Written on July 15th, 2009 at 12:07 am by Darren Rowse
6 Reasons Your Blog Traffic Might Be Declining [And What to Do About It]
Over the last few days I’ve read a few comments here on Problogger from bloggers who are feeling low because they’ve noticed a plateau or even a decrease in the traffic coming to their blog.
While we all want to see our traffic rise the reality is that every blog has days, weeks and even months where traffic levels out or even decreases. This can be quite distressing for bloggers who have big hopes and dreams for their blogs.
Today I’d like to look at some of the reasons a blog’s traffic might decrease and suggest some ways forward for each of them.
1. Seasonal Traffic
If you’re still in the first year of your blog you are yet to see what a full calendar year looks like in terms of traffic for your niche. Most niches have natural rises and falls in traffic.
For example (see below for a chart of visitor numbers) on my photography tips blog we see spikes in traffic in December and January. December’s traffic boost is generally to do with people researching new cameras to buy and January is generally associated with people working out how to use cameras that they got for Christmas. On the flip side we often see dips in traffic over August to October.
What to Do: The first time you see a seasonal rise or fall in traffic it can be quite confusing – however the key with it is to not panic when you see a dip but to identify opportunities to maximize the rises and to minimize the falls.
For example it might be that you need to tailor your content for certain times of year and what people are doing in relation to your niche.
For me on my photography blog this meant writing content in November-December on how to buy a digital camera (to capitalize on the Christmas buying trend), writing beginner photography tips in January (to capitalize on the trend of people looking for tips on how to use their new cameras) and during low seasons (like July when it’s summer in the US) writing topical tips like Beach Photography Tips or How to use a camera in the Bright Sun.
Another Tip – one great free tool for looking at seasonal traffic is to use Google Trends to analyze what people are searching the web for. For example if I type in ‘digital cameras’ I get this chart:
There’s lots of interesting stuff in this (the downward trend for starters) but it clearly shows what I’ve observed above – more people are searching the web for that term from November-December each year. This information could confirm a suspicion you have or help you identify a trend to capitalize on in your niche.
Further Reading: Seasonal Traffic and How to Capture it for your Blog.
2. Topical Interest
At other times of year traffic events can be triggered by other current events. For example I know one music blogger who has had a lot of traffic this past few weeks simply because they’d previously had a lot of content that ranked well in Google on Michael Jackson. Of course in coming months as the news of Jackson’s death subsides it’s likely that they’ll see some declines in traffic.
What to Do: The key with topical rises and falls in traffic is to try to capture as much of the rush of traffic as you can so that when the decline comes you’ve got new subscribers/readers to your blog (see further reading below on ’sticky blogs).
It’s also important to be aware of upcoming events in your niche and writing content in anticipation of that. This can be hard in predicting the death of a mega pop star like Jackson but in different niches it’s possible to predict events.
For example - before the Athens Olympics I was involved in running a blog where we wrote a post in advance of the Olympics for every single event in the games. The posts included athletes names and any information we could get on the events. We updated the posts with results once they events had been run. As a result we were consistently ranking very highly for ‘Event name Results’ when people were searching for winners of events in Search Engines.
Further Reading: How to Create a Sticky Blog
3. Posting Frequency
One common reason for lulls in traffic is that a blog has had a lull in new content being published. I saw one blogger writing a post recently about how their blog was failing to gain traction and in the comments of the post a reader pointed out that the blogger had hardly been posting. The reality was that the blogger had produced very little to be read and so people were not visiting.
What to Do: Posting more doesn’t guarantee extra traffic but it can be a factor to consider. Chart your last few months of posts and see if there’s any correlation to rises and falls in your traffic – you might identify a trend!
Worth noting is that some bloggers report that when they post LESS that they actually get more traction with readers. I know of one blogger who was posting 10-20 times a day and when he dropped things back to 2-3 posts a day he noticed not only increases in comment numbers per post but that his posts were being shared more on social media sites. At 10-20 posts a day posts were coming off the front page of his blog so much that readers hardly had a chance to read and share them.
Further Reading: What is the Ideal Post Frequency for a Blog?
4. Shifts in Search Rankings
Many blogs see the way that they are ranked by Google (and other search engines) rise and fall over the years. 
A Personal Example – Back in 2004 (just before Christmas) I woke up one day to find that my main blog at that time had all but disappeared from Google. I’d not done anything to the blog that wasn’t allowed by Google and hadn’t made any major changes to the site – I just disappeared. My heart sank (actually I felt quite sick) because that blog was the main source of income from my blogging and 75% of my traffic had vanished.
The lull in traffic lasted about 6 weeks before it magically reappeared. In that time I got myself another job and diversified my blogging and learned a lot.
What to Do: Sometimes search engines change their algorithms and occasionally they seem to lose sites from their rankings for no apparent reason. The key with this type of loss of traffic is to not panic, make sure you’re abiding by Google’s guidelines (not selling text links or doing anything else considered to be black hat) and then apply for re-inclusion using Google’s webmaster tools.This has happened to me a couple of times over the years and each time the traffic came back – it wasn’t quite as good as when it disappeared but things seemed to right themselves.
Further Reading: Search Engine Optimization for Bloggers
5. Poor Quality Posts
Of course another factor to consider when looking at the traffic to your blog is whether you’re actually building a valuable site for readers and producing high quality, engaging and useful content.
This one can be a little confronting to think through and might take you getting an outsiders critique or feedback (sometimes it’s hard to be objective about something you’ve put so much work into). As I look back on my own blogging I know there have been definite times where traffic has suffered when I’ve struggled for inspiration as a blogger and where this has impacted the quality of what I was able to write.
On the flip side there have been times where I’ve been inspired to write series of posts that have connected with readers and helped them in practical ways which has driven a lot of traffic to my sites.
What to Do: Ask yourself (and others around you):
- Are You Being Relevant and Useful to Readers?
- Is your blog helping your readers by providing them with value, solving their problems, entertaining them or giving them a sense of community?
If the answer is no then it is likely to impact the number of people reading it.
Further Reading: How to Write Great Blog Content
6. Promotional Activities
As I look at some of the rises and falls in traffic to my blogs I know that some of them can be directly tied to my own marketing and promotion of my blogs (or the lack of promotion that I’ve done).
Writing great content doesn’t guarantee a blog’s success. You can’t just build it and expect that ‘they will come’. Sometimes you need to get out there and promote yourself.
Perhaps the lull in traffic on your own blog is partly to do with taking your foot off the accelerator in your own marketing.
What to Do: This means different things for different blogs but could include investing into social media sites like Twitter, promoting your posts to other bloggers, networking with other bloggers, running a competition on your blog, leaving comments on other blogs and forums, guest posting on other sites, doing promotions in main stream media, doing some giveaways….. etc
Further Reading: How to Find Readers for Your Blog.
Keep Moving Forward – Don’t Give Up
There are many other potential factors that could be at play (I invite you to share others below) but the key is to not be paralyzed by the declines and plateaus in traffic that you experience but to spend a little time trying to identify the reasons and then keep on motoring on with your blog.
You can see from the first chart above that my photography blog has had quite a few months where traffic has plateaued and dipped – but I’ve kept to the vision that I have for the site and continued to keep working. A decrease in traffic from one month to the next is not pleasant but it’s not the end of your blog. If I’d allowed the dips to determine whether I’d keep blogging or not I’d probably have lasted 2-3 months on that blog and failed to see it grow to the point that it has.
225 Responses to “6 Reasons Your Blog Traffic Might Be Declining [And What to Do About It]” - Add Yours
Matt Harris
July 15th, 2009 12:28 am
Great advice. Thinking back only a week or two for fourth of July. My blog had been gaining traffic for a while then the 3 -5 of July it dropped to literally 0. It felt pretty discouraging but I just kept posting and sure enough everyone came back from vacation and i’m back on the up side again.
Shajib
July 15th, 2009 12:44 am
Awesome. ! A blogger must keep a waves of good post regularly and connected with them.
Shajib
http://www.ebooksdock.co.cc
Mikes Sumondong
July 15th, 2009 12:46 am
I think the “keep moving forward and don’t give up” hit me! really what gives traffic or the key to a blog’s success is PERSEVERANCE. Keep on whatever happens. if there’s a plateu, just keep on it will soon rise up but along the way: LEARN.
