Recently my little blog that was incredibly poorly trafficked and lurked in the mid 5 millions for internet reach in Alexa has made a large jump through the charts. At the time of writing this post it was at 496, 274 and improving steadily as shown by the graph available here. Now without dwelling on the validity of the Alexa measures I can say that based on similar evidence in Google Analytics that this site is exponentially better off than 2 months ago. So how did I turn this traffic strapped lemon into a site that is trafficked?
Transformation of SCHWOIT from a general run of the mill social commentary site that was infrequently updated, to a frequently updated and niche focussed blog was the beginning of turning the blog around. I went from discussing many subjects that enthused me for a week or so, and then they faded into the distance. Now I have a passion for gardening and am more than happy to share my experiences in my developing passion. Whilst I am not an expert by any stretch, I am willing to learn and research. So sharing my experiences, and nifty inexpensive ideas is giving me a constant content source. Content is after all king in the blogging game.
Another part of the transition was to a new clean skin for the site. The new skin is a complete departure from the old scheme that had a black background. The new skin is much more readable and complementary to the content. The old black site was one that I liked and was around for many months, however I am much happier with the new skin.
The second part, and the bit that has seen the traffic numbers is my embracing of some social networking sites. The first being Blog Catalog. A great social networking site that has made many people aware of the sites existence. It is important to be a regular contributor to be seen in the forums. There are a great number of really knowledgeable and helpful people there from around the entire globe. Many topics are discussed from religion (ugh), blogging tips and development, and general idle chit chat. I have found many a useful tip or had a good chuckle.
Site number two is a forum for Aussie Bloggers at Aussie Bloggers Forum. The forums again reward active members that involve themselves in constant communication. Many of the members of the forum are very knowledgeable in the blogging fraternity, and all are friendly. Many of my regular readership are now from the forums and I am happy they are.
The third site is Entrecard. Entrecard is a site that allows bloggers to advertise for free by exchanging Entrecard Credits. A bloggers 125 x 125 banner is displayed on a fellow bloggers site for a 24 hour period. This allows for other people to discover your site. Primarily fellow Entrecard users, but other curious people also can click through to your site. Of late many sites have been discussing the validity of the traffic and the service. However, Entrecard has brought SCHWOIT many new readers and participants. In fact I will credit it with the majority of the credit. I will discuss my strategy for success in a subsequent post.
Another site that I am about to begin partaking in heavily soon is Blotanical. This is a site for gardening bloggers to discover one another and share tips. I have not been too active yet, however will with time permitting be starting to leverage its offerings. If nothing more than to research what others out there are growing and how. I believe it will be a stellar information source that will enrich my own sites content, and thus help keep the interest of the readership that I have built up.
All this took less than a month to achieve and it does require working at. However, this and similar strategies are rewarding for bloggers as we like to know there is other people out there that are listening. I fully appreciate all the traffic, even the chain dropping Entrecard users that many whinge about. The reason is that if I can convert 2% of those users to a regular visitor and contributor then my efforts are worth it.
So now I have done my geek post for the week I will get back to gardening. Time to research the best way to prepare and move worms and plants from the big smoke to the Illawarra. On that the sites tag line will remain, the Gong is still an urban jungle. It is just not an old growth forest!
