Controlling the Explosion 17/10/2005 There's no doubt about it: autumn has arrived. I can tell, despite the fact that the demands of blogging keep me glued to the computer. Instead of trees changing their colors and the temperature dropping, in the blogosphere the words "fall" and "autumn" start appearing in blog after blog. So I know that autumn is here.On those occasions that I do venture outside, it is not so obvious. In Lawton it is a bit cooler than a few weeks ago and there is just a suspicion that the big oak across the road has lost some of the brightness of its green foliage. But many of the trees are evergreens anyway and the grass has not yet assumed that dull and dirty yellow of its winter hibernation. It could just be a pause in the fierce heat of summer.But no, I know it's autumn. Confirmation comes as photographs of dazzling autumn foliage in New England spread throughout the blogs. And this means that winter approaches, of course.Ah, winter, the season of plenty for the blogosphere, when the cold and damp will keep people indoors and turn them into potential readers. Happily we prepare for the onslaught, secure in the knowledge that we have survived the drought of summer.So magnanimous does this make me that I contemplate sharing one of my secrets of the blog harvest field, a chance discovery that has allowed me to keep the hit crop growing throughout the summer. For a moment I draw back, afraid that I might kill the goose that laid the golden egg; but then common sense prevails for I speak of hits only. They look pretty in the statistics but have little real impact upon the popularity of the blog. And, anyway, I have developed a few other little tricks over the summer that can fill any gap that might result from my indiscretion.It all began with BlogExplosion's redesign a few months ago. BlogExplosion (BE) has long been the best of the blog traffic exchanges and thus the mainstay of many a blogger's quest for traffic, and the sudden drop in hits that resulted from BE's altered systems caused considerable consternation amongst BE customers. Accustomed to receiving an average count of around a hundred hits a day from BE, suddenly we were scratching around in the teens. The resultant dent in the stats was painful but BE promised that things would improve as they adjusted the new systems, so I held on and waited.It was perhaps a month later that I noticed an odd phenomenon. During the days of plenty, I had been in the habit of keeping a large stock of credits available for all the hits BE sent me, but the slowdown had made me lazy and I allowed the credits to drop dangerously low. The inevitable happened; one day I found that the cupboard was bare - my BE credits were non-existent. I had no way of knowing how many hits I had missed in the previous few hours so I quickly went surfing to build up a few credits.After twenty blogs, I went back to see how I was doing. To my horror, the credit count was still zero! My first thought was that I was not being credited; I went surfing again immediately, determined to break through this strange problem. Back again after another twenty blogs, I found the counter still sitting obstinately at zero. But this time I noticed the hit counter as well. It was already showing twice as many hits as I would have expected at the time.It dawned on me then: the credits were being used up as fast as I could make them. Quickly, I went back to surfing. For over an hour I surfed, checking the figures occasionally, watching the hit count move inexorably upwards as the credits stayed on zero. Eventually, I was able to build a small cushion of credits and, at the same time, the mad rush of hits stopped. By then the hit counter stood at over one hundred.I thought that it had all been the product of coincidence; that, for some reason, everyone had gone surfing at the same time and thus caused the unexpected windfall of hits. Over the next few days, BE returned to its grudging handout of a few hits here, a few hits there.But a week later it happened again. I had kept the credit level a bit higher after my experience, not wanting to be caught out by another sudden rush, but once again I was confronted with a zero return on one of my regular checks. And the next hour or so was spent in frantic clicking through blogs as I tried to get ahead. Once more, it ended with a haul of about a hundred hits.In the following weeks this happened with increasing frequency and I decided to try an experiment. I would allow the credits to drop to zero and then see if the hits began to flow when I tried to build a cushion. It worked! It was as if I'd found a trigger to release BE's potential for hits; as though BE was entering a contest with me, determined that I should not build a reserve.All sorts of theories occurred to me. Perhaps BE had built this into the new systems so that free users like me would be persuaded to pay for credits to stay ahead. But I'd noticed that, as soon as I built a cushion of any size, the hits would stop flowing. So I'd actually be limiting my hits if I went the paid route (not that I ever would - the whole idea is to get everything for nothing).Maybe BE had designed this to make potential leavers stay. Perhaps it was just a glitch in the program. Or this could be the first signs that BE's promises of more hits are about to be made good. But, whatever the cause, I am not about to complain. I changed my strategy and now spend a couple of hours every day, milking BE. Results vary but I'd say the average hit return is about a hundred.Of course, it's a time-consuming strategy but I'm tied to the computer anyway; might as well make my blog-clicking as profitable as possible. The stats love it!If the good folks at BE ever read this, they might well block my little loophole. But, what the heck, I've had a good run and I really ought to stop being so hit-centric anyway. It's regular readers that matter, not hit rate. And with winter on the way, the hits should be going up for everyone. So there's my little gift to BE bloggers for the autumn. Enjoy!
