Comments on: Networking Is The Worst Way To Increase Traffic

By: Velvet Blues

Velvet Blues — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 08:38:31 +0000

Well, SE traffic is better, and more sustainable than networking traffic anyway.

By: Nihar

Nihar — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:47:54 +0000

Hmm.. you are right. I have never got good traffic from networking because, from day 1 i only concentrated on getting good SE traffic. and i think i have succeeded a little in that.

By: Velvet Blues

Velvet Blues — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:27:25 +0000

You’re right. I hate to admit it, but when I visit a blog and see no comments, I do initially question how go it is. And a lot of visitors are like that.

Yes, networking is great for picking up tips. No one is an expert on everything, so there is always something to learn. And I definitely learn something new everyday in my travels around the blogosphere.

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 02:00:42 +0000

Great post- I think that if you are just starting out and doing your first or second blog that networking is good because as you network you are in turn learning a lot of good tips and pointers and also refining your writing style to turn it more SEO friendly. I don’t think that every post can be an SEO hit so having some traffic from networking helps with those just conversation posts.

It also helps to network as when others find your blog through the search engines you look more knowledgeable because you have comments and activity. Most people when coming to a blog for the first time won’t leave comments- so in just focusing on SEO you lose that portion of it.

By: Velvet Blues

Velvet Blues — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:01:26 +0000

Indeed. I am always analyzing my statistics to determine where I can make improvement, both in terms of visitors AND content. Thanks for visiting.

By: Velvet Blues

Velvet Blues — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:00:55 +0000

Yeh, I totally agree. Visitors obtained from networking are not necessarily looking for your site or the information that you are providing, so there is a high bounce rate. So in most cases, these visitors are really only good for things such as Alexa rank, which I suppose is a main motivating factor for many bloggers…

By: Velvet Blues

Velvet Blues — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 08:49:10 +0000

That’s a great point. It would be extremely frustrating to focus time and energy on a social networking website that is gone tomorrow. And lately, with all of these popular websites shutting down, you really can’t predict which one will be next.

By: Ajith Edassery | DollarShower

Ajith Edassery | DollarShower — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 07:46:06 +0000

Very good post… I agree with your points Shirley. In facts, networking (social or otherwise) can gradually build traffic and awareness but it may not really sustain. For me, networking (for your blog/site) is something that you should use judiciously to run certain ‘campaigns’ or share relevant news.

As Forsaken mentioned, the bounce rate can increase rapidly with most social network/media traffic.

And the worst thing, today’s ‘happening’ social networks may just vanish tomorrow and hence those who are trying to build 2000 or 5000 twitter followers are in fools’ paradise and after very short term opportunities. Known search engines on the other hand has longer life-span. Hence I would concentrate more on search traffic and genuine referral traffic

By: Ryan Maxwell

Ryan Maxwell — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:37:36 +0000

I think you’ve raised the best issue of all. People need to anaylse their results. Google Analytics is fantastic for me, and it provides me with the smallest of details.

By: Forsaken @The Blogging Park

Forsaken @The Blogging Park — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:58:21 +0000

I never had success with networking, except for blog commenting. Probably this is due to my non-socializing nature online. I hardly spend time on the social bookmarking sites and create a network of friends; all my time is spent on SEO.

From experience though, visitors origination from networking are good in increasing your sites bounce rate. The tickle of visitors I do receive from Facebook are one time visitors; never to return and push my sites bounce rate to above 50%. Its better to have a few hundred loyal visitors than a thousand one-time visitors.

By: Velvet Blues

Velvet Blues — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:27:24 +0000

That sounds like a good strategy. I have noticed that you do have a lot of your local readers active on your blog, and I wondered your you ’rounded’ them up. I haven’t used FaceBook for traffic, but apparently it is very effective.

Yes, relationships with other bloggers is important. I have had the pleasure of finding some great bloggers whose blogs I often read and link to. And so that kind of promotion is also great, and can be easily achieved with good networking. (ie. When you swap links in articles and share traffic.)

By: Kurt Avish

Kurt Avish — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:23:08 +0000

I think networking can bring a lot of visitors. But you will also bring a lot of your own competitors who will not even bother to make you a cent lol.

The best is to build search engine juice and these are the real visitors who are looking for information and who will also click on your ads as they are looking for such related information they came for.

HOwever its good to build good relationships among bloggers and also other people interested in the same field.

I at time use my facebook group VOI when I post something related to Mauritius. Just a way to let them know that their comments are welcome lol. On my side, as I live in a very small island with less than 2 milllion people, they are quite interactive

However I am still SEOING to get more international visits too these days. .. I balance my post .. write some Mauritian related ones but also write posts that will be of interest to anyone in the world.