Week One of the August Blogging Challenge has passed. It's now time for the participants to check their traffic statistics and compare them to a prior period when their posting was low -- just to confirm that the effort put into regular posting will really reap some results.
All bloggers should have a hit counter of some sort. I use Sitemeter which unfortunately had some issues during their move to a new server. So I don't know how accurate my statistics will be for the entire week. But, one of our challengers reports that he had 500 hits this week, a first in his blogging history.
This is exactly the kind of confirmation an author needs to validate the effort of regular blogging. You might not post daily all through the year, but raising your blog's profile and making it more "sticky" prior to a blog book tour is a good way to prepare for a successful online book promotion.
Make the numbers work for you. Most definitely learn to read the reports. Poke around at your counter's website and see what kind of reports you can generate, and then really look at them. They're really not all that confusing, and you might be in for some pleasant surprises.
Tomorrow, another report that every author needs to pay attention to, before, during, and after a blog book tour.
5 comments:
It helps to have people not only read your post, but comment. When people comment, then others are more likely to comment -- and to come back. Plus, it makes the blogger feel like they're not talking into the wind.
And it helps you, the commenter, increase your profile.
I'm actually doing the challenge too, but haven't yet chimed in because I've been in and out of town. I have posts scheduled for the days I'm gone. Are we taking weekends off? Sundays? I've posted everyday on my Thinking Outside the Recipe blog and all but 2 days on The Wondershop.
The comments make a huge difference psychologically, dont' they? I've been trying to comment at every post and it's always nice when people reciprocate!
Ginger, you devil, now I have to go back and read all of yours!
When sitemeter had problems, I tried statcounter and have been happy with it, too. Wonder if there's any advantage to using both at the same time? Do the numbers match? Anybody tried that?
You write very well.
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