Top 3 Categories for Bloggers

May 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

top3 Top 3 Categories for BloggersIf you’ve been considering starting a blog and aren’t sure what you should write about, there is a wealth of information available to you about which categories are the most popular with readers.

Blog popularity can be measured in a number of different ways—from a straightforward analysis of daily traffic to “authority” (an assessment of popularity based on inbound links) to the number of subscribers. No matter how you slice it, the same three categories always come out on top.

TECHNOLOGY

Not surprisingly, technology blogs receive the most traffic—in excess of 1 million visitors per day. Industry insiders and technology gurus use their blogs to rave (or rant) about new and soon-to-be-released software, hardware and gadgets. Tech blog staples include product reviews, industry rumors, legal issues affecting technology and the Internet, and implementation how-tos.

Techies live and die by expert opinions and insight. Since technology moves at the speed of light, why waste time experimenting when you can get the inside scoop from an industry leader with just a click of your mouse? Tech blogs have become one of the best ways for IT professionals and laypersons alike to stay abreast of the latest developments in this fast-moving field.

NEWS AND POLITICS

Weighing in at upwards of 750,000 visitors each day, news and political blogs rank second in total traffic. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, of regular internet users, 75% report getting their news from online sources.

Political blogs are becoming more and more popular as readers have started looking to their news sources for more than just the facts. In much the same way TV viewers tune in to The Daily Show expecting jazzed up news “highlights,” internet users often turn to political bloggers to let them know which issues and current events to be concerned about. With readership climbing dramatically during the 2008 U.S. election season, political blogs continue to be extremely popular and can expect to see ongoing growth for the foreseeable future.

CELEBRITIES AND GOSSIP

Rounding out the top three, with over half a million visitors per day, is the category of celebrity and gossip blogs. We live in a society that is obsessed with wealth and fame. The exploits of the rich and famous—everything from their stints in rehab to their most recent haircuts—are undeniably fascinating. Celebrity blogs are among the most popular on the web, and as a result, gossip bloggers are cashing in.

The beauty of the gossip blogosphere is that you needn’t be an “expert” to become a player. All you need is a finger on the pulse of celebrity and tabloid news, a unique point of view, and the ability to write content that gets people talking. With the availability of easy-to-use blogging platforms and a virtually unlimited supply of gossip blog fodder available on the Internet, expect this category to continue to grow in popularity as more gossip bloggers join the party.

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Why isn’t anyone reading my diary blog?

April 22, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Because no one wants to read that.

No seriously.  That’s why.

No one cares that you got stuck in traffic, the dog made a poop in the living room, or that your kid made a funny face today.  There’s nothing more boring than that kind of site.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write it.  If it makes you happy, go for it.  Some people just like to keep a diary, and if others want to read it, fine!  However, you shouldn’t expect people to come flying to your site in droves.

If you DO want to have a high traffic site with this format, it better be damn good.  The writing and stories better be phenomenal.  You had better have me falling off my chair with laughter each and every time.  Then, maybe you have a shot.

Otherwise, just be happy with what little traffic you have.

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ShareThis

April 21, 2008 By Leave a Comment

sharethis logo tm ShareThisEveryone seems to be into the snazzy little sharing buttons lately.  It’s one of the first addons people decided to put on their blogs after they are up and running.

The theory is that adding these buttons will encourage people to bookmark and share your post with others if they think it is especially noteworthy.  Great concecept in theory.

In reality, the clicks on these buttons are fairly low.  However, every little bit of incremental traffic generated from them helps, right?  So why not.  Plus, you never know if a whale will bookmark you and bring a ton of traffic.

Anyway, the last thing you want to do is litter the bottom of your site with 100 little bookmark chicklets.  It looks bad and makes your site load slower.  So what’s the alternative?  ShareThis

ShareThis is a bookmarking tool for your blog or website that also does a simple “Email This to a Friend” function.

Right out of the box, it comes with all the most popular social networking sites and bookmarking sites.  In about 5 minutes, you can have this configured and launched on your blog.  It also comes with a handy little plugin for WordPress that makes the implementation slightly easier.  However, you don’t need the plugin portion if you are compfortable with it on your own.

You are left with a clean, small button on the bottom of your posts that says ShareThis with a little icon.  That’s it.  Nice and clean.  When clicked, it pops open to reveal your sharing options.

For you as the site owner, you can track the usage of these networking tools through the ShareThis website.  That way, you can see if people are actually using it!

Filed Under: Site Traffic Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Managing Ads on Your Blog or Website

April 7, 2008 By 2 Comments

logo openx Managing Ads on Your Blog or WebsiteOne of the issues that always arises when your site starts to take off is managing ad inventory. With WordPress, managing ad placement is fairly simple. You just create a widget, drop in your code, place the widget, and you’re done.

