Ok - Traffic is upsetting.

[KevinG]

Traffic is really upsetting me. I'm doing everything I can to drive traffic to this site and it's just flat.

I have zero comments on the last 4 articles.

I'm submitting to 4 social networking sites, I've submitted to some blog carnivals (though i don't see the effects), I've got syndication going, I email my articles to people I know with a permalink, I've done some SEO and submitted to search engines.

I'm feeling like I'm doing all this work for nothing. Yahoo says I got 125 visitors yesterday - but how many of that is me checking my site and updating it? Driving traffic is turning out to be a nightmare!

[Phil Newton]

If there's one thing I've learnt about getting traffic to blogs, it's that it takes consistent persistance. Yes, there are blogs that do well from the start, but the rest have to take the long way. It's a very tough time for most people, and I'm guessing it's why a lot of blogs fold early.

p.s. Make that 5 networks now - I just added you to StumbleUpon

[Savage]

Some questions to ask yourself:

Is there a strong demand for the content you're producing? Is your website actually needed? What would be lost if you never created it? If people don't need your website, they won't likely visit it much, and they won't refer their friends and family to it.

Why do you want more traffic? What's your motivation? Is your primary motivation to help yourself or to help others? Ideally it should be a synergistic blend of both, but helping others should be the stronger of the two.

If helping 125 people (or thereabouts) is nothing to you, it's no wonder you're struggling to build traffic. Having a positive impact on even one person via your website is a significant accomplishment -- something to be celebrated and respected. If you tell the universe, "This is nothing," or "This is a nightmare," why on earth would it send you more of that? What blogger would want to refer traffic to a "nightmare"?

When you can fall in love with helping a handful of people and feel grateful for the impact you're having, that will be the turning point which will open you to attracting all the traffic you could ever want. But if your website doesn't provide a service you're really passionate about and which you believe will benefit others, you'll silently sabotage yourself from going too far with it, since deep down you'll feel you don't deserve the traffic and that your visitors would be better served elsewhere.

Understand that a website that helps even one person is a success, not a failure. Create a website that will be of value to one, and you'll be able to attract a whole lot more ones.

Measure not your success by numbers and statistics but rather by knowing that you're serving others to the best of your ability.

[KevinG]

I'll give all that a try.

My blog is in politics - so it's tough really looking for a niche. I'm starting to gear a lot of my writing to education instead of commentary on current events.

To tell you the truth, I feel like my site is valuable, but lost in a sea of invaluable blogs and I get skipped over because I'm grouped with them. That's exactly how I feel.

[DmitryDavydov]

Originally Posted by KevinG

Traffic is really upsetting me. I'm doing everything I can to drive traffic to this site and it's just flat.

I have zero comments on the last 4 articles.

I'm submitting to 4 social networking sites, I've submitted to some blog carnivals (though i don't see the effects), I've got syndication going, I email my articles to people I know with a permalink, I've done some SEO and submitted to search engines.

I'm feeling like I'm doing all this work for nothing. Yahoo says I got 125 visitors yesterday - but how many of that is me checking my site and updating it? Driving traffic is turning out to be a nightmare!

Kev, first, you have to be patient. And second, your content has to be sticky and emoprovoking. Look at Steve. Some say - What A Genius. Others - What A BS Artist. Either way, Steve Pavlina is worth talking about. As soon as you start cranking out stories that are worth talking about and linking to, you'll be all set.

[KevinG]

I have one up right now - but it doesn't seem to be getting anywhere.

[ludlow]

Here's just a bit of feedback after visiting your blog. I'm a euro-liberal, so I'm confident that everything on your blog is completely wrong...

However, being open-minded and tolerant like all good liberals, I actually *would* read a positive, informed blog from a right-wing perspective.

As you rightly imply above, in setting up a right-wing blog you're joining an extraordinary madhouse of ranting fools, and if you are secure in the belief that this doesn't describe you, I think you should emphasize that. A lot. At the moment I would say your posts so far have the unconstructive negative TONE of some of those ranting fools, even though your CONTENT is much more substantive.

Just my one cent (the other one went in tax to fund a strong welfare state)

[KevinG]

Ludlow:

It isn't a conservative blog, first of all. I'm a libertarian.

Second, saying that conservative blogs are "madhouses of ranting fools" is an opinion that will probably cause you to lose all credibility.

It's tough dealing with Europe because they are biased against the U.S. in the fact that they want the U.S. less powerful. So anything that happens that is bad for the U.S. is usually good for Europe. That is why you align yourself with liberals because they are bad for the U.S. Though you probably deny this entirely, which is expected.

