Wednesday
A Blog Post With Over 1,250,000 Hits
 I thought I'd try out some spin-off blogs from my 67 Not Out blog. The first is Coincidence and Synchronicity which is only about coincidences - and most of these come from readers of the blog - so no long posts to write. This theme is similar to 67 Not Out but whereas 67 Not Out covers other subjects such as mysteries, UFOs, reincarnation, life after death and so on Coincidence and Synchronicity will stay purely about coincidences. Hopefully the two blogs will help each other and there will be traffic between the two websites. We'll see what happens! A couple of popular posts on the new blog have been: Was Michael Jackson A 3000 Year Old Egyptian Date On Her Boyfriends Baby Photo Was Her Birthday As far as 67 Not Out goes the most popular post Married Couple In The Same Photo As Children has had 1,257,476 visits as of today's date. It's nowhere near the 'best' post but got picked up by several social network sites and the traffic followed. Labels: 67 Not Out, blog, blog content, blog posts, Coincidence and Synchronicity |
Sunday
The Secret Of Lots Of Blog Hits
 My blog 67 Not Out has now had virtually 2.4 million visitors, so it has gone quite well. I was asked, "How did you do this?" It's no real secret - you just keep on going, day after day with new posts. Actually, thinking about it, that is the big secret! Too many people set up blogs and soon get disappointed when floods of visitors fail to arrive to read their words of wisdom. On 67 Not Out I've now published just over 730 posts. Now here's the strange bit. Most of these posts keep on getting hits week after week throughout the year. So the number of visits increases as time ticks by. It's often the back posts that makes the number of visitors look much healthier. It's obvious why. If you have just, say, 20 posts then you only have this number of entries in the search engines to attract visitors. But if you have 700 posts - well, you get the message. Your back catalogue of posts - as in the book business or the music industry - will make you money by bringing more visitors. Think how someone like Paul McCartney is still getting royalties on early Beatles hits from 40+ years ago. It's similar with blogging. Of course with blogging posts there are still the sensible rules to follow to get good results from search engines, and also from social networking sites. One of the important secrets, however, is to keep on going, and have lots of posts floating about the Blogosphere. The more fish you have in the water the more fish you are likely to catch. Coincidence and Synchronicity: Coincidence stories and examples. Labels: 67 Not Out, blog visitors, hits |
Tuesday
Over 80,000 Hits From Stumbleupon
I know that I mentioned Stumbleupon in my last post and said that it's possible to get an extra 1000 visits from them via their website. However, for one of my posts on 67 Not Out I've now had over 81 thousand hits over the last seven days - see stats below. This has given me massive traffic - at least for the blog concerned. As you will see from the stats below the blog had 37290 visitors yesterday and 51840 page views. For the previous day it was 26847 and 35882.  I'm not for one minute suggesting that this can be achieved all the time but it does indicate the power of Stumbleupon as a traffic generating tool. I've heard people say negative things like, "Yea, but it isn't good traffic, it's not targeted." To this I'd simply say, "Rubbish!" Sure some of the readers won't be ideal, some might well hate what they find, but there will be some who like the blog, will subscribe and will even link to you. That has to be nothing but good. Because of Stumbleupon I've also had hits from Facebook and other blogs and websites which have happened all by themselves. I can't honestly tell you why this particular post took off in the way it did. Could well be just luck but it's good to know that this can happen and if it doesn't you should still get a few hits. I'm now looking at Twitter as a traffic generating tool. Not too convinced about this but at the moment I'm trying to build my followers. So far I've gone from nil to over 700 followers. I'm joining lists where people say that if you will follow them on Twitter they will also follow you back. I can't say yet if this will be of benefit and will get back to you on this in due course. Meanwhile if anyone follows me on Twitter I will follow them back. My Twitter link is @67notout - also why not leave a comment on this post and say you will also follow back those who follow you, won't do any harm. That's it for now, Good luck, Mike. Labels: blog referrers, stumbleupon, traffic, Twitter |
Monday
Sources Bringing Blog Traffic
