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04/21/2004 Archived Entry: "Okay, I'll admit, I've been obsessing."
Okay, I'll admit, I've been obsessing.
I've been agonizing lately. It just seemed like the numbers weren't adding up.
This blog gets a lot of mentions, it's linked in a lot of places, the hit counter on this page records a lot of numbers. But I've been looking at my rankings on a few ranking sites, and B3 just didn't seem to register as highly as I thought it oughta be.
For instance, on the Truth Laid Bear rankings page, I was showing an average of 302 visits per day, yet the blog itself is presently ranked in the 150s. That didn't make sense. So I took a look at where my Site Meter was located - on the 'spalsh page' for the site, which most people probably don't even look at if they bookmark me or if they visit through a link that links straight to the blog.
So I moved the siteMeter code to the index page of the blog (this page). Sure enough - as of this minute, I'm already 50 visits over what is listed as my average, and page views are nearly 200 over my average so far today.
This should improve my ranking quite a bit. But I'm still looking to improve the numbers here. Since I don't make any money doing this, I should at least get some sort of end result out of it. A point of pride, if you will.
So the suggestion box is hereby open - what would make this blog a must-read for you? What would bring you back more than once a day? What would make B3 more interesting to you?
If there are any suggestions that I'm capable of fulfilling, I'll do it. I wanna be your favorite blog. Or your second favorite. Okay, I'll settle for third or fourth. Tell me what I gotta do. Thanks!
Replies: 31 people speak up
You are my favorite blog! I check here first each day and usually check back a couple of times per day before I head off to Hoffmania and Atrios. Keep up the good work...
Posted by Deadhead Scott @ 04/21/2004 03:49 PM NY
if you want more traffic i could go to ragin dave's site and drop a few more insults (or that other douche bag, geoffrey allen, although last time i looked, his site had been moved, and he is keeping the URL a secret)
im just kidding though, i dont want a bunch of freepers to argue with, if i wanted to do that, i would read their sites.
Posted by justin @ 04/21/2004 03:52 PM NY
Have you thought about changing over to Movable Type? The only thing I notice is that I have to keep entering my information every time I add a comment. Other then that, you site is cool to me. By the way, my stats at the Truth laid Bare are totally different from, say Technorati. Links that come up at Technorati aren't coming up at TLB, and vice versa. My sitemeter code is at the bottom of my left column. Some put it at the bottom of each post or on every page you view.
Posted by sean @ 04/21/2004 03:53 PM NY
You're second on my daily rounds. Definitely a good idea to move the sitemeter. I have the index page bookmarked, and only see the splash page if I'm checking in from another computer. Keep up the good work.
Posted by Scott @ 04/21/2004 04:02 PM NY
You're second on my daily rounds. Definitely a good idea to move the sitemeter. I have the index page bookmarked, and only see the splash page if I'm checking in from another computer. Keep up the good work.
Posted by Scott @ 04/21/2004 04:04 PM NY
You're second on my daily rounds. Definitely a good idea to move the sitemeter. I have the index page bookmarked, and only see the splash page if I'm checking in from another computer. Keep up the good work.
Posted by Scott @ 04/21/2004 04:05 PM NY
Ack, sorry about that. Connection problems.
Posted by Scott @ 04/21/2004 04:06 PM NY
When I start moving into my look at the blogs for the day, you're my first visit. It started that way because of the ease of remembering your URL, as opposed to Atrios and the like (I don't bookmark that much). But start paying more attention to your content a few months ago, and have been pleased that it tends to be more of your own, rather than links to other blogs.
I also tend to come here to keep track of TBTM. TBTM tends to be more difficult to navigate, and is updated less.
Posted by Kendog @ 04/21/2004 04:13 PM NY
I miss the flash movies...
Posted by King of Swing @ 04/21/2004 04:43 PM NY
i guess you could call me a blog virgin... you were my first... and best! how does that ease your ego? i visit first thing in the am, then check back a few times during the day. the only others that i really visit are ones that you link me to. so... you're my guy. lead on, oh wise one.
