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12/16/11

Twitter for Bloggers - Waste of Time, or Am I Doing It Wrong?

By the time you read this, I'll have reached my 250,000th page view.

And in less than a year.  I have been blogging for 11 months, and just hit a quarter million page views.

...and no thanks to twitter.

You see, I analyze my data.  Most of my pageviews come from my following audience, google searches, and stumbleupon (in that order).

#4 on my referring sites list?  Networkedblogs.com, at 0.32%.  Twitter?  It's not even showing up in my top sites...

And I tweet a lot.

I even belong to a few sites that amplify my tweets, and make my twitter look better to others, in hopes of better blog exposure.

I use Klout.  My current score is 48, which is supposed to be decent.

I also use Triberr:


Triberr is a tweet amplification tool for bloggers.  I get in a tribe (network of other bloggers) and with every post, they tweet my link to their followers (and I do the same).  This results in more tweets and more mentions, but not a lot of page views.

So, am I doing something wrong, or is twitter just a waste of time?

Besides google and being fairly popular in searches, the only social media site that has been worth it has been Stumbleupon.  It has resulted in about 20% of my views, which I consider decent.

And if you stumble, follow me here.  You scratch my back, I scratch yours, capice?

What social media sites do you use?  Which ones are successful and which ones are a waste of time?

Does twitter work for you??  Facebook?  Google+?  If so, tell me what you're doing, because they're not working for me...
Please Share it! :)

19 witty retorts:

Pickleope said...

The problem with Twitter is Blogger. For example, I most often read your posts when you send out a tweet and I click the link. But, I usually do so from my cell phone, and I found out that Blogger doesn't seem to count cell phone hits. At least that's what's happened in my case, but I could be wrong.
Besides, Twitter is just fun. As a promotional tool, you'd have to have followers on Twitter beyond the army you've amassed through here who are already reading your stuff.

Drake Sigar said...

It was my understanding that Twitter doesn't increase a user's exposure so much as provide a convenient delivery system for the fanbase he/she already has in place.

Bart said...

i dont even know how twitter works yet

Workingdan said...

I just joined stumble upon...let's see how this works!

I don't care much for twitter, but I haven't given up on yet.

Zombie said...

Yeah twitter kinda is a waste of time for me but stumbleupon on the other hand... AWWWWWWW YEAH!

Julie Ferguson said...

Most of my traffic has come from other bloggers or google. I found you through your witty comments on another blog. I am glad I did.

Mooner's Full Of Holiday Spirits said...

Brandini. I don't use any of that crap. Maybe I should.

My traffic comes from people searching for porn, lunar lovers and those afflicted with mental maladies.

It also helps that I post inappropriate content and link myself to you.

Thanks for the traffic.

Tonya said...

Google image searches bring in the most hits but almost zero following or continued readership. I think I have a stumbleupon account. I'll check and find you.

Haven said...

I've had StumbleUpon for ages but don't really know how it works. I'm Following you there now too!

D4 said...

Buh. Well in 11 months, 250 k is a lot. Maybe twitter isn't working for you, but I don't really see grounds to truly complain man. Things look good for you! D=

Sub Radar (Mike) said...

Reddit works the best for me (after followers and searches)... I submit some of my articles to (relevant) subreddits and the audience usually upvotes them, since they're things that people that subscribe to those sections want to see (weird music like stuff I feature).

Find like-minded groups around the internet that would be interested in one of your features. It's pretty seamless when the people want to read it.

The Spaghetti Westerner said...

Well, considering that I've often thought to myself, "Twitter doesn't seem like the most amazing and wonderful think in the world like everyone said...I must be using it wrong," I'm probably not the one to answer your question. But, I'm with you: I haven't found it terribly helpful.

Congrats om 250k page views. You rock!

Lady Estrogen said...

Twitter seems to work for me, but I also use it as my own blog roll. I can't be bothered with my blogger roll - there's too much shit.

I find in my referring site, it's not Twitter itself that shows up, but rather the shortened URL that I used ON twitter.

Regardless, you think I should join Stumbled?

Sara Strand said...

I've been anti-Twitter since day one and I absolutely refuse to conform with the masses.

Probably because I'm not much of a bird lover?

Kelly said...

I do the Twitter thing for fun, really. I have it so my blog post links are mentioned on twitter but it's not an effective device for promoting your blog. But, if somebody happens to see it- so be it. I'm not a big seller of myself. It doesn't feel right for own self. I also do the FB thing for fun, mostly, too. My blog post links are mentioned but I don't rely on them. I'm just not that into it.

Jessica ( frellathon ) said...

I get surges of stumble referrals but they are few and far between. I get a lot from weird searches and regular followers. Must start stumbling more.

not displayed said...

Not a fan of twitter. It seems sometimes that bloggers tend to preach to the converted. I follow you on G+, I think I did when I dabbled in Twitter and of course on my reader so I would be getting the same message 3 or 4 times. I guess if you can get your link out of the blogger community then that is a win.

On a side note.
OMG Drake!!! Are you back? And why havent you come visit me, esp as I gave you a mention on my blog today?

Q said...

SU brings me mad traffic, so I'm going to say it's my best network. Twitter is a waste of time when it comes to promoting. I think since people who use Twitter tend to follow too many people, they actually miss some of the tweets that link new posts. Whenever I tweet that I have a new post, I may get 10 hits depending on the time of day. Triberr is a cool concept, but unfortunately, I have a tribe full of deadbeats who don't want to check their accounts to send RT's. I basically have three people who actively participate, so I'm looking for new members.

the Tsaritsa said...

I came here from a Triberr tweet I tweeted haha. I get a good deal of traffic from Twitter, but my most seen posts have been because of Stumble Upon. I think I follow you on there, so follow me back if you're not already :)

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