We love internet traffic.
- Views
- Comments
- Downloads
I’ll be the first to admit, I am no search engine optimization (SEO) expert.
I focus more on content; however, even I’m not stupid enough to ignore SEO basics.
But I must say, I am often surprised at my internet traffic high and lows.
Internet Traffic
Since this post appears to bare the soul (sort of), I’ll also admit I am not as good as I should be at keeping up with analytics.
That’s a big reason why I never assume to tell readers how they should use social media. Not my niche. Business writing is a different story.
On the occasions when I am paying attention, I’ve noticed a few surprising trends in my internet traffic.
The Highs
I maintain four blogs.
- This blog
- My healthcare blog
- My personal blog
- A cancer awareness blog (just launched)
The first two are work-related and probably the blogs where I hope for the most traffic.
I started my personal blog as an outlet to write about whatever struck my fancy. I loved the freedom from thinking about internet traffic, SEO or other work worries.
Popular Post
Yes, you guessed it. Until last week, my personal blog far outpaced any of my other blogs, in terms of traffic.
For awhile, the number of sessions (according to Google Analytics) of my personal blog was double the number of this blog. It left me scratching my head.
What I discovered was a single post, How Referral Key’s Spammy Practice Embarrassed Pollyanna, accounted for 90 percent of the traffic.
I wrote the post over two years ago. I do not know if Referral Key experienced a surge in membership but suddenly my post hit new blog posts and a discussion group in LinkedIn.
Another popular post surprise had me asking, why now?
As I mentioned in a recent post at this blog, an older post climbed the Google Analytics chart as the most viewed in recent weeks. Most arrived directly from a Google search.
You never know what post will strike a chord − or when.
Soaring SlideShare
I entered the SlideShare world as an experiment.
The rising platform appealed to my love of PowerPoint and simple business communication.
I ended 2013 in the top 3 percent for viewed presentations.
That was then. This is now.
The Lows
All good things come to an end.
Slipping SlideShare
The good news is my older presentations continue to receive lots of views. The following Top 10 range from 1,000 to nearly 4,500 views (modest by SlideShare standards). You can view my presentations at SlideShare.
- Slides and Handouts: The Perfect Marriage
- A simple (sometimes strange) presentation process
- 5 silent business communicators that speak volumes
- Pain-free LinkedIn Recommendations
- Power words for better business writing (in documents)
- 5 simple mind-mapping tricks for more creative blog posts
- Creating a better professional bio
- Your Litmus Test to Marketing Success
- Descriptive words for business writing (in documents)
- Your Business Review Made Simple
The bad news is the views are down − way down. In the past, views hit over 1,000 regularly. This year, the views are in the hundreds and none have hit the 1,000 mark.
SlideShare has caught on.
You knew it wasn’t going to be my fault, right?
Post Pause
My personal blog views dropped back behind this blog. The number of views cut in half from its peak.
I guess Referral Key’s surge stalled.
If you’re like me, you take the internet traffic highs and lows with a raised eyebrow of interest but not as a cause for alarm.
But then again, you probably should heed one of my father’s favorite sayings ~
Do as I say, not as I do.
What internet traffic surprises have you experienced?
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Cathy for years and years, even back in my about.com days, an article about how to create an invoice has ranked always in the top 10 of my posts… strange but true.
Isn’t that interesting, Anne? You would think that would be pretty basic knowledge. It shows you never know what post will capture the attention of readers.
Thanks for sharing a great example, Anne.
When my blog was active, the top-drawing post / keyword search was always “Post Secrets” – about the silly site of that name. Go figure. I can’t.
Hey Georganna: Nice to “see” you here. 😉 I love hearing the stories about what “hits”. I guess if we all knew for sure, we’d never have to market. We’d just keep putting those ideas out there. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your top post.
I was surprised this year to find that one of my least-promoted features at All Indie Writers was my consistent top traffic generator — the writer’s market directory. That pushed me to post more updates there if nothing else. I guess I never noticed before because it’s not an interactive feature. There are no comments there, and there aren’t even social media buttons for sharing (though maybe I should add some). 🙂
Thinking about it more, it does make sense. I use a database platform that technically keeps you on a single page, even when you search and sort results.
I’ve been toying with the idea of making this a bigger resource to spread out the traffic a bit. As of now, markets link directly to the publications. I’ve been thinking about creating individual pages for each market on my site, and linking to the publication sites from there instead. It would be a big undertaking, so it’s not at the top of my to-do list right now. But there’s a lot of potential to make that resource even better and drive even more traffic to it. 🙂
Those are nice surprises, aren’t they, Jenn? 🙂 Ah, to have a crystal ball. Thanks for sharing your surprise traffic magnet.