Archive for February, 2007

Timing Your Blog Posts Is Everything When Improving Traffic…Or Is It?

I read an interesting post over at Jeff Kee’s blog about timing your posts according to the hours in the day when your traffic begins to spike. Jeff’s traffic begins to increase at around 9:00am…similar to that of my blog. It gets heavy around lunch…and tapers off through the evening…and resurges late at night. Same as mine…same as most blogs, I speculate.

While this may play a role in how much traffic you can attract, I subscribe to the idea that your title plays the most important role in attracting traffic — creativity will lure new readers, and substance will land you a comfy spot atop the search engine results.

Early Bird Gets The Traffic, right?
I generally try to post my “worthwhile” stuff at 5:30am CST. If I post one of those the night before (usually right before or right after midnight), I’ll usually set the timestamp to 5:30am. Then, I resubmit my sitemap with the hopes of getting listed first on the search engines. Doing so has occasionally resulted in noticeable traffic from Google. Search results will pick up my blog as a Top 10 result in the early morning hours (I get this info from my Google Analytics and my Webmasters tools), but I get overrun by the big boys after about that 8:00-9:00 timeframe. While I haven’t figured out how to remain atop the search results, I do get the early birds…and posting so early helps me catch all timezones. If any of you SEO experts have any suggestions, my ears are open.

Speaking of jumping in early, I posted a couple of stories regarding the Superbowl XLI commercials — one before the Superbowl about what to expect and revisiting the great commercials of the past and another RIGHT AFTER the Superbowl about how disappointed I was. My Google Analytics the following morning went from 5.45% of traffic to 48.32% of my traffic…people doing searches for “Superbowl XLI Commercials” according to my Google Webmasters tool (sorry, I wish I could post some cool charts and graphs, but I’m limited on software at work).

To Post or Not To Post?
Another thing I’ve always wondered about is how quickly I should get something up. I mean…I don’t spend alot of time contemplating this. When I get an idea, I generally post it up as soon as I get to my computer, especially the videos I find with the hopes of beating everyone to the punch. Since I primarily post links to those on a few forums on which I frequently post, I want to be ahead of the curve there. Same applies for breaking news. But getting back to timing…the reason I even ask the question is because I wonder if I ruin my readers’ rhythm. If they expect a new post early in the morning and start throwing stuff up randomly, will I lose readers? I know. Sounds a little ridiculous, but it could be true.

Anyway, when you get a chance, read Jeff’s post Timing Your Blog Posts and Diggs. It definitely made me think about whether or not timing is everything to improve your traffic.

Here are a few other posts I found that visit this topic as well as how to improve traffic:

• Timing Is Everything at Performancing.com
• 21 Tactics To Increase Blog Traffic at SEOmoz.org
• How To Market Your Blog In 2007 at problogger.net

Best of luck to all of you in your quest for more traffic…and leave me some comments, people. Suggestions? Tips? Experiences? Please?

Popularity: 3% [?]

Linksys WRT54GS 54Mbps 802.11g 4-Port Wireless Router with SpeedBooster

Just a quick preface…moving has been a slow process. I’ve never mentioned it here before, but I do dabble in residential real estate investments — something I would like to ramp up in the next couple of years — thanks to my parents, who have been successful doing it thusfar. So, I’ve moved into one of my investments simply because the return on the property wouldn’t have been as high as I would like, but still a worthwhile investment.

Anyway, I’m an electronics junkie. Part of my move meant making my house wireless. I’ve never done that before. I just got too lazy and settled for a direct connection. But now I’ve gone and done it. I’ve got a loaner laptop from The Eddie, and a cheap USB wireless adapter for my PC. All I need is the most important piece: THE ROUTER. This morning I bought a Linksys WRT54GS 54Mbps 802.11g 4-Port Wireless Router with SpeedBooster. Based on the reviews I read at Amazon.com, TigerDirect (from where I ultimately purchased it), and c|net.com. The apparent difference between this and the regular WRT54GS is the speed…using Broadcom’s Afterburner. But from what I’ve read, the boost in speed comes when multiple users are on the network. Makes sense. However, LinkSys claims that even with 1 user, speed is increased by, at the very least, 20%.

Here are a few other products that I saw on TigerDirect that were on special:

• Linksys WRT54GS 54Mbps 802.11g 4-Port Wireless Router, $69.99
• Ultra FlyDrive 1GB USB 2.0 Portable Drive, $14.99
• Ultra 600w X-Finity Power Supply w/2 80mm / Blue, $79.99
• Famous Brand 19″ 8ms 800:1 SXGA 1280×1024 DVI-VGA Black LCD Monitor, $149.99

If any of you have experiences with this or other LinkSys products, I’d like to know what you think. Any other suggestions for making my wireless experience as smooth as possible?

Popularity: 16% [?]

Overture Keyword Bid Tool Gone

In case you haven’t noticed (you’ve been under a rock as I’ve been in the last few weeks), the Overture Keyword Bid Tool is gone. As most bloggers and other SEO-minded publishers, I’ve used this as a valuable tool for search engine optimization on occasion with this and other sites I’ve been involved in developing. Thinking it may have been a temporary disappearing act, I figured I’d do a search for “Overture Keyword Tool” and the 3rd result was from SEOmoz.org. Matt Inman wrote about how it was valuable to him as well and asked for suggestions. Among those suggested was the Google KeyWord Tool via Google AdWords, and WordTracker, recommended by Carsten over at Cumbrowski.com, an Internet web development and resource site.