Thanks Darren!
Allen Nile
July 15th, 2009 12:56 am
Agree with the “too many posts can hurt”… I actually saw a decrease when posting too many articles daily.
Chanda | BizDharma.com
July 15th, 2009 1:06 am
Good advice.
I believe even when the traffic fluctuates since there was a massive increase recently due to any reason, if the posts quality is good, people will return. There are good chances that apart from that one post which the visitor landed; he will give another one post a try which he doesn’t know about and you don’t know which post he will click. If the second post strikes the right chords, you make a great impression. :)
Moral of the story good quality always works !
Ben Goulding
July 15th, 2009 1:08 am
You hit the nail on the head Darren on every point. All of those points are just as important as each other.
Shari McDonald
July 15th, 2009 1:09 am
I am brand new to blogging, which is funny because I am a software engineer. I have read several articles from your site and it has help me start my own blog (only 3 days old) at http://www.womenwantingitall.com.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Shari
Guillermo
July 15th, 2009 1:18 am
Darren, Thanks a lot for listening to us… the readers. I was one of them that teased you with the plateau in traffic.
I was quite surprised that you treated plateau and decline in the same way, I have to say… I was expecting to read different tactics to make your traffic keep growing instead of “re-gaining” it… but at some point I think it’s OK… these tips can make you reach more readers that, with time (and quality content) can make your audience grow.
Have a great day and thanks again!
G from Ottawa, CA
Guillermo
July 15th, 2009 1:20 am
You can dismiss this entry, just wanted tu subcscribe to comments on this post.
Kelly
July 15th, 2009 1:20 am
This is exactly what I needed to read.
My traffic has plateaued and at very small numbers, and it is rather disheartening.
I’m going to come up with a plan of action based on your advice. I report back after a month. Hopefully I’ll have something to show for it!
Christine Magtoto
July 15th, 2009 1:23 am
Great information! I just started my own blogs, and this definitely helps me get started.
Anatomy of Online Business
July 15th, 2009 1:30 am
hmm…nicely said. Lack of time or not able to spend good time on blogging, is another greatest factor that blocks the growth of your blog & its traffic. Because, i am hardly finding time for blogging but trying to make the best in the available time. lets see whats gona happen with me.
Looks full time bloggers like you are enjoying the time good with blogging. :-)
Thanks !!!
-Mr. Ven
Stefan | StudySuccessful.com
July 15th, 2009 1:38 am
Seasonal traffic. Never thought of that. Pretty important at my Study Blog I guess, When the students stop studying, they won’t be looking for ways to study of course. That is why I’m now more focussed on personal development on my blog..
Great post Darren, have to read some articles you link to!
Ali de Bold
July 15th, 2009 1:39 am
I think this is bang on. Great tips! Thanks for sharing!
B. Durant
July 15th, 2009 1:55 am
“3. Posting Frequency”
On ablogaboutnothing.com I used to post almost daily, 3 to 5 posts a day and was lucky to get 100 unique visitors a day for my trouble. Now I post once every few months on it and I easily get 300 to 500 unique visitors a day. Wish I could figure that one out…
On the other hand at pet-snakes.com I average a post every few weeks and I get consistent traffic that is steadily increasing day by day. Not to mention it is actually targeted traffic.
L-Jay
July 15th, 2009 1:58 am
Projecting six months ahead – because the country I live in is a tourist destination, I’ve also found that people look for information six months ahead. So for winter activities (dog sledding, reindeer sleighing etc) people are searching now for those things – and I’m getting many people looking at Christmas posts too – yikes!
I also noticed that during this years 4th July weekend my page views halved – I guess everyone in the U.S. was out partying ;D
Thanks for the read.
Andrew
July 15th, 2009 2:01 am
Darren, once again you’ve covered every angle. My current blog is not even 2 months old but I monitor things very closely.
I got to a point where traffic was increasing steadily on a daily basis then my host had a blowout, the database corrupted (all in the same week) and I was stuck fixing things and wasn’t able to keep to my regular posting schedule that my brand new readers were used to.
Since getting things sorted out, the posts are now coming out as they should be and readers and traffic is slowly returning.
On a side note, I just noticed that ProBlogger has N/A PR today. Has something happened again?
Stacy
July 15th, 2009 2:01 am
I’ve had my blog up and running since 2006, but have yet to make it past the 300-visitors-per-month mark (how embarrassing!). You pointed out the flaws I’ve been making, and now it’s time to try get the ball rolling again. Useful advice (as usual); thanks.
And regarding that blogger who made 10-20 posts a day … Aye carumba! Talk about information overload.
Stef
July 15th, 2009 2:07 am
Recently at LaptopMemo ( A tech news and reviews site run by me, a 12 year old) I’ve been having almost weeks of drought. 2 days ago I tuned my site a bit, left a comment at Engadget, and wrote a nice article. And I reached the most views in one day (649) and the next day was 201. I always thought that in the summer, people are traveling (if you have the funds), so you lose traffic. At the same time people are running out of cash so their Internet connections are down.
Pua
July 15th, 2009 2:07 am
Great post, Darren, as usual. It helps to keep us, the amateur bloggers, motivated and on track.
I have been blogging about ‘Best Hawaii Vacation’ for about 3 years now. Can’t believe it’s that long and I am still doing it and enjoying what I am doing.
The traffic to my Hawaii vacation blog is definitely influenced by seasonal aspects – our high vacation season is winter – and big Hawaii events coming up like the Ironman on the Big Island.
I learned to adjust to those by writing more related fresh content posts of interest for Hawaii visitors and really ‘exploit’ the extra traffic during these periods.
There are factors though which are beyond our magic blog posts like the ‘economic slowdown’. Hawaii tourism suffered big time for this summer and blog traffic did get slower but Hawaii always ‘recovers’ and will this time too.
Important through during those ’slower times’ to keep posts attractive and blog visitors interested!
Aloha Pua
Best Hawaii Vacation Blog
p.s.
BTW I love your tweets on twitter! @puahawaii
Stephen
July 15th, 2009 2:13 am
This is actually pretty timely for me. I’ve recently started writing more again and using the social media. I have definitely seen a correlation between posting frequency and traffic. The best thing I take away from this post is to keep at it. It’s amazing what happens when you do.
Stephen
RhondaL
July 15th, 2009 2:22 am
I have a horse blog that’s a little less than a year old. I find watching traffic ebb and flow very interesting.
My readership dipped once spring arrived in the northern US because people are spending more time outside. I expect it to return once the weather turns colder.
The Kentucky Derby gave my blog a tremendous spike, and I got to keep a few of the visitors as RSS subscribers.
Mentioning a popular celebrity who’s in the news also gets me a spike. I wrote an essay about James Bond when “The Quantum of Solace” was released. And I’m grateful to Daniel Radcliffe for baring all in “Equus” on Broadway. I’m also grateful to Katie Price, who got me my first search engine-generated blog comment.
I do know that the people I have as regular readers love my blog. If I can attract more with “shiny” timely content, all the better.
Salman
July 15th, 2009 2:32 am
Awesome post Darren.A blogger must know all this and then every blogger will achieve success
adis
July 15th, 2009 2:39 am
I’am 100% agree with you :)
Kosmo @ The Casual Observer
July 15th, 2009 2:48 am
I’d be curious to know if there is a traffic surge each August as college freshman jump into a new sphere of influence.
I plan to take advantage of some seasonal traffic next winter. I’ll be creating a Olympic content. I did something similar tin 2008 amongst a few friends. You assembled a fantasy team, with a few restrictions (needed X non-US athletes, only X athletes from swimming, etc). Points were earned for each medal. I’ll have a bit more time to fine tune the details for the 2010 games, though. I made up the Beijing rules in about an hour.
Joshua Elliot
July 15th, 2009 3:02 am
That was a great advice on what to do when traffic goes down.
I think that first you need to find out what happen (so you will not make the same mistake again). Second is to check with the major search engines, whether you have violated their regulations.
A lot of things can happen when traffic is not increasing but decreasing. But do not lose faith for there will always be a way.
Avinash
July 15th, 2009 3:03 am
That’s a great insight into the traffic decline many of bloggers face one time or other. I have been confronted with the drop in traffic due to shift in Search engine ranking but after few weeks its become normal again.
dinu
July 15th, 2009 3:23 am
thanks ! gotta do something to fix my blog too !
