Sunday, September 09, 2007
August Traffic and Other Bits
I gave the blog a rest this week. I had a little bit of a light bulb moment the other day when it suddenly dawned on me that I was spending far too much time reading affiliate blogs and forums. Don't get me wrong, there's tonnes of useful info out there and it pays to keep abreast of it, but then you have to stop being so introspective and crack on and do the actual work. So I think I need to ration how much time I spend reading, and increase the time I spend doing. Its pretty to get lost in the blogosphere for hours at a time.
And despite my point about being too introspective, I'm now going to completely ignore that and do a very introspective post - a nice easy one for a Sunday morning where I take a quick look over August traffic for this website and see what brought people here.
Top referrer by a country mile was Stumbleupon after someone reviewed a post I did about Facebook. Second best referrer was Affiliates4u. The blog feeds feature has become a great source of traffic and quickly overtook Bumpzee as best referring affiliate blog aggregator.
Some of the keywords used in search engines include:
And just time for a quick mention of Google Alerts,
I think I may have been the last person in the world to find out about Google Alerts. John mentioned it on his blog, and how Rachel Elnaugh of Dragons' Den fame had responded to him after he mentioned her name and she saw it in a Google Alert. Oops, does that mean she'll see this too (Hi Rachel, if you do). Since I read about it, I've signed up and found it so of useful for pulling in stories and links, which help me create content on niche blogs. So just in case I wasn't the last person in the world to find out about them, check them out.
And despite my point about being too introspective, I'm now going to completely ignore that and do a very introspective post - a nice easy one for a Sunday morning where I take a quick look over August traffic for this website and see what brought people here.
Top referrer by a country mile was Stumbleupon after someone reviewed a post I did about Facebook. Second best referrer was Affiliates4u. The blog feeds feature has become a great source of traffic and quickly overtook Bumpzee as best referring affiliate blog aggregator.
Some of the keywords used in search engines include:
- facebook hide friends
- using datafeed to build a website
- anthony borelli sucks (everyone's a critic, eh)
- what is ms query
- pound blog (wow, I hope that wasn't Google giving me a valuation!)
- reputation of dabs4work (I'm saying nothing)
- how much did peter jones get paid by itv to produce business tv ("too much" springs to mind)
And just time for a quick mention of Google Alerts,
I think I may have been the last person in the world to find out about Google Alerts. John mentioned it on his blog, and how Rachel Elnaugh of Dragons' Den fame had responded to him after he mentioned her name and she saw it in a Google Alert. Oops, does that mean she'll see this too (Hi Rachel, if you do). Since I read about it, I've signed up and found it so of useful for pulling in stories and links, which help me create content on niche blogs. So just in case I wasn't the last person in the world to find out about them, check them out.
Labels: traffic
Permalink // posted by Rob @ 12:24 PM 
Comments:
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Hi Rob
Yes, Google Alerts are very handy (particularly when set up for yourself - provided you have an unusual name of course!) - that way you can instantly access all the nasty things the mainstream media still print about you :-)
Limitations are:
- I can't find a way of limiting the alerts to UK sites only, hence for example with Dragons' Den get all the alerts for the Canadian version too. Annoying.
- If you choose any phrase which is too general eg 'small business' you get bombarded with huge amounts of stuff and have to turn the alert off.
The learning from the above (if you are naming a company or a product) is to choose something both unusual (ie non-generic) but easy to spell... Think how much easier it is for Tesco or IKEA to track everything that is said about it on the web than a company like 'Boots'.
Regards
Rachel (ex-Dragon)
Yes, Google Alerts are very handy (particularly when set up for yourself - provided you have an unusual name of course!) - that way you can instantly access all the nasty things the mainstream media still print about you :-)
Limitations are:
- I can't find a way of limiting the alerts to UK sites only, hence for example with Dragons' Den get all the alerts for the Canadian version too. Annoying.
- If you choose any phrase which is too general eg 'small business' you get bombarded with huge amounts of stuff and have to turn the alert off.