Clive
John (SYNTAGMA) Well, that's certainly interesting, Clive. Stange phenomenon. They've always had a highly sophisticated system over there, and good software. I haven't used BE for quite a while now, since I learned about pinging the search engines and optimizing posts for search traffic. That seems to have worked, so sparing me those endless 30-second interludes. I now think that linking in posts with big-volume blogs and using Memeorandum.com to capture the hot topics in your genre, give a better reward than the hit and miss systems of BE and the other traffic exchanges. But then, it doesn't have the esprit de corps of the blog clubs, does it? Date Added: 17/10/2005
Gone Away I'm not quite ready to abandon the clickers yet, John - still getting the occasional new reader through them and they do keep the stats looking good. I do the other things as well but am finding it difficult now to keep up with everything. It looks as though the blogging strategy is becoming due for rationalisation... Date Added: 17/10/2005
Mark How do you have your traffic assigned? 100% , 80%, 50% ? I used to wonder why I never had any credits being saved to use for other purposes until I reread the instructions a bit more and discovered that I had to set aside a certain percentage. Date Added: 17/10/2005
Gone Away Normally I have it at 100%, Mark. For a short while I tried the headlines thing and had 10% unassigned so that I always had a few credits ready for that. I wasn't impressed with it, however (who uses it?), and so went back to throwing everything at the blog. As for the Battle of the Blogs, I think it's just a waste of good credits. Date Added: 18/10/2005
Broken Messenger Clive, you've proven that the Lord indeed does giveth and taketh away....hits included. Date Added: 18/10/2005
Gone Away So it would seem, Brad... ;) Date Added: 18/10/2005
Beau I wonder if someone should ask the BE team to fill us in on the credit stream. It may be that when you let the credit tank drop to zero and start surfing again it coincides with peak surfing by other BE members. I would like to see a system where you can make extra credits for linking to other posts in any given blog, as I would hazard a guess that most members check the recent posts mainly, and may not get a good sense of the whole blog. There should possibly be some incentives for linking with other BE members as well. Anyway, thanks for the tip. Date Added: 18/10/2005
Gone Away At first I thought that I was just hitting the times when everyone chose to surf, Beau. But it happened too often and at any time of day to be that. Just today will serve as an example. I opened BE at 6:00am - no credits left. Surfed for an hour and had about 50 hits before finally getting ahead. Credits hit zero at about 2:00pm - same thing again - surf for about an hour, had about 50 hits. Total just over 100 for the day. Your comment came in about 15 minutes ago. At the time I was in the middle of the latest rush which has just ended - score is now 139 hits and I have 8 credits in the bank. Tomorrow they could be completely different times but I can guarantee that I'll get just as many hits. It's weird but it works. I agree that there ought to be some credit given for actually reading blogs. I wrote to BE about this a few months ago, suggesting a system that watched scrolling but they were very non-committal in their reply. Personally, I would love to have the time to dig deeper into certain blogs, but the pressure on my time and credits is such that it just isn't going to happen until I get some sort of reward for doing so. And I suspect we all feel much the same... Date Added: 18/10/2005
Gone Away Oh, and I forgot to mention the hit rate in between the rushes, Beau. I doubt it exceeded one hit per hour in the intervening time. Date Added: 18/10/2005
Garnet Thanks for revealing the mysterious inner workings of the blog traffic world. I'm looking into John's suggestions as well as yours. But I've also decided I can afford to pay for the traffic. BE's price is quiet affordable. But I only get 40-50 a day. Though it offers no traffic rewards, I prefer to browse blogs through friends blogrolls, not random lists. Date Added: 18/10/2005
Janus its interesting to learn how the blog system works. An enlightening read. Don't worry about me Gone, I promise I won't write about Fall...but you can be sure to hear me swearing all about snow as soon as Winter comes around. Date Added: 18/10/2005
