The Unique Exponential Possibilities of Blogging Growth
Image courtesy of iChaz
One of the hardest parts of being a blogger is trying to explain its unusual growth characteristics to a non-blogger. I mean, how many times do we have to have this conversation…
Q: “So, do you make any money?”
A: I’m working on it.
Q: “If you’re not making any money, when will you?”
A: I don’t know for sure, but once I pick up some speed it should really take off.
Q: “How so?”
A: Well…
First, To Clarify
What I’m talking about is the idea that a blog can be growing at a slow rate for a year or more and then just TAKE OFF! And as the blogger who sees every little step forward and backward, we often times understand the warning signs that our hard work is going to pay off very shortly.
Let’s say we’re starting to see more linkbacks from blogs we’ve never noticed. And let’s say we notice a new buzz about the quality of our posts. Maybe Twitter is starting to buzz about our blog and our facebook friends begin to boil (kind of a disturbing statement, I know). It’s kind of like being the only one reading the seismograph that’s telling of a soon to be erupting volcano, while the rest of the residents go about their business like it’s just another day.
A Technical Explanation That Can Be Understood By A Non-Technical Audience
Recently I’ve been having a lot of fun with Search Engine Optimization. Whether I’m seeing if I can move higher up on Google with a certain post or trying to get search hits from particular phrasing, I’m enjoying the leaning process as well as the results. One thing you’ll find if you get into SEO is that you can go from no search hits, to large amounts of search traffic in a matter of moments.
Let’s use one of my posts for example. Having a blog called Motivate Thyself, I decided I needed to tackle the big question, “How To Motivate Yourself“. So I wrote the post and then optimized it for the search engines. After a few days of dropping it on the the pages of my blog, it showed up around page 10 of Google. A few days later it made its way down to page 5 where it stayed for about a week. Then one day it suddenly showed up at the bottom of page 2 where it has slowly been bumping it’s way up. Now it teeters back and forth between the top of page 2 and the bottom of page 1.
What I noticed during this entire time was the fact that it wasn’t until I hit page 1 that I started receiving search hits. It literally went from 0 to 10 hits a day. My blog, as well as those who landed on it from Google, never knew about this post’s place in Google until it hit page one. BUT I DID! As I monitored its progress and compared it with my general understanding of SEO and the way search engines/traffic work, I knew search hits were right around the corner and I was right.
Blogging IS JUST Like This
No one but the blogger him/herself feels the pulse of the their blog. As we tune-in to its heart beat and tap into it’s telling traffic patterns we are nearly able to tell the future. And just like search traffic, our blogs can go from zero to zenhabits in a matter of months (the wordplay required a z, I had no choice 
).
So the next time someone asks you to explain the exponential growth potential of blogging, you just tell them about this search engine analogy. And if they still don’t get it, tell them to get their head out of the sand, IT’S THE 21st CENTURY FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! Or just blame me for the poor analogy. 
Eric
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Wait until you get a ranking in the top 3. That’s the day you find out if you’ve paid enough for your hosting bandwidth
From one SEO geek to another what tools are you using to track your site?
Marc’s last blog post..Open Discussion: Should We Under Promise and Over Deliver?
@Marc: I hear you! I’m looking forward to it. It’s amazing how a few spots up or down on Google can make ALL the difference in traffic hits.
As far as tracking tools, I use Google Analytics and Wordpress Stats, but I just started playing with Compete.com. Unfortunately, to really utilize it you have to use the paid service which I don’t want to do right now. What about you? Eric
@Eric, Yeah surprised you got as many as 10 visitors from the bottom of page 1. Was that in one day or over a period of days?
Did you do any keyword research beforehand?
I’ve been getting some traffic from the keywords “Phantom of the opera” and “Music of the night” despite never targeting those words. I should check where my post actually ranks for those words
I’ve used many tools over the years but the best ones are all listed on Aaron Wall’s site.
The only paid tool I have is Market Samurai and it’s the mutt’s nuts for SEO and Internet Marketing. Best of all I didn’t have to pay for it as I got a free copy for being a beta tester hehe
Come to think of it I have a wealth of knowledge stored in my brain regarding SEO and I’ve never really put any of it to good use. I mean I used Market Samurai the other week to analyse the “ghostwriting” keyword which returned some interesting information. I wonder who would be interested in seeing that…
Marc’s last blog post..Open Discussion: Should We Under Promise and Over Deliver?