 Following on from my last post Stumbleupon is now getting much better results for 67 Not Out than with Reddit. The stats above show referrals from them for the last month - this works out at about 890 per week or 127 daily. As I've written previously most blog directories don't bring in many referrals, if any, though their inbound links are useful towards search engine ratings. I have, however, been getting referrals okay from blogtopsites - nothing massive but a worthwhile number. She Told Me is also sending referrals and is useful for getting a bit of publicity for individual blog posts. It appears that you can enter posts everytime you publish a new one. As with any blog it's always useful to leave links wherever you can - even if they are only likely to bring in an extra couple of hits per day. They all add up. It's no good just relying on one or two sources for referrals, just in case something goes wrong and the hits drop off dramatically. Good luck with your blogging, Mike. Russian Secret Device Stores Psychic Energy Labels: blog referrers, Reddit, Referrals, She Told Me, stumbleupon |
Wednesday
How To Get An Extra 1000 Referrals A Week
| I've been dabbling in all sorts of ways to get traffic to my newest blog 67 Not Out. The results have been mixed but I have found out a way which is bringing me in a regular extra 1000 referrals a week. No doubt you have heard of Stumbleupon and Reddit before - most within blogging probably have. I'd used them before but without a great deal of success, even though I read up on the supposed 'secrets' from other blogmasters. Some say that with Stumbleupon, for instance, the way forward is to get lots of friends (subscriptions) and with Reddit you need high karma (their rating points system). I've got neither of these! I have only 10 friends/subscriptions on Stumbleupon and only a karma of 200 on Reddit. But as you can see below, from my stats, I've had over 1000 referrals from them in the last 7 days.  Perhaps if I did have more friends/karma I would have done better - I don't know about this at the present time. To get the extra 1000 referrals all I have done is to submit a post from my blog to both Stumbleupon and Reddit every single day. And consistency is now be paying off. With Stumbleupon I also stumble two or three other blogs or website's posts every day as well. This way it doesn't look as if I'm only promoting my own stuff. A few other stumbles a day only takes a few minutes. With Reddit I follow the same procedure and also submit other blogs and websites, besides my own, each day. Now, from what I can see, there are some very strange folk on Reddit who like nothing better to mark your submissions down, no matter how good they are. I asked one member why he did this and he answered, "Because I can." They no doubt have ulterior motives. At first this used to annoy me immensely but now I accept that this happens and don't worry about my karma. Just like I don't get annoyed by some of the stupid / insulting comments some Reddit members leave. With Reddit the main way to success is a good title for the posts you submit. It doesn't have to be the proper blog title, you can use something completely different. If it's catchy and sounds interesting you'll get traffic. As I have already said, perhaps if I fully followed what some of the self styled 'experts' suggest I'd get an even better response from Stumbleupon and Reddit. For the time being though, I'm happy to get 1000 referrals a week from them. Some might say that such referrals aren't quality traffic. I still maintain, however, that all traffic is good traffic - and it's definitely better than little traffic! Good luck, Mike. 67 Not Out: The blog about coincidences, synchronicity and other bizarre mysteries. Labels: Reddit, Referrals, stumbleupon, traffic |
Thursday
Blog Traffic From Reddit, Blogcatalog and Twitter
 Looking at stats for my newest blog 67 Not Out it's interesting to see where the blog's referrals originate.Times have changed since I first started blogging and now it seems that the likes of Reddit, blogcatalog, Twitter and similar sites can't be ignored. The argument against them is usually that the traffic isn't necessarily good traffic - but it's definitely better than not having it! With Reddit, for example, if you do it properly, you should get between 40 and 150 referrals in a day for blog posts submitted (you need a good, catchy title - it doesn't have to be the same as the one on your blog for the same post). If you are lucky you could get more traffic than this but the figures I have suggested are what I've been getting on average without too much effort. And that's the draw back with such sites - it can take effort and/or time. You need to network. I haven't been overdoing it - time wise - with 67 Not Out. I just go to Reddit, blogcatalog and Twitter once a day. I've never used these previously to generate traffic but, as you can see by the chart on the right, they are now important referral sources for the blog. Reddit is a strange site for two reasons. Firstly, sometimes my post submissions don't get listed properly and therefore draw a blank with referrals. It seems they have some sort of spam catcher that catches even genuine posts. So when I submit a post to Reddit I immediately go to the 'What's New' section to ensure the post has been accepted properly. It should show up within minutes. If it's not listed, something has gone wrong, probably it's been caught up in the spam catcher's net. If it has I leave things for a while and then delete the entry and later I try again. The other strange thing about Reddit is that posts can be voted up and down by other members. Well this isn't strange, but the fact that lots of people delight in downvoting perfectly good posts, is. But you have to accept this - they probably have some agenda in downvoting. With blogcatalog it's necessary to get noticed and the best way seems to be by joining in with their forum. Mind you, all forums can generate traffic. As for Twitter it's not my cup of tea really - too much spam and pointless tweets. But, as you can see, it creeps into my top 10 referrers for 67 Not Out. I'm also now trying Stumbleupon but I haven't fully mastered this as yet. I did get 80+ referrals for one post but most of the others only had one or two. Time willing I'll work on this.  