Gone Away That's the best thing to do, Garnet - to see what can be done to increase traffic and then decide which methods suit you best. It's a developing thing too and fresh ideas come along all the time. Date Added: 18/10/2005
Gone Away Living up there in the North, I figure you have a right to gripe about snow, Janus. ;) Date Added: 18/10/2005
Kurt Very interesting, Clive. I hadn't heard of BE before (shows how much I pay attention to blogs outside mine a few precious others, this one included), but I'll check it out at some point once I've gotten my own crazy college life in hand enough to post on some kind of semi-regular schedule. It's bad enough that my only post in two weeks was a photo of a gummy worm floating in a glass of rum, I don't need to have hordes of strangers examining my posts until that's off the front page. :) Date Added: 18/10/2005
Gone Away I saw that photo, Kurt - funny way to get drunk, if you ask me! ;) Date Added: 18/10/2005
Kurt It beats the worm in tequila, Clive. Don't ask me about tequila... don't EVER ask me about tequila. Blue agave is my nemesis; gummy rum is tame and friendly in comparison. Not that a mere college student would know such things. ;) Date Added: 18/10/2005
Gone Away Sounds to me as though you know what you're talking about... :D Date Added: 18/10/2005
Marti Oh my goodness! I had noticed a similar phenomenon, and then thought, “Nah... I must be imagining it!” LOL I enjoy surfing for credits when I have time, because it is nice to see new blogs, and once in a while run across a real gem. On other occasions I “buy” credits (pretty cheap really - $9.00 for a thousand I think). I check frequently to make sure I don’t run out too. (Are we a bit obsessive, Clive? LOL) I have noticed that the credits get “used up” (meaning I am being sent into the viewing rotation) faster when I have been actually surfing. It is like the system knows that I am being an active participant, as crazy as that sounds - LOL! Regarding autumn...I adore it! It my favorite season! Are you getting that early morning fog that hangs low to the ground? Oh, I swoon just thinking of it, it is so beautiful! I posted a picture at my blog if you haven’t seen it. It is truly one of God’s gifts to us, to revel in the beauty of nature. I hope you will experience some lovely leaf colors down there soon. It makes going into winter a bit more tolerable - LOL PS Gosh I wish you had a "preview" for comments, it makes that last minute spell check so much easier LOL Date Added: 18/10/2005
Rusty That's the way to stick it to the man. Date Added: 19/10/2005
Gone Away I'm glad someone else has noticed the effect, Marti - means I'm not going crazy! That's an interesting thought about it having something to do with the system knowing when you're active. I'll have to think about that. The seasons seem less distinct in Oklahoma. Last year I hardly noticed any change, it was so gradual. The trees do change but not in the dramatic way they do further north. But the dawn becomes quite spectacular in the autumn - a multi-colored glow along the horizon as the light increases. Loved the picture of early morning mist, by the way. Not so sure about the clown, however! Weird. Date Added: 19/10/2005
Gone Away Hah, Rusty, you rebel you! Date Added: 19/10/2005
Sarah Hmmm...I'll bet they *do* know when you've actually been surfing! Very interesting post... Date Added: 19/10/2005
Gone Away I guess you're right, Sarah - they must know when anyone's surfing. But today is another proof of something strange happening. Early this morning I was surfing to build a cushion after reaching zero credits and I ran into a 100 credit bonus. As a result I haven't been able to work my strategy and have had to wait for all those bonus credits to be used. And my score so far today (with three hours left)? Only 67 hits, half of what I've been getting using my system... :(` Date Added: 19/10/2005
Gone Away Incidentally, Sarah, I keep getting an error when I try to comment on your blog, even though I have a TypeKey account and signed in. You haven't blocked comments, have you? Here's what I was going to comment on your latest: Good point about the ads. But Google are beginning to worry me - is it my imagination or are they beginning to drift away from their original high ideals? They do say that power corrupts, you know... Date Added: 19/10/2005
