Blog Explosion Post
December 26th, 2004 | Published in Research | 21 Comments
UPDATE: I have four Gmail accounts to give away. Please just email me (w/ your name) at tommy.young [at] gmail.com. Please come get them, I am getting sick of having to give them away :).
I recently signed up for BlogExplosion and have seen a spike in traffic (as promised). But as a marketing guy I am curious. Did you sign-up for the service only to drive traffic to your site, or to find other blogs you enjoy? In general, how do you use the service? Do you multi task with another window open and just click, click, click. Or do you quickly eyeball a few of the most recent posts? As a holiday present to me, someone you don’t know, take the minute or two to comment.
BTW: Most of my blog is about marketing and technology, with a few other topics added to the mix. If you are looking for neat articles about a wide range of topics, click here for the category archive of what I call "Reading Materials." I guarantee you’ll find hours of enjoyable reading materials.
December 25th, 2004 at 9:11 am (#)
I signed up out of curiosity initially, but enjoy the opportunity to read other blogs.
The traffic “driven to my blog” is superficial, since no one seems to really care, and only stays the required 30 seconds.
The more you surf, the more traffic you get and in my clicking travels, I have discovered many good blogs out there. I have gotten new readers, and links to my site have increased.
So, it works. Truth be told, I also sometimes just passively use the service. I read only the first post, and if it happens to catch my interest, I read on. If the first line doesn’t, then I multi-task and come back in 30+ seconds to click next.
December 25th, 2004 at 9:49 am (#)
I think I joined for a little of both. I think most people though, are drawn to the allure of having more people find them. Just my 2 cents.
December 25th, 2004 at 10:09 am (#)
I initially signed up for the traffic, but now I spend most of my time browsing other blogs. There’s a lot of good stuff out there
December 25th, 2004 at 10:13 am (#)
I must admit it is disappointing when at first you blog and it’s your baby and you want to share it with everyone but you can only tell so many of your friends and family to come visit your site ( which you update daily ) over and over, right?
Before joining blog explosion, i would just click the “next blog” button to see what other people were blogging about and get ideas for my blog. But since joining blog explosion, i’ve come across several really interesting blogs which i have revisited many times.
Maybe it’s the exhibitionist in me or it’s just wanting to get this girly talk that’s bursting to get out, out of me cos i ‘m in a new environment and don’t have many friends other than my fiance’s family. Maybe it’s artist-wannabe expressionism. Whatever it is, I am guilty too of doing the 30 second thing a lotta times, but most of that would be the political blogs.
Life, Humour and photography blogs are interesting to me and i usually stop longer than 30 seconds.
December 25th, 2004 at 11:50 am (#)
HI MECHELLE SENT ME! Have a Merry Xmas.
December 25th, 2004 at 12:02 pm (#)
I signed up as a experiment to see if people just stayed 30 seconds or read the blog. Most just stay 30 seconds to get hit count.
December 25th, 2004 at 12:13 pm (#)
I signed up for both reasons. If a blog interests me, I stay and read. If not, I just mosey on my way. There are some really stupid blogs. But there are also some really interesting ones, like this one.
December 25th, 2004 at 1:07 pm (#)
I signed up for both reasons. Mostly I read the first few posts and then decide whether or not to stay.
December 25th, 2004 at 1:12 pm (#)
I read the first couple post and decide if I’ll blogmark or not. I’m really turned off by blogs with music though…if I come across one I quickly add it to my Do Not View List.
December 25th, 2004 at 1:20 pm (#)
Mostly, I signed up for traffic to my blog, but i have found some interesting blogs that I now visit daily. I always look for things to comment on. YOur site, while it’s nice, doesn’t hold my interest because I’m blonde and need to be entertained. It’s nice though.
December 25th, 2004 at 1:58 pm (#)
Both. I want people to see what I write, but I also want to read other peoples blogs as I find them interesting. It was through reading other peoples blogs that inspired me to write my own, so I don’t stop reading them now that I have my own.
