I recently wrote an article titled “10 Really Good Reasons to Blog” and if the reasons blogs fail caught your eye, you should really read the one on good reasons to blog.
I got to thinking about how there is another side to the coin. There are some common reasons blogs fail. This is the short list. I am not going to keep you long. Read it, think about it for just a moment, and do what you will with it.
The author gets “too busy” and realizes that they do not have the same amount of time every other successful blogger has. They were robbed at birth by a debilitating disorder called “busy” and their day only has 23 hours.
The author is greedy, and since this Internet thing isn’t paying out like they were so sure it would, they are taking their remaining money and heading to the casino.
The author writes poorly and had no business trying to author a blog in the first place.
Nobody is interested in the subject matter (I saw this once, but then even the blog about Strawberry Shortcake and the Flying Green Monkeys had a few readers).
The readers, although plentiful, did not take the time to participate in the discussion.
5 Solutions to These 5 Common Reasons Blogs Fail
Stop being lazy. You still have 24 hours every day like the rest of us … go buy a new watch and see for yourself. If you feel like you have less time, you are probably just not using it wisely.
Stop listening to liars. The Internet is not your mother. Getting fed takes effort. Make more effort.
Hire a second grade student. Seriously … at least then you will have a good excuse for not knowing the differences between two, too, and to; your and you’re; it’s and its; or their, there, and they’re. If you don’t think the second grader will work for you, then you are probably smart enough to hire a better writer.
Everything has an audience. Do you recall that Charles Manson guy who got in some trouble for killing? Yes, even he has fans!
Add your comments here on my blog. Anything else is on the verge of criminal abuse of my thoughtful work.
Nearly anybody with a blog or other Website that is worth reading has heard of Twitter by now. The bloggers who use Twitter efficiently may already have realized some of what I will share here, but from what I have found, many bloggers have not. To say the least, I am shocked just what a small percentage of blog owners and authors are actually using Twitter, and even more shocked by those who are not embracing the synergy the two can produce when used properly. Note that while I say “blog”, this is completely interchangeable with “Website”, so don’t be confused.
Twitter-Improved Traffic: A Simple Example
As a simple example of how Twitter can improve your blog readership, I will use the blog you are presently reading. While looking at my statistics to find how many people arrived at this fledgling blog via Twitter, I found that an estimate of nearly 15,000 unique readers arrived by way of Twitter over the past 30 days. I say estimated because it is challenging to provide an exact number due to the many readers arriving by way of Twitter clients not providing an accurate source (although my numbers will be much clearer in May). This is more than the number of subscribers to my Twitter feed, which is presently just over 11,000 but was far fewer last month (ref TwitterCounter). So how did that happen? In short, people read it, talked about it, and retweeted it.
Blog Traffic Numbers: The Real Scoop
I will write more on this later, but I find that too many people find it convenient to try and lie about the real traffic of their blog. Let’s face it, this stuff is trackable. Some people may say that traffic estimates generated as a result of Twitter is bloated or that it is not so great, but just a simple look at Compete.com or Alexa.com will reveal a lot of what I am telling you. Of course, these are usually a bit behind and do not reflect an exact accounting, but they are usually reasonably close. I share this with you because I want to provide a real example for the purpose of this article.
When considering these numbers, let’s weigh in the facts that this blog was launched in December 2008, and my Twitter account only had 78 followers on February 7th of 2009, and it is a targeted blog about social media marketing and search engine optimization. I am not seeking everybody to read my blog, but rather the right people to read my blog. Be sure to also look at your own blog / Website and review the numbers and percentage of increase. It is pretty eye-opening what Twitter can do when used properly.
The traffic and level of engagement prompted me to question how Twitter has changed blogging. Here are just a few things that i found.
