Just Another WordPress Weblog
How to get more page views for your blog
This is a guest post by Kristina Chang, Evan Moore, Tony Xu, and Omer Rabin; students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
“What makes a blog popular? What drives page views?” These are the questions that we’ve been trying to answer over the last few weeks. We were on a mission to dig into the data and analyze the strongest parameters that influence the flow of visitors to WordPress.com blogs.
Out of the 30+ million blogs on WordPress.com, we randomly selected a sample of almost 100,000 blogs to perform a regression analysis. Here are our findings, together with a few recommendations. We hope that this provides some new information, and kudos to you in case you’ve already incorporated these tips into your blog – the data suggests that you’re on the right track. Keep it up!
Make your blog easy to follow – It almost sounds obvious, but the simplest way to build more awareness is to make it easier to do so. Make sure that you have the follow widget as visible as possible. If your readers receive a notification every time you post, or see your post in their reader, there is a much higher chance that they will revisit your blog.
Comments, Comments, Comments – The most successful blogs, we found, created and encouraged a dialogue with their readers. The best way to make people more engaged with your writing is for you to engage back and start a conversation. In your posts, encourage people to comment. Also, make sure that you reply to people’s comments and continue the dialogue. This back and forth conversation is a significant driver of page views; holding all else equal, every additional comment can potentially drive up to 18 incremental page views! You can start by simply asking follow-up questions at the end of each post: ”have you ever done X?”; “do you think Y is acceptable?”. You can read some more thoughts on how to build your audience and how to get more comments.
Post Frequently and Regularly – Your readers want to know that you are there for them and that you are “on it”. If you post frequently and regularly and have enabled the follow feature as we mentioned above, checking your blog could become a daily routine for your readers. Even if it’s a short post, write something new as frequently as possible, and at regular intervals. (The Daily Post can help with ideas, as can the advice on how to get more traffic)
While these three tips were shown to be the most important drivers of page views in our analysis, you might consider other parameters, which we found as having a partially significant effect: syndicating your post to Twitter and Facebook (using Publicize), for example, could lead to additional page views.
Happy blogging!
“What makes a blog popular? What drives page views?” These are the questions that we’ve been trying to answer over the last few weeks. We were on a mission to dig into the data and analyze the strongest parameters that influence the flow of visitors to WordPress.com blogs.
Out of the 30+ million blogs on WordPress.com, we randomly selected a sample of almost 100,000 blogs to perform a regression analysis. Here are our findings, together with a few recommendations. We hope that this provides some new information, and kudos to you in case you’ve already incorporated these tips into your blog – the data suggests that you’re on the right track. Keep it up!
Make your blog easy to follow – It almost sounds obvious, but the simplest way to build more awareness is to make it easier to do so. Make sure that you have the follow widget as visible as possible. If your readers receive a notification every time you post, or see your post in their reader, there is a much higher chance that they will revisit your blog.
Comments, Comments, Comments – The most successful blogs, we found, created and encouraged a dialogue with their readers. The best way to make people more engaged with your writing is for you to engage back and start a conversation. In your posts, encourage people to comment. Also, make sure that you reply to people’s comments and continue the dialogue. This back and forth conversation is a significant driver of page views; holding all else equal, every additional comment can potentially drive up to 18 incremental page views! You can start by simply asking follow-up questions at the end of each post: ”have you ever done X?”; “do you think Y is acceptable?”. You can read some more thoughts on how to build your audience and how to get more comments.
Post Frequently and Regularly – Your readers want to know that you are there for them and that you are “on it”. If you post frequently and regularly and have enabled the follow feature as we mentioned above, checking your blog could become a daily routine for your readers. Even if it’s a short post, write something new as frequently as possible, and at regular intervals. (The Daily Post can help with ideas, as can the advice on how to get more traffic)
While these three tips were shown to be the most important drivers of page views in our analysis, you might consider other parameters, which we found as having a partially significant effect: syndicating your post to Twitter and Facebook (using Publicize), for example, could lead to additional page views.
Happy blogging!
