DISQUS

The Marketing Technology Blog: The Long Tail of Commenting: Never Blog Alone

  • Buzzoodle Ron · 2 years ago
    It is great when someone is open with stats like this. It provides a good benchmark and can lead someone to a new strategy.

    I also really liked the book, Never Eat Alone.
  • seanrox · 2 years ago
    I'm happy to see my site in the #12 position :) and sometime soon maybe I'll actually make it into your top 10... w00t!

    The longer you're connected with someone's site, the more traffic you'll receive I'm sure.

    I assume that's the reason lifehacker sends you so much traffic because of how long you've been on the site.

    I was surprised to see blaugh.com sending you traffic. How did that work? I know you send them traffic because of the comic on your site but it coming to you is interesting. Did they do a comic based on you? If you... link please as I want to see :)

    Keep up the great work. I see good things for you in 2007.
  • Liz · 2 years ago
    Honoured to be there.

    --Liz, www.Answers.com
  • Abhijit Nadgouda · 2 years ago
    Never blog alone - well said Doug! Participating in dialogs is the best way of getting noticed and read.
  • Douglas Karr · 2 years ago
    Re: Lifehacker: This site is a favorite of mine. I find myself commenting on their site quite a bit. I love the mix of articles there. If you've not been, the site is not about 'hacking', it's simply about cool ideas for making life easier.

    Re: Blaugh: I actually assisted those guys a little bit with some feedback on their site as well as sent them some code for modifying their theme. I don't believe they utilized the code... they did say if I made them happy that there would be a cartoon forthcoming. I didn't do it for the cartoon, though! I also provided a post on my site on how to add bLaugh after the first post on the home page that they enjoyed.

    I'm sure Have Laptop Will Travel will be improving my stats this year, now that you're famous!
  • C. B. Whittemore · 2 years ago
    Doug, what a fascinating way to look at traffic and connecting. You've given me a new way to look at the community of blogging, and the Z-list! Thanks.
  • Tony D. Clark · 2 years ago
    Thanks Doug - Do I get some kind of kick-back for those 2 hits I sent? :)

    You're right about connections. I get a good amount of traffic from the articles I write for lifehack, and from commenting.
  • Liz Strauss · 2 years ago
    What a great post, Doug, for the values you outline here -- not just for the wonderful list. I only recently discovered your blog, but I'm so enjoying it every time I visit. Thank you for the love, but even moreso. Thank you for the continuous great content!
  • Chris Kieff · 2 years ago
    Doug,

    Thanks for including Unconventional Thinking in your thoughts and the list. Also thanks for visiting and commenting about Mark's article in Forbes.com. We're sure your book will be a great success.

    I've been leaving this quote all over the place; but she said it far better than I ever could:
    “Never underestimate the power of a small group of dedicated people to change the world. Indeed, it’s all that ever have.”
    by Margaret Mead

    Best of Luck,
    Chris
  • Andy Beal · 2 years ago
    Great post Doug, I've used it as an example over at Marketing Pilgrim. Glad we could send some traffic and thanks for reading!
  • Becky Carroll · 2 years ago
    Doug,

    Glad to see that CustomersRock! is sending links your way, as you have been sending folks to me as well.
    Through the Z-list, I have entered a whole new community of like-minded people, and it has been great to
    learn from them, including you! I will do some of my own referral analysis (easier, as my blog is
    relatively new) and do some reporting soon. Thanks for the idea.
  • Heather D · 2 years ago
    Hi Doug -- I have been a part of the Web experience since 1996 and what is amazing to me, ten years later, I finally feel truly connected to the whole. Thanks to blogs and commenting, we are able to extend out the conversation far beyond our market niche, our local/regional business and professional network and any other traditional social network we had before. What's equally profound to me is how the Web feels so much more tied-in now -- there is a great connection almost at every corner.

    With the beauty of RSS feeds, we can keep up with what everyone's discussing today -- what's on the minds of our extended network now and helps us keep engaged.

    Commenting has truly made us feel connected and allowed us to participate in the larger conversation.

    The long tail of commenting is a beautiful way of identifying what's going on here. There's the freedom to engage as often as you like whenever you can or want to. Blogging allows the conversation to continue, evolve and for us, it often spurs new ideas for blog posts.