DollarShower
July 15th, 2009 3:24 am
I guess a couple of those points are applicable to me at the moment :) As for the sixth point, it can be on the other side as well – I mean, over promotion or over selling with stuffed referral links etc.
Great post Darren!
Greg Ellison
July 15th, 2009 3:27 am
You are always going to have traffic go up and down on your blog. Just keep on trucking and everything will come back up. Greg Ellison
Frank
July 15th, 2009 3:32 am
Evergreens could help to smooth your traffic volatility or reduce decrease of traffic. (Evergreens are not music in this case, but post with timeless content.)
Harsh Agrawal Shoutmeloud
July 15th, 2009 3:33 am
Point 3 holds very important. I have has personal experience with it.
usually I post 4-7 blog post/day. For some reason if I’m not able to post my traffic for the day sink by 200.
Ex : With Daily update my Daily traffic is 2.4K
Without any update for 2 days : Daily Traffic goes down to 1.8 K. :(
So The point is keep posting daily. Use Wordpress and blogspot schedule feature to make most out of it.
Jannie Funster
July 15th, 2009 3:34 am
I certainly relate to promotions (give-aways,) and traffic spikes. People like free stuff – but I don’t think it’s sticky overall.
TwistedSifter
July 15th, 2009 3:39 am
Yet another great article Darren, your site rocks!
I recall reading somewhere that overall Internet traffic tends to decrease during the summer months, so the timing of this particular post is quite appropriate :D
This article itself is a great testament to understanding seasonal traffic and what your target market (in your case other bloggers) might be dealing with (e.g., traffic plateaus/declines).
That said, I plan to “Keep Moving Forward – Don’t Give Up” :D
Family Man
July 15th, 2009 4:12 am
Excellent tips as always! Trying to keep relevant and keeping the quality of your post up can be daunting, but it helps to write from the heart.
Wakas Mir
July 15th, 2009 4:16 am
Very nice and to the point. And yes most of the times the readers do pull themselves back if they feel the content is of no use to them at all.
So the key obviously is to do a proper check of the things one is writing and ask others if the entries are any good at all.
Stef
July 15th, 2009 4:25 am
Hi Darren,
I have a request that I hope you can fulfill. Could you make a post on how how to increase your traffic depending on what type of blog you have? For example, you could list the best ways to bring traffic to a tech news and reviews blog.
Stef
12 year old blogger
http://www.laptopmemo.com
Jesse
July 15th, 2009 4:26 am
This is a big issue for me, since I’m writing about autos. In the winter, long-term projects for cars that are sitting in the garage tend to minimize traffic loss. In the summer, exciting posts that inspire people to work on their cars and just enjoy driving are the key to great traffic.
Nicholas Z. Cardot
July 15th, 2009 4:39 am
Awesome post. I love coming back here everyday and getting a fresh dose of this stuff. I’m always trying to figure out how to enhance my blog and how to help my friends to enhance theirs. Thanks
Lvadgal/Suzanne Vara
July 15th, 2009 4:40 am
Darren
This post is right on the money and so informative. It gets nerve racking to see traffic decline once you get some momentum.
Great advice to keep on going as if you are providing value driven content, they will come back or new ones will catch on.
Really good post to share!
Manrevo
July 15th, 2009 4:46 am
If I lose the search engine rankings, I think I’d just pack up and leave. That’s a serious blow!
Annie
July 15th, 2009 4:55 am
I am so happy I found your blog!!! Now I hope I can finally solve the mystery why I have traffic and people are visiting my blog, but nobody leaves comments.
Really helpful information! Keep up the great work!
Asswass
July 15th, 2009 4:57 am
Thank God that my numbers have been steady since I launched it.
teratips
July 15th, 2009 4:59 am
yes it heavily causes, Great post to Darren
Blogging Tips, SEO and Money Making tips by http://teratips.com
Dan the Samsung HDTV Man
July 15th, 2009 5:38 am
What? More than 10 blog posts a day? How does the guy do it? Was he autoblogging or something like that? Holy cow, I barely can make blog posts once every 2-3 days, much less blog over ten times in a single day. That’s crazy.
http://www.catholic2christian.com/
oladipupo
July 15th, 2009 6:11 am
great you just solve my problem, i will post the information to my friends. thanks
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach
July 15th, 2009 6:16 am
I now post only 2wice or perhaps 3 times a week – it’s much more manageable and it appears to drive more traffic as well.
It’s one of those things you have to personally evaluate….
Writers Needed- Make $1000 a Day
July 15th, 2009 6:22 am
Another reason for a drop in SEO is because some pages could have picked up a duplicate content. Lets say you post the same amount of articles on a social bookmark with multiple redirects to the same content…that social bookmarking site reports back to Google, and your website will be blacklisted, even though it is not de-indexed and still shows up in the search engines.
Smart Boy Designs
July 15th, 2009 6:29 am
There are many ways blog traffic decreases – but you’ve pinpointed the main causes. I believe it’s important to get into a writing “schedule” – whether you write in the morning, at night, or inbetween – in order to increase posting frequency. Readers like some consistency in what they read, so it’s important to stay on top of your writing tasks.
Nathaniel
July 15th, 2009 6:33 am
Another great post. I definitely agree with the season traffic. For me it seems like traffic comes most during the summer and pre-holidays.
What I didn’t know and thank you for is the Google Trends as that looks like some awesome stuff that can really help someone spot an upcoming niche or tell where a current one is headed.
Conrad Theart
July 15th, 2009 6:34 am
I have really been taking my foot of the accelerator with my blog. I’ve fallen into that skip this today trap. I ended up not posting for a week.
I’m glad I read this post attentively, I’m going threw all the other posts that this is linking to and making notes.
The key to most things in life is consistency and not to give up. We just need to keep going.
Thanks Darren!
JamesF
July 15th, 2009 6:52 am
Thanks Darren for reminding us to listen to our target audience/niche. We have to determine what makes our readers coming back for more. Research, analysis and perseverance are tools that will help achieve that.
Brian @ Live Longer
July 15th, 2009 7:20 am
I think for new blogs and bloggers your 7th point is the most important: Keep moving forward – Don’t’ give up. I wouldn’t expect my new blog to take off week after week and month after month without temporary retreats in traffic but in the long run I expect it to continue growing in traffic and readership so long as I continue offering high quality content.
Those other points 1-6 I’ll worry about don’t the road after my base has been put it. Thanks for the quality prose Darren.
Sami - Life, Laughs & Lemmings
July 15th, 2009 7:48 am
Excellent advice Darren. The one that stood out for me was keep moving forward. Perseverance tends to be a major ingredient to any project, goal or dream.
Ivan de Leon
July 15th, 2009 7:53 am
The first To Do is tell friends & family about your blog, use a signature with your URL and brand in your emails, be creative… Pacience!
mike
July 15th, 2009 8:20 am
Posting more does seem to help and get more interest back in the blog.
Radwan
July 15th, 2009 8:25 am
thanks for this nice post, i really benefited from it.
Sudeep
July 15th, 2009 8:31 am
Hello ,
Gr8 Advice for sure .What I felt with this surge is such surges are the time for each blogger to look into the blog in deep to find some mistakes of ourself and correct them .
Its like the time when a racer car is bought for 30 sec to check if everything is fit or not during the formule One race.
needmoney.com
July 15th, 2009 9:01 am
My advice: just keep your head down and produce good content. They Will Come.
Self Defense Matters
July 15th, 2009 9:05 am
Could the decrease in traffic be down to Google reviewing websites / blogs page rank every few months?
My websites / blogs seem to nose dive in traffic every time Google review my page rank’s and drop me down a few.
Just a thought.
Go Blogger (dot) net
July 15th, 2009 9:24 am
Keep blogging forward, that’s right. Everything needs process and takes time. But when you said “keep moving forward”, you sounded like a motivator Darren, perhaps you should try to be a blogging motivator :D
Isaac Yassar
Hooshmand Moslemi
July 15th, 2009 9:42 am
A pure content article, thanks Darren. I found it very helpful.
