Blog Tours – 3 Things That Worked

Yesterday we talked about what didn’t work. Here’s what worked.

1) Simple recommendations sent the most traffic.

This is the flip side of one factor that didn’t work. Not only did site reviews not harness traffic power, but short simple posts did. Think about that for a moment.

Work smarter, not harder.

It’s just like Chrisd said in the comments yesterday, “Killing yourself writing doesn’t help.” (In fact, I think Chrisd’s comment is more generally true than that. Killing yourself doing anything doesn’t help.)

Here’s another way to say this: Smart buzz is better at moving traffic than hard work.

Savvy bloggers are thinking, “Hey, you just want me to send all of my readers to you!” No, no, no. Remember, this is not about traffic to TheHighCalling.org. It’s about demonstrating that bloggers are influencers in a way that can be measured.

User activity is a good measuring tool. If you want to call people to action, do it in a short post.

And don’t be afraid to give yourself away. Your reader’s will respect you more for it.

2) Links on Tuesday sent traffic on Wednesday.

This was obvious from the data. Really, it’s already obvious to anyone who blogs. We don’t need to test if people click on links.

But remember, I need to prove that we should devote nonprofit money to encouraging bloggers. Obviously, the relationships and small groups that develop around good blogs are reason enough for some funding.

But if we are going to be good stewards of our funds, we need to know going in how effective this process will be. Are we only looking to develop online small groups? Or can we somehow find the blogs that are influencers and partner with them to help spread the message? Is there some formula that predicts the amount of traffic a blog controls?

There is, Tina. And L.L. And Susan Halfmom. Stay tuned. Cliff Hanger Man will not disappoint you.

If we can track the influence of bloggers, this High Calling Blogs project can be much bigger than encouraging individuals through small groups.

We can help all interested individuals at the same time as we target the influencers. The combination of those two approaches has the potential for larger societal change.

If it sounds audacious, well, it is. Remember, we have a big, holy audacious goal. Our BHAG is simple: help God change the world.

That is the H. E. Butt Foundation’s ultimate mission.

The renewal of society through the renewal of the church.
Church renewal through renewal of the family.
Family renewal through renewed individuals.

3) Preliminary statistics suggest that I have found a predictive formula for moving traffic.

I was in my white lab coat working alongside Igor when we found it one afternoon in my lab.

“Master, look! It’s the predictive formula!” Igor whined.

**Geek Alert! …Feel free to skip the next paragraph.** 

“Egads, Igor. You’re right! By examining the correlation between different variables, then tweaking a formula that combines some of the variables… Mwuhahaha!” I cackled.

**Non-Geeks resume reading here.**

“It is a messy process,” I told my lab assistant, “but it works. Quick Igor find me some fresh brains!”

“Yes, master!”

It was just like that. Unfortunately, I’m not posting the formula yet because I am Cliff Hanger Man! And I have to remind everyone that my data set is small. Don’t worry, I plan to share it soon. (The post is already in the cue, in fact.)

Suffice to say, the best independent variable for predicting traffic was … Google PageRank. There’s a reason Google rules the world.

To Sum Up:

1) Simple recommendations sent the most traffic. 
2) Links on Tuesday sent traffic on Wednesday.
3) Preliminary statistics suggest that I have found a predictive formula for moving traffic.

Tomorrow, when Igor returns with the fresh brains, I’ll share more about what variables mattered and what variables didn’t.

Geeks, you should all be thrilled. And if you aren’t, I don’t care. I’m having too much fun with this series.

Image “Feuerwerk Ruhrort 4″ provided by Raimond Spekking via wikicommons.