Apr 17th at 4:23 pm
Apr 26th at 6:35 am
Apr 17th at 4:29 pm
Apr 17th at 4:41 pm
Apr 17th at 4:58 pm
Apr 17th at 4:44 pm
Great advice! I obviously need to follow rule three more closely and I assume that leads to the second!
Apr 17th at 4:58 pm
Apr 17th at 5:01 pm
Great ideas here. Thank you!
Apr 17th at 5:06 pm
Apr 17th at 9:47 pm
Apr 17th at 5:09 pm
Apr 17th at 5:16 pm
So many good blogs, so little time to read them. When I check my rss feed (every couple of days or so), I usually leave for later reading the blogs that already have several new posts. Then I take my sweet time enjoying the other blogs. Sometimes, by the time I get to the post-a-day blogs, they’ve added even MORE posts, so I just click ‘Mark all as read’ and go to sleep.
Apr 17th at 5:21 pm
Apr 17th at 5:24 pm
Apr 17th at 5:37 pm
Apr 17th at 5:41 pm
Apr 17th at 5:46 pm
Apr 17th at 5:57 pm
For example, I post few articles because my time is limited. But I use comments as a way to update each article and keep them current. People reply to my comments; and in the final analysis, the comments become as important as the articles themselves. Together, they constitute a good discussion of the subject matter.
I doubt, however, that followers and others get notice of new comments. Am I wrong?
Thanks so much as always. “30+ million blogs on WordPress.com” is a lot of blogs, and very impressive!
Apr 17th at 6:00 pm
Apr 17th at 6:06 pm
Apr 17th at 6:08 pm
Apr 17th at 6:10 pm
I am following about 100 people, so if they blog every day that may be too much for me to subscribe to. Personally, I can keep up with bloggers that post 3-4 times per week because I want to actually read and comment on them.
Great post!
Apr 17th at 6:10 pm
- Blogging about a hot and recent topic; either a topic trending on social networks or fresh off the press/breaking news
- Using relevant tags strategically so that your article comes up in Google searches (I prefer Tags to Categories)
- Writing at least one sensitive/embarrassing topic about yourself (readers can be a bit nosy but won’t admit it, lol)
Hope these help and I’ll be happy to learn any other useful tips you all have to share
Apr 17th at 6:34 pm
Apr 17th at 6:35 pm
Apr 17th at 6:35 pm
Apr 17th at 6:43 pm
Like I said it is a release and if people like what I write, paint and photograph – Bonus. It is work but with the help of articles like this I’m sure I will prosper.
Apr 17th at 6:46 pm
Apr 17th at 6:49 pm
Apr 17th at 6:50 pm
Apr 17th at 6:53 pm
Apr 17th at 7:10 pm
Apr 17th at 7:15 pm
Apr 17th at 8:19 pm
in latin america is getting very popular the term “Memes” so i create an entry where i talk about it and share some links to other memes pages.
from an average of 250 visits per day now i got an average of 1,200 visits per day. .
Apr 17th at 8:34 pm
But I’ll start doing that.
I only blog once a week, but at least I’m consistent.
And to all the others who provided added tips to this post, thanks.
Apr 17th at 8:55 pm
Apr 17th at 9:00 pm
Apr 17th at 9:04 pm
Apr 17th at 9:39 pm
In Statistics we trust.
Apr 17th at 10:52 pm
Everyone’s demographic is a bit different, but these ideas should work for most if not all. If you have a blog, what have you seen that seems to help?
Apr 17th at 10:57 pm
Apr 17th at 11:16 pm
Apr 18th at 12:24 am
I am new at blogging. Writing the blog is the easy part, and that takes hours if you are adding pictures. I read this article several times, followed the directions, followed links, did more stuff, then checked my stats. My friends email me, respond on Facebook, or tell me in person. This is an exciting adventure.
Apr 18th at 12:33 am
Apr 18th at 12:34 am
Apr 18th at 1:04 am
Apr 18th at 1:34 am
Apr 18th at 2:17 am
Apr 18th at 2:43 am
Thanks for the tips!
