I've written to this effect myself and have said that money making is a numbers game. The more visitors you get, the more money it will be possible to make.
Thinking about this though, it is an over simplification. Yes, you need visitors but you also need visitors that will spend a while on your blog. It's quality, not simply numbers.
If it was purely a numbers game we could all become rich quickly by joining Hit Exchanges such as Blog Explosion, Blog Soldiers and Blog Mad. Now these three, and there are more besides, will definitely increase your number of visitors but, as I have written before, in my opinion these are only of use for cosmetic purposes. The stats will look good, but the actual hits (most will be only for about 20 seconds) are virtually worthless - plus they are not compatible with using AdSense.
What we have to try and do is to keep visitors on our site.
I've been looking at some of my own stats and I see that visitors are staying for about 4.75 minutes on average. I don't think this is too bad, as some hits will always go quickly if your blog isn't quite what they are looking for. I've also noticed that my page views are virtually exactly three per visitor.
I haven't really anything to compare my stats with, but again this doesn't sound too bad and is certainly superior to what it was a while back.
So how do we keep visitors on our blog? I don't pretend to be an expert but here are a few ideas.
Firstly, there has to be more than just your current posts on view, especially if they aren't very long. A lot of readers are skimmers and will shoot through a post quickly looking for something that interests them. There needs, therefore, to be something of interest to the reader besides your recent posts. Perhaps links to older, more important posts. Ones which you think are interesting and, of course, they need a catchy title - relevant to the subject matter.
There should also be links to previous posts within your new posts, whenever possible. Refer to similar things you have written and may be of use to the reader. Since I've started doing this myself I have noticed the average length of visits has increased.
It goes, without saying, that posts have to be to the highest standard we can do personally. Unfortunately we are not all natural writers and storytellers but we can check basics like spelling and double check to make sure that the message we are trying to convey is easily understood.
For example, I dislike these blogs - often technical ones - that love to show off by using abbreviations and 'insider' terms that many will not understand. There's no need. As with any selling - and with a money making blog your are selling - you should keep it simple. Some call this KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid.
Other ways to retain visitors may be with such things as polls, lists of links and information that may be helpful.
I've never tried polls myself, but have recently come across two where you can also earn money. These are: Vizu and BlogPolls.
Vizu places their client's targeted polls on your blog, or website, and you set the CPM (cost per thousand impressions) that you want to charge. Minimum payout is $50 and payment can be by check or PayPal.
BlogPolls works differently. This is what they say:
'Make money placing polls on your blog! Give us your Google Adsense code, or BlogAds code, or a banner code where you make money. We’ll place it for FREE in the results page, so when your readers click on the ads, or view the ads, you earn money.'
I'm sure there are many other ways to retain your visitors. All I really want to do with this post is to maybe to get a few brain cells ticking in that direction. I'd welcome any other suggestions that you may have.
Good luck,
Mike.
Please Note: I'm going away for a long weekend (with my wife!) to Bournemouth so my normal Weekly Report will now be on Monday (instead of Saturday). I've promised there will be no computer, phones, business etc. until we return. To see past Money Making Weekly Reports please click here.
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