Twitter-Improved Reader Engagement
I will show examples of blog reader engagement separated into three parts, but this remains only one of the three areas of benefit derived from Twitter discussed in this article. There are many ways to determine reader engagement with a Website. Some ways blog authors have traditionally found valuable to measure the reader’s engagement are as follows:
Time on Page: The average time the user spends on a page is a good measure of whether they are actually reading what you have to say. This is clearly subject to the type and length of content you provide, but in any case, readers who are not interested will not stick around very long. A minute is a very long time for many internet readers. What I have found in the measure of time on page is that readers initially engaged by Twitter will spend more time reading my blog, totaling about three minutes per page view. This is a significant increase over users arriving from other sources, and is longer than any other source.
Page Views Per Reader: The number of pages each user visits is a strong reflection of the user’s interest in your industry, beyond the single topic of the initial page they viewed. I have noticed an improved page views per reader coming from Twitter, up .5 page views per reader compared to other sources, which is a significant sign of reaching the right audience.
Blog Comment Volume and Quality: An important measure for the blog author is in how many comments, and the quality of comments the blog post receives. When writing something relating to Twitter, I have witnessed great results for blog comments, on this blog and others. One of my recent blog posts relating to Twitter usernames has received upward of 140 approved comments. I attribute much of this to the fact that many readers already have some knowledge of the author, and are already a part of a conversation. A blog is one way that they find out more information and continue the conversation. I think many bloggers would agree with this finding.
Assessing the reader engagement of Twitter users, both on a blog and on your Twitter feed, can also be measured by the comments received in reply to the posting of the blog link to Twitter. I find that some people will respond to the title of the tweet. It seems that every day I see somebody respond to the text of a tweet in a way that I know without question they have not read the blog post linked to the tweet. A great example of this was when I tweeted a blog post titled “Will Oprah (@oprah) Ruin Twitter?” and I received a lot of comments in defense of Oprah Winfrey’s use of Twitter. That was kind of silly, because the blog discussed the changes that may come from the inevitable increase in traffic and how a large influx of new users may change how we use Twitter. This absurdity should always be considered a measurement of engagement of your Twitter following and not of your blog. What it also points out is that Twitter users who do read your blog are likely truly interested in what you have written. If your Twitter account is managed properly and you spend time to get to know your followers and let them know you, blind comments should largely only happen with your newest followers.
Twitter-Improved Search Engine Optimization
Many search engine optimizers (SEO) will overlook the value of Twitter for improving search engine penetration. If they miss this part, they are making a big mistake. A reason many SEO will dismiss this value is that Twitter uses the “nofollow” attribute in outbound links, thus, no increased Google PageRank. Make no mistake; Twitter can greatly enhance your visibility in search engine results. This can come from many outside factors related to Twitter, as well as Twitter itself. I will just name a couple, but here are some ways SEO is enhanced by using Twitter. First, I should point out that Twitter’s Search is a Search Engine! As more people use Twitter search to find information, using Twitter will help many people to find your information. Aside from just Twitter searches, the likelihood of particular tweets being listed in other search engines referencing a Twitter tweet or one of the many Twitter-related applications along with your link are improved. Be sure to realize that each person who reads your blog also comes with a voice to further spread your blog in many other ways. Thus, each reader who finds your blog in any Twitter-related way has the potential to further propagate your message in search engines as well. It all adds up to make a significant end-result.
Twitter-Improved Call to Action
Along with the added benefits of brand recognition and brand loyalty, comes the greatest benefit of all … an improved call to action. This means that the message you distributed has gone beyond just readership, and the reader has heard and responded to your call to action. In my case, that literally means that they have made a call to reach me and discuss improving their market reach. For you, it may be that they enter their order for your product, apply for a job, donate to a cause, or many other possibilities.
How I measure a greater call to action from Twitter: It has become standard that I speak on the telephone (direct line *REDACTED DUE TO AGING WEBSITE*) or on Skype (username murnahan) to a minimum of five different inbound callers per day as a result of Twitter users who also read my blog. In addition to inbound callers, I also call at least five people I meet on Twitter to simply make an introduction and to get to know them better, so this certainly works both ways.
I make it my practice to reach people beyond the singular communication tool of Twitter, and expand my communications to other tools. This means that not only has Twitter greatly impacted my blog readership, it also goes far beyond blogging to reach people I would likely have never met otherwise.
