you comment on a post on another blog. The more you put the web address of your blog out there, the more chance readers will click on your URL and head your way!
- 10. MORE TRAFFIC TIPS • Sponsor and Support a Cause. Seek out local events and causes in your local area and offer sponsorship or support on behalf of your blog. Those who volunteer or support a cause financially often receive public mention for their efforts, bringing more attention to your business blog. • Instagram. If your business has an Instagram account, be sure to post a photo from each blog post as an Instagram image, including a link to the post in the photo description. For example, if a photo of a catering event your business just handled is included in a blog post, post the same photo as an Instagram with a caption that reads, “Our team catered an event for 500 local community leaders this weekend,” and include a direct link to the blog post. • Vine. Consider Vine, a fairly new addition to the social media landscape, as a way of promoting your blog. Vine allows users to create and post short video clips in an innovative, quirky fashion that gets lots of attention. Put together a short clip promoting your blog post, and include a link to the post in the same way described above. • Pinterest. Another extremely popular social media site, Pinterest allows the sharing of ideas through boards and images. Consider starting an account solely for your blog, then create a “pinned” link to each post that you publish.
- 11. The possibilities for promoting your blog and increasing blog traffic are truly endless. If you can imagine it – do it! The vast landscape of internet message boards, social media platforms and other online presences truly open up more doors than one can count when it comes to methods for producing blog traffic.
- 12. The most important tip we can provide you with is to hear the voice of your readers and customers and give the people what they want! Through blog comments, emails from readers, and analytic reports, you will learn a great deal about what is working for your business blog and what is not. Hear the feedback that you are given and, most importantly, accept both praise and criticism. Producing written content on a regular basis is a difficult but rewarding task and should be handled as such.