Labels: blog referrers, blogcatalog, Reddit, Referrals, stumbleupon, Twitter |
The Setting Up And Promoting A New Blog
 I have been spending quite a bit of my blogging time trying to set up a new blog 67 Not Out. As its about coincidences and synchronicity it's not one of the 'easy' niches to promote.I've set up blogs previously on things like celebrities and money making and have got them moving pretty quickly using the right SEO and also picking popular subjects that people actually want to read. I usually set myself a target of 1500 visits for the first month of a new blog. I must admit though that I'm not on target as yet for 67 Not Out. It's something I want to persist with though as coincidences, and there meaning, is something that interests me. With this new blog I've found a few things that work traffic wise and some that don't. One good source of traffic has been blogcatalog whereas a similar site FuelMyBlog has been a waste of time as far as I'm concerned. Blogcatalog is bursting with activity whereas FuelMyBlog has a directory of many defunct blogs and very little action on their forum. Blogcatalog's forum is almost too good as, if you start a discussion, it can quickly get knocked off the front page unless you give it some attention yourself. I would add though that to be successful on blogcatalog you have to be pro active. It's not good just listing your blog, going away and forgetting it. It's necessary to make friends, leave comments, join in the forum and so on. Unfortunately that means allowing time for such activities. It's a good place to find other blogs to visit and leave comments. I usually say in the comments I leave that I 'arrived via blogcatalog'. This way most bloggers return the visit. She Told Me has also produced a few visits for me and with the site you can also make a little money - if you are lucky! You simply list your blogs/posts and get any AdSense clicks from the page credited to your own AdSense account. It won't make a fortune but, as they say, every little helps. As for blog directories most are a waste of space as regard referring visits. You might just get a handful if you are lucky. I've submitted 67 Not Out to most of the main directories but have had no referrals at all. What they are useful for is links to your blog, which helps with the search engine rankings. Most directories have PR's in excess of 4. I've managed to get a few blogs linking to 67 Not Out so that also helps with visitors. What I'm waiting for is to crack Google and get some good positions for a few keywords / phrases. This will come in it's own good time. As I said in the previous post it's persistence that will win the day. Good luck, Mike. 10 Coincidence or Synchronicity Examples: Message from the dead, dreaming winners, questions answered, unexpected meetings etc. etc. Labels: 67 Not Out, blogcatalog, Blogs, fuelmyblog, She Told Me |
Sunday
Four Secrets Of Making Money With Blogs
 Okay, what are the secrets to making money with blogs? There's a lot of rubbish written on this but here the 4 essentials.(1) Persistence So many get enthused at the start of a New Year and decide to make their fortune by blogging. "It's easy," they think, having read a lot of the hype. The reality is, however, that most new bloggers soon give up when the cash doesn't appear as it is supposed to. Yes, there will always be exceptions but generally it takes a lot of persistence to make good full time money from a blog. Think perhaps years rather than overnight. Even big six figure bloggers such as Darren Rowse didn't crack the big time straight away. He made a lot of money in November 2009 but after he had stated this fact he went on to say: This might sound like another scammy ‘make money fast online’ story - but it’s not. While the money did come in fast in November, it was on the back of over 3 years hard work and gradual growth on that blog.Take another example. Rhys Wynne for example, for whom I have a lot of respect. He recently wrote: Maintaining a blog is hard work, promoting a blog is hard work. However it can be rewarding. Blogging hasn’t bought me – after 7 years – a full time sustainable income yet. However, in the past 7 years I have gained the following from blogging:-So, unless you are a 'special one', it may well take a while to build up your blog to reach a good income level. You have to keep on going. (2) Flexibility I maintain that you have to be flexible in blogging and