Regular readers have probably thought that I’d let the “31 Days” exercises slip. Tsk!Tsk! No indeed I have been dutifully applying blogging-fu to my blogging and the results have been interesting.
I have been having a jolly good crack at the article promotion in Exercise Three and I am continuing to try and produce content for a weekly list post. For blog promotion I have been using Su.pr to pimp my posts via twitter, as aside from reddit this is where most of my traffic seems to come from.
What’s Su.pr?
It’s a service provided by StumbleUpon that allows you to schedule tweets and collates a number of statistics like your best twittering time based on click responses. I find that it allows me to make use of twitter even when I am not logged on.
My strategy in using su.pr was not to overdo it. My twitter followers I regard as an extended group of respected acquaintances (ok some of you are actually very good friends) so I don’t want to bombard you with the same tweet over and over again. So I decided to pimp a link once per day and at different times. I often find that I miss peoples tweets and I assume many miss mine on occasion as well. At one promo tweet per day it doesn’t seemed to have annoyed anyone.
Has it worked?
I have noticed subtle growth in my stats and a subtle growth in twitter followers as well. In comparison to last January my views per month are up by 2000(especially good since January last year was my second highest month for views).
So in summary its going well. I will continue with the twitter promotion.
If readers have any other suggestions for promotion feel free to comment. Indeed if you arrived here by a means other than search terms or twitter link feel free to let me know.
This post forms part of the 31 Days to a Better Blog workbook exercises. Click here to view more details
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Can I be really honest here? Because I only follow a small number of people on twitter I am easily able to scroll back through tweets missed when I've been offline. And hence I do get to see your repeated promotional tweets.
First tweet announcing a new post? Great, I'm fine with that. Second one (which I find comes in on the same day, many hours later) is okay. The ones after that I find monotonous (sorry, no offence intended but since you've asked …)
@inthehotspot (who isn't tweeting so oft these days alas) does her twitter promotion rather well in that she changes the wording of her tweets yet still lets you know it's a link to a previously advertised blog post. I find this makes it more interesting reading in my twitter stream. It shows me she's enthusiastic about her post, so enthused that she can talk a lot about it without repeating herself. I'm also more inclined to click on her links. @inthehotspot does have training & experience in SEO and I am sure that assists her in tweet construction.
That's my two cents worth. Others may feel differently or indeed, indifferent. I guess what it comes down to is "what & when gets readers to click on links?"
I love it when people are honest
I have a blog writer plugin that announces the post the first time(works 80% of the time. The rest is su.pr.
My reckoning was that if the wording was the same when searching back over you would quickly screen it out. I would be worried that if I reworded the tweet that people might get suckered into the same link and get annoyed.
How did @inthehotspot indicate it was a previous post? Did she promote frequentley (like once a day) or was it more a weekly thing and specific posts (ie her best work).
Off to alter tweets
Unlike DesertGirl I follow a lot of people on twitter ( probably too many :S ) so I rarely look back at previous tweets. As I'm on and off twitter during the day I miss a lot, so re-tweeting at different times of the day is more likely to catch me.
I prefer to see the exact same tweet, like you said Sean, I'll screen it out if I've seen it before, but might get suckered in if you re-worded it.
Got here via your last tweet, after checking twitter on returning from lunch.
i repost my blog posts – but i make it clear it's one i'm reposting – i try to add some phrase that will help ppl remember. I will do it 3-4 times the first day, (not every post, but i have) and then maybe 2 times second day. I often forget – i may not RT myself for several days. I don't usually put up posts that often (currently trying for every week, slipping to 2 weekly), so figure those who do like my posts won't mind me reposting.
For instance – my last post had a rant about the pope, so i mentioned that each time I RT'd. Last time i posted it, it looked like this.
for those who missed it, a rant from me – "First, suck up to the pope…" Papal masturbation & The Thing #amwriting http://bit.ly/c1qN2m
I figure if they've read it, they will remember – by saying at the beginning of tweet, 'this is RT', or 'for those who missed it' – they don't have to read further. That one's easy, with the pope in the title too – besides, we all know people are trying to promote their sites. If you don't get that, please, don't whinge about it, just unfollow me.
Yes it can be annoying if you're not following many, but that's not really my problem – i tweet a lot when i'm on, people who aren't following many will get a me overload whether i promote my blog or not.
When i first started on Twitter, I used to scroll back more and read over things – now (following 500 carefully vetted tweeple) i often miss completely people i am fond of, or major announcements (even RT'd ones) from Valued Acquaintances. Yesterday i missed someone being trapped at a hospital from 8am – i noticed her tweets at 10 in the evening!
Re: the hashtag – i do NOT put that on every post. This is because a number of people using the #amwriting tag do scroll back and read every post they miss, and also, spamming the hashtags makes me spam. I'll RT it there maybe once a day over 2 days, then (maybe) again a few days later. I try to take into account timezones – if i want to catch my US friends, i need to post in their waking times.
I don't get complaints (so far), or many unfollows, so i figure it's working okay. That's all i ask from those i follow – for ppl to let me know it's something already posted, give me a hint what it was about (who remembers titles?). Oh, and please, don't rejig original announcements to something snazzier, then forget to mention it's an RT, so i think woot, new post, and bounce across to blog, only to find it's one i read three days ago.
This old fart, who is incidentally highly qualified in typography, will once make the appeal that you, and so many other "modern day" blog publishers realize that this "font" is terrible. I suggest you look at some of the blogs of known "with it" publishers to see what they do. You won't find this font in use. Since you are publishing a forum for the application of truth, why not come to grips with the fact that in the field of graphic presentation, there are things to learn — or are you and others being as stubborn as the Christians who believe that they don't need to learn the truth.
In my last response to you I said I would look into and did. Since then I have tried to adjust the font under the old theme as per your suggestion and could not get it to work, my sincerest apologies for not writing to you.
This is a new theme, and one I intend to build on as the theme designer works the kinks out. I am not entirely happy with the interface yet including the font.
Since you are publishing a forum for the application of truth, why not come to grips with the fact that in the field of graphic presentation, there are things to learn — or are you and others being as stubborn as the Christians who believe that they don't need to learn the truth.
I like your style Anton, no holding back. Self assured cockiness. I'd tell you to politely go fuck yourself if a) If I thought it would work and b) I didn't already know what a cantankerous old fart you can be.
You make one huge assumption that I can't come to grips the fact that I might have something to learn in the field of graphical presentation. Can you conceive of the possibility that I may not have a) the expertise b) time c) or that other things might be more pressing
And what's this crap about being as stubborn as a christian? You trying to get under my skin? Ah you trying to throw you qualifications around and when that doesn't work, bully a person who doesn't agree with you or jump up and say yes masser.
Yes, I am a pushy old fart. I like you, brother, and I enjoy your blog. I apologize for the "christian" stuff . . . I thought I might have to hit you on the head with a brick and that was the only one in my pile. For example, I sure as heck don't communicate my "font message" to the "other guys"!
Are we okay? When you are as old as I am, you don't like the idea of waiting for others who I like get the message. I can't contribute as much as I would like to. I haven't posted to my blog for over six months because of personal problems . . . so I push when I can. Are we okay? I hope so!
Yeah we are cool, you cantankerous pushy old uncle
YOU DID IT!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Its so much easier to read now!!!