keeefer Autumn? surely not. The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, the roos are bouncing and the spiders are abundant. Spring has definately sprung. Ok so we may not yet have enough for a matress but we could probably manage an arm chair. We've even had a spot of rain too (i was beginning to think rain was a figment of my imagination, but if the chooks wearing rubber rings and wing bands is anything to go by id say it rained heavily last night). I am in a small town called Port MacQuarrie for the week. Its about 4.5 rs north of Cindy (sydney for those of you who dont speak with an aussie accent). I awake in the morning to roos and Joeys playing on the lawn and kookaburras laughing in the trees. The wildlife that abounds knows when i wake as my footwear is generally seen heading in the direction of the kookaburras tree. The regime of studying has begun once more, though i am about to head to the local vinyard and hopefully consume enough to undo todays learning. Enjoy the autumn, sadly the only golden brwn i will be seeing is on the skin of tonights barbequed sausages Date Added: 19/10/2005
Gone Away Crikey, Sport, you're becoming a hardened Ozzie very quickly! All these roos and joeys and kookaburras singing in the trees, swagmen bellowing on the hills, billabongs calling in the woomerahs, tuckerbags chortling in the undergrowth, it sounds right down-under-like. But Spring? I thought the only spring in Awstraylyah was what the roos did... Date Added: 19/10/2005
John (SYNTAGMA) You forgot the tinnies of amber nectar, Clive. :-) Date Added: 19/10/2005
Gone Away I may have done so, John, but somehow I doubt that Keef would. ;) Date Added: 19/10/2005
Matt You know, I love reading your blog. Check it every day. Every post I've read has been amusing in some way or another. A rare and wonderful trait in a blog. Anyway, Blog Explosion, I have determined, is evil. Yes, evil. It provides the illusion of traffic without the benefit of actual traffic. At least, that was my experience. But my blogs are all boring and probably not the sort that attract return visitors. The joys of the video card are not a universal pleasure, I suppose. But I used it for awhile in the beginning to try to build traffic on one of my other blogs and mostly it just seemed to steal my time. However, I suspect that your blog here, for those who spend that 30 seconds actually reading rather than waiting for the ticker to count down, may benefit from it. What would be an interesting experiment for you, would be to track your comments over a period of time, and then stop using Blog Explosion for a few days and see if your number of comments changes. I bet it doesn't, and I bet further that it would continue to grow without benefit of the Explosion of Evil. :) Keep up the fantastic work, Clive! Date Added: 19/10/2005
Gone Away Thanks, Matt - I really appreciate your interest. As regards BlogExplosion, I think it's a useful tool, especially to those just starting out with a new blog. In my experience, it does bring in a few readers, although this also depends what particular post I happen to have up on the day. This one, for instance has drawn in quite a few from BE (as one would expect), whereas a short story tends to get very little response. Whether that return is worth the time and effort involved in building up credits is another story. For the moment it suits my strategy with the blog to keep using BE but I agree that it's not for everyone. Also, note that the number of comments is a poor indicator of traffic (although a good one of regular readers). The daily stats do not lie and they tell me that BE is worth keeping on for the moment. I do admit that, as soon as I can get rid of it, I will - I get really sick of blog-clicking after a while! ;) Date Added: 19/10/2005
Gary Clive, Get out a bit! Take the dog for a walk! Inhale the brisk and invigorating autumn air! Blog late at night. And don't surf for BE credits. Put down $9 for 1000 of 'em and let everyone else drearily scroll through blog after numbing blog. Speaking of BE, I had forgotten all about it. And I still have some unused credits over there. Date Added: 21/10/2005
Gone Away Good grief, that sounds energetic, Gary. Actually, I was exaggerating a bit for dramatic effect - I do get out more than I admitted to. ;) But to pay for credits? I'd be a fool to do so. With my system I can milk BE of 150 hits a day; if I paid for them, I'd be lucky to get 50. I've proved that again and again in the last few days. I understand what you're saying but there is method behind my madness - I have a goal in mind. And give me a goal and I can get quite obsessive... :D Date Added: 22/10/2005
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