The learning from the above (if you are naming a company or a product) is to choose something both unusual (ie non-generic) but easy to spell... Think how much easier it is for Tesco or IKEA to track everything that is said about it on the web than a company like 'Boots'.
Regards
Rachel (ex-Dragon)
Hi,
I have used Google Alerts for a few months to keep my finger on the pulse of the industry I am entering, but more importantly my competitors. I don't do alerts for the competitors names but their web address, much more reliable in my case and it also keeps a tab on their links.
Kindest Regards,
Chris
I have used Google Alerts for a few months to keep my finger on the pulse of the industry I am entering, but more importantly my competitors. I don't do alerts for the competitors names but their web address, much more reliable in my case and it also keeps a tab on their links.
Kindest Regards,
Chris
Permalink // posted by 
: 10:01 AM
: 10:01 AM
Hi Rachel
Thanks for commenting. You raise some good points about the limitations. In a way, Google Alerts as it stands is quite a blunt instrument. What would be good is if you could add in negative keywords too ie. alert me if "Dragons' Den" is mention, but not if it also contains the word "canada" or ".ca".
There's a good book called Blog Marketing by Jeremy Wright where he talks about the benefits to your brand of being able to interact with your customers through the blogosphere and publicly deal with any gripes they raise. Google Alerts seems to make that easier but as you say, you're going to find that tricky if your company name is Boots or something else generic.
Hi Chris
Good tip to look for URLs if the company name on its own is not bringing back reliable results.
Thanks for commenting. You raise some good points about the limitations. In a way, Google Alerts as it stands is quite a blunt instrument. What would be good is if you could add in negative keywords too ie. alert me if "Dragons' Den" is mention, but not if it also contains the word "canada" or ".ca".
There's a good book called Blog Marketing by Jeremy Wright where he talks about the benefits to your brand of being able to interact with your customers through the blogosphere and publicly deal with any gripes they raise. Google Alerts seems to make that easier but as you say, you're going to find that tricky if your company name is Boots or something else generic.
Hi Chris
Good tip to look for URLs if the company name on its own is not bringing back reliable results.
Hi Rob
Yep, I'm a fan of google alerts.
Though a particular gripe of mine is that each alert is assigned it's own email address - so change your main email address (like I have) and you need to delete/recreate your alerts.
Rachels tip about choosing a unique name is one I've heard of before. I think seomoz.org touch on this topic too. If you're not after type-in traffic (where a generic name does make sense)a short, radio friendly name can be a good idea.
Not quite so easy for the well established companies like Boots, etc, who are often slated when they spend millions on a rebrand. Remember the Post Office to Consignia debacle?
And thanks for the link!
John
Yep, I'm a fan of google alerts.
Though a particular gripe of mine is that each alert is assigned it's own email address - so change your main email address (like I have) and you need to delete/recreate your alerts.
Rachels tip about choosing a unique name is one I've heard of before. I think seomoz.org touch on this topic too. If you're not after type-in traffic (where a generic name does make sense)a short, radio friendly name can be a good idea.
Not quite so easy for the well established companies like Boots, etc, who are often slated when they spend millions on a rebrand. Remember the Post Office to Consignia debacle?
And thanks for the link!
John
Hi John,
Consignia, despite the panning, was in the back of my mind when I thought of a name for my own company. I came up with Uretopia - another meaningless, made-up word. I've since had to spell it carefully to so many non-plussed people over the phone, that I kind of regret it! :-)
Cheers
Rob
Consignia, despite the panning, was in the back of my mind when I thought of a name for my own company. I came up with Uretopia - another meaningless, made-up word. I've since had to spell it carefully to so many non-plussed people over the phone, that I kind of regret it! :-)
Cheers
Rob
By the way check this company MDFI. Their stock is set to increase because of their association with Apple iphone and Complete Care Medical. Find more about this company and stock http://www.growurmoney.com/medefile/
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