When it comes to traffic, tracking and analyzing the results comes into play. That’s why we should run a reliable tracking system in order to find out the increase and decrease rate in the website traffic.
Checking out the trends on resources like Google Trends would give us some thoughts and ideas to keep the traffic live and growing.
I agree with you about the seasonal traffic and I really liked your tip regarding writing relevant posts at spacial times.
In months like December, people are in mode of buying, so to speak. That’s why they come online and search for products and services they want to purchase in any niche. We need to provide a content that could address their needs and give them solutions.
Also, following the upcoming events would be a plus in traffic for many blogs by choosing relevant subjects and titles and getting high rankings at the time of event. Sometimes, those events are predictable such as sport events; sometimes they suddenly happen.
One tip I can add here is variation. You have mentioned the quality of the post which is so important. On top of that, giving some variation to the blog itself could save the traffic flow and even increase the quantity of the traffic.
Changing the blog template, adding other types of content, putting contest, polls, surveys, etc could help your blog remain outstanding and decrease the risk of losing readership.
Darren, thank you again for such a high qualty post. I hope everyone else find it useful, too.
All the Best!
Hooshmand Moslemi
Benjamin Solah
July 15th, 2009 10:05 am
Thanks for posting as I’ve been wondering about this myself.
My redesign and then a hosting crash saw my blog drop quite dramatically and its been frustrating trying to build it back up again but I think keeping on marketing in like I always have has led me to see the traffic rise again.
Some times new designs (especially black background-white text ones) can turn some people off but attract new readers.
Technology Slice
July 15th, 2009 10:15 am
It’s better not to get hung up on little dips in traffic. You need to look at the bigger picture.
website designer
July 15th, 2009 11:20 am
Interesting point. You mentioned seasonal traffic in a post about 5 years ago and, until then, I had never considered it. The problem is you need two years’ data to see if it is, in fact, seasonal.
In my opinion your website traffic should always be going up… always. If it is going down I don’t think you have the right mix of marketing/new content.
Thanks Darren.
Ramsay
Traveller
July 15th, 2009 1:18 pm
Traffic depends not only from season but also it is different during week. On most web sites there is lower traffic on weekend and higher in the middle of week. So you shouldn’t be worry if suddenly it will be very quiet on weekend, that only means your audience is out of town for the weekend :)
Bridget Casas
July 15th, 2009 2:03 pm
I am a photographer and post each day, with a new photo and commentary. I think it is important to use tags that will be relevant and that people will be looking for. My blog traffic has been increasing but not where I would like to see it. I try to create blogs and tweets that people will respond to.
Bradley Jones
July 15th, 2009 3:19 pm
I’ve found, for my blog, posting 2-3 times a week is all it takes to keep readers coming back for more and sharing posts. I also invest about an hour or two a day into promoting individual posts on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. I get quite a few unique visitors each and every day just doing simple things like that on MyLifeFinance.com
Felix Albutra - SighNetDollars
July 15th, 2009 3:36 pm
Awesome tips and information. Thank you for posting this article Darren…
Sincerely,
Felix Albutra – SighNetDollars
Benjamin Solah
July 15th, 2009 3:37 pm
Question: If a site goes down, what’s the best way to get them all to come back?
johan
July 15th, 2009 4:15 pm
Thanks Darren for your post.
I recently decided that I wanted more people to start blogging under my name and the guy that installed WP-MU for me told me that I would most likely see a decrease in traffic to my site. This has indeed happened and I hope it will start to pick up soon.
Johan
http://www.planyoursafari.com
Carole
July 15th, 2009 6:37 pm
Hi Darren,
Thanks for posting this article – it is a very interesting read.
I think you should never under estimate the power of seasonal traffic. My recipes websites often have spikes of traffic at times of the year when food is important – Christmas, Easter, 4th July etc
Andrew - WeBuildYourBlog
July 15th, 2009 7:20 pm
One of things I do is actually add specific keyword phrases to each blog post. I use Market Samurai to find the best keywords (i.e. balance between number of searches, website competition and money sales) and add them to each post.
It adds about 10 minutes extra time per post but I believe it is worth it.
Andrew
farouk
July 15th, 2009 7:59 pm
thanks for the info, let me add 2 more tips
i have three websites and here is what i noticed:
1) traffic in summer drops more than 30% (june, july, august) then it shoots up again in September . people go the beach,spend less time in front of a computer especially if your website was educational
2) people who depend on social media for traffic will have quite unstable traffic since getting traffic from stumble ,digg or any similiar website is a process that can hardly be controlled. on the other hand stable traffic can be got from search engine optimization since the only variable there is the number of searches which depends on the seasons as you mentioned
Dean Saliba
July 15th, 2009 8:31 pm
Some absolutely fantastic advice. I like the fact that not only have you explained why the lull in traffic but you have also listed ways of getting out of it.
Abhishek
July 15th, 2009 8:41 pm
This is very informative post..No doubt about that. I read all the points number of time so that I can keep them in my mind all the time…:)Thanks
Mike
July 15th, 2009 9:55 pm
I just wanted to add that I’m one of the bloggers who commented that they hit a plateau in traffic last week. The good news is that my coffee blog hit a new traffic record high yesterday, so I busted through the glass ceiling, but I’m going to take action on a lot of the things mentioned in this post.
Ruchi
July 15th, 2009 10:21 pm
Shifts in Search Rankings is an interesting point, I will keep in mind, thanks for posting.
swag lamps
July 15th, 2009 10:29 pm
i know that my blog has a poor quality of content due my english ability…but it’s ok…i ‘ve to learn a lot…thanks for this great advice…i’ll also consider gtrend to boost my traffic…
Haris
July 15th, 2009 10:34 pm
you have touched a bunch of factors in this article which i think very useful points to start with.
i always want to invest more time on updating my blog but just can’t make very often. so i decided to update once a week. hoping that one day i will be able to do it seriously.
Michael
July 15th, 2009 10:35 pm
I think a lot of bloggers are feeling the “summer lull” right now. The truth is that people are out traveling and taking vacations right now, so blog traffic is going to be down just a bit during the summer.
Deepak @ BusinessAttitude.com
July 15th, 2009 10:44 pm
For the past one year, my blog has seen a steady growth, but considering the minimum time unit as a week, my traffic has NEVER gone down!
Jhay
July 15th, 2009 10:46 pm
I’m guilty on “post frequency” thing. Suffering from blogger’s block can really be a nightmare.
I got so many ideas now bubbling in my head but they seem to all disappear whenever I face a blank post page.
JOE
July 15th, 2009 11:00 pm
Social media can rise the traffic in a magical way ! believe me i tried it !
Net Toolbox - John
July 15th, 2009 11:37 pm
Interesting information, will try some of them on my blog, thanks!
BLOGERCISE
July 16th, 2009 12:03 am
The comment on posting frequency was an interesting point. Many, including Darren iirc, will point out that most traffic comes from key old posts that have become the authority answer to certain questions. I strongly believe that it is better to have a small number of quality posts that are well promoted.
ITrush
July 16th, 2009 12:20 am
The last part is really important for me.. just keep going! Thanks Darren for opening this very informative topic to us.
Brice
July 16th, 2009 1:16 am
Thanks Darren! I always feel as if the stuff you have mentioned above was happening, but seeing it in writing really solidifies the problems that people perceive they are having with their blogs. The way i look at it, perception or not, if your blog is doing badly, which mine has, it is time to look at what’s happening, instead of assuming there isn’t anything that you can do. Thanks again.
Dating advice forum
July 16th, 2009 1:22 am
Yeah too much post per day can hurt because majority of people who read blogs are subscribed to so many, they are likely to miss some of your posts if you post too frequently. Its always good to give your readers an opportunity to consume all your writing.
David Stillwagon
July 16th, 2009 1:53 am
It seems that the traffic slows in summe somewhat.
great post
Nickie
July 16th, 2009 2:49 am
Love the look of your site – are you having fun with it? Keep up the good work and good luck with your site!
Celes | CelestineChua.com
July 16th, 2009 2:56 am
Excellent advice Darren. Writing seasonal topics is something I haven’t done much yet, but the times I did (example during Valentine’s Day I wrote a post about singlehood), I got great traffic from it. I’ll factor that in as I write new posts in the future.