In fact, your strong support of welfare is fundamentally anti-American, just as is the views of the liberals here who support it. The problem is that with all the government education in the United States, very few people have even a basic understanding of our constitution and the role of government.

Anyway, we're wasting our time here.

[DmitryDavydov]

Originally Posted by ludlow

Here's just a bit of feedback after visiting your blog. I'm a euro-liberal, so I'm confident that everything on your blog is completely wrong...

However, being open-minded and tolerant like all good liberals, I actually *would* read a positive, informed blog from a right-wing perspective.

I did not have a chance to look at the blog, but I hope Kevin isn't yet another rightwing nut job. Rush Limbaugh has the gig for all the right wing wackos, he is pretty hard to compete with.

[Scott Bird]

Quick suggestion - cross-promote your sites. If one gets traffic, they'll all benefit. I'd say the photography one has a much greater international appeal that the political site.

[ludlow]

Oh well, so much for trying to reach across the divide and give some feedback!

I guess the majority of Americans must be anti-American, judging by last week's election results. Time to head on over to the subjective reality section and manifest a reality in which libertarians have a chance of governing...

[TheBull]

Don't worry too much about it Kevin, just keep up the good writing. I didn't notice a link, but you might want to consider a technorati account as well. There is a lot of political blogging going on these days. The nice thing about techno is that you can see the number of posts on a given topic.

Another suggestion which I've recently come to enjoy is a blog carnival. Doing this for my financial blog has really helped out.

Also, especially with politics, consider some good link baiting. If you haven't seen it already, go to copyblogger.com. He has great stuff for headlines and general copywriting.

[ahimel]

Originally Posted by KevinG

It isn't a conservative blog, first of all. I'm a libertarian.

Then let me start this post by saying that I'm a libertarian who frequently ends up voting conservatively because it's the most liberterian option. See my post on Massacusetts law in the Real Estate thread, and my Vote No post in the 'do you vote' thread for my political views.

Originally Posted by Ludlow

Here's just a bit of feedback after visiting your blog. I'm a euro-liberal, so I'm confident that everything on your blog is completely wrong...

However, being open-minded and tolerant like all good liberals, I actually *would* read a positive, informed blog from a right-wing perspective.

As you rightly imply above, in setting up a right-wing blog you're joining an extraordinary madhouse of ranting fools, and if you are secure in the belief that this doesn't describe you, I think you should emphasize that. A lot. At the moment I would say your posts so far have the unconstructive negative TONE of some of those ranting fools, even though your CONTENT is much more substantive.

Originally Posted by KevinG

Second, saying that conservative blogs are "madhouses of ranting fools" is an opinion that will probably cause you to lose all credibility.

It's tough dealing with Europe because they are biased against the U.S. in the fact that they want the U.S. less powerful. So anything that happens that is bad for the U.S. is usually good for Europe. That is why you align yourself with liberals because they are bad for the U.S. Though you probably deny this entirely, which is expected.

That being said, for some reason, your post sounded significantly more rant-y than Ludlow's did. That may be simply that Ludlow's emoticon led me to believe that he was trying to be friendly and cheerful - that he does believe that everything you believe is wrong, but he's willing to to acknowledge that people have varying opinions, especially in the US and Europe right now, and that doesn't mean that his opinion is necessarily more valid than yours, just that it's different. I may be completely off in interpreting what his smile meant, and in fact he's a raving lunatic, smiling to throw me off the scent of his plot to bring down the US government and erase its existance from the memory of all humanity.

Likewise, it may be that lack of emoticons in your post caused me to utterly misinterpret your tone. That you didn't actually mean to imply that every single European is so scarcity-minded and jealous that they want to see the US come down. (Having been in Ukraine last summer, I can tell you it isn't so.) Nor did you mean to imply that it is impossible to be a US voting liberal unless you are (a) an idiot or (b) a traitor. The tone I somehow picked up that 'everything you believe is unquestionably correct, and anyone who disagrees with you must be a moron' bears no resemblance to what you wanted to say, and is a totally unfair portrayal of your feelings and opinions.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to identify what made me pick up that tone. That's why I'm such a horrible writer - I never managed to learn how to combine words to make them actually say what I meant. So I can't give any actual advice, except to say that it sounded unconstructive and negative to me also.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Kevin, I'm busy writing a post to make in this thread (I usually write my posts offline in Microsoft Word and work on them when I have time). While it’s a tall order contributing beyond what Steve has said in this thread already, I’m up for the challenge and hope to give you some suggestions and advice that will prove useful to you. Before I post it, however, I'd like to ask you a question:

Have you defined a purpose for your life, and if so, what is it?