How Does This Apply to You?
Surely some people reading this do not have a blog or Website, and may not have a great importance of reaching out to other people, but I think those numbers are fairly small. Most people who read this have a reason to reach others. If this is the case, you should not neglect the value of Twitter for reaching a very important audience.
Reaching a larger and more valuable audience is what I do for my clients, and what I am paid for. I have found Twitter to be an extremely useful tool. If you are getting frustrated and you want to see better results for your blog or other Website, please reach me to explain how I may help you.
Don’t Just Comment on Twitter!
If you made it this far, I hope that you will give me the honor of reading and responding to your comments right here on the blog. Yes, of course, your comments are also always welcome by way of Twitter, too. Please tell me what you think!
Who would have guessed that hookers write the best blogs? In this fast-paced scan-and-click Internet world, what are people actually reading? It may sound crazy, but you could learn a lot from a hooker.
With over 200 million blogs on the Internet, who can slow down and read the whole thing? Hookers know the answer, and it is really pretty basic. When you hook the reader right up front, they will have more reason to keep reading and want to know more. So keep reading! I wrote this to help you get more productivity from your time online, and if you are a blog author, to help your readers get more from your articles.
Bloggers and Hookers
If you are a writer, it is your responsibility to assure readers a good value for their time. But first, you must give them an incentive … a hook. Thus, a writer with a good hook could be called a “hooker”. In order to do this, effectively, you really must think about the way you read. I have often found myself scanning through information in such a mad rush that I sometimes miss the good stuff. Consider for a moment how many articles you start to read but never finish. You only get a fraction of the message because you toss them aside and click on the next flashy thing that catches your eye. Your readers are not so different. A look at your Website statistics will show how long an average visitor spends on your site, and it is never as long as you would like. So, if you are a good hooker, “turning the trick” is the next big battle.
Turning the Trick
This happened to me just yesterday. I was reading a blog post that I thought was kind of interesting. I put it aside and figured I would read the rest later. I thought it was good enough that I tweeted it (sent a message using Twitter.com), but I almost didn’t finish it. Just a moment later, I saw that somebody “re-tweeted” it. The article very nearly ended up in my vast “to read” pile (which often remains unread). Once I read just a bit more, I could not stop … I was hooked! The terrible part is that I almost missed reading something that I ultimately found very interesting and useful.
So, in the example above, where did this all go wrong? I had actually read far enough to know it was a good article. The hook had been set, right? Wrong! The author almost lost me, and not because it got boring, but rather because he did not set the hook deep enough, fast enough. If the author had fully engaged me in the very beginning, I could have probably suffered through a lot of boring reading, just assuming there was something coming to re-spark my interest.
Quality Ad Copy
Quality ad copy always starts with a hook. If you get that part right, the rest is much easier. If you canont come up with the right hook, get help from a friend or hire a professional.
Quality ad copy with a good hook is more important on the Internet than any other place. You only have seconds to reach your readers. I don’t know any writer who feels good about losing a reader early, and when it comes to business writing, it hurts your bottom line. I personally love to look at my reader statistics to see people spending a lot of time on a page. This means they are actually getting what I tell them. It means I have done my job well, which is very satisfying to me. Be sure to look at your statistics, and if users are coming but not staying long, you are probably not setting the hook.
Am I a Hooker?
Yes, I am a hooker for hire. I got you to read this far, didn’t I? If I can do that, just imagine what I can do to help you reach more people and “hook” your audience. Of course, I don’t want to lose you here, because the good stuff is yet to come. If it will help you, take a deep breath, stand up and shake, get a cup of coffee, or do whatever you need to do, and then when you are ready … come back and read some more of my blog. Perhaps my section on SEO Lessons and the importance of quality Internet marketing will interest you, or take your pick from the left side of this page. This is all here to help you, and I will try to not let you down.
Origin of the Word “Hooker”
Since this blog post refers to hookers, I thought I would share this clever video to explain the origin of the word “hooker”. Enjoy! Oh, and Please Tweet This!
