Blog Traffic-Schmog Traffic
Dec 20th, 2009 by Cathy Nelson
I am not sure how I feel about this. Over the last 48 hours or so, I’ve had about 1700+ visitors. I’m sure that the Karl’s, Will’s, and David W’s are accustomed to daily traffic like this, but reality is slowly returning today, with only some above average traffic now. So it makes me a little sad to see this graph of my stats.
What a Spike!
That spike was from traffic visiting my blog post of the 2009 Edublog Awards Winners. I was dumbfounded to have all the traffic. Larry Ferlazzo thanked me for posting so quick, as did Sue Waters, who said her team needed time to build a blog post with all the data (note: I only include the winner, not the first or second place runner-ups). Paul Cornies congratulated me getting the scoop, and he proclaims the Edublog Awards program to be “an annual treat for educators.” I have to agree with that sentiment Paul. Yes, there are naysayers who claim it to be a popularity contest, but I too consider it the time to re-assess my reader, clear out the ones I’m daily marking as read, and adding the new voices that I was not familiar with to stretch my thinking. Some will stay, some will not. That’s the nature of the beast known as “connected learning.” Engage me or enrage me. So I don’t apologize for looking forward to the annual awards.
Addressing the naysayers
If you think it’s a glorified popularity contest, then my question is this: As a change agent who uses these tools for connected learning, where oh where are your nominations? This so called popularity contest is based on nominations open to the bloggers everywhere. All you had to do was post a list and let them know via a form on the Edublogger Award Blog. If the naysayers had nominated some, maybe we’d have MORE new voices rather than the same ones from year in and year out.
P.S.
Stepping off my soapbox now. PS-I really was pleased as punch about all that traffic. And as Larry said to me, perhaps it will garner a broader audience for first timers who came to check it out.
Image Attributions: FlickrCC Image: 'Dave Wants You' Dec 19, 2009 Stats for my blog
‘Pleased as punch’ is a good expression for all that traffic. It has happened to me a couple of times when 1,000+ hits seem to come out of nowhere. A number of factors are at work: a recommendation, a Digg or two which explodes exponentially when the search engines increase your ranking, buzz on Twitter etc. On the other hand, I have often had the experience that a darn good blog post is largely ignored.
Growth ultimately comes down to some hard work, persistance, and, in your case, a lot of dedication to the edu-cause. Hopefully a few more good readers have been sent your way.