Where does most of your traffic come from? Tips on getting more traffic! (and some questions for you all!)
The website I co-run, foodforfriendsyeah has been up and running for a few months. Everything's ready, so we're now concentrating on getting traffic to the site.
I've now found a foodie friend to help run the site, and especially, assist with promoting it. We've got a lot of ideas on how to get traffic to the site, and they're slowly working, but I'm interested to know Where do you get the most traffic from?
If you don't know, then you should find out! Google Analytics has been an invaluable tool in monitoring visits, page views, and bounce rates, as well as seeing what search terms visitors are using. If you're using Wordpress the Google Analyticator plugin is awesome, and adds a useful window to your Dashboard, as well as adding all the required code to your blog automatically.
There's also a Wordpress Google sitemaps plugin - Google XML Sitemaps which generates the required xml file and submits it to Google. This allows search engines to crawl the pages on your site better. The plugin is free, where most websites want you to pay, or wait in a queue.
When I bought a new (well, second hand) DSLR camera, I made it my mission to get some recipes on TasteSpotting and FoodGawker. Both of these sites are pages and pages of mouth watering food photos, with links to where you can find the recipe/article etc. I've had 4 photos/recipes accepted, and with it nearly 1000 visits total, in the space of a week or two. The problem, they're all from the USA! What units of measurement do you all use on your blogs? Is it worth having UK and US, for the best spread?
Carla (the co-pilot) is hot on Twitter. She uses it all the time and is aware of the promotion that's possible with it. I was sceptical, but am beginning to see the possibilities. For me, it takes a lot of effort to keep up to date with what's happening, but I'm learning! Have you a Twitter account? Ours is http://twitter.com/FFFY
We created a new Facebook group for the blog, and I'm trialling out the foodforfriendsyeah app, which adds the latest FFFY posts to your Facebook profile. Still waiting to see how that turns out!
Finally, there's this great site here, where you can meet other food bloggers and write posts like this. So, I hope you find some use in this, and you have some answers for me!
I've now found a foodie friend to help run the site, and especially, assist with promoting it. We've got a lot of ideas on how to get traffic to the site, and they're slowly working, but I'm interested to know Where do you get the most traffic from?
If you don't know, then you should find out! Google Analytics has been an invaluable tool in monitoring visits, page views, and bounce rates, as well as seeing what search terms visitors are using. If you're using Wordpress the Google Analyticator plugin is awesome, and adds a useful window to your Dashboard, as well as adding all the required code to your blog automatically.
There's also a Wordpress Google sitemaps plugin - Google XML Sitemaps which generates the required xml file and submits it to Google. This allows search engines to crawl the pages on your site better. The plugin is free, where most websites want you to pay, or wait in a queue.
When I bought a new (well, second hand) DSLR camera, I made it my mission to get some recipes on TasteSpotting and FoodGawker. Both of these sites are pages and pages of mouth watering food photos, with links to where you can find the recipe/article etc. I've had 4 photos/recipes accepted, and with it nearly 1000 visits total, in the space of a week or two. The problem, they're all from the USA! What units of measurement do you all use on your blogs? Is it worth having UK and US, for the best spread?
Carla (the co-pilot) is hot on Twitter. She uses it all the time and is aware of the promotion that's possible with it. I was sceptical, but am beginning to see the possibilities. For me, it takes a lot of effort to keep up to date with what's happening, but I'm learning! Have you a Twitter account? Ours is http://twitter.com/FFFY
We created a new Facebook group for the blog, and I'm trialling out the foodforfriendsyeah app, which adds the latest FFFY posts to your Facebook profile. Still waiting to see how that turns out!
Finally, there's this great site here, where you can meet other food bloggers and write posts like this. So, I hope you find some use in this, and you have some answers for me!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Curious Baker on -
here here, that's another reason why I'm thinking of leaving wordpress! Not sure how clicky works but I've just installed it on my wordpress.com account so I'll wait and see what happens!
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Permalink Reply by Giles Lindsay on -
Have to say the Clicky Analytics/Statistics tool that Matt found is very good and does even provide a widget for hosted Wordpress.com blogs as well, which is a first :) it provides real time information and I can now even see where, from around the world, my visitors come and specifically which pages they are viewing.
If you have a wordpress.com site and want realtime info then dont hestite giving this tool a go!
http://getclicky.com/
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Permalink Reply by Jill Hodges on -
How did the clicky work out for you? can you use that and google analytics/analyticator at the same time?
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Permalink Reply by Curious Baker on
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It's pretty good actually, and as voyeuristic as it is, I do like the 'Spy' feature, but it never seems to work when I log in. Clicky stats vary quite a lot from the wordpress stats and it (clicky) can be quite addictive, cos they give you a lot of info, but I'd definitely recommend it
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Permalink Reply by Matt Hall on -
I've had no problem running both Google Analytics and Clicky at the same time, just while I trial Clicky.
When you sign up to Clicky they give you a pro trial, and when that finishes it reverts to the free version with less features. I'm going to wait until then to see how good it is when free, before deciding which is best.
I like analytics, but I'm not prepared to pay for it!
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Permalink Reply by Jill Hodges on
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Anyhone having issues with spammers in your comments (on WP blog) - how to manage this?? I even saw them on getclicky - from Korea and China...
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Permalink Reply by Matt Hall on
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There's a Plugin called Akismet which comes as standard on Wordpress.org (self hosted) installs and I'm pretty sure it's included with Wordpress.com blogs as well? (I'm sure Giles can confirm?!)
Have a look under Plugins on your dashboard and make sure it's activated. From memory you'll need an 'API' key, but it'll tell you what you need to do.
Akismet is VERY good at blocking spam, and in such a way that you can review it and release any that isn't, such as pingbacks and re-tweets.
I have seen an increase in spam recently, but it's all been captured by Akismet.
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Permalink Reply by Giles Lindsay on
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Akismet is supplied as standard FOC with Wordpress.com blogs so you were spot on mate :)
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Permalink Reply by Jill Hodges on
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Thanks! You are a treasure trove!!
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Permalink Reply by Kavita on -
I'm a bit confused to how Tastespotting works - as one loads not just a photo and link but the entire recipe, how does that generate visits to one's personal blog? Many thanks!
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Permalink Reply by Matt Hall on
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With TasteSpotting it's all about the photos. If you've uploaded a recipe to your blog and have taken a paticularly good photo it's a good idea to submit it to TasteSpotting.
When you submit you upload a copy of the photo (and square crop it), a description of the recipe, some tags and finally a link to the recipe on your blog.
The recipe stays on your blog. It's a good way of increasing traffic and the amount of inbound links to your blog. The first challenge is to get them to accept a photo!
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