Matthew Needham is the principal consultant and director of The Big Red Tomato Company as well as the author of his blog. Matthew is a graduate in Accounting and Finance and a qualified accountant. Having worked for prestigious companies like Rolls Royce, Matthew is more than qualified to talk about quality and business. You can follow him on Twitter.
A little while ago I stopped checking my Alexa and Google Analytics from daily (ok hourly) to monthly.
The reasons for this is that increasing amounts of time were being spent on stuff that I had very little control of. What I grew to realise is that just because post A got a lot of traffic, post B might get hardly any. Even if it was on a similar topic.
So I’ve started checking Alexa and GA once a month. Last week I checked them and was stunned that my Alexa ranking has fallen about 500k places since the last time I looked but staggeringly 1.5m places since January.
It now is tantalisingly close to the top 1% of blogs in the World.
Now, I know that a lot of people don’t rate Alexa rankings and that’s fine. To be honest I’d never heard of Alexa until James mentioned it in January.
But assuming that Alexa hasn’t magically changed their algorithms in the last couple of months it’s a relative measure, so therefore valid.
So what have I done?
Well, I first came across this blog in January when I was reading a post of getting more readers to your site and I came across a comment by James.
Wanting to know more I stopped by the site and signed up for the free 7 Days to Increased site traffic newsletter. (The $7 20/7 ebook is even better)
I took specific actions following that newsletter and did this:
Found blogs in my niche
You can go to the Google search bar and type in Blog: [niche subject] and hit enter and you will be presented with loads of blogs.
Started commenting
I read loads of blogs, added comments on the various posts which added to the conversation. In fact I now have a rule that I never visit a site without commenting. So I force myself to think of something of value.
I then visited the sites of the people had commented and commented on theirs too.
I did this as many times as I could and formed a list of sites that I visited often and the amount of traffic it brings to my site.
In fact 5% of all my site traffic comes from this site. The others I regularly comment on are here
James’ recommendation is that you do this 20-50 times a day. But on 2-3 minutes a post that’s a couple of hours solid work for many people and you may not have the time. Comment on as many as you can.
The next thing I did was up my posting frequency.
Post more stuff
In November and December I posted about 10-12 articles a month. In January this was 18 and in March I did 26.
I think I’m going to settle with a target of 18-20 a month, plus 5-6 guest posts (including my slot here) – so if you would like me to guest on your site, get a request in quick!
More content encourages people to come back for more. I know this because my first time visitor % has been steadily creeping down over the last 3 months from around 90% to mod 60′s some days.
Guest post
James is a great champion of guest posts and I do endorse that, it gets your name out there. But for me I struggle with more than 1-2 a month because of time commitments.
I have no doubt that if I did more I’d get even better results.
So there you have it. 1.5m places in 3 months.
What do you think?
Matthew Needham is the principal consultant and director of The Big Red Tomato Company as well as the author of his blog. Matthew is a graduate in Accounting and Finance and a qualified accountant. Having worked for prestigious companies like Rolls Royce, Matthew is more than qualified to talk about quality and business. You can follow him on Twitter.
20 – 50 comments a day ? Damn, that’s insane even under my terms !
Finding other people and interacting with them is definitely a plus, but I’m not sure about the post frequency. I have recently dropped from posting 5-6 times a week to 3-4 a week and my traffic keeps increasing.
It all comes to your personal style !
Guest post is sure fire hit, I must increase that !!
.-= Mars Dorian´s last blog ..You can’t please ‘em all ! =-.
Hey Mars
Thanks for your comment. Sure, what works for me, won’t necessarily work for someone else and you have to post at the level that’s comfortable for you.
Guest posts sure does work…you’ve got to be out there!
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..Wednesday Wisdom =-.
Matthew, I did some the same: downloaded James tutorial, executed, saw results. 7/20 is pretty good too, takes it further. I’m not going to use the 7/20 directly, but it’s given me some definite notions of how to be far more effective.
Expertise and credentials don’t matter so much… proof matters. Proof is where credibility lies.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Road Ahead – David Risley got me to spill the beans =-.