I’ve discovered that non-bloggers don’t really understand anything specific about blogging. Traffic, stats, or even the whole idea are foreign ideas to them.
I love your analogy about tuning in to the “heartbeat” of your blog. That is really the way it feels…………:)
LisaNewton’s last blog post..Riding the Los Angeles River
@Marc: That’s 10 hits per day. It’s not always that strong, but often times is. A lot of times it’s maybe 5 or 6 with the phrase ‘How to motivate yourself’ and then 3 or 4 with sentences like ‘How to motivate yourself to ….’
Sean told me about Spacky.com and I use that a lot to check out keywords and such. Thanks for the insight into the SEO programs you mentioned. I guess it’s too late to beta test, huh?
@LisaNewton: Yes, unfortunately blogging is still very new and unknown by the masses (like I said, head in the sand. No, not really, they just have lives…
)
So you liked the heartbeat thing? Yeah, I came up with that. I’m so cool. (If this was video you would hear my childish pat on the back. But I guess we’re not, so I’m just rambling for nothing. Sorry ’bout that.
Eric
@Eric That is actually quite impressive. I’d be tempted to do some more research into the sites listed above you, particularly in their on page optimisation and see if there’s scope to beat them.
I’m afraid beta testing for Market Samurai is well and truly over but you can always try the 12 day free trial.
When you think of Samurai you’re probably thinking of their impressive swordsmanship. To hell with that Market Samurai is like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark when he faced off against the great big swordsman…
OK, I’m going to leave the analogies to Eric
Marc’s last blog post..Open Discussion: Should We Under Promise and Over Deliver?
@Marc: As Sean likes to say, I want to take their lunch money. There are a few sites above me with the ‘How to motivate yourself’ search that I KNOW I can beat out. BTW, having that anchor text from The Blueprint on today’s post pushed it up a few spots. Pretty cool.
And as for the analogies, not bad, not bad at all.
Eric
@Eric If you’re interested email me the keyword phrase or phrases your article is optimised for and I’ll plug them in to Market Samurai and see what it comes back with re: your competition
Marc’s last blog post..Open Discussion: Should We Under Promise and Over Deliver?
Aaron is discussing a similar thing (exponential growth) in SEO on his blog today. Here’s a quote:
- The Point of Increasing Returns
I totally agree with you. If the blog is quality then it could go from a relative plateau, to abundant popularity in a short amount of time.
But it must have that inherent potential in the first place.
@Marc: I was specifically focusing on the phrase, “How to motivate yourself”. You’re certainly welcome to check it out. I’d love to know what you come up with!
Also, thanks for the great quote. It’s another great reminder to keep pushing forward on the blogging front.
@Bamboo Forest: Good point. If you start with crap and then work really, really hard…you’ll still always have crap.
Eric
Good post Eric. I have to say that I find the vibe to this post quite different from your video post. I like the contrast forcing us to balance between realism and optimism, then seasoned with Sean’s idea that we may simply do all this for the creative outlet and community.
Hmm, I’ll also have to dig deeper into the SEO talk as creativity and community sound even more fun with good traffic and maybe a little income!
Thanks Eric!
Dave
Do You Dave Ramsey?’s last blog post..Goal Setting – Financial Goals (part 3)
@Dave: I know, that traffic/income thing really makes all seem worth it, right?!
Yeah, I’ve been hitting from both sides lately. I just want to make sure we’re seeing things from ALL sides, not just those that make us feel all fuzzy inside. And SEO is definitely worth the effort. Glad you’re enjoying the content.
@Eric I’ll check it out and get back to you
Marc’s last blog post..Open Discussion: Should We Under Promise and Over Deliver?
This is one of our finest double B posts yet, Eric. Great job. It’s all just putting a puzzle together one piece at a time, right? The more we understand, and the more we pull from our own experience, the further we can push ourselves. Great job.
Writer Dad’s last blog post..Have a Nice Day! or Smell You Later.
Thanks, Sean! I really appreciate that! Eric
Great post guys! Just catching up. I’m with Dave above; let’s go for creativity, community, traffic and abundance for all BBers as part of our unofficial mission statement over here at BB!
Janice’s last blog post..IAC VOICE, Volume 4, Issue 33, February 2009, Circulation: 12,792