Garaphernalia 7.5

I get the vast majority of my traffic from referring sites, and direct traffic. According to Google Analytics, over the last 30 days I’ve gotten 63.9% from referring sites, 20.8% from direct traffic, and 15.3% from search engines.

15% is a pretty low number. I’ve managed to look at where the traffic for other sites which have lots of photography comes from (via ProjectWonderful). Not surprisingly, they get most of their traffic from Google Image searches.

I looked at my traffic to see how much I got from Google image search. Answer: zero. I got not a single visit from Google image search. Other guys with similar sites were getting about 1500 a week.

I realized the problem. All my images are hosted on Flickr. I don’t get the benefit from search traffic for any of the images I put on my site even though my photos are backed up.

I went to the Google Webmaster tools, turn on enhanced image searching and began the process of putting copies of my daily photos on my site and using them instead of Flickr. To the user, there will be no difference. I’ll still be linking to Flickr, but the displayed image will be on my server.

It will consume more bandwidth, but I’m well below my bandwidth limit.

I wish I had realized this sooner. This would be a great WordPress plug-in for someone to write. Cut and paste a Flickr link, and have the plug-in automatically put a copy of the image on the sever and use that.

I installed WordPress 2.5 on the main site. Rather than wait for the scripts on the server to update, I just installed a plugin which will do the upgrade for me. It was pretty painless. No problems with the theme.

I don’t like the default admin page for 2.5, but I got a plugin which changes the admin page and it is really nice.

I think my WordPress theme, Vistered Little, has ceased development. This isn’t a good thing for me in the long run. I hope someone picks up the ball with development, especially since I’ve read that it is one of the most downloaded themes for WordPress. I’m half tempted to hire someone to make a “Vistered Traveler” theme for me.

So how did I do in Q1?

1) I’d like to get 350 RSS. B- I did come close however. I had 322 subscribers on April 1. My origainl goal was 300 and I went with 350 at the last minute. I guess this is a comprimise.

2) I’d like to get at least 3 mentions from either major media outlets or Technorati Top 100. B. Technically, I did come close. I had an Entecard ad run on JohnChow.com and a link from Problogger.com. 2 for 3.

3) Get above 1,000 unique IPs per day. Fail. This was an unreasonable goal in comparison to my other ones. I ended up with about 500, which is in line with how everything else grew.

4) Get into the technorati top 60,000 A+. I crushed this. I’m actually in the top 15,000

5) Have the photo sites I listed previously up and running and bringing in some amount of AdSense revenue. C- I got the Goolge Earth site up and am working on a Smugmug site to sell prints.

6) Be at least the first two pages of search results for “Travel Blog” on Google. A- I did get on page 2, but it fluxuates. Sometimes it is on page 4 or 3.

7) Widen my lead on the Bloggers Choice Awards. C I actually lost my lead. However, I am still close. I think I’m behind by 4. It is just me and this guy running the Hostel from Buenos Aires.

I got a lot of attention from other travel blog awards which I didn’t set as goals, but is still pretty nice.

My goals for Q2 are going to be much more focused. Things like Google Rank I can’t do much about anymore. I’m not even sure that is the best keyword to focus on. Technorati rank will move on its own. I don’t need to focus on it.

1) 700 RSS subscribers to my blog. This is a bit more than a doubling, and wont be easy, but I think with a few spikes, it is doable.

2) 750 daily users on average. This is more realistic.

3) 500 Subscribers on iTunes. This would imply I actually get the podcast out the door.

4) Work on marketing and joint projects with other bloggers. This is sort of vague, but I think this can help me in many ways. I’ve only recently started talking to other travel bloggers. Most of them are in the business travel or travel industry niche, not the adventure and travelogue niche. For such a big industry, the community seems very fractured and small online. It is dominated by big corporate players.

5) Get written up in some non-internet source. I have no clue to make this happen. It is more a wish than anything else. I think this is necessary in the travel world, however.

Really, I just need to keep plugging away and keep doign what I’m doing. Find ways to improve and get better.

As of today I have 313 RSS subscribers. Based on my growth patterns, I figure I’ve been growing at 2.3 subscribers per day since I’ve started promoting the site back in December.

Actually, that really isn’t an accurate reflection of where I am now. You can see more data for my RSS growth here.

In December, I gained a net 28 subscribers. In January I gained 47. February, 59. So far in March to date I’ve gained 75. The numbers are larger, but the percentage gain is probably increasing at a slight rate.

What is interesting is that since I’ve started promoting my site, I’ve had no mentions from any big site. If you look at the graph, you’ll notice two spikes back in June and October of 2007. Since December, the growth has been mostly organic and at a steady pace.

The biggest changes as far as I can tell have been making the RSS link prominent on the site, making it available to people who visit the site for the first time, and encouraging subscriptions in other forums I participate in. In fact, my rate of RSS growth has been greater than growth in page views and users on the site.

Compared to many sites, I think I do a good job in converting traffic to subscribers, but I can’t quantify it.

I think my goal for Q2 will be 700 RSS Subscribers.