by Jonathan Bailey on June 19th, 2013
Yesterday, I pulled up the site statistics for my main site and noticed that they were through the roof.
It was as if someone had just flipped a switch and ratcheted up my site’s traffic by about 4x. That traffic spike stayed with me through the entire night and through most of the day Monday.
Strangely though, it didn’t seem to be coming from anywhere. There was no referring site, no search engine query that I was scoring well on and no obvious cause for it. Even after a fairly lengthy investigation, I had no clue where the traffic was coming from.
It was so strange, that I even considered the possibility it could be a stat reporting error or a problem with my site. Neither checked out though as my content delivery network was reporting more traffic than usual and a live look at the traffic showed an organic patten for each visit/pageview.
To make matters more confusing, as soon as it began, it ended. About 5PM local time it was if the spigot was turned off and traffic immediately fell to normal levels.
What happened? I have no idea. But the incident got me thinking about traffic spikes to my site and the impact they’ve had.
This wasn’t the first or the largest traffic spike I’ve had, even over the past month. But over the years I’ve been running my site, I’ve noticed something, that while I’m always happy people are taking an interest in my work, with most spikes, there is little, if any, long-term effect.
So is it worth going after the big score when it comes to traffic? I’m a bit more dubious than I was almost eight years ago when I started, at least when it comes to me and my site. Read More
Categories: Blogging Sense
by BloggingPro on June 18th, 2013
If the average (somewhat knowledgeable online) person is asked about the best platform to use for a blog or web site, the chances are that his reply will be WordPress. That’s because WordPress does have a lot going for it, and its popularity has not skyrocketed without reason. Indeed, there are many who would try to convince you to stick with WordPress.
The truth is that, however, popularity is not always the best reason to use a platform. While it can be a compelling reason – everyone loves it, it must be good! – there is always something that is just as good, or even better, out there. And when it comes to a platform for blogging, Joomla! is one excellent option. You might even hear some bloggers or web site managers tell you they prefer Joomla! over WordPress.
Want to know why you ought to consider Joomla!? Here are some good reasons you should use Joomla!. Read More
Categories: Blogging Tools
by Noemi Tasarra-Twigg on June 14th, 2013
What’s the most challenging experience you’ve had when finding a gig? I hope that you’re not facing too many challenges in this regard this month.
Here are the job board highlights for this week. Luck!
The Blog Herald is still looking for the perfect fit for their WordPress blogger position. If you keep tabs on the pulse of the blogosphere, have contacts with other prolific bloggers, and know WordPress in and out, then have a go!
Read More
Categories: Jobs
by BloggingPro on June 11th, 2013
Successful marketing largely hinges on how well you understand your customer. Being able to anticipate their needs and wants and how well you can communicate your message across to them without alienating them are factors that contribute to effective marketing, and ultimately, a successful business.
The best way you can anticipate your customers’ needs is by reading their minds, but while there’s no technology yet that can grant you telepathic powers, there’s a tool that, when used properly, can offer you the same results – web analytics. Read More
Categories: Blogging Sense
by BloggingPro on June 7th, 2013
Is your website or blog built on the popular open source content management platform called WordPress? There’s a good chance you are running WordPress in fact according to Wikipedia, 22% of all active websites on the Internet today are running WordPress as their core. This is because of the several tools and pure “awesomeness” WordPress delivers. But there are some downsides to WordPress being the #1 most widely used CMS.
The main downside is security. Because WordPress is so commonly used these days, it has become a target of hackers as of late. And will most likely continue to be for the foreseeable future. Hackers love to exploit over-exposed WordPress run sites and hacks are being reported at alarming and record-breaking rates. So if you run WordPress than this blog post is for you… to learn how to better protect your site from malicious hackers. Read More
Categories: WordPress Tips
by Noemi Tasarra-Twigg on June 7th, 2013
Good Friday morning to all of you! How did the first week of June treat you? Are you ready for more jobs coming your way?
Here are some of the most interesting listings we had this week. Once again, we bring you the job board highlights.
The Blog Herald is one of the oldest and most respected blogs about blogging and WordPress, and they need an experienced writer who can write about the platform – tips, tutorials, news, etc. – as well as the blogging scene in general. You also need to be able to track down bloggers and interview them. Got what it takes?
Read More
Categories: Jobs
by BloggingPro on June 6th, 2013
Attention all social media managers: The purpose of social media is to be social, and if you and your brand are not posting regularly or interacting with other users, it can hurt your brand.
No company has ever gained success by creating a social media page and then never using it. More and more customers today are turning to company’s social media sites over their websites, and if your company’s page lacks content and interaction, these customers will turn elsewhere.
Yes, sometimes it may be hard to think about exactly what you want to say or it may be hard to find the time to post, but there are things you can do to alleviate these blunders and inconsistencies from occurring. Read More
Categories: Blogging Tips
by BloggingPro on June 6th, 2013
There is a great variety of products to protect your web project against an inescapable evil of the modern Internet – spam attacks, which refer to the spreading of illicit hyperlinks via comments and forum posts on legitimate sites. Despite dozens of available anti-spam solutions, even a multilayer combination of a few of them cannot ensure the total safety of your site and its visitors, because spamming methods are getting more sophisticated. Spam protection is not that simple anymore. Read More
Categories: Blogging Tips
by Jonathan Bailey on June 5th, 2013
If you read my previous column about caching in WordPress, you know that it is incredibly important, for both the speed of your site and the health of your server, to run some kind of caching plugin on your installation.
But what’s lesser known is that you not only have a variety of caching plugins available for you on WordPress, but they aren’t all the same.
This isn’t to say that one is “better” or “worse” than another, but rather, that they have different aims, goals and purposes. A cache that is right for a friend’s site might not be right for yours and vice versa.
So how do you find which caching plugin is right for you? It starts with understanding why these plugins are different and then evaluating your needs honestly so that you’ll be able to pick the right one.
Simply put, this isn’t so much a guide to tell you which caching plugin is right or best for you, but rather, a guide to help you understand that there are options and figure out which one is the best for your situation. Read More
Categories: WordPress Plugins
by BloggingPro on June 3rd, 2013
You may have read it and even have heard it from many self-proclaimed SEO experts, that keyword density is vital and tremendously important to a successful article and overall website. In fact, many SEO companies that use both ethical and unethical search engine optimization strategies always aim for an article with quality keyword density.
Search engines know when writers are constantly thinking about a keyword when writing an article. However, some people question whether keyword density is really important at all. Read More
Categories: General
Are Traffic Spikes Worth Chasing?
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