A combination of things recently got us thinking about how to keep increasing our traffic. Those things, namely, are good posts at You Been Blinded and Five Tool Tool, our fucking link on SI.com (!!!!), and really trying to game on this new girl who we feel will bang us soberly if we get 10,000 hits a day. (Drunk banging at 7,500 a day).The posts at You Been Blinded and Five Tool Tool were tips -- in list form -- about how to increase traffic, and since we make lists about as often as we ponder if we'd do male athletes, we'll use our new favorite "blockquote" button to credit the work of others.
YBB's list:
1. Good MaterialFTT's list:
2. Ass Kissing/Get Links
3. Be Social
4. Spread Love
5. Cheap Heat/Keywords/Window Shoppers/Current Events
1. Ass KissingBoth are solid lists and good tips to get more traffic. We'd also add on that being a commenting slut -- n. one that drops off a comment at many blogs per day -- is really a good way to get your name out there.
2. Current Events
3. Whore Yourself
4. Whore Others
5. Whore Strangers
6. Tech Fun
7. Cheap Heat
8. Keywords
9. Gambling
10. Lists!
Having regular features also helps, in our humble opinion. We think our Blogger Interviews and Would you do...? series are responsible for a lot of our traffic. (The Would you do...? also hits on No. 5 in the first list. For example, our Erin Andrews post gets a ton of hits whenever she's live on ESPN because hornballs are looking her up on the Net so they can rub one out. Our page comes up relatively high in a Google search for her.)
So, what do you folks think? Best ways to increase traffic? Non bloggers, why are you reading certain blogs but not others? Light up the comments section the way you would the secret bathroom at your office.
And, as always with intentionally unfunny posts, above is a spicy picture to prolong your morning wood.
Interesting content is obviously the top thing. If you don't have that, then certainly you're not going to grow much.
ReplyDeleteBeyond that, links are good obviously... especially from places like Deadspin... not only for the traffic from the link because then (from my experience) a lot of other bloggers that see the link on Deadspin will link to it on their own blogs, which is nice.
And about the regular features thing... I actually read your interview on Larry Brown Sports, saw you mentioned that, and that's how I came up with doing the Thursday Debate thing. That's not exactly as popular as some of your features, but you inspired it, so congrats!
Oh yeah, and your commenting point is right on... especially at first. I basically always check out someone's blog if they comment on mine, and usually comment back and visit again. I suspect that a lot of bloggers on the same scale as me are the same way.
ReplyDeleteLet me also add that I'm not exactly the king of traffic, so take that for what it's worth, but just my 2 cents.
Good post today....I am always looking to increase traffic so that is why I am always working on new featues and covering all types of sports like Wimbledon and the College World Series....
ReplyDeleteI too agree that bloggers who leave comments are more likely to get a hit back on their site...I always try to read the bloggers that I have linked to....
I think bloggers need to bust tail in order to increase traffic...we basically have to market our work/blog and make it easy for the readers who are basically our customers...
I will say this about the Big Boys - like Dan Shanoff and Deadspin...I've tried to get their feedback about my blog and even get a link with them...but they have never responded...to me, I think they have gotten "big time"....for the most part though, 98% of all bloggers try to help each other out....
Most of my suggestions are already up at Five Tool Tool, but in addition to the truth is said in jest work there, I'd add being religious about knowing where your site traffic is coming from. It's obsessive for me.
ReplyDeleteHaving had occasional love from Leith, Shanoff and BDD from KSK, I can't say they're cut off and too big for their britches. They're just hammered by way too many people like us looking for traffic. 90% of life is showing up; 90% of growing a site's traffic is grinding out good stuff. The other 10% is just whoring. (That's where it's great to have co-writers.)
One final point in warning... the time you spend publicizing your work.... is time not spent writing. Be careful not to go overboard.
love the SB reference...
ReplyDeleteI got linked on cnnsi on the 29th, I had to double take when I saw how much traffic came my way over the weekend. Insanity!
ReplyDeleteI agree about comments though. They make the world go round and help everyone out.
When increasing your traffic there's two different groups you're appealing to.
ReplyDeleteUntapped Regulars- people who will continue to come back to your blog because of content and writing appeal (basically anyone who can't get enough Bill Simmons or Dr. Z).
Window Shoppers- people just parousing the net for whatever they fancy, generally breast exam pics or the latest sex video.
It isn't hard to capture the second group so in that way visitor volume can be misleading. Thankfully you guys target the first group. And cursing a lot really fucking increases traffic.
tits is the key to it all
ReplyDeleteCommenting is the way to go, for sure.
ReplyDeleteIn an effort to continue being a commenting slut, here is my comment:
ReplyDeleteSex and Bill Simmons. Either, hopefully not both, especially not at the same time, will get you tons o' hits.
Of course, it depends on your audience. I always try to write at a level that if my mother read it she wouldn't be too embarrassed. (Zach, because I believe you were found outside the Bunny Ranch wrapped in a blanket and lived there until you were 18, you probably don't have this problem.)
Funny, I get complaints and no traffic love when I tear into Simmy Boy. And yet, he's so good at being a rotten tooth from time to time, I have to do it anyway. I guess that's talent.
ReplyDeleteChris Benoit jokes.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I really don't think commenting helps that much in getting traffic. Sure, finding a way to mention your blog in, say, the deadspin comments will help you out a bit, but otherwise, not so much. It does help, though, in getting on the good side of other bloggers.
ReplyDeleteRegular features help, but how regular is regular? I don't like to do the same feature week after week; more like monthly.
I have tons more to say, but I just said it here two hours ago: http://ballhype.com/story/should_increasing_traffic_be_our_1_blogging_goal/ . Basically, traffic by itself isn't enough to sustain my ravenous hunger for fame and fortune, ha.
winning the Ladies... Hot Blogger Bracket didn't make the list???
ReplyDeleteps by winning I mean losing in the first round.
jordi, you're dead on about the Bunny Ranch thing!!
ReplyDeleteI happen to know that Zach has a mom, in fact, I know her. And my guess is that she doesn't read the blog. But if she did she probably wouldn't be too fazed by it.
ReplyDeleteFor example, our Erin Andrews post gets a ton of hits whenever she's live on ESPN because hornballs are looking her up on the Net so they can rub one out.
ReplyDeleteDude, not everyone has the talent to come up with lines like that. That's how to get the traffic my friend.
There are many advantages of your web blog above a website, except it's easy to setup and free. You can put every thing in your blog: from a couple of lines what it is on your mind or your new article just published elsewhere, or a product review. In principle, a blog is the same as a website, but you will need to update more frequently to get the visitors to your site. A major advantage of your web blog here above a website to getting major search engines like Google and Yahoo to visit your blog frequently is a technique called "pinging". It's a method of notifying all of the major search engines and blog directories, each time that you have updated your blog. The search engines will come and to take a look at your blog, thereby increasing traffic to your blog. If you link your blog, the search engines will follow the links from the blog pointing to your sites. This will help the search engine rankings of your sites as well!
ReplyDeleteApparently using a lot of keywords that are sexual in nature will also attract attention.
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