We're all looking for ideas to increase traffic or market our websites / blogs etc. and so I decided to do a little case study about trying to experience the John Chow effect for free by being a top commentator on his blog. I knew the results wouldn't be nearly as impressive as a ReviewMe review on John's blog would be, but I was actually kinda shocked by how low the numbers actually were. Here's the post on my blog about the John Chow effect on a top commentator Suffice it to say, I'm still looking for more ideas to improve traffic to my blog. If you don't care to check out the full post, I'll let you know that I only received 14 visitors. Are you surprised by that?
I have seen few of disappointed friends that thought the reviewme done by John Chow is not what you thought it would be. I don't want to name - names, but suffice to say - it's not worth it. One of the reason is that - you only get traffic while your review - is still on the frontpage. Once you're back into the archives section - your traffic will drop. Bear in mind - that John Chow updated his sites at least twice daily and allowed only 10 posts on the frontpage. Hence, your review will remain at the top for only 12 hours - then once you're off the frontpage - traffic will disappear. Furthermore, John has more than 8200+ RSS readers - and these guys who subscribe to RSS rarely click on the link to your blog/sites. The best way to get traffic from John Chow according to this friend of mine is - to buy text link ads from him.
Interesting point. I simply wanted to see how much traffic could be generated from his blog without paying for it and by simply being a top commentator. I was just surprised that there were very few people that actually clicked through to my blog from the top commentators section.
Yah, I was really surprised that I only got 4 hits from his home page by being in the middle of the list for Top Commentators. Either way, it was a fun case-study to try out. I emailed John about the post (hopefully he'll include it in a miscellaneous ramblings post or something )
you commented 33 comments and recieved 5 visitors from johnchow's blog and you blogged about it Did you imagine how many visitors you would get from this single thread?
I was so suprised with how dismal the results were that I surely wanted to blog about it. I think a lot of people are out there spending way too much time commenting on other people's blogs (most often worthless responses) just to be a top commentator when it doesn't improve traffic that much. I did the case study to discover just how much traffic came from being a top commentator on his blog and when the results were dismal I wasn't going to not post about it lol. I find it pretty interesting. To answer your question though: The funny thing is, I hopped onto my Google Analytics account to see how many visitors I got from DP and yesterday and it was 16 lol. I got more traffic from a thread on DP in one day than the 33 comments I posted on John's Blog and from being on the front page of his site. That's pretty funny imo.
I've always found that regardless of the blog you're commenting on, blog comments typically don't lead to traffic back to your own site unless the posting you comment on is a "hot topic" and/or controversial, and your comment adds some real value to the discussion/debate and isn't just a "yeah, I agree with..." posted just for the sake of posting.
Exactly, and it's not really a surprise either. Think how you would treat comments on a blog. What do you click and what do you ignore. Chances are, most people think the same way. When I read a blog's comments, I only click on links of comments that were interesting and supplied a unique and often controversial viewpoint. Most of all I like to read a real opinion, not some sucking-up or me-tooing. I've often found interesting blogs this way, so commenting works but you have to contribute something worthwile. Tom
Yah. I guess the main focus of the study was to see how much traffic came from being on the list, but a secondary discovery that makes sense is that you'll get a lot more visits to your blog if you write something worth reading. I didn't spam my way onto the list, but I'm certain others do (Like the people getting 100+ comments).
Gee, quoted twice in the same thread, I must have said something good... kind of ironic given that what I said was posting something of value was the path to positive results
Nice case study. It would have been a good idea to contact the top commenters and ask them what kind of traffic they are getting from that spot. I'm sure it's still worth asking to see how you compare. There are lots of variables to consider and you shouldn't dismiss the traffic after just one test.
That's bound to happen and would happen to every site. That's one reason why you would not want your blog post be put on a blog that is updated to often as you will soon be moved of the homepage. Once it's of the homepage and starts getting deeper into the blog the PR value and the traffic will decrease. A post that is of the homepage will only then mainly send you traffic through direct links to that blog post that you have or from the search engines directly going to your blog post page.
Yah that is a good idea. I think that by using my name as the anchor text instead of something related to blogging and/or forums is also what gave me little results. I may do a follow up study and include some of the recommendations that others have posted. I'm still surprised that it was only 14 total visitors regardless of the anchor text though.
If anything, I'd say in the long term you'd receive PR whereas in the beginning you don't (as it's new content). But I agree that traffic would obviously decrease.
I think being top commentator on my blog could probably send you more visitors !!! ;-) Definetelly this thread can bring more people to your sites than any other place ... I don't think his traffic is all that important anyways ... I believe most people just go there and try to find something to comment on just to have a link on his site !!!!
This is a good point By having a review on his site you also get a link. Depending on the cost of a review (i have no idea what he charges) the link alone might be worth it as its there forever and not just while you remain the top commentator.