Hi, My name is Dan and I am an addict, a stats addict that is. I am sure I am not the only blogger who obsesses over their blog stats but for me lately it has been out of control. Just this morning I was cursing Alexa because the site was not displaying stats properly. I got so worked up, it literally ruined my entire morning. I only felt better when the site went back online and I was able to check out my numbers. I have been trending around 50,000 for my Alexa rank, and that made me happy. That is when I noticed that something is terribly wrong with me if my emotions are tied to my blog stats. As if I need more proof that I have a problem, the first thing I do when I wake up is check my adsense and analytics. I do this before I even start making the coffee. I will then start typing in key phrases and keywords in Google and see where I rank for them. I have decided that I want to address this problem and spend more time focusing on writing content and promoting my blog. I have discovered that I am spending about an hour per day going over my stats and I have decided that I will use that time in a more productive way. I jotted down some goals and here is my list of the 10 things I will do instead of checking my stats.
Join a new forum
I am active on Digital Point and Bloggeries and some others to a lesser degree. I will seek out a new community to become involved with. One that allows do follow signature links of course J
Comment more
I try to visit and comment on 10-12 blogs per day. I will attempt to bump that up to 15 per day.
Interact more on Twitter
Lately, I have been using Twitter only to broadcast new posts. I have not had enough time to fully engage with my followers.
Build and strengthen relationships with other bloggers
I have met some great bloggers over the years and will take some action to rekindle or strengthen those relationships.
Find and submit to additional blog directories
I have submitted to many, but I know that there are dozens if not hundreds of other blog directories out there.
Write one article per day and submit to Ezinearticles.com
My article marketing goes in patterns. Some months I will go crazy and other times I will submit none at all. With this strategy, I will be in great shape with 60 solid anchor text based links per month as well as some additional traffic.
Write more on my other blogs
I have sold most of my blogs, but I still have a couple in my stable. I update them 2 times a week but they would certainly benefit from an additional post per week.
Get involved in a social bookmarking site
I am registered at all the bookmarking sites and always submit to Digg but I have never really dived in an participated in the site. I am thinking I will go with Mixx or Propeller as I think it will be easier to make an impact at a midsized site. I will also look into small sites like BlogEngage.com and SoLinkable.
Solicit advertisers
I am looking to make money from this blog and I need to be more proactive in regards to finding advertisers. I will devote a chunk of time to this each week. Any amount of time will be more than I am doing now.
Start a new blog?
This is a big question mark, as we all know how hard it is to get anew blog of the ground.
Are you a blog stats addict?
Will you join me & refrain from checking your stats for 1 month & instead promote your blog?
in twitter you should reply to people and retweet good tweets, it helps build relationships and there are more chances that your tweet gets retweeted.
And about social bookmarking site, i think the best is delicious because it is very easy to do so because of the firefox plugin
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In blogging and in Twitter, actually communicating and spreading the love is always key. You will get a lo more out of your site if you take these tips to heart, I am a stats junkie by nature but have found productivity way up when I actually do stuff instead of read stats.
Great article.
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P.S Bookmarked
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I am doing most of what you have listed above. I must just join a forum (DoFollow) and get things rolling.
I try and visit as many websites as I can with the limited time I have, sometime I make my target and other times I don’t.
I need to be more active in Forums! I actually, thanks for mentioning Bloggeries, I am not a member there yet, but I will be soon!
Too often bloggers will get addicted to tracking stats and don’t really pay attention to why they are performing lower than they expect of themselves. Get out and promote through conversation, connections, and participation and you’ll find your stats will looked a little better in the long run :]
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Dan, I think not only you’re addicted to stats, I believe that most of the bloggers do! I’m one of them, I can’t wait to check my stats (Traffics) every half an hour or an hour. I can’t check my Adsense earning in my working place, so I only checked it once I get home at night.
Btw, I agree with you with the EzineArticles. We can really receive tons of traffics and strong backlinks from there. I’m new to EA, I just submitted about 10 articles and 3 of them had been approved. I have no more posts left as I have limited post can be submitting for a newbie.
Dan, regarding the blog advertisers, you don’t have to look for them, when your blog achieve a better rank in search engine for some popular keyword such as “Make Money Online”, advertisers will come to you automatically.
Btw, I just get into Top 10 haha! Also, I just get a new advertiser in my blog.
Keep it up Dan!
Regards,
Lee
I do spend time looking at my analytics and webmaster account but thankfully I have gotten over the habit of checking adsense / alexa etc. multiple times. Just 10 seconds are enough to see BIG changes in adsense.
Since you have my email id (through comments), do send me your advertising rates. I don’t see and advertising page on the blog, maybe you should also make one.:)
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I’m addicted to stats too, usually I’m using http://www.urlmetrix.com to check my blog stat and every day it getting better and better.
.-= Reza Winandar@make money more online working´s last blog ..3 Tips to Make More Money by Online Working =-.
Simple and best thing is comment.
as you get to read a lot of blogs everyday and surely, there is something of your interest in blogs you visit.
so, you can post relevant comments there.
Hey Dan, great pointers that makes new bloggers aware on what they need to focus on instead of wasting their energy on checking stats repeatedly. Also, a great reminder for the pros. You listed some very helpful tips especially being active on forums, and interacting with other bloggers as well as creating some unique content… These are very encouraging and useful tips if implemented effectively. Overall, nice and informative post.
I go to one forum, webmaster-talk.com, and yes the links are do-follow, but I go there to interact with other webmasters, ask for help, and try to help others if I can. Going to forums for sig links is WRONG and the links really don’t have that much value, they get archived, and no traffic comes from them.
So I would concentrate more on content and building community around you by interacting more on your sites (reply to comments) and on Twitter.
Also, Blog Engage Rocks!
.-= Keith @Need Information´s last blog ..Blog Engage; Build Community in 2010 =-.
Hey Dan, I’m sure you could start a support group for fellow stats addicts ( they’d be sure to watch membership numbers too)
Cheers,
Will
P.S. Stats contest for you below !
.-= Will´s last blog ..Brianwave – The Alexa Ranking Contest =-.
Your all blogging work is impressive. Well I am also one active users of DP forum. I can learn more about SEO, link building from DP forum.
Wish you happy new year….
.-= chandan@work at home´s last blog ..Wish you all happy 2010 =-.
I can’t really relate, because I am kind of uninterested in my stats. I should care more, but I just don’t. I have to remind myself to check my adsense earnings and my rankings and such. It’s definitely a good thing to find a more productive outlet for this energy. You don’t really need to check your stats more than once a day. Maybe there’s a program that can email the stats to you?
.-= Trey – Swollen Thumb Entertainment´s last blog ..Anti-Social: The Album… Coming March 20, 2010! =-.
I myself am guilty of what you have been doing, checking stats every now and then, heck..hourly i believe. One method i sue besides backlinking is use systems that ping other websites to get traffic.But then again, its much better to build relationships with other bloggers and get involved, not just with your own stats.
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This is one of the best post i have read recently. The best thing about it is that, with every line i read i was able to relate myself to it. I have thought of doing all these things listed by you, but its always that my time is wasted with my stats. Thanks man, this post encourages me to make a nice schedule, which will help my blogging work.
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