When I published my traffic statistics for September, I was asked by Nathania and Maura for:

  • my posts which received the most traffic
  • sites which referred these
  • any other methods I used to get traffic

I will briefly summarise the above here. I could not figure out how to effectively use Statcounter to do this, so I have relied on Google Analytics. Do note the latter had started gathering stats only from Sept 10. But I believed overall the results still showed the general trend.

Top 5 posts with most traffic

Top 5 Referral Sites

StumbleUpon referred about 50% of my total September traffic, and that coincided mostly with my 2 SU articles. It was no surprise “7 Reasons…” got the most visits as it was written with SU in mind. Being my most humourous post helped as well. The hype of Blog Rush also got many interested in “Blog Rush = Blog Trickle“.

The social bookmarking networks remain my best traffic sources. I suppose “Marketing Isn’t Bullcrap” struck a chord with many on Sphinn, as it went hot. The Reddit readers also appeared to like how to make money articles, as my first ever traffic surge came posting “How A Kid Made $350,000 in 2 Hours“, even though it was published on the last day of August.

When I started blogging, I was willing to try out different methods for traffic sources. One of the very first was through article directories, such as EzineArticles.com. However, I had problems writing enough quality content for this. The result was sending only a handful. My resource box writing skills were also obviously not good enough. While I had high reader numbers, there was only 1% total CTR from the resource boxes. I intend to explore and develop this further in the next 2 months by practising more on article marketing.

Another area was through social networks and bookmarking sites. I put aside time each day to interact with other bloggers through MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog and SU. This was to create awareness of my blog, giving a little push to other bloggers my way.

How did I create stickiness from there? It was not enough to let people know you exist. I then visited other blogs, left comments and befriended other bloggers. The network naturally grew. These friends also contributed in viral word of mouth and more readers paid my site a visit. My SU and Sphinn results were also attributed to them, as they helped to spread the word on my articles they found interesting. One thing I recommend (although I do not do enough myself) is if you think there’s an article which deserves to be read widely, ask for help in promoting it. They won’t do it everytime as they are discerning readers, but when they do, be ready!

You also need to reciprocate. I was more than willing to help out other bloggers where I could. Use your blog as a platform for this. Spreading link love goes a long way, and it contributes to strong bonding in the community. Instead of just posting your own articles on Sphinn, submit other bloggers’ material, properly credited. I could do better in this area, but I would need to improve my reading speed of other blogs.

Content is important, but without self-promotion, marketing and networking, no one would even know you have content. It’s like I am a blindin’ DJ, but if I didn’t hawk my abilities, no gigs would have been offered. Many of you might squirm at the thought of self-promotion - I still do myself. But you can do it your way. Some aim to get acquainted with the top birds as early as possible, but I prefer to work with the wider base network. There is a greater sense of camaraderie. You won’t get immediate gratification, but there is certainly longer term satisfaction.

There are many other methods which I am constantly trying to test. As I go along, I will share them and the accompanying results. You are welcome to contact me anytime on this blog to share ideas and work together!

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