Posted by cathcatz @ 04/21/2004 04:46 PM NY
Sounds like someone needs a hug. Come here, ya big lug!
I visit your blog at least ten times a day (no kidding).
Posted by Metropolitan99 @ 04/21/2004 04:56 PM NY
You are first in the morning, and I check back multiple times during the day. Cursor is first in the afternoon. Cursor links to more of the other blogs (besides yours) that I like to visit. Three especially good ones in my view that you are missing are Billmon, Corrente and Political Animal. And speaking of animals...thanks for the animal site to click on, that's a big plus for me.
Posted by LML @ 04/21/2004 05:13 PM NY
don't forget xml hits
Posted by fasteddie @ 04/21/2004 05:19 PM NY
Every day I go here. Love you.
Here are my tips to achieve #1 dom;
Kos is currently #1 because of hot left wing babes personal ads. Do him one better.
2nd tip. Tho' fantastric, get ride of the George Bush AWOL opening screen. Takes too long. Time is money, people suffering from short attention spans don't wait till your words come on.
From my lips to God's ear
Dr. Wu.
PS.
3rd tip-- be a Buddhist--don't worry about ratings --do your thing!
Posted by Dr. Wu @ 04/21/2004 05:28 PM NY
Every day I go here. Love you.
Here are my tips to achieve #1 dom;
Kos is currently #1 because of hot left wing babes personal ads. Do him one better.
2nd tip. Tho' fantastric, get rid of the George Bush AWOL opening screen. Takes too long. Time is money, people suffering from short attention spans don't wait till your words come on.
From my lips to God's ear
Dr. Wu.
PS.
3rd tip-- be a Buddhist--don't worry about ratings --do your thing!
Posted by Dr. Wu @ 04/21/2004 05:29 PM NY
Big D,
You're #3 on my daily list-- right after the Bartcop Forum and Atrios, for his late nite sneaky treats. You and Atrios are linked off of the Forum, so it's a no-brainer for me before the coffee. After you, it's "Today in Iraq". And then I turn my mind to Navy Recruiting...
What would make me, wait-- what KEEPS me coming back is the hope of a new "?" Flash... You ARE the master, D-man. You've got the "Old-School" Flavah Flav... KIDS LOVE GOOD FLASH. If you need source material, ask the forum, we'll make it easy, right? ok
OK, more Flash,and, um... sliding my little blue "Current Draft Alert" Graphic with a link to the bigger table would get me to point my wallet at Blah3 and TBTM... Both are here:
http://bartcopnation.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=2&topic_id=282719&mesg_id=282719&page=6
I'll keep you updated. You can resize the graphic to fit. Drop it at the bottom sidebar so kids can find it there? It's a long term service, so if you put it, put where it won't interrupt.
Alright, enough of my shameless marketing.
We love Ya, Stranger... You've got one hell of a Constitution for keeping up. I always appreciate your take, and the view from that island off the coast of New York... er, the long one, there.
Posted by Monkeyfister @ 04/21/2004 06:06 PM NY
As I brag about, I drink while I blog. The fact your blog is all the way down in the letter "B" area means I have to travel all the way through the "A"'s to get here. So I suggest changing your name to AHHHHH3. Tho with too many H's I might not make it here.
Or you could secretly ask all your commentors to add your link into at least one of their comments a day. This should shoot you up Google rankings, Yahoo rankings as well as possibly garner you more hits.
Posted by IXLNXS @ 04/21/2004 06:23 PM NY
Get up earlier than Atrios :)
The best way to get more traffic would be to post more.
your the 3rd blog I read, after Tbogg and Atrios. But I generally only come here once a day, compared to the 70-80 times I visit eschaton.
I think if you want to take it to the next level you'll probably have to put more time into it.
Atrios is a pretty good writer but he makes his bacon by being right on top of the news cycle all day every day. The way bartcop was circa fall 2000.
Couldn't pay me enough to do it but some people seem to thrive on it.