I ask because knowing such information will help me provide better feed back for you. If you aren’t keen on posting your purpose publicly, if you don’t mind sharing it with me, send me a PM – you have my word that any thing you tell me will stay between the two of us.

If you haven’t yet defined a purpose for your life (or are in the progress of doing so), it would be helpful if you could share your intentions for your blog/website, much like Steve did in his blog post, My Intentions for This Site. Again, if you don’t wish to make that information public, send me a PM.

With such information I can give much more targeted suggestions and advice and I’ll have a better chance of giving you information that you can actually use. Thanks.

[KevinG]

Originally Posted by ludlow

Oh well, so much for trying to reach across the divide and give some feedback!

Lol. Please... You can't seriously write a response that discreetly attacks someone and expect not to get a little bit in return can you?

I guess the majority of Americans must be anti-American, judging by last week's election results. Time to head on over to the subjective reality section and manifest a reality in which libertarians have a chance of governing...

The majority of Americans were educated (barely) by the government and aren't smart enough to form a respectful opinion on anything relating to politics.

[KevinG]

Originally Posted by TheBull

Don't worry too much about it Kevin, just keep up the good writing. I didn't notice a link, but you might want to consider a technorati account as well. There is a lot of political blogging going on these days. The nice thing about techno is that you can see the number of posts on a given topic.

Another suggestion which I've recently come to enjoy is a blog carnival. Doing this for my financial blog has really helped out.

Also, especially with politics, consider some good link baiting. If you haven't seen it already, go to copyblogger.com. He has great stuff for headlines and general copywriting.

Great suggestions Bruce. I'm heading over to copyblogger right now to check that out. I'm doing blog carnivals also I just haven't seen much in the way of results out of them yet.

[KevinG]

Originally Posted by DmitryDavydov

I did not have a chance to look at the blog, but I hope Kevin isn't yet another rightwing nut job. Rush Limbaugh has the gig for all the right wing wackos, he is pretty hard to compete with.

If I asked you to give me an example of why Rush Limbaugh is a right-wing wack job I bet you couldn't give me a reasonable one.

[mhdoc]

Originally Posted by KevinG

The majority of Americans were educated (barely) by the government and aren't smart enough to form a respectful opinion on anything relating to politics.

I seem to remember reading some old document that talked about "of the people, by the people..." I don't remember it saying "of the educated, gifted people, by the educated, gifted people"

[FearlessGhost]

Hey Kevin

I went to you website and checked out your latest post. You said you were a libertarian and frankly I was a little dismayed by what you had to say. Fist of all, a libertarian does not agree with using force as a means to solve a problem because force is a tool of the government. A Libertarian believes that the government needs to be extremely small in order to serve the people (because history has shown that once the government gets too big, then the people serve it). A Libertarian believes in capitalism, free trade, and free markets.

My point being that if you say you are a libertarian, yet your writing clearly states otherwise, then how ore your readers supposed to get past the confusion? This could be the problem you are having with traffic.

If you decide you truly are Libertarian I would highly recommend studying the great Libertarian, Harry Browne. In fact you can listen to his archived radio show at his website Harry Browne: libertarian politics, articles, books, & speeches, and investments. I would also suggest studying Austrian Economics which you can read the great Murray Rothbard's works for free at The Mises Institute

If you decide you are not Libertarian, then I wish you the best of luck in searching for your truth. I think it is important to remain consistent no matter what you do and who you choose to be; they go hand-in-hand.

[KevinG]

Originally Posted by FearlessGhost

Hey Kevin

I went to you website and checked out your latest post. You said you were a libertarian and frankly I was a little dismayed by what you had to say. Fist of all, a libertarian does not agree with using force as a means to solve a problem because force is a tool of the government.

And frankly sir, you have just mis characterized what a Libertarian actually is.

A Libertarian believes that the government needs to be extremely small in order to serve the people (because history has shown that once the government gets too big, then the people serve it). A Libertarian believes in capitalism, free trade, and free markets.

This is correct. And they also believe that the government should be used for fundamental reasons, one of those being security of the United States.

My point being that if you say you are a libertarian, yet your writing clearly states otherwise, then how ore your readers supposed to get past the confusion? This could be the problem you are having with traffic.

Actually sir, my traffic probably hasn't thought twice about it; you are simply pointing it out because you most likely disagree with what I wrote, which is a rather childish personal attack.

If you make up your own fairy tale about what the term Libertarian means then yes, I don't fit the profile.