After doing a little more digging, I found another resource — the Search Engine Journal — that featured an interview with the Yahoo Search Marketing Team & John Slade, Sr. Director, Global Product Management with Yahoo Search Marketing. In the interview, John Slade, Sr. states that “continues to exist today and will continue to exist until we replace it with an improved product. Unfortunately, the responsiveness of this free tool is diminished due to the sheer volume of hits it receives each day, therefore browsers may time out and error pages may appear but it doesn’t mean that this tool has been removed”. Well, I haven’t gotten it to work…middle of the day to the wee hours in the morning…I get nothing. The good thing is that it will apparently be replaced with a much improved tool.

Revisit Yahoo! in the Stock Market
If you remember my post about SmartMoney Magazine’s suggestions on where to invest your money in 2007, Yahoo! (YHOO) was one of the stocks featured. I pointed out how the release of Panama would increase Yahoo! revenues by reducing the gap in cost per keyword could “generate approximately $800M of extra revenues based on the number of searches…revenues generated at no extra cost”. Well, with the recent flip of the switch for Google’s new AdWords algorithm (the system it uses to rank the quality of keywords for its advertisers), problems have ensued. Quality Scores have gone through the roof in some cases meaning CPC (cost per click) gone up meaning advertiser’s margins have gone down meaning Google’s margins have gone down. Could be a small window of opportunity for Yahoo! to adjust its CPC to come closer to that of Google’s…for a little while anyway. Regardless, it still means Panama is gaining attention…and making Yahoo! some money.

For more information of how Google’s Quality Score works…or worked…see this post on SEORefugee.com.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Saturday Night Live: Michael Vick, Really?

In case you missed last week’s SNL, this Weekend Update skit about Michael Vick’s recent troubles at the Miami International Airport after trying to smuggle a water bottle through the gate…and it’s contents. And as you know, water bottles are no longer allowed past airport security.

Saturday Night Live: Michael Vick, Really? - Thank you for visiting derrich.com

Popularity: 11% [?]

Delta Airlines Won’t Take My Money

Every year, some friends and I take a trip to Key West for a week (it’s a blast, in case you’ve ever thought about going). As I sifted through the various travel websites for ticket prices, Delta was among the cheapest…if not THE cheapest. So, off I go to Delta.com. I entered my passenger information, chose my flights, and proceeded to the checkout page. I entered my credit card number, which happens to be my bank checkcard (not a debit card, but a “Life Takes Visa” credit card). Apparently, Delta doesn’t accept Visa. I got an error message that said “Form of payment not accepted. Please try another form of payment”. I tried about 4 different times yesterday, repeating the same steps, and I even broke down and used another credit card that I’ve reserved for emergencies only. Instead of the previous error message I got this one.

So, I proceeded to call the phone number, which was busy the 3 times I tried it. Then, I called (800) 221-1212. This is apparently Delta’s Reservation Hotline, and I figured a reputable (although bankrupt) airline such as Delta has a rock solid reservation hotline. When you first call, you get an automated system that asks you why you’re calling, and further categorizes your phone call with a couple of follow up questions. I don’t know about you, but I hate talking to machines. Well, little did I know that hold time was about an hour. I held…determined to get my reservations booked. When, I finally got through to the operator in India, he wanted me to send me to the Online Customer Support Desk I tried to call previously. So, he did…and it was busy. So, I tried again…the second time I got through, made reservations, and right before the operator gave me the confirmation number, we got disconnected. *sigh* That’s 2 hours of hold time plus the time it took to talk to these folks. Third time’s a charm, right? I went through the entire process again only to find out that my form of payment was not working.

So, why all the trouble? Well, Delta’s rates including tax were $206.10 roundtrip. The next least expensive flight was with Southwest Airlines at $484.76 roundtrip. Southwest would have been a contender if I could have booked their Fun Fares rate. But they were “unavailable”. So, you can see why I was willing to hold for a total of 3 hours. I’d take this as a sign, but I’m looking forward to this trip. I’ll figure this out yet. I hope crappy customer service isn’t part of Delta’s Bankrupcy Exit Plan. Not sure this will happen if the airline can’t set up a clear channel by which to collect revenues.

I suggest if you’re having similar trouble getting through to the toll free number to call the airline’s direct line (as listed on Delta’s Yahoo! Finance profile): (404) 715-2600.

Popularity: 2% [?]

New Revenue Source: AdBrite

Back in November, I read about a new video advertising service called AdBrite InVideo on TechCrunch. Shortly after, John Chow posted some additional details on JohnChow.com with a video of Mr. Pud, founder of AdBrite, explaining the new service. Well, since I post alot of videos, I thought I’d apply. For awhile, AdBrite was only accepting certain sites for its Beta run. But now, if I’m not mistaken, it’s open to everyone.

In addition to adding ads to videos with InVideo, I can add inline txt ads with AdBrite. I’ve been trying to meet the pageviews requirements of IntelliTXT for inline text ads, but I just fall short. AdBrite will also expand my banner ad variety and allow me to experiment with interstitial ads, which are full page ads that visitors can interact with or easily skip. I’ll keep you posted with my progress. I’ve already inserted the HTML code to run inline text ads. Apparently it will take up to 24 hours to take effect. I’ve already got a video ready to post, but since I just went back to back with videos, I’ll spare you the entertainment until next week.

Popularity: 1% [?]

TopGear Goes Down South

Sorry for the double video post, but I absolutely love the show TopGear. Here’s an episode one of my friends sent me where the guys visit Alabama and try their best to offend the “natives”. They do a good job as you’ll see in this video.

TopGear Goes Down South - video powered by Metacafe

Popularity: 2% [?]

BlogRoll

• Milk Was A Bad Choice
• CrackBerry.com
• Stock Trading 101
• For The Love Of Sports
• Project Spurs
• Busted Coverage
• WallStreetFighter

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