with any money making venture. If something isn't working it's no good flogging a dead horse. You have to make some changes. If you keep on doing the same things, you'll get the same results. So be prepared to try different styles or make improvements if things aren't performing as you would wish - but keep in mind that blogging is long term. (3) Promotion You can write the most interesting and perfect copy but, if no one visits or reads your blog, you won't make any money. Full stop. People won't just arrive at a blog post, you have to learn the business. Read about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and do something every day to promote your blog. You'll find lots of ways to do this if you start looking. When I started blogging I set myself a target of getting my blog's URL listed somewhere different every day. At the time I didn't fully realise all of the benefits of doing this. It simply made sense to me that if I had the blog listed in lots of places, hopefully I might just get lots of visitors in return. It didn't actually work out exactly like this but the blog traffic increased gradually week by week. The benefit I eventually saw was that all of the links often got my posts in good positions on Google. Now this does bring visitors. (4) Traffic The biggest secret of blogging is traffic. If you have lots of traffic you'll make money. "Yes, but isn't Content King?," people ask. I think it's more of a Lord or a Duke personally. Good content will keep people re-visiting the blog and they may well become subscribers. But I feel that all visitors are of equal value. Some visitors will make you some money but lots of visitors will make you lots of visitors. This is regardless of where they came from. Blogging is partly a numbers game. Summary For me therefore the Four Secrets Of Making Money With Blogs are: Persistence, Flexibility, Promotion and Traffic. There are lots of other things that will help achieve success and that's why I previously mentioned how it is necessary to learn the business. The answers are out there. Good luck, Mike 67 Not Out: A new blog of coincidence, synchronicity and other stuff. Labels: making money |
Make Money With Blogs By Finding A Hunger
 I was talking to a successful entrepreneur the other day about making money. He said it was easy to be successful. All you have to do is find a hunger and feed it. That's all there is to it.Now when we start setting up blogs to make money, and read many of the blogging experts, they tell us to write about what we love, the things that really inspire and motivate us. But this is far from the whole picture. If your passion is for some obscure subject, no matter how beautifully you express your subject you probably won't end up making much money, at least from blogging. Why? Simply because there isn't a hunger for something obscure. So not many people are going to feed upon your words. Deciding on a blogging niche that will make you money is about, as I've previously said, giving people what they want - what they really want. Not what you think they should want or might want. It has to be something that readers are hungry for. This is where the value of following trends comes into it's own. But better still if you can get into something before the mainstream has caught on to it's potential and hasn't realised that there will soon be a hunger for this particular trend. The only problem with lots of trends is that they don't always last very long. So perhaps you need a niche where you can incorporate many trends as and when they are on the way up - technology, music, politics, celebrities and so on spring to mind. As the man said find the hunger and feed it. Good luck, Mike My latest Squidoo lens: Cornwall Walks Labels: blog, Blogging, make money, making money |
Monday
Making Money While On Holiday
| Away a little longer than expected and had a great time. For the final week of our break we stayed in a 14th century cottage - very creepy and creaky. Back to reality. I've been checking my blog stats and the break doesn't seem to have done any harm to my blogs. I think once you have a lot of posts, on a blog, they will virtually tick over by themselves - with the help of the search engines that is. A couple of things I did notice was that Zimbio sent one of my celeb blogs 600+ referrals over the last seven days. I think it's worth joining Zimbio as you can put your blog on 'automatic' and they will add posts to relevant sections of their website. I've been doing this for ages and an extra 600 or so hits a week is a worthwhile boost for most blogs. I must add though that Zimbio works better for some niches than others. It doesn't do as well for Mike's Money Making Mission for example, but all extra traffic is welcome.  One thing I do when checking blog stats is to see what posts are getting the most hits. I then check the posts to make sure they carry some relevant up to date advertising - mostly in a text format. If not I add something. If a post is attracting visitors it makes sense to try and make some money out of it. Must press on, lots to do. Good luck, Mike. Labels: making money, Mike's Money Making Mission, Zimbio |