What I didn’t expect were the stats. I want to share my findings with you:

The arrow marked “twitter post” shows the final day’s tally for the day I ran that post. The second arrow that’s marked “expert post” is actually a bit of a misnomer, because the stats show both the Twitter post *and* the expert post helping drive my traffic. What’s just crazy is the third arrow labeled “so far.”

For whatever reason, my stats package thinks the new day starts at about 10PM ET. I get a new graph every day at that time. I took that snapshot at Midnight ET of the day the expert post ran. That means I’m going to have one of my best blog traffic days ever on Saturday the 8th of August, and for what? A couple of silly posts?

Here’s the breakdown of the traffic on the day of the Twitter post:

And here’s the breakdown of traffic so far of the “so far” day:

What Does This All Mean?

Near as I can tell, it means that writing absurd pieces that mock or mirror the current status quo of things we’re passionate about like Twitter and Social Media can get some attention. But I think there’s more to it. Because people don’t expect snarky, sarcastic blog posts from me (or do you?), I think my efforts had even more impact. What’s your take on that?

Oh, I meant to tell you, on the day that I got the huge push against the Twitter post, LOTS of that traffic walked in the front door instead of clicking in from any discernible source:

So that means it wasn’t even pulled in via Twitter, but by sources either not tracked, or by people just typing in my URL.

Beyond this, I’m as stumped as you. I feel crazy and yet curious. There’s something to this little case study in the absurd. But what?

Can we think this way about our online presence? I think so. And it’s important to realize that, just like above, though I know you come here to experience the content, that I’m thinking about the trash receptacles, the rest rooms, and the gift shops along the way.

Understanding Your Guests

When I write a post like 27 blogging secrets to power your community, I know what will happen. It will be bookmarked by people using Delicious. People will pile on bookmarks, which means that it will reach Delicious/popular. That will trigger it to be picked up by Popurls. Then, several robots, including those on Twitter, will pick that post up, and it will get lots of traffic.

I know this because it’s a list, it seems handy, and you want to go back and refer to it later.

What makes a post like that useful? That one’s fairly obvious. It’s promotion. More people find the blog who haven’t seen it before, and that means I capture more new friends and potential community members to have conversations with.

Are there other traffic experiences where I know the outcome ahead of time? Yes. Here’s a list.

Traffic Experiences in My Park

• Big list posts – visibility by tons of bookmarks. (see above)
• Videoblog posts – few comments, but a nice level of engagement. The videoblog posts are a way to show you my human side, which is more of a loyalty experience. I do that so you see that I’m real, and human, and just like you.
• Posts about sharing thoughts – posts like your 3 goals for 2009 are designed for the community to share and talk with each other. The goal there is for me not to be the center, but the starter. What also happens, as you can see by the 48 trackbacks (and counting) is that people link to a post like that to make sure their post about the same topic is discovered. Trackbacks tell Google that there’s something useful happening over at chrisbrogan.com
• Posts about software – when I write a piece about something like how I use Twitter at volume, I’m not expecting a lot of comments, but I know I’m going to get lots of eyes on the post. The reason is simple: we’re all looking for ways to improve how we use the web. This sometimes translates to links, but definitely always translates to new community members.
• Pointer posts (where I write just to link to something else) – do just that. They shunt traffic to places where I want eyes to be. Posts like 8 Marketing Bloggers to Watch in 2009 are written so that you’ll visit those other people, and not stick around the blog. That’s also the goal of any sponsored post I write. I’d rather you check out the sponsor than get into it with me in the comments section.

The Importance of Knowing Your Guests

People want to have a good experience with your content. They want their expectations met. If you come here, you’re hoping that I’ll give you another thought about business communication. Thus, if I write way off topic, I know most times what you’ll do. If it’s a “woe is me” post, you’ll be comforting. If I write a “my family’s awesome post,” you’ll agree. That’s because you and I have built a relationship. We know each other enough to celebrate each other’s successes.

But I know why you come here, and so I never intend to dwell on matters that run too far afield of business communications and emerging technology.

It’s important to build your content, your online experience, the interaction of humans and your digital “stuff” such that your guests have the experience you hope they will with you and your presence.

What do you think about all this? Does the above make sense? Can you see where your own sites and your own material does different things for different types of posts? Am I seeing my own site and your experience with it accurately?

Photo credit banoootah_qtr

If this all works for you, great. If not, as always, I want you to give your thoughts. You probably know better than me.

25 Ways to Build Your Community

1. Read at least 100 blogs regularly. Not every post, but a variety. Extra hint: go OUTSIDE your particular passion circle.
2. Write brief, tight, actionable posts that people want to reference later.
3. Don’t ignore the value of linkbait and viral content. Don’t ALWAYS do that, but hey, it can work.
4. Give people your best. I know that sounds trite, but I’m saying don’t charge for the best and give away your crap. That’s a yard sale. Be Tiffany & Co.
5. When you write about people, use LINKS to connect your writing to them. This encourages good neighbor policies.
6. Write great titles that draw people in. (Brian Clark is the master.)
7. Keep lists of blog topics handy for when you feel down.
8. Learn how to write more than one post a day, and put the others in your blogging platform for rainy days (or when you’re busy). This saves my butt TONS of times. (I have a day job, you know.)
9. Promote other people’s work 12 times as much as you promote your own. This comes back as great karma, plus it shows people you recognize that other people are brilliant, not just you.
10. Comment the HELL out of other people’s blogs. Not fishing for your blog. Just adding your voice to theirs.
11. Get regular or irregular opportunities to guest blog. Years ago, I was blogging for Leon Ho at LifeHack.org. That got me plenty more friends than I had before.
12. “Claim” your blog with Technorati
13. List your blog in Dmoz.org, Yahoo, Google, etc.
14. Make subscribing easy. I use FeedBurner to do that. I also use easy to find buttons. I also ASK people to subscribe in about 5 different ways.
15. Build outposts.
16. Use Twitter effectively.
17. Use plug-ins like ShareThis and AddThis that add little “share” buttons after your posts.
18. Occasionally, when it’s a really good post, stumble yourself or bookmark it in Delicious. (Then go stumble 10 or 12 other people’s good work to absolve your sin.)
19. Go to meetups, conferences, and all types of live events. The more that people know you and can put your face to your work, the more they are likely to promote your work (and you theirs). Yes, this takes time, but you asked how I did it. That’s also how.
20. Make the occasional video or audio post so that people start to connect you the human to you the blogger. This works to “humanize” your efforts, and this is vital to what I think has made me successful.
21. Don’t be snarky. There are precious few who do it well. And plenty who do it poorly. Yes, it seems to help grow traffic, but I’m not going to advocate for it. Sorry.
22. Thank people endlessly. Be so full of humility and thanks and gracious awe at the fact that people share time with you (while not being one of those put-down artists) that your work comes off as perpetually fresh and energized and useful.
23. Be helpful. Have you ever heard that from me? Be helpful. Be helpful. The more you do for others, the more they want to point it out.
24. Keep your eyes on the STRATEGY of what you’re doing. Otherwise, there are tons of ways to fall into rabbit holes.
25. Encourage participation. Make your blog about other people, not you. Share and encourage and ask questions. Give your stage to your guest performers. Make it ALL a partnership with your community.

That’s what comes to mind. Maybe you know better than me. Why do YOU stick around? What did I miss that you’d want to share with others here?

Photo credit, kalandrakas