one lucky post

Occasionally people will ask how to get more readers to their blog. I have no idea. And if that's why you're doing it then only misery will follow. But clearly the real answer is 'get lucky'. Or write so much that sooner or later you'll catch someone's eye with a post. Above is the boost in traffic due to that 'how to be interesting' post which is clearly where I got lucky.

Reasons it may have got lucky:

1. Slightly interesting title
2. Annoyed as many people as it pleased (annoyance gets you links)
3. A list (people like lists)

Comments

[laur]

hello, russell. I have a question. How you 'catch the screen'? I mean, how you put the stats on the blog?? need to know! see u!

[Ben]

I imagine there's some serious stat envy going on in blogland right now.

(Not me you understand. Oh no. Course not.)

[Colman]

I've tried to tell other bloggers many times about how to get more traffic, but they never listen.

For instance, here are 2 simple rules;

1. Label a picture 'nob'.

2. Write about press-ups.

But do people listen? Do they 'eck.

[laur]

I'm not running after hits. I just want to show my most viewed posts and I don't know how! If you know how,tell me..and I don't envy anyone's stats.

[russell]

hi Laur,

If you mean how do you catch the screen I use as in a screen grab - I use Snapz Pro.

If you mean how do you get the stats I use statcounter which you can see down there on the right somewhere.

hope that helps

[ade]

Controversy definitely works. My most popular post by a considerable margin was titled "I hate Arctic Monkeys." They were being overplayed on the stereo at work. I had a rant.

I'd much rather have lots of people disagree with me than have them be uninterested.

[Richard]

There was nothing lucky about that post R - it was just plain excellent. I have use it every single day since you posted it in both professional and personal life. Makes a change from the photos taken from planes trains and automobiles.

[Marcus Brown]

I am weakend by those stats. See Ben's comment.

[FishNChimps]

Put pervy words in your titles. Works every time for me.

[Ciaran Rogers]

I agree with Richard wholeheartedly, especially the recommendation to listen in on conversations. I also like to try and hypothesize people's names. If you are with someone else, try and shout the names out (with the utmost subtlety of course), and keep score if you get them right.

With regard to the spike in hits: Certain key words, pissing people off, pervy words, aside, perhaps the spike was due to the fact that most people are terrified of being boring and are looking for an easy way to avoid being so? I'm a huge fan of our society, don't get me wrong, but in our day and age most are seeking the quick fix, and were probably hoping Russell had it.

[Julien Coulter]

In looking at our traffic (Leo Burnett Toronto blog), Jason had noticed that a rant on David Hasselhoff continues to bring people by. So we recommend writting about The Hoff.

[Ben]

You can take screen shots on a Mac by holding down Apple, Shift and then 4.

[Emily]

I had a spike last week too! (although not at those lofty numbers of course) And now I'm experiencing post hit depression as I watch the chart turn into a downward staircase. Sigh.

[Richard]

I'm getting loads of hits from people searching for images of mushroom clouds on Google. I happen to have a very good one but the irony is my site is coming further up the search than the site I took it from

[Jonathan Rigby]

Erm, didn't you also have an article in Campaign last Thursday? x