But what if you need to change it often? Or, what if you have sold your own clients and want to traffic your own ads?

Well, you are in need of an ad management system. There are some basic ones (in the form of plugins) available through WordPress, but they are not terribly sophisticated.

Until Google opens its new ad management system up to the public, I recommend using OpenX (formerly known as phpadsnew) to serve your ads. It’s a free system you can download and install on your own server. I also recommend putting it on it’s own box if you plan on serving a lot of ads, or you site gets a lot of traffic. The system itself is pretty resource intensive.

OpenX will allow you to traffic all of your ads including Google Adsense ads and other ad networks like Commission Junction, Azoogle, ClickBooth, etc.

You can then set impression levels, goals, and weights for all your campaigns. This makes it especially valuable when evaluating new ads or campaigns. [Read more...]

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Boost Your Site Traffic in 30 Days

March 30, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I stumbled upon a an old post on ProBlogger about increasing your traffic in just 30 days. At first, I didn’t notice the date it was published, but I really believed in what it was saying. Then I noticed the date, and it made me laugh because the tips still hold true today.

Tip 3 was worth highlighting:

Finally, I made effective use of trackback links to popular sites. If I commented on a post on another site I would make sure that I set up the appropriate trackback for it. The results from this are varied depending on the site and post that you are linking to but since I liked to comment and interact with the wider blogosphere anyway, it was free traffic!

Even though this is from 2005, it is still true today. If you want to gain respect in the blogosphere, you have to earn it. Just writing your posts and sitting around waiting for the readers to flock in doesn’t work. You need to proactively get out there and make your name known.

However, I caution you against belatedly plugging yourself where ever you go. Don’t just comment on someone else’s post because you are looking to get clicks back to your site. And don’t make your comments into a big advertisement for yourself.

Instead, actually contribute something worthwhile to the conversation. That will gain you more blogging street cred

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If Mark Cuban can do it, so can you!

March 26, 2008 By Leave a Comment

225px mark cuban web 20 conference.thumbnail If Mark Cuban can do it, so can you!There was an excellent article up on the NY Times Personal Tech section about blogging. The headline really caught my eye, “So You Want to Be a Blogging Star…”

It starts right off with the story of billionaire Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and Chairman of HDNet. Cuban writes his own blog, blogmaverick.com. He’s probably one of the busiest businessmen you’ll ever meet, yet he still has time to write his blog.

So what’s the big deal with a billionaire writing a blog? Can’t everyone have a hobby? Well, Cuban’s blog is ranked among the top 1,000 blogs in the world. Considering that there are tens of millions of blogs on the web, that’s a huge accomplishment.

Funny enough, he actually has an active discussion going on right now about blogging. Apparently, bloggers in the Mav’s locker room is becoming a big deal. I kind of disagree with his position though. (See my response below)

Another point I think should be highlighted in the in the article is where they mention participating in the blogging community. This is extremely important. Once you get your blog off the ground, even if is only a few posts old, get out there! Start participating in the community. Write comments on other blogs. Link to other blogs too. [Read more...]

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How to Get More Visits without Spending Money

June 17, 2007 By 1 Comment

One of the questions I am most often asked is:

“How can I get more people to look at my site without spending money?”

The answer is pretty simple, but it usually isn’t what people want to hear. Folks, you have to put in effort…daily. That’s it. Really. It sounds simple enough, but for whatever reason, people don’t want to do it.

One of the keys to increasing site traffic is to update your site every day. Yes, EVERY DAY. At minimum, Monday – Friday. I don’t care if you are a shoe store or a stock broker. If you have a website critical to your business, you should be updating it every day.

What’s the pay off? More visitors, and many more return visitors. If you are lucky enough to have someone visit your site, the hope is that they like what they see. But what if they come back again next week? They are going to expect to see something new! If they come back, and it is the same thing they saw last time, they are never going to come back again. Period.

Eventually, the goal is to have your visitors checking back on a nearly daily basis, therefore, you need to have something new there.

Ok, how do you make your site new and fresh every day? The easiest thing to do is start a blog on your site. That word (blog) scares people who aren’t Internet savvy peeps. It’s ok, calm down. A blog for your purposes is just a means to an end. It’s an easy format to constantly keep your site up to date.

For example, let’s say you own a modestly popular steakhouse. Your neighborhood locals come regularly, but you would like to expand your dining reach to the surrounding area. Heck, why not…money is good! But how on earth can you keep a restaurant website updated daily? [Read more...]

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