Right around the end of last month, I saw a huge spike in hits on Tumblemoose. It looked to me like things were progressing as they should. I attributed the increase to the effort I’d been putting forth: Stumbling and Digging posts. Commenting all over the place (generally meaningful comments – no one-liners). Updating my content every two to three days. Fixing little bugs with the site. Adding a widget or two here and there.
I went from about 800 uniques a day (peak – over three to four days) to about 40 visitors a day. Let me say I’m a little “WTF” and confused. I’m not doing anything different from what I was before the spike.
I need feedback, folks! Is this common? Am I missing something? Do I need to worry? What else do I need to do?
Any hints would be muy appreciated!
Go into your cpanel then go to awstats and check where your traffic was coming from. Or if you use google analytics check where the traffic is coming from. You will find where it dropped.
Hi Kushmoney.
Thanks for responding. The percentages of traffic seem to be consistent with the largest being from referrers followed by direct in – there’s just a lot fewer of them. I’m spending a bit of time on google analytics trying to drill down through the results.
Thanks for the tips – I’ll check awstats as well
George
I have had some experiences like this recently, but it was largely due to my site being featured on Stumble Upon and then drying up rather quickly.
Have you also checked your WordPress Stats … referrers are listed in there as well. But I agree that Awstats will give you a pretty detailed view.
You might want to make sure you have done anything with posting links to your site that would have pissed off the Google or Social Networking gods.
I notice that your Blogoshpere widget is sitting at the lower left hand corner all by itself and your MyBlogLog Widget is empty … strange that.
You might want to run a Security Scan or at least check out you cache to make sure someone hasn’t hacked your install. I won’t post the links here, but head off to my site and leave me a comment and I’ll forward you the links so you can have a detailed look at your traffic.
George, I had the same things happen right around the same time period…very strange! I attributed it to people watching the debates, or football on the weekends, and spending less time on the internet, but I am guessing. Funny we saw the same kind of traffic patterns.
@Eric – Thanks for the insight – I’ll give those things a check for sure.
@ Matt – It could very well be just a blip because of those outside factors – I’m giving everything a shot for a bit, I’ll try to research all suggestions and then see where it goes.
Thanks, folks
Are you commenting on the same blogs and doing all the exact same things you were doing? That might be your problem!
Think of it like working out. If you do the same workout everyday eventually your body gets accustomed to it and doesn’t produce results anymore.
As with working out, you have to mix things up constantly to achieve the same thing you were achieving before.
Pick a whole brand new set of blogs to comment on, market your blog on social media platforms you currently aren’t using.
Act like this is the first day you put up your blog, and do the same things you did when you first published, but with different tools and in different locations.
Try it, and let me know when you start seeing differences.
P.S. Don’t stop using the social media sites you’re using, just back off a little and hit others hard and steady.
Steven-Sanders´s last blog post..Ok, What the heck happened? (I hate being a noob)
BTW, your comment luv is displaying your post as my latest post. Weird!
Steven,
I’ll check the comment luv issue – that IS weird.
Thanks for the insightful tips. I’m going to give them a shot and change things up a bit. I hadn’t been doing the EXACT same things, but close enough. I’ll mix things up and cruise some different media. I’ll let ya know how things turn out!
George
Hi George,
First off I want to say congrats. For a two month old blog 800 uniques is way high. You definitely had a major source of traffic coming from somewhere. Or multiple somewhere’s…
My suggestion is you look at your new visitors compared to your returning visitors. This might justify your uniques going down to 40. (You did mean 40 uniques right?)
Most bloggers I have read up on say that you need a minimum of 6 months to see how steady your traffic will be.
I agree with Steven. Start trying to use some different strategies. Within 6 months time you will start to see what works and what doesn’t. Good luck!
Cheers,
Jeremy
Jeremy Day´s last blog post..Become a Lifestyle Entrepreneur: Anywired