A few weeks ago I posted a survey to find out where my active members come from. A lot of things have happened here since then, including a site redesign. The question still remains, though, and I wanted to share the results with you today.
For those of you just joining, I asked the readers how they discovered this blog and listed some common choices including: Google Search Engine, MyBlogLog, StumbleUpon, BlogRush, Other, and Can’t Remember.
From my AWStats and my Statcounter statistics, I know that WritingThoughts has between 100 and 150 readers each day. From comments left and e-mails that I receive, I’ve gotten to know some of you. I was pleased that nearly 12% of you (19 community members) participated in the survey.
A surprising result of the survey was that most of my members came from unconventional places. A startling 37%, or 7, chose Other as how they came to be readers of the blogs. The comments they left explain the details. Here is a summary of a few of the comments along with the commentator and their home blog:
- From a guest post
- From a link on another blog’s post
- From comments I left on another blog
The common thread I see in all of these comments is that being an active participant in the overall blogging community draws other active participants to your own blog. The moral of the story: you build a blog’s community by being an active member in other blog’s communities. It’s that simple.
It’s still not too late to leave a comment on this post and describe how you got here, or share your own thoughts on the matter.
Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.
12 responses so far ↓
1 Courtney // Nov 15, 2007 at
I can’t remember how I got here exactly! I think it might have been from a post on the WAHM.com writing forum, but I’m not positive. Great post though! It’s interesting to see how everyone gets here.
2 James Chartrand - JCM Enterprises // Nov 15, 2007 at
I hate to say it… but… I can’t remember either. Don’t feel bad; I can’t remember what I ate for supper yesterday, what I was supposed to do today (and that still bothers me), or whose phone number that is I’ve scribbled down just 15 minutes ago…
3 Nikki // Nov 15, 2007 at
I remember meeting you on the writer’s forum at wahm.com – Don’t quote me but I think that is how I ended up at your blog. 😉 All I know is I have been reading for a awhile now and learning something new everytime I do! I can’t wait until I have that many readers a day – right now I average 200… in a month – it will get there right?
4 Wendy // Nov 15, 2007 at
I appreciate this information! It really does show us all how important commenting on other blogs is. Something I need to do more of.
I wonder how useful blogrolls are?
Wendy
5 Essie // Nov 16, 2007 at
Hi Laura,
I didn’t take your survey. 🙁 However I wanted to go on record as being one who found you through a guest post of yours, the one on I.D. security.
I’m so glad I did!
Ess
6 Solomon // Nov 16, 2007 at
Hi Laura!
I’m an avid fan of your blog. I visit your blog as on a daily basis. I learn a lot from your posts. Pls. consider me as your blog subscriber.
I have no blog yet. I’m a novice in blogging.
I’ll have one soon.
Great posts and I like to read them all!
Thanks & Regards
Solomon
7 FeeFiFoto // Nov 16, 2007 at
Wish I knew where all the readers and visitors came from. I operate a retail web site and last year we spent loads of money on Google advertising without any clear indication that it paid off, yet when I ask buyers how they found us many of them claim to have come through Google. That’s one of the wonderful but frustrating aspects of the interwebnet — it’s hard to find the one right way to do anything, so there’s a lot of intuition and guesswork.
8 Laura // Nov 17, 2007 at
Wow! Thanks for adding your input! I’m glad that you all added how you managed to find this blog.
9 Mig // Nov 25, 2007 at
Laura, nothing could be more true than the moral of the story. And the “surprise” is that not many bloggers understand this.
10 Mary Emma Allen // Nov 27, 2007 at
Becoming active in the blogging community definitely helps you to make friends around the blogosphere and to gain new visitors to one’s own blogs. It also opens up a new and exciting world.
11 Laura // Nov 28, 2007 at
Hi Mig and Mary Emma!
I’ve only been blogging for just under a year, but it seems hard for me to realize that most bloggers don’t know this. Either they haven’t been reading as many blogs (or at least the informative ones), or perhaps new bloggers are always coming on board ….
12 Mary Emma Allen // Nov 29, 2007 at
I didn’t realize this when I began blogging…that it’s important to get to know other bloggers and visit their blogs. I hadn’t realized what a great global community I had entered. I thought I simply had to write, much as I did (and still do) for print publications.