Blog traffic numbers (and the sharing of them) seems to be akin to a woman’s weight. Unless the numbers are really good or there has been a recent drastic change in numbers, nobody wants to share.
The number of visitors a post receives and the number of comments left is often viewed as being directly related to the value of the post. That’s just not true. There are plenty of valuable, well-written blog posts that don’t receive much traffic and, conversely, plenty of mediocre material that gets a ton of traffic.
If the value is not found in the number of page views, where is the value found?
Even though I tell myself that page views aren’t everything, I still check regularly (yes, sometimes multiple times a day) to see how well my posts are doing that day. I like to see what visitors are searching for, what posts are the most popular, and where my visitors are coming from. Being able to track analytics is a great tool for discovering what content is doing well….and what I should be doing more of on my blog. My page views also often tell me which titles work and which titles don’t.
Yes, being able to report decent page views is important when trying to work with brands and when your blog is earning any kind of per-click or per-impression income. However, I have noticed many brands focusing more on quality writing and over-all reach (including twitter and Facebook followers) than page views. I think that those brands have the right idea. Numbers do not equal quality.
Sometimes posts just get lucky, whether the “right” keyword was included in the title, or whether it got picked up on stumble upon or twitter. Sometimes, like with the post I wrote recently about The Sisterhood of the Bloggess’ Traveling Dress, a post gets over-the-top lucky and supplies a month’s worth of page views in a few days.
But so far, that kind of post has been the exception and not the rule.
More important than the popular posts that get a lot of page views are the regular, loyal visitors that stop by everyday. I would rather have 100 loyal readers who I have been able to develop a good relationship with than 100,000 readers who visit sporadically.
The “loyalty page views” are the relationship-building, reputation-validating numbers that I aim for. My regular readers are going to visit regardless of whether or not I have stellar titles and keywords, but the “better” titles are the ones that catch (and hopefully KEEP) the new readers coming around.
How do you feel about blog traffic and how important are numbers to you?
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I’m so bad about checking my stats. I do it when a company asks, and I openly share with other bloggers who ask – though not many do :)
It’s important to me that my posts have comments, I’m not too worried about numbers :)
Thanks for this. A classic expose on quality and quantity working together.
I think numbers are relative; not all bloggers agree that traffic matters so long as their content is what makes them happy. I, however, am in the school of thought that believes BOTH can work together. :)
As someone who earns her keep as an online writer and blogger, the numbers do matter as much as the content. I want to know if people out there are finding me online. Also, since my blog is PR-friendly, certain brands approach me asking me for stats when they want to consider me doing a product review or a sponsored post.
So far, the highest ranking articles on my site are those “how-to” and list type articles, so I make sure that when I write them, they are also reflective of the not-so-optimized posts I write which get lots of hits. For example: My highest-ranking articles are those about how to find work as a WAHM; another is how to live simply, and the blog articles related to living simply. What I’m trying to do now is to marry these two elements–content and searchability–to get good results from targeted viewers.
I’m still new at all this though. Glad to have found your blog, though. I see many articles I can learn from!
Blog traffic is interesting but often not a good indicator. I’ve found some wonderful blogs with hardly any followers or comments. Sometimes things don’t add up. It’s good to question why we blog and be true to that. In 10 years time the stats alone probably won’t have much meaning, I think we need to motivated more deeply.
Yep. Me too (both about being more interested in relationships but still checking to see who’s reading). It’s more of a curiosity thing for me. ;)
I have had the same experience as you getting attention with the “throw away” posts! I think the phenomenon there is that when we write off the top of our heads we show our truest selves. And that shines through!
Glad to hear that you agree. :)
I’m sorry my posts take a long time to load for you! That stinks! Thanks for reading anyway. ;) And, by the way…it’s my 6 year old son who likes me more than ice cream. And he took the picture of me after decorating my hair with weeds. lol
I don’t care one lick about blog traffic. I don’t write for anyone but me and Kaish : ) and the people I photograph that love posts about them. I don’t have any stat counters and honestly, it kind of irritates me when people talk about it. WHO CARES : ) I don’t visit blogs because they have great traffic or great titles or whatever. I visit them because I like them as people. I like learning about their lives. I like THEM! I don’t like wacky giveaways. I don’t like when people beg for comments. : )
The end of my rant.
Love the pretty picture of you in the post beneath this. I would have clicked and read it but as usual your page takes SO flipping long to load on this computer. I blame it on the mac.
I am glad your husband loves you more than ice cream. You seem WAY better than ice cream to me. And darn it, I LOVE ice cream.
Happy Friday Lolli : ) Love, Becky
Lolli, you hit the nail on the head! This is one I need to bookmark! :)
Numbers are important to me for exactly the reason you said – when working with brands, they tend to ask for that type of information. And while I am always excited to see the number of page views or unique visitors going up, I am always more excited to check the visitor loyalty stats and see the numbers who have visited numerous times going up. It reminds me that I am making a connection with people, and although I generally write for myself, it’s always interesting to see what content attracts more or less readers.
It amuses me when an article I consider a “fluff” or almost throwaway post – usually based on something random that came into my head – gets lots of attention, but another article I spent weeks mulling over and days writing barely rates a comment. Such is the blogging life! :)
Well said. My husband is into SEO stuff so he is interested in my page views. Me, I’m more interested in the ongoing relationships with people who regularly comment. I would love to say that I don’t pay attention to the numbers, but I do – in fact, I’m kinda sad when I loose a reader. I wonder if I could have connected more – or if it was something I said. But this is a great article. Nicely done.
Everyone says we should check, but checking also helps to gauge what people enjoy reading. This post helps bloggers like me feel encourage even when our traffic seems to dwindle. Thanks for the encouragement!