If you decide you truly are Libertarian I would highly recommend studying the great Libertarian, Harry Browne. In fact you can listen to his archived radio show at his website Harry Browne: libertarian politics, articles, books, & speeches, and investments. I would also suggest studying Austrian Economics which you can read the great Murray Rothbard's works for free at The Mises Institute

You can be a member of a political party without agreeing with everything they believe in. Do we agree?

If you decide you are not Libertarian, then I wish you the best of luck in searching for your truth. I think it is important to remain consistent no matter what you do and who you choose to be; they go hand-in-hand.

Thank you for your comments.

[KevinG]

Originally Posted by mhdoc

I seem to remember reading some old document that talked about "of the people, by the people..." I don't remember it saying "of the educated, gifted people, by the educated, gifted people"

Not some old document - as you seem to suggest this quote is somewhere in the constitution. It isn't.

This was a quote from the Gettysburg Address given by Abraham Lincoln.

Oh, and it doesn't have anything to do with what we are talking about.

[quantikev]

Hello Kevin.

I see you mentioning some problems with traffic. I have recently been promoting a blog with high quality content from a well educated perspective, similar to your own blog and am also struggling.

Of course I am not aware of your level of knowledge regarding reaching 'markets' on the Internet, but here are some of my findings:

First, I notice from your archive your blog is about 2 months old.. is this correct? Right now you can find significant debate in the web development forums regarding the 'aging factor'. This is something Google has indicated they take into consideration, as noted by a their patent. Some find that after the site has aged for a period of several months or years, various related factors result in an increase of traffic.

Next, although your post topics are descriptive and well thought out in regards to your topic, I was unable to locate any search queries people might be performing using words and phrases found in your titles. Certainly, there is demand for this and almost all information, but even today the search engines can have difficulty deciphering what topic your content covers. So, if someone is searching for "illegal pit bull fight" (117 a day according to Wordtracker), Google might not be able to figure out that your post is related to their query.. even though it obviously is.

Now because of latent semantic indexing and other related algorithms, you don't need to turn each of your post titles into keyword spam. However, if you use a tool like this one to get an idea of what people might be typing in to search for your topic, you can take that into account when creating your post title. Again incase you don't already know, this also goes for the body of your post - although that will almost always happen naturally.

Here are some other related tactics you could use to gain more exposure:

Article marketing:
You can write (or have ghost written) short on-topic articles and submit them to article directories and websites related to your own. You add a short biography about your site and a link at the bottom. This has the double benefit of directing traffic from these places to your website, and creating a backlink for Google rank. If you consider the previously mentioned keyword strategies when writing your articles, you can actually rank higher for specific topics with articles than your blog can.. and pull even more search engine traffic.

Forum posting:

This one you likely already know about. Find forums related to your topic. Register, create your signature, and add useful content by responding to posts and helping people out. This is mutually beneficial to everyone involved - yourself, the webmasters, and the forum viewers.

Blog trackback and comment posting:

This is actually similar to the previous tactic, in that you simply find other related blogs. Then you can either leave useful comments on their post (and add your link to the link field), or create a post on your blog discussing something they wrote and use their trackback link. Many bloggers will return the publicity to you when they see their post has been tracked.. and hence send traffic.

Again, not sure if these are already things you are familiar with.. but regular posts to related blogs and forums will produce a steadily increasing number of visitors over time. Also, taking into account the search queries used by your audience when writing your content can help ensure search engines will present it most appropriately.

I really hope that makes a difference for you!

Kevin V.

[KevinG]

^^

Thats a great post - great info. Thanks a lot. Yeah it is actually a little less than 2 months old.

I am starting to see the buildup of traffic though - I guess the traffic just isn't turning into a buildup of comments.

Yesterday I got 95 unique visitors which is the most I've received since day 1.

[scottyp]

There is definitely a place for your type of blog (libertarian viewpoint).

It might be a bit hard at first because it seems most political blogs in general lean to the left, and there is a lot of bias against anything that is not a strictly left viewpoint (example: someone labeling you a right-wing nutjob in this thread), but If you keep at it you will find your niche.

Try and plug your site on some politically oriented communities/message boards on the web. Whether or not people agree with your views, you will get some traffic.

[quantikev]

Originally Posted by KevinG

^^
I am starting to see the buildup of traffic though - I guess the traffic just isn't turning into a buildup of comments.

Glad you found it helpful!!

About those comments - as demonstrated by this thread, your topic is perfect for creating controversy! And this is exactly what will get people to comment on your posts. Create titles that make a direct, strongly opinionated, controversial statement that people feel compelled to respond to.. in other words - comment & link bait!