Blogging Tips
July 16th, 2009 2:59 am
I’m glad I read this. I rarely reply to peoples comments…not because I don’t like them…but because I thought it was self-serving.
Thank you
sagar
Download free CSS templates
Blogging Tips
July 16th, 2009 2:59 am
Really awesome blog. I enjoyed reading this review from you. I found that you really update your site regularly that made me more interesting. I’ve bookmarked your site for my future use.
Thank you
sagar
Aaron
July 16th, 2009 3:33 am
Hey this is right on like always thanks for the everlasting source of knowledge. You seem to always have the answers I am looking for thanks Daren, you got another hooked blogger.
Frank
July 16th, 2009 3:47 am
Darren,
This post was very rewarding for me. I was able to take a step back and analyze what I do with my blog. It also gave me some really solid tips to help increase traffic. I think the use of promotions and giveaways is a good idea that I will implement soon. Since, my blog is young I don’t have much traffic nor many subscribers. Although, I do provide high quality content that is engaging for the readers. I’m just wondering what else I can do to increase my traffic. The many things you suggested in this post are worth doing. I have done most of them, but I will try a few of them that I haven’t done. What do you suggest when you try everything, but still nothing seems to work? I know it takes patience and time for a blog to become popular, but everyone wants people taking interest in their content.
Elizabeth
July 16th, 2009 4:10 am
Darren, you offer some really good advice. Our blog and website both suffereed similar dips it was an awakening that we needed to be doing things better. And sure enough, by doing some of the same things you just listed here, we were able to get traffic back up. Hopefully by keeping up on these things, we’ll be able to avoid bigger dips in the future.
Kekoa
July 16th, 2009 5:39 am
One thing that you did not mention, was to PING your blog. It’s very important to do that, as your blog gets indexed, as well as indexed quicker. Just my 2 cents.
jitterbug
July 16th, 2009 6:32 am
awesome advice definately gonna take some of your tips into action
Kim
July 16th, 2009 6:41 am
Darren – Can you address how to role out a “physical” redesign of your blog? I have a small readership but am really excited that in August, my blog will have a whole new look that I think will be more exciting and user-friendly (and that I have paid for!). How can I get the word out on this to people who may have visited once or twice in the past but aren’t subscribers? And what can I do to “celebrate” or promote my new design?
Thanks for all of your tips, advice and strategies -
Kim
rob, BtG
July 16th, 2009 7:27 am
good thoughts on this, though it’s never “one thing” that impacts a blog’s readership and many are out of the bloggers control. overall, don’t fall into the blog comfort zone by repeating what you’ve done since the start of your blog/s. reinvent yourself and your blog periodically (quarterly at least) and make sure you’re on top of new events/trends in your niche !!!
Spyros
July 16th, 2009 7:47 am
In my experience, it is also probable that high competition websites are also very difficult to get steady traffic on. Therefore, a niche involving money making, cars, music or such could be a bit difficult to exploit. Always important to look for subniches and create unique content because search engines provide success or failure in the end of the day.
Alex
July 16th, 2009 7:51 am
Definitely great points man. Thanks for bringing those to light.
Kat Eden
July 16th, 2009 10:20 am
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt over the past year of blogging it’s this: persist, persist, persist. I’m not talking about banging your head against a wall if your idea just has no traction; I’m talking about sticking to a blogging schedule (at least 80% of the time), reading blogs such as this one for advice and motivation, and taking time to market your content however you best see fit.
When I started I made a commitment to myself to just keep going. I believed in my content idea (and still do), and was determined to get there (wherever there may be) – however long it took me. It’s been a much slower process than I thought, but the truth is that without this commitment I would probably have given up around 4 months ago. I hadn’t seen any real growth for months at that stage. Instead, I went back to basics, back to regular blogging (this was probably the smartest thing I did), and started making a real effort to further my blogging relationships rather than running scared because of the potential nightmare that is blog marketing (when you’ve no idea where to start).
In the past 6 weeks I’ve seen a 66% growth in subscribers – persistence pays off! If you believe in your idea then stick with it – but don’t be afraid to acknowledge where you’ve gone wrong and do something about it.
Glenn A
July 16th, 2009 12:46 pm
I believe that Google has an expectation of how frequently you post and when you fall off from that traffic suffers. After a quick vacation, I am going through that now with my DVD blog. My expectation is once I post the traffic will return. I have noticed this dynamic more in recent months. Not 100% sure but this is what I’m seeing.
SURVEYS FOR MONEY
July 16th, 2009 6:09 pm
Great info … i will take this into consideration when working on gaining traffic to my blog. I’ve been using google analytics and it has helped me as well.
Kerry Dexter
July 16th, 2009 9:31 pm
from the perspective of a bit over three years blogging, one of the things I’d add is that some of your posts become evergreen, and not always those you think might. part of this, for me, has to do with events such as artists touring (I write about Irish, Scottish, and Americana music and the creative practice of bing a musician), but others are, as you say, Darren, ones that help people figure out how to do things, in my case either through reflections on the music or through practical tips.
summer Saturdays are often slow for me (everybody’s out listening to the music) so a few weeks ago I started a Saturday series of tips on teaching and learning music, which is having some resultts already, and I think some of these could become some of those evergreen posts as well.
Mark
July 17th, 2009 3:29 am
I think the big news story of Michael Jackson has certainly take away traffic, but also with the terrible worldwide economy are we seeing a real reduction in internet usage for the first time ever? With people working multiple jobs, do they then have less time to read blogs?
Stephanie Valentine
July 17th, 2009 4:22 am
Your ideas on checking out the seasonal rises and falls about certain topics is very interesting. I went right to Google Trends and checked this out, and found some remarkable trends that I definitely found some interesting trends that I’m going to tie into my editorial calendar. Good stuff. And, it’s a good reminder not to take downshifts in traffic, well, personally!
eanow
July 17th, 2009 4:24 am
this is a great info for a new blogger like me.
Seth W
July 17th, 2009 5:21 am
Traffic is finicky and the best way to keep it is to work hard, produce content regularly, and diversify your sources.
Thanks for the 6 great reasons and tips.
sam
July 17th, 2009 5:28 am
i concur excessive posting tends to hurt more than it helps. Also, gone are the build it and they will come days…active promotions is a very necessary component. Although it makes it a tougher for the “little guy”.
Debo Hobo
July 17th, 2009 5:56 am
Because I focus mainly on Travel I can see why my comments and visitors has decreased, but I am not giving up. The economy will make a turn and my post will be there waiting for my readers. :)
Nearly Free Web Hosting
July 17th, 2009 6:04 am
About #3 Posting Frequency. To keep a blog fresh, posting no less than 2-3 times a week works out pretty good for my blogs. I notice when I stop posting, my traffic and sales suffer. Yet sometimes I get a ton of ideas to write about, but don’t want to post them all at once nor do I want to have to remember to post them at a later date. I see one reader suggested using the WordPress scheduler. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last five months and it works out great. If I write 5 articles at once I can schedule a couple per week and stretch it out for about 2-1/2 weeks of posting on auto-pilot. Google also like the nice steady flow so it doesn’t think the blog is stagnant.
Keller Hawthorne
July 17th, 2009 7:43 am
Great post Darren!
I’ve noticed a dip in traffic just this week – coincidentally, I only had time to write one post this week (normally I write a post every weekday).
New blog posts are excellent for pulling in more traffic because:
New Post = New Keywords = New Rankings = New Traffic
Also, new posts invite new conversations, new readers and potentially new viral channels.
Pete skenandore
July 17th, 2009 8:40 am
Exceptional article.
Thanks!!
Robert Bravery
July 17th, 2009 3:46 pm
Fantastic post.Very inspirational. I did notice that when I posted on exceptional news items, Like Susan Boyle, Michael Jackson, that I go some massive spikes in traffic. I think the challenge there is to try and retain at least a small number of those readers.
I have always wondered about the posting frequency. I post one -3 posts per day. Leaning more to the single post per day. Glad to see that excessive posting does not guarantee traffic.
Blogging is hard work, But I believe that persistence will pay off. Keep on blogging. I wrote a post about blogging and hard work, Would appreciate your thoughts and insight. http://www.integralwebsolutions.co.za/Blog/EntryId/291/A-successful-blog-takes-hard-work.aspx
discount jewelry
July 17th, 2009 7:17 pm
whether i can get a free account to build my blog ?and another question ,my writting level seems can not compared with the professional .do all the authous here are professionals ?
