It seems that I have some unfinished business here on this site, I mean I started my 6 months dare for 5000 visitors per day, I published 5 reports, but never managed to publish the 6th, so today, due to the fact that I caught a nasty cold and I am not very inspired, I decided to put up a short post about this. So here it is, my 6th report:
As you may have already realized this, I haven’t reached my target, 5000 visitors per day. Or I haven’t YET reached it. My stats at this moment, as reported by Google Analytics for the last 30 days, look like this:
- 15666 visitors
- 22000 pageviews
- 1,41 pages/visit
- 69% come from search engines
- 24.66% come from referrals
- 5.76% direct traffic
- 220-230 RSS readers
It’s true, I haven’t reached my target, but
- I have learned a lot about social media and blogging while promoting this site
- I have learned a lot about guitars and, one of the things I am most happy about, I have regained my passion for guitars. For a couple of years, due to the fact that life strikes you when you least expect (damn, I must be some kind of a philosopher if I write such things!!) I forgot my guitar passion buried somewhere under my work and family tasks. Thanks to you, guys, I have rediscovered the joy of playing the guitar! For me that is the highest reward when it comes to this website.
- I have met A LOT OF GREAT PEOPLE passionate about guitars, with some of them I speak also by email, instant messaging, etc and I tell my offline friends about them.
- I have a steady traffic of 500-600 visitors per day. It’s not 5000 but it is a decent traffic and I’ve worked hard for every new visitor so I deserve it, OK?!
- People point to my site from various places on this big internet saying nice things about me and GuitarFlame.com. Thank you, you should know that makes me feel very good!
As a conclusion to all the people who fight for traffic on the internet, I must say one thing and one thing only: the traffic for such a blog is the value of your proactive attitude! Period. SEO is OK and you must do it, but it won’t work for a blog the same way it will work for a static website. Here the value of your posts and the fact that you are proactive will bring you more visitors than anything else.
Be proactive, write with passion, visit other sites, comment on other people’s blogs, make friends, comment on forums, be active in social media, join or start a community, all these things will mean something and traffic will come to you. In the first 3 months of my quest I have been this way, I have done all these things and as you may remember I had high traffic spikes from social media. In the last 3 months, the traffic settled around a decent value, without spikes and there is only one explanation for this: I was not as proactive as in the beginning.
Be proactive, show you care and you will build traffic! Also, my dare goes on, without trying too hard now. I will keep you posted from time to time.
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11 Responses to “My 6th report on my 5000 visitors per day dare”
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Ovidiu OprescuRomania, 31 years
Playing the guitar since 17 and enjoying every moment of it!
Come meet me also on Mixx, StumbleUpon, Technorati, Digg, MySpace, MyBlogLog, Twitter, BlogCatalog
Also, why don't you add me to your blogroll? It's known to bring fortune and it will make you a better player! Honestly! ;-)
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Jon
October 8th, 2008 at 12:22 am
“I have regained my passion for guitars”
Funny you should say that, this is exactly what has happened to me too Ovidiu. I was playing acoustic for years and had really lost interest in electric guitar and then as if by magic my blog rekindled the old shredder in me and now I have 2 electrics!
I’m confident you will reach your target, and I appreciate how much hard work you put into your blog too, I know how much time it takes up especially when you have a job, wife etc!
Keep up the great work!
Laurie Monk
October 8th, 2008 at 1:09 am
I always enjoy reading the analysis of your progress to date. I know what you mean about working hard for every visitor!
I would be interested to know how much are returning visitors and how many is just passing traffic.
Keep up the good work.
J
October 8th, 2008 at 3:42 am
“…show you care…” - that’s so very important; and I believe you really care about sharing info and engaging your audience. There’s a direct honesty in your posts that is refreshing and true to the musical experience. So many people are trying to sell themselves or a product. You don’t try to be the expert. You’re writing as a “real” person and attracting other “real” readers. So congratulations on moving towards your lofty goal, and thanks for being yourself!
Ovidiu
October 8th, 2008 at 9:30 am
@Jon: Really this is the greatest achievement with this blog, thanks to this blog I have started again to play with my band, maybe it was also a good timing because everybody needed a reunion, I have purchased a new guitar and I have started again to feel an urge to play and to listen music, it is so refreshing!!
I think all of us having such a blog feel the same because what we have here is a community, we created it by writing daily articles and building a reader base. If we promote each other, it only helps us grow together.
@Laurie: My percent is about 90% new visitors, this is because of the fact that I have a large number of visitors coming from search engines and returning visitors probably read me using RSS feed, I guess.
@Dr J: I don’t try to be an expert because I am not, I know my limits and my weak points and I also know the only way you can make it is to be real and actually this is my way of being, I couldn’t fake it for so long. I think you can fake it for 1 week or 2, but not for almost one year.
I believe that being real is what makes you connect to your audience and here it is all about connecting with the people who read you. (By the way, I still call you Dr J, I see it as a brand, you know, I don’t know any other person with a Ph. D in music so you are Dr J for me.)
@To all: Thanks, guys, I know you read me every single day and I do my best to find subjects that matter to you.
Danel R. Lehrman
October 9th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
What go you use for your stats? Traffic facts?
Nice post, gives people some realistic goals.
Danel R. Lehrman
October 9th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Woops, Here is my correct url
Ovidiu
October 9th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Thanks, Danny! I use Google Analytics
G-V
October 10th, 2008 at 5:00 am
Great post Ovidiu! Very informative. Your content is always refreshing to read. In addition to the key elements that you touched on, it should also be noted that you have a great looking and well put together site. And that, in itself, goes a long way too.
Keep up the good work Ovidiu!
Stratoblogster
October 10th, 2008 at 8:01 am
I’m doing 600-800 per day. It takes lots of posting and time. Something I recently told Dave at Sans Direction is that the comments you make at other blogs count as your blogging too. In other words, many people discover you and your blog via your comments at other blogs. In fact, some of your viewpoints might be seen by more people elsewhere than at your own blog. Ultimately, people visit your blog, but you gotta network. The other blogs provide opportunities for you to attract visitors to Guitarflame.
Many of us have hung out at IG’s place, but as he’s having a dry spell lately, we need to find other places to get involved. You have great visitor comment participation here, and that’s a sign of what a good blogger you are too!
So keep it up! When I figure out how to hit 5000/day, I’ll let you know what’s working, but it mostly seems like you need to keep posting as much as you can.
jp
Willie Nelson Contest To Be Finished On Monday | Guitar tabs,electric guitars,acoustic guitars
October 25th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
[…] businesses here on my blog, like when I never published my 6th report about my 6 months dare. So I did publish it a couple of days […]
Jonas Cord Jr
October 30th, 2008 at 1:51 am
Thats great, your time will come and please KEEP up the great work, and keep that guitar tuned!
Jonas Cord jr
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