Posted by baconslab @ 04/21/2004 06:47 PM NY
Drat! You discovered my secret! I do send people to the /graymatter page from the link at my site, so you've been cheated out of the what, 7 or 8 people who visit me?
I think you were still outhitting me when you were an indie music site.
Wow...I oughta put a post like this one at Hoffmania! today...get the comments crankin'...
Love ya, Stranger. I read y'all about three times a day myself.
Posted by Hoffmania! @ 04/21/2004 06:49 PM NY
I've been to the splash page once, the first time I came to Blah3. After that, I bookmarked the main blog page so I didn't have to go through the animation every time.
(I'm weird. I truly dislike things that move and make noise on my computer. Yes, I know, you are the undisputed Guru of Flash. Don't take it personally. It's me.)
What keeps me checking back? Frequent updates, commentary on the news stories that you link to, honest human outrage and passionate reaction to the repeated egregious behavior of BushCo.
You are generally my second stop in the morning (Kos is first because the East Coasters have posted so much stuff overnight) and one of the last in the evening.
I also like your extensive list of links. I respectfully disagree with LML about adding Political Animal, though. "Everybody" links to him, and IMO he's definitely taken a turn for the worse since he started being paid to write.
Occasionally wrong but always opinionated,
Kate
Posted by Kate @ 04/21/2004 06:56 PM NY
I link to you through /graymatter, sorry.
I visit everyday, I keep it tabbed in my browser and reload it every few minutes.
Keep being honest maybe get on the phone with Randi Rhodes and drop your site a few times.
But don't listen to me, I get if I'm LUCKY 18 hits, so compared to me your doing just fine.
Posted by Smafty @ 04/21/2004 08:53 PM NY
You are my first political blog to visit every day - sometimes even before coffee!
And you want to improve your hits? Hmmmm, the only thing I can think of is maybe start giving away Dubya pinatas or something...I dunno...
Posted by Laura @ 04/21/2004 09:27 PM NY
I've only discovered your blog this week, thanks to the plug you made for my co-blogger, Augustino/Daddy-O (whose work on our blog is SEVERELY under-appreciated!). I'm relatively new to the blog world, as a reader and as a blogger; so, my advice is probably not worth much.
As co-editor of BushWhackedUSA for the past year, I can tell you something we've done that consistently increases our readership (both short and long term): political satire. I don't know exactly why, but each of the Turkey Tours we've done has pulled in thousands of extra readers. A small fraction of those readers seem to start coming back for our daily news and commentary links. Each new tour or satire gets a big readership spike for about three or four days, followed by a slightly higher plateau of daily visitors.
I don't know whether satire is your cup of tea, but watching the numbers and noticing what you're doing whenever there's a spike might then help you to orchestrate a steeper climb.
Reading the suggestions above, the best one seems to be to post more often. Atrios is right on top of the news--in fact, it often seems that he's a couple hours ahead of the cycle. That alone is pretty damned impressive. The one thing that keeps me coming back to blogs, though, is not up-to-the-minute links; it's intelligent, engaging commentary. That's why I find myself visiting Talking Points Memo more often than any other blog.
Having said all this, I have to admit I'm starting to lose interest in the numbers. They don't mean much. It's good to promote the work, and gratifying to see the work grow in popularity. But in the end, it's the work that matters. Keep it up, editor. As far as I can tell, you've got a very good thing going here.
Posted by Eric @ 04/21/2004 09:40 PM NY
I've only discovered your blog this week, thanks to the plug you made for my co-blogger, Augustino/Daddy-O (whose work on our blog is SEVERELY under-appreciated!). I'm relatively new to the blog world, as a reader and as a blogger; so, my advice is probably not worth much.
As co-editor of BushWhackedUSA for the past year, I can tell you something we've done that consistently increases our readership (both short and long term): political satire. I don't know exactly why, but each of the Turkey Tours we've done has pulled in thousands of extra readers. A small fraction of those readers seem to start coming back for our daily news and commentary links. Each new tour or satire gets a big readership spike for about three or four days, followed by a slightly higher plateau of daily visitors.