Absolutely Dave, credibility is built up from proof. I’m glad you’re getting results. It’s all about execution!
Thanks for the comment!
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..A Response to “So What’s Your Problem?” =-.
Hi Matthew,
It just goes to show you that working hard (and smart) pays off.
Congrats on the numbers and for proving James’ tips right
It will be interesting to see the stats in another six months – maybe you’ll be in the top .5% of all blogs. Wouldn’t that be wonderful
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..The Only Words You Need To Overcome Your Fears =-.
Thanks for your comment Karen, sure let’s hope both our blogs are in the top .5%!!!
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..Todoodlist – Technology is great. Pencils are better. =-.
Guest Posting and having other popular bloggers in your niche Guest Post on your site seem to be two extremely easy ways to pick up traffic. These actions drive fresh eyes to places they’ve never been…
Great Stuff, thanks for the post!
Ryan H., http://www.RyanHanley.com
Ryan, people are always looking for new stuff and spreading yourself everywhere helps you get more readers. It’s all about building a funnel. (I think I’ll write about that next week!) Thanks for the comment!
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..How a tomato can help you get things done =-.
Some really insightful and yet easy to action steps here, thankyou. One thing though is can you post a response about how to find the blogs to comment on. I know technorati and Google Blog search are designed for this, but I seem to find the really big ouot of my league blogs, or ones so crappy and useless that it would actually hurt my brand to comment?
any tips or tools to find the ones that are 1: aligned to my topic and 2: have similar traffic to mine so that the chance of forming a relationship with that blogger are higher
.-= Alex´s last blog ..My Top Tips for Beating Information Overload =-.
Hi Alex, thanks for taking the time to comment. Great suggestions.
I don’t comment on big blogs that often, simply because I don’t have tonnes of time. However, I nearly always get traffic from comments on big blogs.
I’ll try and answer your question in the next couple of weeks posts.
Thanks, Matthew
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..So, whats your problem? (part 2) =-.
I’m glad you pointed out that you struggle with doing a lot of guest posts because of time commitments, just as I’m glad that Mars mentioned his experiences with posting frequency in his comment. As a beginning blogger, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking I need to do everything that someone else tells me worked for them, which is a one-way ticket to overwhelm.
.-= Jean Sarauer´s last blog ..57 Smokin’ Tips to Thaw Blogging Brain Freeze =-.
Wow, I had no idea about that google bar niche trick. I’ll look into that. I’ve also stopped checking Alexa and Analytics at the frequency I used to. For the same reasons really. Also, ranking and hits weren’t changing fast enough to warrent regular checking!
I like your blog commenting strategy. That’s roughly what I do though I’ve never done the niche thing and will do that today. I have a blogroll which used to contain about 120 blogs, I think it’s down to about 60 now. I’ve cut down my commenting but still visit a lot each day.
At the moment once a week (not 20+ times a day!) I blog-hop. So I pick a couple of my regular blogs and then visit a couple of their commentators, and then a couple of their commentators, and so on. For an hour or two. If the blog is outstanding or simply I really like it, then I’ll add it to my blogroll so I can visit again. Otherwise, if they visit back, then I’ll continue visiting.
.-= Mo “Mad Dog” Stoneskin´s last blog ..Someone, somewhere, is watching you =-.
Hi Jean. You know not all of us have the super human powers of James to comment on a million blogs and still post content!!!
You need to think about why you blog. You can’t be a slave to it, it needs to work for you. If you produce consistently great content, you will find that readers get used to your content posting frequency and go take a look.
You just need to be consistent. I think James commented on that a few days ago.
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..Can you help Giveabrick.com? =-.
Hi Mo, glad you’ve learnt something new. You’re right about checking stats, it’s a little bit like watching paint dry! I have ‘Ego’ installed on my iPhone which has Twitter feed count, Feedburner subscribers and Google Analytics visitors. I used to find myself checking that 10 times a day (at least) and every time I posted something to Twitter I used to go and check to see what the result was. I’ve learnt my lesson!
Good luck with your guest post!
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..Challenge: Save £1000/$1000 in 30 days update =-.
