The truth about traffic on the Internet

October 10, 2007 By

Ahh, the Guardian got into a little dirty truth about traffic on TechMeme: there isn’t many people there.

Every time I get on TechMeme I get 500 to 3,000 visits. That matches what the Guardian and what Nick Carr are seeing.

But, truth is not many sites out there do any better. Yeah, when I get on Digg I get 20,000. When I got on the front page of the BBC a couple times in the past month I got 5,000 each time. But Valleywag? I get 100 to 1,000 visits (I’ve been on there something like 20 times including with some VERY sensational posts that would make anyone click and ask themselves “what the heck did that guy do?”)

Even when I quit Microsoft and was in 150 newspapers and TONS of blogs and such I got 200,000 visits in a two-day period.

Dave Winer? A few thousand per link, but sometimes only a few hundred. Wired? A few thousand. Stumbleupon? I got tens of thousands once, but not lately. Twitter? A few hundred, even when dozens of people put my link up.

I was on the Register one time and only got a few hundred visits even though a friend of mine claimed they had millions of visitors.

My own blog? Most links lately will drive a few hundred visits. My link blog seems to be a little bit better, but not much according to people who’ve been on it.

So, if you’ve gotten a good shot of traffic where do you find you get the most traffic?

Oh, and why does TechMeme get the hype? Because Eric Norlin said in his interview with me today that he reads it. If he reads it that’s good enough for me.

I don’t want a big audience. I want a smart audience. So far I’ve gotten exactly that from TechMeme.

If I wanted a big audience I’d go write a Paris Hilton blog or something like that.

Filed Under: Bloggy Mountain High, technology, travel
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  • krsnaKhandelwal

    I am trying to get traffic to my blog through word of mouth and I am finding that it is working to an extent. However , I am having to work very hard to feed it and make useful and relevent as it is related to Indian stock market. Since I am not a technical person I find it hard to use the tools recommended.

  • http://krsnakhandelwal@wordpress.com krsnaKhandelwal

    I am trying to get traffic to my blog through word of mouth and I am finding that it is working to an extent. However , I am having to work very hard to feed it and make useful and relevent as it is related to Indian stock market. Since I am not a technical person I find it hard to use the tools recommended.

  • http://dbrusilovsky.wordpress.com/ Daniel Brusilovsky

    I had a lot of traffic when you interviewed me, but after that, it slowly went down!

    Daniel

  • http://dbrusilovsky.wordpress.com Daniel Brusilovsky

    I had a lot of traffic when you interviewed me, but after that, it slowly went down!

    Daniel

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  • http://moralsandethics.wordpress.com/ moralsandethics

    Quality over quantity!!

    Yes I beleive in the same becuase just getting the traffic in not important but they should take the benifts from the same

    MoralsandEthics
    http://moralsandethics.wordpress.com/

  • http://moralsandethics.wordpress.com/ moralsandethics

    Quality over quantity!!

    Yes I beleive in the same becuase just getting the traffic in not important but they should take the benifts from the same

    MoralsandEthics
    http://moralsandethics.wordpress.com/

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  • http://scott47.wordpress.com/ Scott

    Great info, although it was a little bit confusing at first. I was lost as to what you were talking about at the start haha. Thanks for the help!

  • http://scott47.wordpress.com/ Scott

    Great info, although it was a little bit confusing at first. I was lost as to what you were talking about at the start haha. Thanks for the help!

  • http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/ luca

    Slashdot, definitely.

  • http://www.lucafiligheddu.com luca

    Slashdot, definitely.

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  • http://onwebapps.com/ Shanti Braford

    Digg – 20,000

    StumbleUpon – 10,000 – 25,000

    Reddit – 5,000

    del.icio.us/popular – 3,000

    Spillover traffic from bloggers who’ve found my sites through these sources: Priceless

  • http://onwebapps.com/ Shanti Braford

    Digg – 20,000

    StumbleUpon – 10,000 – 25,000

    Reddit – 5,000

    del.icio.us/popular – 3,000

    Spillover traffic from bloggers who’ve found my sites through these sources: Priceless

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  • http://www.jakematthews.blogs.com/ Jake

    @shanti

    I agree – great way of saying it.

    Robert – love the debate. Thanks for posting.

  • http://www.jakematthews.blogs.com Jake

    @shanti

    I agree – great way of saying it.

    Robert – love the debate. Thanks for posting.

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  • http://aventhusiast.com Michael Lankton

    My site is 10 weeks old, and 100 unique visitors is a good day for me. I think I have done the things I need to do to move things forward, I just have to keep delivering content and wait. It’s disheartening but I guess everyone goes through this.

  • http://aventhusiast.com mlankton

    My site is 10 weeks old, and 100 unique visitors is a good day for me. I think I have done the things I need to do to move things forward, I just have to keep delivering content and wait. It’s disheartening but I guess everyone goes through this.

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  • http://www.thebusinessofsoftware.net/ thebusinessofsoftware.net

    The buzz index!

  • http://www.thebusinessofsoftware.net/ thebusinessofsoftware.net

    The buzz index!

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  • http://videowize.com/ Rem

    Traffic can be hype but you can have millions of visitors to your blog if you come up with something shocking that’s first hand that everyone online is looking to find. But even that will be temporary.
    There are ways to get more traffic but quantity vs quality is the issue.

  • http://videowize.com Rem

    Traffic can be hype but you can have millions of visitors to your blog if you come up with something shocking that’s first hand that everyone online is looking to find. But even that will be temporary.
    There are ways to get more traffic but quantity vs quality is the issue.

  • http://www.hobotraveler.com/blogger.html Andy HoboTraveler.com

    I get the feeling that the web is becoming a big used car sales lot. The want to clean up the car, wash down the motor and sell a lemon.

    This business model of spinning the social networks is a temporary climax, with too much foreplay needed. Then the girl leaves as soon as you stop putting the money on the table.

    I would rather be on a on-theme site and there continuously for years than one time in digg or stumbled or all theme genetically impaired, mass breeding rabbit sites.

    Good business is a day to day traffic, not spikes, especially when the spike is totally manipulated.
    Andy of HoboTraveler.com

  • http://www.hobotraveler.com/blogger.html Andy HoboTraveler.com

    I get the feeling that the web is becoming a big used car sales lot. The want to clean up the car, wash down the motor and sell a lemon.

    This business model of spinning the social networks is a temporary climax, with too much foreplay needed. Then the girl leaves as soon as you stop putting the money on the table.

    I would rather be on a on-theme site and there continuously for years than one time in digg or stumbled or all theme genetically impaired, mass breeding rabbit sites.

    Good business is a day to day traffic, not spikes, especially when the spike is totally manipulated.
    Andy of HoboTraveler.com

  • http://www.buyers-web.com/ Timon

    Totally agree with you andy..quality not quantity…but quantity and quality is good…
    As long as its always there and doesnt need to be fed all the time by your time..

  • http://www.buyers-web.com Timon

    Totally agree with you andy..quality not quantity…but quantity and quality is good…
    As long as its always there and doesnt need to be fed all the time by your time..

  • http://www.antiquesselection.com/ Jerry

    Well said Andy, absolutely right.

  • http://www.antiquesselection.com/ Jerry

    Well said Andy, absolutely right.

  • http://www.megacheapphones.com/ megacheapphones.com

    There is a definitely a place on the web for Paris Hilton blogs (or is that Britney blogs these days?).. but perhaps no place for one more..

    Cheers!

  • http://www.megacheapphones.com megacheapphones.com

    There is a definitely a place on the web for Paris Hilton blogs (or is that Britney blogs these days?).. but perhaps no place for one more..

    Cheers!

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