Comments on: The War of Numbers http://www.epiblogger.net/the-war-of-numbers/ The organic centre of blogging Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:46:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Rhett Soveran http://www.epiblogger.net/the-war-of-numbers/comment-page-1/#comment-975 Rhett Soveran Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:07:44 +0000 http://www.epiblogger.net/the-war-of-numbers/#comment-975 Thanks Dad! I guess you engineers have a heart after all! :D Thanks Dad! I guess you engineers have a heart after all! :D

]]> By: Doug http://www.epiblogger.net/the-war-of-numbers/comment-page-1/#comment-974 Doug Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:56:29 +0000 http://www.epiblogger.net/the-war-of-numbers/#comment-974 As an engineer numbers are really important but they should not be all consuming. The best engineers/scientists will weigh the numbers against their gut feel and be prepared to go with their gut feeling. It would seem to me that you are getting a good consistent response to Epiblogger, the numbers should be considered as suggestions for future direction and weighed against what you want to do but they shouldn't define the path forward. As an engineer numbers are really important but they should not be all consuming. The best engineers/scientists will weigh the numbers against their gut feel and be prepared to go with their gut feeling. It would seem to me that you are getting a good consistent response to Epiblogger, the numbers should be considered as suggestions for future direction and weighed against what you want to do but they shouldn’t define the path forward.

]]> By: Rhett Soveran http://www.epiblogger.net/the-war-of-numbers/comment-page-1/#comment-972 Rhett Soveran Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:39:39 +0000 http://www.epiblogger.net/the-war-of-numbers/#comment-972 <strong>Naomi:</strong> Thanks for stopping by. Yup, we are only four months old. Yes, I am trying to relax on the numbers. I don't see why I can't have loyal readers and big money ads/asses in seats. I want both. I don't care what idioms or general <i>truths</i> exist to tell me how greedy I am. This is Canada and I want the American dream! :D <strong>Steve:</strong> I think you're absolutely right. I wish I remembered that quote. That's a good one. Naomi: Thanks for stopping by. Yup, we are only four months old. Yes, I am trying to relax on the numbers. I don’t see why I can’t have loyal readers and big money ads/asses in seats. I want both. I don’t care what idioms or general truths exist to tell me how greedy I am. This is Canada and I want the American dream! :D

Steve: I think you’re absolutely right. I wish I remembered that quote. That’s a good one.

]]> By: Steve Mills http://www.epiblogger.net/the-war-of-numbers/comment-page-1/#comment-970 Steve Mills Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:29:30 +0000 http://www.epiblogger.net/the-war-of-numbers/#comment-970 I think that any numbers need to be taken in context. Traffic stats that are great for one blog may be seen as a failure in a different market. Remember there are lies, damn lies and then statistics :-) I think that any numbers need to be taken in context. Traffic stats that are great for one blog may be seen as a failure in a different market.
Remember there are lies, damn lies and then statistics :-)

]]> By: Naomi Dunford http://www.epiblogger.net/the-war-of-numbers/comment-page-1/#comment-969 Naomi Dunford Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:01:00 +0000 http://www.epiblogger.net/the-war-of-numbers/#comment-969 I heard my name and profanity in the same paragraph so I had to stop by and run my mouth off. First off, for what I'm assuming is a relatively new blog (am I talking out of my ass here?) most of your numbers are pretty good. To use IttyBiz as an example, we're PR 4, have a few thousand subscribers and monthly page views come in around 30K. The page views is low for a blog our size but we don't get relevant search engine traffic and everybody's reading through RSS. Our Alexa is 113K, only 15K or so above yours. When it comes to the ad question -- and for IB clients, it's a big one -- it all depends on what you're trying to accomplish. If you want to eventually secure substantial ad revenue, what you want is traffic. Whether they like you and send you presents in the mail is pretty irrelevant -- you just need asses in the seats. A targeted ad on a big site gets said asses in said seats. They don't usually come back, but enough new ones come that it makes up for it. If you want loyal readers, more intimate ads on smaller blogs will likely convert much better. |'m not going to go on a big rant about how loyal readers are better -- I think "readers" is a pretty morally neutral term -- but if you want loyal you're probably not going to get them from an ad on Problogger or Zen Habits. We (okay, <em>I</em>) was spazzing out about my Technorati ranking. It dropped like a rock when our first six months was up and I was all up in arms. Then I realized my blog had turned to shit because I was so busy thinking about how to up my rank. Uncool for my readers, and uncool for my psyche. So that was my 8972 cents. I am one of the 8 to agree. Chill about the numbers. I heard my name and profanity in the same paragraph so I had to stop by and run my mouth off.

First off, for what I’m assuming is a relatively new blog (am I talking out of my ass here?) most of your numbers are pretty good. To use IttyBiz as an example, we’re PR 4, have a few thousand subscribers and monthly page views come in around 30K. The page views is low for a blog our size but we don’t get relevant search engine traffic and everybody’s reading through RSS. Our Alexa is 113K, only 15K or so above yours.

When it comes to the ad question — and for IB clients, it’s a big one — it all depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. If you want to eventually secure substantial ad revenue, what you want is traffic. Whether they like you and send you presents in the mail is pretty irrelevant — you just need asses in the seats. A targeted ad on a big site gets said asses in said seats. They don’t usually come back, but enough new ones come that it makes up for it. If you want loyal readers, more intimate ads on smaller blogs will likely convert much better.

|’m not going to go on a big rant about how loyal readers are better — I think “readers” is a pretty morally neutral term — but if you want loyal you’re probably not going to get them from an ad on Problogger or Zen Habits. We (okay, I) was spazzing out about my Technorati ranking. It dropped like a rock when our first six months was up and I was all up in arms. Then I realized my blog had turned to shit because I was so busy thinking about how to up my rank. Uncool for my readers, and uncool for my psyche.

So that was my 8972 cents. I am one of the 8 to agree. Chill about the numbers.

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