Linxiting
July 17th, 2009 10:19 pm
I always find you post fantastic. I allways learn a lot. I also had times that I don’t appear in google anymore… I never know what the problem is. But then, a week later I reappear. Now It’s exactly one year ago when I last dissapeared. So I’m very happy now.
I just want to go higher in google rankings. That’s my major problem at the moment. I try to post I lot about soccer, because I know a lot about it, but, there are so many sites that post great things about soccer. What should I do to make mine better then someone elses?
Many thanks in advance
Kind Regards
Wim Van der Plaetse
http://www.linxiting.com/blog
tacogirl
July 17th, 2009 11:50 pm
Great post am going to read your SEO stuff now which is an area I have been working on learning more about.
Royal Blogger
July 18th, 2009 1:29 am
Bloggers should never Give Up ! In fact a gentleman should never give up. As you said moving ahead is the key to success….
Rita
July 18th, 2009 2:40 am
This is a scary thought. My page views have been increasing steadily since I began blogging in January of 2008.
Rita
My blog is The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide at http://boomersurvive-thriveguidetypepad.com
deniz
July 18th, 2009 3:17 am
Nice post… I think the most important one is the posting frequency, charting the last few months of traffic according to the number of posts will give us a better look about our blog…
Jesus Guerrero
July 18th, 2009 5:38 am
In my own case, my web traffic has varied in more than 30% because of a shift in the Google algorithm
V.C
July 18th, 2009 4:39 pm
Once my site was rising but immediately it started falling.
I just thought because my site was too young to get a high and regular traffic.
Now everything gonna be OK. My blog traffic seems to be increase.
I suggest using reddit.com. I think it’s a good way to get a huge traffic.
data recovery software
July 18th, 2009 5:45 pm
V.C Sudden inrease in traffic and sudden decline of website is not a good thing. Steady and increasing traffic always good for website. Google takes this thing in positive.
If a blogger do regular posting in blog it will always good for blog. I start a blog in starting google doesn’t catche so hurry. I did regular and unique content posting in blog. Google considers this and when I everytime made post google catche that at very day.
This is very good blog about blog traffic.
SimonDavo
July 18th, 2009 10:58 pm
Now that was a useful blog post! Thanks for all the useful information, most importantly on how often to post articles to your blog. Some people tend to think posting 10 and more times a day is the way forward but others seem to thing 1 time a week is cool. At the end of the day, don’t just post random articles because you feel you haven’t updated your blog lately. That more often than not ends up it being a terrible and boring post.
Writers blog is the worst thing, which really frustrates me at times. But the only solution is looking around for inspiration…
Thanks again for the post Darren!
online free movies
July 19th, 2009 1:36 am
really very useful tips for blogger for making site more visible and famous for earning money and name but these are possible only when if all thins are done regular basis.
PraShawn
July 19th, 2009 3:15 am
Great tips I think your whole blog post is a survival package to online money making with a blog. I think there are many interesting points you explain. My traffic when down but my alexa rank went up. Thanks for sharing.
Steve @ Freedom Education
July 19th, 2009 4:44 am
Thanks Darren.
I got some real good insights from this article – all practical and useful. I’ve been at the blogging game for just over a year and I’ve had some big traffic swings and falls. Overall I’ve seen a steady rate of growth month by month which makes me feel hopeful that I’m on the right track and of good things to come.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Tumblemoose
July 19th, 2009 5:34 am
I admit to having Google trepidation. I’m apt to look at my numbers when I know I’ve been doing what I should – like posting frequently and commenting everywhere, along with other promotions.
This strategy has bitten me at least once. One of my blogs had a post go viral in terms of traffic numbers. Unfortunately I was not able to capitalise on it because I didn’t see the spike until a week later.
George
Toronto Wedding Photographer
July 19th, 2009 6:42 am
I think the best way to keep people reading is to provide regular posts and scheduled posts. This way readers will know when to come back. Those who post every day usually have a much better chance of keeping their readers
Dmitri
FunnyFidos
July 19th, 2009 11:39 am
My traffic has dropped the last couple of months. After reading this blog post I went and checked Google trends and noticed that there is a drop in traffic in the summer months for my particular niche for the last several years. Makes me feel a bit better. Now I just have to figure out what to do to change that ;-)
jonathan
July 19th, 2009 12:35 pm
Thanks for this post it was very informing. I would have to totally agree on you’re take on building and keeping blog traffic. I plan to go back through my calendar and set up intervals to hit every single step you posted. The blog I am working on currently is
http://www.alliedtech.org
Thx and see you next week
SURVEYS FOR MONEY
July 19th, 2009 4:21 pm
As a new blogger, I can see posting frequency, and quality of posts as a reason for declining traffic. Posting more often and writing quality posts is key to gaining more traffic. You’ll keep your readers coming back.
radyo dinle
July 19th, 2009 11:49 pm
This is exactly what I needed to read.
My traffic has plateaued and at very small numbers, and it is rather disheartening.
I’m going to come up with a plan of action based on your advice. I report back after a month. Hopefully I’ll have something to show for it!
Bailama
July 20th, 2009 12:04 am
Thanks Darren for another great post. I will use your tactics. declining traffic can be solved by posting often and creating great content for readers. http://www.maddengeneration.com
turisuna
July 20th, 2009 2:30 am
Yes it feels hurt when our visitors decrease drastically, if that happened to my blog, usually I try to give better post than before and do blog walking. Never give up is the key for me, whatever happen blogging must go on :)
Sneh | LBOI Blog
July 20th, 2009 9:37 am
Brilliant post Darren and very practical suggestions too. It does get a bit disheartening at times with the constant pressure to also come up with new ideas for posts every single day, but the key is to go on, learn and evolve :-). Thanks for this post!
computer tips
July 20th, 2009 2:28 pm
Nice Post Darren, Really Great advice not only for new blogger. two thumb up!
anthony
July 20th, 2009 8:02 pm
that is funny. I have a blog that I only update when I feel like updating. I have a stretched when I must have not updated it for 6 months.
And yet the traffic remained the same.
Brick Marketing
July 20th, 2009 11:09 pm
I think it is always important to test out different things when it comes to blog writing. You are going to have your ups and downs so it is important to test and try different approaches.
leony @wedding planning
July 21st, 2009 12:57 am
Hello Darren thank you for your post! I’ve just started blogging and I found a very usefull post! thank you very much.. love your blog.
Fun By Earn
July 21st, 2009 4:56 am
i dont bother about seasonal traffic. whatever i like to post what i feel like. keep looking at your traffic is demotivating.
Blog Marketing
July 21st, 2009 6:43 am
I think all of us could do more to market our blogs. Taking a write it and they will come approach to a quality blog article is not enough anymore.
-Jeff Schuman
Mohit
July 21st, 2009 11:55 am
This seasonal fall in traffic has left a gr8 impact on my blog. I was receiving 50% of traffic from blogger.com than it suddenly falls to nil. What gonna do? I never received traffic from the same source again.. :(
Mathew Packer
July 21st, 2009 12:26 pm
I think the best advice on this one is the ‘don’t give up’ advice…on top of that I’d add that you shouldn’t always gage the success of your blog by pure traffic numbers, for me reader engagement is my number one metric, ie. how many comments are articles getting.
At the moment my traffic is way up, but unfortunately commenting is a little slow. I’d love to see way more comments per article.
Forex beginner
July 21st, 2009 1:56 pm
Very detail elaboration, I think I learned, I have to start doing it to my site now.. Tks.
Tool die design
July 21st, 2009 1:58 pm
Nice wirte up. I know what I have missed out after reading this article…
Hodja
July 21st, 2009 8:04 pm
My blog is not in English, but in Dutch. That’s why it is even harder to get serious traffic. Does anyone have some tips?
Chiropractor
July 21st, 2009 8:19 pm
Great advice as always. I have been maintaining my blogs with fresh and valuable content so that my audience will not dwindle, also, I will certainly incorporate your advises and tips. Thanks!
Alex Strandberg
July 22nd, 2009 5:00 am
Off topic but I like the way Darren has the bottom of his posts set up with the social media buttons on the left and the related posts on the right.
