40Tech launched on June 4, 2009. While the site is still in its infancy, its growth has been encouraging. We have you to thank for that. Thank you for visiting, and for contributing. In the first days, we were excited about getting 10 visits a day, believe it or not. Today, we’re going to take a brief look at the site’s traffic statistics over those six months, and a few of the lessons we’ve learned from those statistics. We’ll use Google Analytics to look back at our traffic.
Here is how our traffic broke down by month:
Month | Visitors | Visits | Bounce rate |
June | 316 | 398 | 66.08 |
July | 677 | 1001 | 61.54 |
August | 1859 | 2520 | 49.68 |
September | 3375 | 4353 | 15.00 |
October | 5047 | 6164 | 72.83 |
November | 8316 | 9613 | 75.97 |
December (through 12/16) |
7153 | 8410 | 77.47 |
A few kernels of wisdom we gained from this traffic:
1. StumbleUpon is great for traffic, horrible for bounce rate
Our traffic was growing modestly through late September, but we were encouraged most by our bounce rate. A site’s bounce rate represents the percentage of visits in which the visitor left the site after visiting only the page on which they arrived. In September, we were amazed as we watched our bounce rate drop to 15%. For reasons unknown to us, the stats showed that our visitors were visiting multiple pages on each visit.
Then, however, we submitted a few posts to StumbleUpon, a service that allows users to randomly visit (stumble upon) pages of pre-selected areas of interest. Visitors can give a page a "thumbs up" or a "thumbs down." It seems that the more often that people give a page thumbs up, the more often that page is fed to other users as they stumble.
A few posts in particular caught on (got "thumbs up") with Stumblers, causing spikes in traffic. However, I suspect that most Stumblers are like me, sitting back and causally clicking on the Stumble button, without delving deeper into the pages that they visit. As a result, our bounce rate immediately skyrocketed.
I no longer submit posts to StumbleUpon, both because of the effect on bounce rate and also because StumbleUpon discourages users from submitting their own sites. We still frequently see the Stumble effect, though, even with some older posts. I’m not sure of the rhyme or reason for it, but occasionally an older post will see a spike in traffic for a day or two.
I’d also be putting my head in the sand if I didn’t think that our content also had something to do with the rise in bounce rate. I’m at a loss, though, to see much of a difference in the type of posts we made in September, and the type posts that we are making now. So, we’ll ask you- is there some type of content that we posted in the past, that we’re not posting now, or vice versa?
2. Visiting and participating at other blogs is the best way to get "good" traffic
The contrast to the manner in which StumbleUpon visitors come and go is the degree of participation that we get from other bloggers. I notice that when I visit and comment on other blogs that I enjoy, those bloggers often reciprocate by visiting and commenting here. I suspect that you probably see the same phenomenon on your site, if you’re a blogger. The best part of this, though, isn’t the traffic. I’ve actually made some friends as a result, and feel like I’m a part of a community of bloggers. That goes beyond any dollar value. Included among those sites (although there are more) are the Casual Observer, Tech Patio, and the Freestyle Mind.
I also have learned that if I were in this for the money, I’d blog about blogging. Articles here about blogging issues generally get good (if not the best) traffic, and, more often than not, generate a fair amount of comments.
Unfortunately, this is the busy time of the year for my "other" job, so my time to visit other sites has been limited lately. I think this is reflected by the visits here, too. I hope to be able to enjoy these other sites again soon.
3. Site traffic generally grows, just by having more posts indexed by search engines
One of the keys to getting traffic is simply to have more good content. The more content you have, the more pages you have that will be indexed by search engines. In the future, we’d like to expand 40Tech beyond the 3-4 posts per week that we currently write. That may take another writer, though. In the meantime, we hope to continue with slow but steady growth.
If this were a full time job, I’m sure we could learn more from our statistics. For now, we’ll continue to learn as we go. How about you? Are you a blogger? What have you learned from your site’s statistics?
Kosmo @ The Casual Observer says:
15% bounce rate fpr a month is pretty stunning.
Thanks for the mention. You’ve definitely been a valuable member of the (relatively small) community at The Casual Observer. I completely agree that the friendships are the best part of the networking.
What have I learned from my sites statistics? That I tend to take a step forward, then a step back, for reasons that aren’t always readily apparent.
.-= Kosmo @ The Casual Observer´s last blog ..Yes, Virginia, There is an Obama Claus =-.
December 17, 2009 — 10:27 pm
Evan Kline says:
Thanks, Kosmo. I’ve noticed the same back and forth that you’ve noticed. There does seem to be a bright spot, usually, though. Often when it appears we’ve leveled off, something will happen to spike traffic or give me optimism.
December 18, 2009 — 9:34 am
christie says:
Congrats on the wonderful traffic progress, and it’s after less than six months! I totally agree about the StumbleUpon traffic. I’ve had days where I had a few thousand visitors THAT DAY due to some crazy SU luck, then it tapers right back off.
Likewise, the traffic from interacting with other bloggers definitely is great quality traffic, plus making friends this way allows us to make friends with people we really have something in common with and enjoy – since geography is not an issue.
My day job is hectic too right now, but I hope after the first of the year to start really “making the rounds” of blogs again and writing more on my own blog too. Congrats again, and good luck in ’10!
.-= christie´s last blog ..Introverts and neighbors =-.
December 18, 2009 — 7:21 am
Evan Kline says:
Thanks, Chrisie. It sounds like we’ve had similar experiences. I’m looking to things settling down so I have time to read the blogs I enjoy.
December 18, 2009 — 9:35 am
Kidgas says:
I definitely agree with point #2. I am still early in my blogging effort but have noticed that by interacting with other bloggers, it is possible to identify like-minded individuals. I figure that the positive impact of the traffic will help with the search engines. In fact, I have just started noticing search engine traffic starting to increase on my blog.
.-= Kidgas´s last blog ..Promoted at Life123 =-.
December 19, 2009 — 7:08 pm
Evan Kline says:
I’m glad to hear that you’re seeing that effect, too, Kidgas. Congrats on your traffic increase, too.
December 20, 2009 — 8:39 pm
Tony says:
I was this | | close to not commenting after realizing that our blogs share the same theme. Made me realize how much work I’ve got ahead of me.
Site statistics is almost as addicting as gambling. I remember when I used Weebly and had Google Analytics installed, I couldn’t stop checking the stats every hour even though they weren’t in real time. It was a very unproductive time.
Then I got a WordPress.com blog. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get Google Analytics installed since WP doesn’t allow scripts. Soon afterwards, I got hooked on the WP stats. SMH.
Now that I finally set up a self-hosted blog on WordPress, I have thus far managed to keep my Google Analytics addiction at bay. (Knock on wood)
Anyways, hope you don’t get too caught up in your stats like me. You’ll be amazed at how much time and focus it takes from you.
.-= Tony´s last blog ..Why Does a Computer Need RAM? (Must Read, Seriously) =-.
December 20, 2009 — 3:13 am
Evan Kline says:
Hey Tony. Your site looks great! Good luck with it. You’re right – stats can be addicting. I generally try to limit myself to checking after I have lunch, and then again in the evening, but sometimes I find myself catching peaks at other times.
December 20, 2009 — 10:05 pm