I don't know whether satire is your cup of tea, but watching the numbers and noticing what you're doing whenever there's a spike might then help you to orchestrate a steeper climb.
Reading the suggestions above, the best one seems to be to post more often. Atrios is right on top of the news--in fact, it often seems that he's a couple hours ahead of the cycle. That alone is pretty damned impressive. The one thing that keeps me coming back to blogs, though, is not up-to-the-minute links; it's intelligent, engaging commentary. That's why I find myself visiting Talking Points Memo more often than any other blog.
Having said all this, I have to admit I'm starting to lose interest in the numbers. They don't mean much. It's good to promote the work, and gratifying to see the work grow in popularity. But in the end, it's the work that matters. Keep it up, editor. As far as I can tell, you've got a very good thing going here.
Posted by Eric @ 04/21/2004 09:41 PM NY
You could ping blo.gs and weblogs.com so that on peoples blogrolls they see that you've added a new post.
Posted by Rook @ 04/21/2004 10:20 PM NY
What Eric said. And he said it twice, the doofus.
How can you "complain" about making it to half a million hits, editor? Cah MAHN! You ARE getting atrios numbers. Everybody is simply checking your blog out AFTER they go there. He beat you to it, but you're just as good as he is, if not better. I'm telling you, just be patient and be glad for what you got.
How do you think you got half a mill so far? Your TBTM connection, and promoting the blog on that site? If that's how you did it, good for you!
Ask for people to give you presents. Or donations. Or sell some ads. It would be beer money, or more, maybe.
I'm on a crappy dial-up, so I usually don't load the videos--my loss. But don't change a thing with your commentary or your editorial choices, editor. It's working, it's working!
Posted by Daddy-O @ 04/21/2004 10:43 PM NY
Try changing to extreme tracking -- go to either The Sideshow or my web page and click on the globe in the square in the masthead. That takes you to what I consider to be a great tracking site. You can sign up by following the instructions at the top of the Extreme tracking page.
Other than that, I already visit you once a day and sometimes more! You do good work.
Scorpio
Eccentricity
Posted by Eccentricity" target="new">Scorpio @ 04/21/2004 11:36 PM NY
Doofus?!
Posted by Eric @ 04/22/2004 12:07 AM NY
This site is my #2 blog, I come here right after checking Bartcop's page. Keep it up, you're doing great work! Tho if you had the time I'd love to see more flash animations slamming the pResident and his nutbag followers.
Posted by Sneezy the Squid @ 04/22/2004 04:58 AM NY
Well, you silly Stranger - so you have finally figured out that we link to the excellent content on the /graymatter page, and skip over your intro page with the funky Flash movies already! Maybe I'll put another link up to the flash page, and give you yet another unique link (I believe that they all count in the TLB ecosystem, because they all link to different things at blah3.com) or three...
You want more linkage? Make some more Question Marks! Each one is two more links from my page, and if anybody else is interested in linking up to all of the Question Mark series (to boost blah3's ranking even more), well, you might be able to view the source code for this page or this page, search for blah3 (a lot) and cut and paste into your blog template. Or something like that.
Don't change a thing, Don. You're doing great. You've been a daily read for a couple of years now, since you get a lot of news out to us that we can't find anywhere else (until Atrios reads your blog that day, that is...). I can rely on what you say, and count on you to retract or amend your statements if you are proven to be factually challenged on them.
Plus I like the way you focus on putting the knee in the groin of the 1600 Crew. And the cool tunes you have offered us for public consumption here. And your work with TBTM (even though it's mostly not even pointed to here). Keep up the good work!
Posted by (: Tom :) @ 04/22/2004 09:17 AM NY
I've always wondered why you don't mention the blog more on TBTM radio. This blog rocks every bit as much as your weekly (well, thereabouts) show! You, Hoff, Atrios - Bloggers extraodinaire and a daily feature for me.
Posted by eoe @ 04/22/2004 10:02 AM NY