Apr 18th at 3:25 am
Apr 18th at 3:52 am
But working on it
Thanks for the post
Apr 18th at 4:34 am
Apr 18th at 4:42 am
Good information here.
Apr 18th at 5:08 am
Apr 18th at 6:11 am
Apr 18th at 12:07 pm
In my WordPress blog which I started on 1st Jan 2010, I kept a target of writing a daily blog giving a commentary on the Quote of the Day and practical tips to make the contents useful to the reader. I managed to write around 400-500 words per blog post and by year end 31st Dec 2010 had around 330 posts. This ensured that I had sufficient content to enthuse a reader to subscribe and follow my blog. In 2011, I drastically cut down my writing to average about 5 posts a month. I now have over 1,00,000 views and 670 followers
I also wrote a weekly blog creating my own Acronyms and a 400 word write up with Action Points to make the content practical and useful to the reader. This blog though has substantially lesser views and followers. Nevertheless the views and the subscribers are slowly but steadily rising.
In addition to what the researchers have mentioned, I have proactively also shared the blog links in certain websites where I answer queries relating to HR, Self Development and Personal growth. This has been a key driver in enhancing the readership and subscriber base of the blogs.
Hope my sharing will help other bloggers to be enthused and keep blogging with greater focus and success.
Jacob
Apr 18th at 12:33 pm
Apr 18th at 1:05 pm
Apr 18th at 1:07 pm
April 17th, 2012 at 4:58 pm
“Those were the big ones. There were a few things that turned out not to be big factors: the number of users on a blog, the length of a post, and the number of images/videos all had little effect, or weren’t significant.”
At first I found it very surprising that the amount of visual content in posts doesn’t make a difference. Now that I’ve thought about it for a while, I myself follow both photo blogs and blogs with no images attached whatsoever. I guess one important aspect of all this is that whatever the content, it should be original – at least I appear to follow blogs to read or see something I can’t elsewhere.
Thanks for making me think a bit.
Apr 18th at 1:30 pm
Apr 18th at 1:46 pm
Chuck Miceli
Author – Amanda’s Room
Apr 18th at 2:07 pm
Apr 18th at 2:34 pm
I do have one question though: are there any editing tips you have? For instance, did you notice whether a certain kind of grammar, writing and/or narrative voice was more effective than others (i.e. active voice vs. passive voice)?
Thanks!
Apr 18th at 6:37 pm
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Apr 20th at 1:17 am
You have a lot of flexibility over who can comment and whether or not they need to be logged in. You can read more here: http://en.support.wordpress.com/who-can-comment/.
Apr 20th at 2:40 am
Apr 20th at 6:50 pm
Apr 19th at 8:38 am
Other bloggers can tell the difference between rushed articles and those that have been crafted more carefully. Obviously, blogging is fairly quick-fire and that’s what makes it great, but a post with a plan and a bit of thought behind it makes a lot more impact.
Articles on my blog that are successful are ones composed with that smidgen of extra effort. It’s worth it.
Thanks!
Apr 19th at 2:35 pm
Apr 19th at 9:56 pm
Roel Loopers
Apr 20th at 5:44 am
- be unique
- honor your reader base
Apr 20th at 6:56 am
Apr 20th at 6:47 pm
Apr 21st at 11:57 am
And as you can see in the wider world, you don’t need an idea, or even a coherent thought – though it helps, to get exposure.
Niches, like WP, are another matter – a more discerning crew.
Apr 21st at 6:28 pm
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Apr 21st at 11:35 pm
Tim
Apr 22nd at 7:26 am
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Apr 23rd at 2:55 pm
I would add also, allow multi-language translations and a small ad campaign on adwords or adcenter definitely helps while not very expensive.
Apr 23rd at 2:55 pm
Apr 23rd at 7:14 pm
I’m a beginner blogger, and still learning all the feautures and widgets, and all things blogging. Your post is much helpful, thanks!
Apr 23rd at 8:50 pm
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Apr 24th at 9:52 am
Will def. start implementing