Does anyone know where I can get a plugin like that?
Thanks
Racerbook
July 22nd, 2009 9:41 am
I am struggling to get good traffic to my Racing Social Network and blog site. Thanks for this good information and I’ll put it work.
Liv @ One Year of Beauty
July 22nd, 2009 1:44 pm
Great post! I’ve had my blog since 2006 and posted daily for a full year. When I decreased my posts, I definitely saw traffic decrease as well. I went back to daily posts on Jan 1. I think people form habits around visiting their favorite blogs and like knowing there will consistently be a new post whenever they visit. Thanks for the insights!
Liv
http://www.oneyearofbeauty.com
peluang bisnis
July 22nd, 2009 5:08 pm
Great Review and explanation, sometimes i targed hot topic to get traffic for my blog, i will try google trends.
helixia
July 23rd, 2009 12:18 am
Hi great blog! I read quite a few of your postings.
I have heard of Google Trends before.
I haven’t try it yet. I just started my first blog, and that totally skipped my mind. Anyway I guess my blog topic shouldn’t have any seasonal trend.
http://finding-life-direction-life-purpose.blogspot.com/
work at home
July 23rd, 2009 12:28 am
I only make post in my blog which may be helpful for my blog reader. I can not post in forum frequently as I do not get much time.
Ike Okoye
July 23rd, 2009 12:55 am
Moving out to promote one’s site can be challenging. Maybe it would be easier to do that online. I also have 2 other blogs that experience seasonal traffic but it’s understandable since the site is based on seasonal niches.
Anthony Proulx
July 23rd, 2009 2:38 am
Trends are great to follow especially when big news hits, although sometimes traffic from various events aren’t your targeted traffic, would you say that is good or bad?
Mike
July 23rd, 2009 7:25 am
You have done it again Darren,another quality post.Seasonal traffic is very important to consider as you say you see more traffic in december due to people researching on cameras to purchase.
thanks
Eileen
July 23rd, 2009 10:44 am
Overall….
it’s summer. Folks are on vacation and out enjoying the sun. The kids are off for summer. And, the mommy bloggers are busy.
Mike from Drop Ship
July 23rd, 2009 3:54 pm
Content matters more than the frequency of posting. Your survey is great and I hope it will surely help the bloggers.
work at home
July 23rd, 2009 3:56 pm
Yes you are right mike, content is matter than frequency of post, When I post some useful and long content, google rank me for that post.
Infrasofttech
July 23rd, 2009 6:27 pm
Decline & rise in traffic is very normal but the most important thing is to go on & on blogging with unique & latest content. Thanks Darren for a great blog.
Ergonomic Chairs
July 23rd, 2009 6:39 pm
I think its very important to be updated about the world to write a blog, you can insure a regular flow of traffic to your blog as readers will build an interest in your blog. As you are giving your readers what they want. Thanks Darren
Harmony
July 24th, 2009 2:53 am
Thanks for a really informative article! Your content rarely suffers in my view.
Brendan Wenzel
July 24th, 2009 9:11 am
Great post with some great ideas into why traffic could be disappearing. One trend I notice with my blog is that most my readers come at the beginning of every week. Knowing this, I have tried to concentrate my best posts on Mondays and Tuesdays. Trends and metrics are very important to notice for every business, especially online businesses since it is so easy to see exact numbers for everything we do. Thanks for the great ideas.
123Triad
July 24th, 2009 11:48 am
One of the reason is , there are just too many blogs
Dee Davis
July 24th, 2009 11:53 am
Hi Darren,
Thanks for the information on how to increase traffic to my blog. It was quite helpful.
http://www.visnett.blogspot.com
Dee Davis
Team Nirvana
July 24th, 2009 1:59 pm
Nicely said there.Never thought in that angle. Made a point for myself today reading this post. Thanks for writing this.
Liane | Blogging Tips
July 24th, 2009 3:21 pm
Mine low traffic levels are usually in times when my latest content was posted 48 hours ago. Content freshness is something readers are after.
Ecommerce Help - Tyrone Shum
July 24th, 2009 4:16 pm
What people talks about more each day can be your subject too. To bloggers, traffic is a need because it declares your power as a writer and soon it drives you into business. And like what was posted in here, there are choices and reasons on how to increase your traffic of do something about your readership.
Check this site for more information on traffics.
http://www.internetbusinesspath.com
Excel Matic
July 24th, 2009 5:33 pm
Hey,
I have been reading your tips for increasing traffic on one’s blog and other marketing and promoting tips.
But, I have not been able to understand one thing here. How can one increase traffic (or increase visits) if the blog is new and most of the people actually do not know that my blog exists. I have lots in terms of updating search engine, getting ping-shots, etc.
My only question is how to let a the traffic know that I also exist on the blog.
With I also want to say that your tips really work, at least with me they worked very well. But I only see one disconnect, as I have already described above.
Do let me (and all of us) know how to tackle this.
Internet Marketing Zone
July 25th, 2009 4:30 am
Maintaining a blog is a tedious job! it s like holding a stone with a long rope hanging doen, you stop pulling it up, it will stall and then will go down.
so as far as my blogging experience is concerned, i have to update it daily, on a regularly basis, if i miss a day, it really goes little down next day!
Asma
July 25th, 2009 4:57 am
Thank you for your valuable tips, i am newbie in the world of blogging, i am working on your given lines, will update you soon, how much they work for me, wish me luck.
Will
July 25th, 2009 5:06 am
Thanks for another informative post Darren. Completely agree with your comments about Seasonal Traffic – my blogs usually have big dips during August. This August I hope to reverse the tide by posting more and generally post better quality (i.e spend more time on researching and developing each post).
Sarah
July 25th, 2009 4:56 pm
I know there would be up and down with the traffic and I do all I can to make sure that the gap isn’t too wide. The truth is I get a lot of seasonal traffic from time to time.
Will @ digimode.co.uk
July 25th, 2009 7:00 pm
Bang on! Point 3 is the most crucial point.
The Media Annexes
July 26th, 2009 5:57 am
Fantastic ideas to take precautions before the website traffic drops. I appreciate problogger!
Funny about Money
July 26th, 2009 12:17 pm
Amazingly, came over to Problogger.net specifically because I was worrying about a drop in traffic and an absence of reader comments–though nothing so drastic as other commenters here have noted.
Suspected the problem had something to do with the dog days of summer — two known “loyal readers” have said on their own sites that they’re vacationing; a third is selling her house and moving across the country. But that doesn’t explain no comments from several thousand readers/day, or the dropoff from June traffic.
So many links and links to links here–I will take the time to read as many of these as possible. Already found several good ideas. Thanks so much!!
Taufiq Hasan
July 26th, 2009 12:54 pm
Hmm..thank you for your tips, and i must keep moving.. to make better blog. :D
Car Dealers
July 26th, 2009 1:21 pm
person should use other keyword tools to see the seasonal hike or drop in the keywords
John McRae
July 26th, 2009 9:06 pm
Some great information here. It can be frustrating when you see your traffic decline.
Thanks for the tips
John
David Chamberlain
July 26th, 2009 9:37 pm
HI
That has to be the best blog post I have ever read! I have taken so much from it, that I can apply to my new blog!
I am just starting out, and although I am tryign to make a living online, this blog is more about social proof, and branding myself!
Do you think a blog can achieve those goals?
Again, great post!
David Chamberlain
Diane Mathias
July 28th, 2009 12:13 am
Thanks for the insightful posts, I really love reading what you provide and it’s great because my blog goes up and down depending on what’s happening in the world so its good to know how to deal with it
Franklin Bishop
July 28th, 2009 1:44 am
these are all great tips. I think there are times of the year where traffic is not going to be as good as other times.
Carl Phelps
July 28th, 2009 2:18 am
I think that the key to all of this is consistency. This post contains some very useful strategy for keeping traffic coming to your blog. However, if you are not doing all of them consistently, over a long period of time, you will not see results. Always be consistent in your efforts and monitor your progress. Adjust as necessary, but be consistent!