    Great post and we value the "connection" we've made with you!
    Keep up the great work!
  • Martin Weiss · 2 years ago
    Hey, I made the top 50% :)

    Seriously though, Doug, thanks for all you insight, and willigness to share and help - both in blogsphere and e-mailsphere.
  • engtech · 2 years ago
    Cool stats, what is the time period? (hits since the blog started?)
  • Josh Colter · 2 years ago
    Doug,

    Thanks for the heads up about correct spelling. Erin from marketing also brought it to my attention today. It's safe to assume that I have learned the error of my ways.

    Do you have a "forward to a friend" option on your blog? I want a friend to read your latest post.
  • Roberta Rosenberg · 2 years ago
    Terrific post and glad to do my small part!
  • kelvin newman · 2 years ago
    Came through from Marketing Pilgrim, its really interesting to see how a few comments here and there can really add up to some discernable traffic. I must try and comment on posts more often!
  • Javier · 2 years ago
    A million of thanks for link!

    :)
  • Chris Moore · 2 years ago
    You know, as often as I give people this very same advice, I never seem to follow it myself.

    It's just so easy to get caught up in actually posting and trying to sift through your feeds and make sense of all the info out there, that it's so easy to forget the whole point of what blogs are about: discussion.

    Thanks for the reminder, Doug!!!
  • Guy Pelletier · 2 years ago
    Blogging as a communication requires a two way conversation. The comments are key to that principle. When you start to comment on other blogs, people are going to validate your comments by what you say in your own yard.

    Good post.

    Guy
  • Carolyn Manning · 2 years ago
    Well, Doug, it looks like I'm in some good company but I'd better get on the ball if I want to raise your ratings a little more :)
  • Martin Weiss · 2 years ago
    Just saw that my companie`s website-in-progress (littmagi.com) is represented with 34 links. And that site isn`t even launched. And no single comment.
    Weird... The mystics of the internet ;)
  • Douglas Karr · 2 years ago
    Martin,

    It appears that your site and littmagi.com are served from the same server. I'm not sure how the analytics package captures the source... perhaps a reverse IP of some sort. It is interesting!

    Doug
  • Sterling Camden · 2 years ago
    You're welcome, Doug -- and thanks for all the clicks you've sent my way!
  • Eric · 2 years ago
    hey - always great content. Thanks for posting this and keeping up the good writing. I think having an open forum and open comments always leads to better conversation and feedback.
  • Rick Cockrum · 2 years ago
    Hi Doug!

    This is the first time I've seen a quantitative measurement of the number of referrals you can get from commenting on other blogs. The numbers are amazing.

    Your reasons for commenting are even more important, though:


    I don’t do it thinking that it’s going to help my blog; rather, I do it to correct information I think is wrong, encourage folks who I think are doing a great job, and add supporting material to arguments that others make.


    Participating in a conversation because you have something to add rather than because of what you'll get out of it is what makes blogging fun and worthwhile.
  • John T. Pratt · 2 years ago
    This was a great post, the stats are really telling. Your participation in other blogs has really paid off, not only in traffic - but it looks like also in your reputation (and PR). I will definitely be coming back to read your regular posts.

    I linked to you in my article about blog optimization tips at search optimization school.

    Keep up the good work!
  • TechZ · 2 years ago
    Thanks for the link back Doug, 15 hits from me, not bad, but could be better ;)
  • Douglas Karr · 2 years ago
    Every bit counts! Thank-you!!!
  • cogmios · 2 years ago
    I wanted to try out your Technorati WordPress Plugin since it seems a very cool gadget for my blog. However it gives me the error "
    Fatal error: Cannot instantiate non-existent class: simplexmlelement in /home/.jericho/edelwater/cogmios.nl/wp-content/plugins/technorati-rank/technorati-rank.php on line 94"

    Are there any pre-reqs before installing it? (yes I did input the technorati key).
  • cogmios · 2 years ago
    I tried your Technorati Plugin, first it gave me a failure but I realized that I need to upgrade to php5... I did... especially for the plugin and now it works. GREAT PLUGIN! thanks!!!!!
  • Thunk Different · 2 years ago
    Thanks big guy! i will post 'em on my blog.

    -Americo.