Track Trends For Traffic
This is a tip that is not easy to execute well because it can be unpredictable and you need to be quick. When you get it right though the traffic numbers can be significant, if not always very targeted.
Tracking trends for traffic is all about staying with current events and then making blog entries based on what is really popular. Here are a few ways you can determine what is really popular, both in the blogosphere and in general news.
- Go to Technorati and watch the list of top terms people are searching for. The good thing about this list is it is very current, up to the minute data from all the blogs Technorati monitors. Often the top search terms mirror the top news stories of the day but it’s a good place to keep watching.The problem of course with this technique is that you may be too late. Once it reaches the top of the Technorati list it can already be old news and you may have missed the traffic rush.
- Follow news sites like Google News to find top stories in your field to blog about. Again though this can results in you missing the boat because interest in the story has already died down.
- Watch mainstream media like television and radio and blog about news as soon as you watch/hear it. This is a speculative technique that can work really well for mainstream topics (think disasters, sports events, politics).
- Follow niche sites focused in areas you blog about. Most markets have a major news source (think slashdot for geeks, ESPN for sports, or Political News Daily for politics) and if you carefully watch these sites you should be able to pick the hot topics in your area and contribute to the conversation bringing you relevant traffic.
- Monitor social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us, especially the popular list and cover topics that are getting bookmarked often.
The trick here is to be a trend picker rather than a trend follower. If you can blog about a trend before it hits it’s popularity spike then you can enjoy traffic from people searching blogs and websites for news on the topic of the minute. Of course often the traffic is short lived and can bring you people that don’t really care for the rest of your blog but hopefully you end up with a few new subscribers and repeat visitors.