Sol Danmeri
July 28th, 2009 6:23 am
Its sounds so true and one wonders why one forgets. Quality seems to be the name of the game. I am sad to hear about Michael Jackson, and there has been a slight temptation to include his name somehow in my blog, but I avoided doing so, I thought it would be best to let the King of Pop rest in peace. I guess I focus on feeling passionate about what I do in my blogs. I try to deliver the same quality of content that I would like to read myself. So I really enjoyed reading this article as it helped me to see how much further I can do.
maya
July 28th, 2009 7:14 am
Hi
My blog traffic is at zero at the moment, but reading your post is encouraging. I will follow your tips and try to make a better blog. Thank you for all the useful advice
http://www.mayasown.com
Spyros
July 28th, 2009 11:26 am
Very interesting. What mostly made me a bit curious is the sudden loss of traffic. I’ve suffered such a thing at one of my websites but it was mainly due to topical interest(second point). It really seems that once you do get traffic by google and search engines, news really count on how fresh they are and i’ve confronted that.
Lorraine Ball
July 28th, 2009 10:44 pm
This was a very timely post for me. I am definitely having a summer slump. My primary business always slows down in the summer, I just had not thought about the fact that my blog would too.
Last summer was my first year of blogging, and I was on a steady rise, so I didn’t experience the dip. This year, i had such a strong spring, especially when I was doing your 31DD program, that the summer dip was really frightening!
Now I just have to figure out how to get those small busienss owners, with major summer fever to start reading again.
VirginTech
July 30th, 2009 5:08 am
Amazing tips !!
Horse bettings
August 1st, 2009 6:43 am
good post really this is full of knowledge and practical ideas
thanks
Nick
August 3rd, 2009 4:26 am
I do not get what all of the hubbub is over text link ads. Selling text links is a form of advertising, a way for websites to advertise themselves, and for website owners to earn advertising revenue. Website owners have to make money somehow, and selling “ads” on their website is one such way. Does Google not want people to make money?
howmommakesmoneyonline
August 10th, 2009 2:24 am
More competition pulls away users/pageviews too. There is a lot more competition in the blog-o-sphere than there was 5 years ago. And thanks to Darren, they know what they are doing ;-)
panicattack
August 11th, 2009 2:48 pm
I keep finding little nuggets of wisdom to apply to my sites. Thanks for the help, Frank from Panic Away and The Linden Method
Forex Signals
August 13th, 2009 6:17 am
I have found when my blog is updated daily there is almost an increase in search traffic as if google appreciates the fresh new content. When I am updating my blog just a few times a week I notice a drop off effect.
What stood out for me is the posting of more than 2-3 times a day. First, I realize I could not post enough meaningful content to have enough to say more than 1-3 times a day. I would imagine that if I were sending out 20 posts a day they would be poorer quality.
One rss feed I subscribe to though has about 40,000 readers and small frequent posts are sent out. I have a feeling it is solely to gain adsense clicks.
Kristine Maveus-Evenson
August 13th, 2009 1:20 pm
Excellent summary and great tips!
Kristine Maveus-Evenson
http://www.capturehits.com
Paul
August 20th, 2009 3:38 am
Nice tips. I also find that sometimes time needs to go by where search engines start to recognize your increased blogging. Definitely blogging within your niche (what you want to be or are an expert at) helps.
Sammy
August 29th, 2009 2:48 am
Shifts in Search Rankings
My blog is 5 months old and i update it with every European competitive game ( Posting highlights of the game)
and just 2 weeks ago i started getting traffic from google.com but after 1 week i lost all my traffic from google its almost two 0……because my new post are not getting ranking……
i hope that is just a “shift in search engine” and traffic will be back soon……..
but im not sure what i do wrong to loss all the traffic…..All about the beautiful game
Lauren
August 29th, 2009 7:01 am
Wow, great post. I never considered the “anticipating” traffic posts that could be beneficial in the future. Thanks for the tips!
Usman
August 29th, 2009 5:43 pm
I think this goes back to your point…Content in King
forlan
August 30th, 2009 8:07 pm
people may find the trend but we cannot follow the trends because our skill is limited.
Travis
August 30th, 2009 11:57 pm
August was the first month I actually saw a decline in my readership, and I truly think it was from a lack of content.
My blog seems to carry a sort of month-long overlap, So if I post a lot of content in July, it seems to greatly spike in August. Needless to say, a LACK of content in July left me out to dry in August.
Document Management Software
September 1st, 2009 7:24 pm
Have you considered that one requires more wit than substance to ensure quality posts. I think most bloggers would prefer Shakepeare to Milton. I think it would be a toss-up between Mark Twain and Shakespeare, when push comes to shove
Joshua
September 2nd, 2009 6:24 am
Ya i see this with my blog it is 2 months old and is very hard to get a good base of traffic constantly. I can see 100 page views then next day 30. It is very hard but im building Feed Readers so i should be good.
http://dailycashsaver.blogspot.com/
Benjamin Cip
September 3rd, 2009 7:11 am
My blog is only 6 months old and I’m already getting some good traffic… at least I’m very satisfied with it, but hope to get more and more. My Alexa Rank is ranking higher and higher as well. Wish I could get as much traffic as yours.
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September 5th, 2009 11:51 am
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3D Architectural Rendering
September 10th, 2009 11:01 pm
I think if you have something to say and say it a succinct manner and what you have to say interests others, you have got a start. If you also know how to say it effectively, you will get a loyal readership.
Article Submission
September 11th, 2009 12:54 am
I can definitely see reasons why my blog might get low traffic at times. Its simple but sometimes it takes another person to let you know why.
Data recovery
September 11th, 2009 4:11 pm
I can say that your blog traffic will definitely increase if you post unique content on regular basis…you have raised some very interesting point about blog traffic…Good article…
Dias
September 11th, 2009 10:26 pm
Regular posts is very important. People are always looking for fresh content, especially your readers.Your readers are always looking for the personality in you through your writing.
I think bookmarking your site to social sites like twitter and delicious also makes a difference. Sites like Digg can really make a huge difference.
Dias
http://www.diaslu.com/
Management Consulting Firm
September 12th, 2009 12:04 am
I think blogging is as innovative and creative process as any thing which requires an artistic temperament. While at it, if it adds to the traffic to your site, its icing to the cake.
Car Reviews
September 16th, 2009 10:52 pm
Regular posting as well as unique content will ensure a popular blog
Frank
September 20th, 2009 4:25 am
You can also get extra traffic spamming posts such as this one, plenty of examples above.
Dantanner
September 20th, 2009 3:12 pm
The Site traffic is off 20% during summer. Also noticed that Twitter is nowhere what it used to be. Post a link and 30 hits when it used to be 300-400 ( they depend on the number of followers). So its Summer and I assume people are outdoors and not glued to computers.. RIGHT ?
Omrah
September 25th, 2009 10:58 pm
I have found that making your blog theme attractive also helps and changing it for a better one is adding floavour to the text.
dvd rohlinge
September 26th, 2009 8:39 pm
That’s a great post! I like to read your post and I learned so many thing from you. Thanks a lot for sharing. I don’t think anybody need to buy anything if they read your each blog post.
For traffic I like to do more for SEO and link building. I am in first page of Google for a competitive term but I am not getting enough traffic still. Yet I have to put lots of efforts …
Private Foundations
September 27th, 2009 12:48 am
If you have something to say which is of interest to a great number of people, you will be a blogger, my son. Any number of frills cannot detract your core readers.
Kennedy Space Center
September 28th, 2009 6:00 pm
I think as in other pursuits, Perseverance pays, you have to be at it always and keep your blogs updated, and the readers will come
Ecommerce Websites
September 28th, 2009 6:36 pm
Dogged determination, interesting theme, solid content, good SEO, relevant links and you are on your way to a good readership.
work at home
September 28th, 2009 11:05 pm
Now I got one nice way for getting backlink is by commenting on dofollow blog, Really it is a nice method for getting backlink, but if you spam then you will get totally adverse effect.
jeux pokemon
September 30th, 2009 8:34 pm
Hey, it is really a great post. I feel this so informative for me & for all the bloggers.. Personally i want to tell you thanks because it helps me so much in doing the proper blogs..
work at home
October 1st, 2009 12:14 am
Yes problogger is our favorite blog, we all beginner greatly say thanks to problogger.
Ronblogger
October 2nd, 2009 6:47 am
one way to avoid these is to keep on moving and implementing great ideas on how you will have good traffic
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