For example:

"Why the United States Should Take Paralyzing Military Action Now Against (name a country) To Prevent Total Nuclear Catastrophe!"

Or

"How the United States Will Destroy Itself By Single Handedly Policing The World In A Futile Attempt To Stop A Complete Communist Takeover!"

See how these titles make a direct statement about a specific view point? Its not even implied, just stated. This is sure to draw debate from multiple points of view.

(BTW; these examples do not necessarily reflect my point of view on any subject matter)

Hope that helps;

Kevin

[TheBull]

Originally Posted by KevinG

Great suggestions Bruce. I'm heading over to copyblogger right now to check that out. I'm doing blog carnivals also I just haven't seen much in the way of results out of them yet.

You are quite welcome, but, umm... my name isn't Bruce It's Robert. I'll let it slide though

[JeffS]

One thing I haven't seen addressed so far on this thread is Kevin's initial remark about number of comments.

I have a few blogs and have been involved in others, and let me tell you, especially if you aren't a "leader" in your niche, comments take a long, long time to come. Either people will go comment on you on their own blog, or they just won't bother. It isn't a sign of disinterest, it's just a sign of not-rabid interest.

Until a reader comments for the first time, it takes a real urge to get them to comment. Once they've popped their commenting cherry, so to speak, they'll keep coming back -- on my baseball blog (http://www.BrewCrewBall.com), I have a few people who comment all the time, and tons of regular readers who never have. Strangely enough, my traffic numbers are just barely positively correlated to comment totals.

[TheBull]

Hey Kevin, I just read your latest post and THAT is good link baiting. Well done, keep it up and the traffic will start flowing. I've looked through the rest of your posts and I like them and I've added you to my feed reader.

Which reminds me, I don't know if it has been mentioned to you yet, but your rss link isn't very prominant. I see you added the feed burner email form, but the one for the rss isn't quite as obvious. maybe adding the chicklets from FeedBurner for more popular readers will help. Just a thought.

[TheBull]

Originally Posted by JeffS

One thing I haven't seen addressed so far on this thread is Kevin's initial remark about number of comments.

I have a few blogs and have been involved in others, and let me tell you, especially if you aren't a "leader" in your niche, comments take a long, long time to come. Either people will go comment on you on their own blog, or they just won't bother. It isn't a sign of disinterest, it's just a sign of not-rabid interest.

Until a reader comments for the first time, it takes a real urge to get them to comment. Once they've popped their commenting cherry, so to speak, they'll keep coming back -- on my baseball blog (http://www.BrewCrewBall.com), I have a few people who comment all the time, and tons of regular readers who never have. Strangely enough, my traffic numbers are just barely positively correlated to comment totals.

I can confirm this as well. On one of my blogs I'll get between 100-200 visits a day when I post and if I'm lucky I'll get 1 comment. Now my investing blog gets fewer hits but more comments (ok, maybe only 2, but they are more frequent).

[Keith]

Originally Posted by KevinG

My blog is in politics - so it's tough really looking for a niche.

I'm not an expert, but it seems to me that's backwards; rather than looking outwards for a niche, you should be looking inwards to find what is it about you that is unique and valuable. That's what will interest people - not that you were the first to write about a particular niche topic.

Originally Posted by KevinG

It's tough dealing with Europe because they are biased against the U.S. in the fact that they want the U.S. less powerful.

A lot of Europeans (and for that matter Australians) disagree with the US on certain issues of philosophy. (eg. Calling welfare "fundamentally unAmerican" does not endear America to people who think that welfare is a good thing). That does not mean that a reasoned discourse can't be held or that Europeans wish the US ill.


If you genuinely want feedback on your blog, I have some observations on the pit bull terrier article:

It had an enticing hook (drawing an analogy to human racism) and it was well-written and structured. I found it well-worth reading overall.

A couple of recommendations:

The logic seems a bit unclear regarding one point. The article stated that 'No breed of dog is inherently “vicious, aggressive, mean,” etc.' but then went on to say that '[Pit Bull Terriers] score higher on the American Temperament Test than many dogs deemed to be “safe” or “family” dogs.'. If one breed can have a better temperament, by extension, another breed can have a bad temperament and have a worse temperament.

The tone went very harsh at the end ("This kind of ignorant filth has got to stop."). This is a shame because the content is strong and convincing, but the tone undermines its credibility.

Overall, the article was very informative and it cited sources (this in itself is a great selling point that many blogs lack!).

P.S. Your site has a typo in the spelling of "discrimination".