December 25th, 2004 at 6:07 pm (#)
I joined in the hope of getting traffic to my blogs. I don’t know that I have any regular readers; most of my hits come from search engines. But at least a few people have blogmarked me, which suggests they found something they liked.
And I’ve found a fair number of interesting sites to read. Not nearly as many as there are sites I never hope to see again; the limit of 25 sites on my Do Not View list is so low as to be worthless. But there are some interesting writers available on BE. And I skim at least the two or three top posts before moving on. I’d guess that I stay longer than 30 seconds maybe one time in 15.
December 25th, 2004 at 6:44 pm (#)
I’m going to agree with the rest of the people here. I signed up out of curiosity to see if it worked, which it does - but I, like most people, only stick around most sites if I’m hooked. It’s like the first chapter of a book, if I’m not intrigued by the site, I move on. I have found some really excellent sites through BE, though, so I’m very happy I signed up for it.
December 25th, 2004 at 7:27 pm (#)
Also, like others, I signed up initially out of curiousity. I try to check out new site online, especially if it smacks of online social networks, building community, building traffic, etc.
BE has driven a little traffic to my site. I’m not sure how many people who have found my site via BE have stayed. However, I have really enjoyed surfing other peoples sites and have received nearly 6000 visits directly from BE.
However, if you have a site that people won’t come back to, it doesn’t matter how you get people to your site. What I have found most effective, and most rewarding, as been to establish relationships, starting through comments, with other bloggers.
I have found many great sites this way, and quite a few have come back to my site as a result. All in all, I believe my interaction with other blogs has improved my site considerably.
December 25th, 2004 at 9:17 pm (#)
A little of both, I guess. I don’t really need more traffic, I just thought it would be fun and I enjoy surfing the blogs. I only do it every few days, I don’t have a lot of time for mindless surfing. I usually read the first entry, or at least the brief “about” section on most blogs. If I think the rest of it will piss me off, I click on out. Otherwise, I might at least scroll through the first page. I’ve only bookmarked a few sites…see above time issues.
December 26th, 2004 at 12:18 am (#)
As a marketing guy, you no doubt have heard about the echo chamber and long tail. My blog reading has a lot of influence of folks like Scoble/Winer/Curry and those other folks that Time decided were “the a-list” and then there is a lot of influence by what my friends are up to on their blogs.
I joined BE to see long tail blogs. I keep a look out for talented people to then add to my aggregator and read later.
December 26th, 2004 at 1:48 am (#)
I came for the traffic, but I find myself spending well over 30 seconds at most blogs unless they are so terribly boring or uninteresting to me (which is understandble. for example, I am not a sports fan, so reading a blog about sports is boring to me).
December 26th, 2004 at 5:54 am (#)
I signed up for the free Scotch ….NO, but really, I did hope to get more readership for my blog, and possibly more people interested in by discussion board, which my blog links too…but I don’t think most people read the blogs like I do…
…I’m a “look at me” blogger, anyways, so most of the stuff I write is pretty boring anyway, I’m sure…
December 26th, 2004 at 3:51 pm (#)
I do it for both reasons. I think I’ve got a pretty good blog that I’d enjoy for others to read (outside of my circle of family and friends). I’ve also run acroos a good number of other quality blogs that have become party of my daily reading ritual.
December 27th, 2004 at 10:00 am (#)
I signed up for the hits to my site (I didn’t know how it worked so I didn’t sign up to find other blogs). However, I do enjoy finding other blogs (like yours) and try to be honest and actually visit for at least 30 seconds.
Hopefully you and others will them:
Average Guy’s Tech Blog
Stuff and Things
December 27th, 2004 at 11:00 am (#)
I joined for the dual purpose of exposing my blog as well as finding new ones. I really enjoy reading others. I have found several from BlogExplosion that I will continue to visit.