Hi Matthew!
That’s amazing progress! I started posting everyday on my own blog and then combined that with guest posting. Commenting also works, but I think the guest posting has packed the biggest punch for me. It was actually a guest post that convinced the former owner of WeBlogBetter to turn it over to me. I was flabbergasted! Now I try to guest post at least once every couple of weeks.
.-= Kiesha @ We Blog Better´s last blog ..5 Quirky methods I use to stay organized =-.
Hi Kiesha! Thanks for your comment. You have to test lots of things to see what works. I’ve generally steered clear from guesting, although I’ve been persuaded the last couple of months!
I think I’ve got to do more guesting really. Will probably post something next week about some guest slots.
Matthew
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..Video: customer service =-.
Matthew, thank you for sharing such great tips. As some of the other comments have stated that’s a lot of commenting on other blogs; great if you have the time. With posting on your own blog and other Social Media activities as you say it doesn’t leave you much time for other things. I guess it’s a case of balancing things out and doing what you can in the time you have.
Great post and thanks for the info.
Regards
Paul
.-= Paul´s last blog ..The SOS of Awareness =-.
Thanks for your comment Paul. If you spend all your time commenting you clearly can’t be spending time on the most important goals, which is probably not the best use of time.
I’m really glad you’ve found something of interest.
Thanks again, Matthew
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..What you can learn from chefs =-.
Finding smart ways to get more done and sticking with it definitely brings results. Congrats on how you’re doing. Any simple ways that help you stay productive and keep improving business and quality are definitely a plus.
.-= Eric´s last blog ..Where Do You Want To Go And Who Should You Listen To? =-.
Hi Eric, I think you need to systemise your approach to ensure that you don’t end up wasting time.
Thanks for the comment!
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..Video: Has personal oursourcing gone to far? =-.
Hi Matthew,
I have not purposely started worrying too much about traffic yet, but it is one of those things that is in the back of my mind much of the time anyway.
So, I have started to do some of the things you mention here (and will do all of them in the future).
I think that I would have a really hard time trying to always think of something of value to leave in comments, but I think this would likely be a great practice for relationship building and thinking in ‘blog’ terms.
Thanks for the advice! Have a good day!
.-= mark´s last blog ..Thinking and Finding Balance in The New 3 =-.
Thanks for the comment. Maybe it’s because I always have an opinion on something which is why I don’t have a problem commenting! But seriously, you can add value in so many different ways. Agree, disagree. Ask a question. Sometimes you posing a comment launches yet more conversation in a completely different direction.
thanks again, Matthew
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..Can you help Giveabrick.com? =-.
Matthew, thanks for the Google Bar tip, will give that a whirl in a moment.
For me, I tend to have a handful of blogs that I visit regualrly and then usually end up clicking through to some of the commentors blogs and so on. I try to leave at least one comment per site, but will only comment if it is of real value.
Based on my internal site stats, I would say that I get around 10% to 15% of traffic from this, and about %30 through guest posting, of which includes this site. The rest comes through search engines and social media.
I’ve never really bothered with Alexa to be honest. I did check it out when I came across a post of James’ but haven’t been back since signing up. I just like to do what I do, and not really worry on traffic too much. I know that if the content I am posting has its uses then the traffic will find a way to it… and so far thats working for me.
Great results for you though, and I hope you make it into that elite %
.-= Phil Johnson´s last blog ..Food for Thought =-.
Hey Phil, thanks for your comment. I’ve not really collected stats on guest posts because I’ve only guested on blogs to people who have personally helped me, which is something I need to address by spreading myself around, I suspect it will generate more stats.
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..Todoodlist – Technology is great. Pencils are better. =-.
I am lucky to get 15-20 comments in a day. they do bring in lots of traffic that I can measure. I don’t do anything on sunday related to my blog and the numbers are low. commenting boosts those a bunch.
I also keep looking into guest posts but I just cant figure out when t owrite them with other commitments and 2 blogs to run. I guess I will have to keep trying. Good post here though!
.-= Justin Matthews´s last blog ..Be Great, Powerful Beyond Measure =-.