Trade Show Guru

21 responses so far ↓

• 1 Rudy // Jul 1, 2009 at 5:22 am

  Blogging regularly is good for first time blogger. It’s a way to get you noticed by people and search engines alike. Once you’re “established”, IMHO, you can then cruise along with a post a week.

  OT: I’ll be in your neck of the woods this Thursday/Friday. We’re visiting Solvang. Any recommendation where else we should go? We’re urban warriors, so don’t point us to camping grounds. 🙂

• 2 The Trade Show Guru // Jul 1, 2009 at 11:56 am

  Hey Rudy,
  I tend to agree that once you are “established” you can cut back. ~ Steve
  FYI: Michael Jackson’s funeral is in the valley (at Neverland Ranch) this weekend. It could be a ZOO!

• 3 Todd Morris // Jul 1, 2009 at 8:38 pm

  Hi Steve,

  In my “vast” blogging experience, I think the value of blogging with regularity may be just the opposite of what you’ve described.

  Humans (with the exception of those who have become friends), probably care more about whether or not you post on a regular basis.

  If I like you, I don’t care if you only post twice a year … I’ll read it when I get it. But if I sign up to a blog’s feed on a whim, then don’t see any new posts for a couple of weeks at a time, I might not necessarily unsubscribe … but there is a good chance that I won’t be actively checking to see when the next post comes along.

  On the flip side, with search engines …

  I actually just noticed yesterday that’s it’s been almost a year since I made the last post on my Hawaii blog. (about the time I found out for sure we were moving).

  That site still has several terms on the 1st page of Google. It’s gets a steady stream of visitors; and even a fair number of comments.

  As for your blog, I enjoy your posts, so obviously I’d like to see them more often …. but I still pop in whenever I see a new one … even if it’s been a couple of weeks.

  If this “pace” of posting works for you “the writer”, then it works for me “the reader”.

  Todd

• 4 Lin Burress @ Telling It Like It Is // Jul 2, 2009 at 9:42 am

  Hiya Steve! I’ve read various opinions online by blogging ‘experts’, some saying blogging regularly is necessary (like, posting every day or every other day), while other so-called experts say a couple times a week works just fine.

  I’d personally like the blogging A-lister “experts” to get their stories straight, as they’re making me dizzy.

  The great majority of traffic to my blog is from search engines, not human pals on social networking sites, so I don’t stress over how often to post. I post when I can and when I have something to say.

  Having a couple weeks go by where there are no new posts is no big deal to me. If I’m subscribed to a blog, I’ll read each new post as they appear in my reader, even if it’s been more than a month since the last “fresh” post.

  Do whatever works for you – we all have lives to live too and family’s to care for, so we have to find the balance between blogging and family life. Otherwise, we’ll all end up in divorce court. 😉

• 5 The Trade Show Guru // Jul 2, 2009 at 11:30 am

  hi Todd, I am honored by the length of your comment. Between you and Lin, you two are writing my post content for me! 🙂
  I’m impressed your “neglected” Hawaii blog is still ranking, and I think that says something about my question. Hope all is well in Texas! ~ Steve
  hi Lin, Ditto on the long comment. I agree that the experts (on ranking on a search engine) can’t seem to agree, so some are probably right but then some must be wrong. I guess it’s best to go with common sense, and that means balance in life, so you blog when you can… Blogging should be fun! ~ Steve

• 6 Mitch // Jul 2, 2009 at 12:14 pm

  Hi Steve,

  You read my blog, so you know the test I did on this subject for April. When I reduced how often I wrote, I lost a lot of visitors. When I picked it up, many came back.

  If people don’t care about your blog to begin with, then frequency doesn’t matter. However, if they do, they want to see more.

  It’s kind of like new music from your favorite artist; we constantly want more and more from them, and if we don’t get it, sometimes we find someone else, and that’s that for that musician.

• 7 The Trade Show Guru // Jul 2, 2009 at 7:45 pm

  Hey Mitch,
  Yes, I remember that. I guess my question really depends on whether your traffic comes from new visitors, repeat visitors, or from search engines (like Lin above). I do recommend that anyone reading this click through to Mitch’s blog and find that post/experiment, and enjoy the rest of his blog while you’re there!
  ~ Steve, the trade show guru

• 8 Todd Morris // Jul 3, 2009 at 8:58 am

  “hi Todd, I am honored by the length of your comment”

  LOL, yea I didn’t realize until I was done writing that that comment probably contains more words than about 1/2 the posts on my own blog. 😀

  It’s all good though … your subject was obviously inspirational.

• 9 The Trade Show Guru // Jul 3, 2009 at 4:41 pm

  hey Todd,
  Feel free to be “inspired” around here anytime.
  ~ Steve

  UPDATE: Above I responded to Rudy’s comment that Michael Jackson would have his funeral at his Neverland Ranch in the Santa Ynez valley behind Santa Barbara. It turns out that isn’t happening, and the Michael Jackson public viewing will be at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Just want to set the record straight.

• 10 Will // Jul 4, 2009 at 12:50 pm

  I think the most important thing is having content that people find when they use a search engine. I am just guessing, but I would say that at least 1/2 of my posts are not viewed too many times after the first week or so. Many of the others continue to be popular long after publication. I get the vast majority of my visits from search engine results. I am happy with that and as my occasiona Sunday Search of the Week shows, these searches can often provide humor or an interesting puzzle.

  What I would like to figure out is the secret to increase first time commentators. I have several regulars, like you, Steve, and I am grateful for them. But I have many posts with thousands of unique views and only 10 to 20 comments. I then have a few posts that continue to get regular comments a year or two after publication. I have never been able to discern a pattern that indicates why some posts attract lots of comments and others don’t.

• 11 The Trade Show Guru // Jul 4, 2009 at 7:08 pm

  hi Will,
  I would agree that it’s more important WHAT you write that HOW OFTEN you write, but the more often you write “good content” the more traffic you’ll get overall, if that’s what you want.
  As to how to get more first time comments, that’s another good question… maybe for another post. 🙂
  Seriously though, I can see why some of your posts continue to get comments (I’m thinking of one about soda pop). I think again it’s related to the content and if it elicits a response.
  Hmmmm ~ Steve

• 12 Kathy // Jul 5, 2009 at 10:59 am

  Hey, Steve. I don’t know much about SEO, clearly. But what I do know is that I’m sometimes overwhelmed with keeping up with personal blogs that get updated every day, except for Daisy the Curly Cat. I wish she would update twice a day!

  Anyway, I don’t sweat it so much when I update only twice a week because it feels like it gives enough people enough time to find me in their readers. Too much and people might just skim over me.

  My $0.02.

• 13 JD at I Do Things // Jul 5, 2009 at 1:49 pm

  Interesting topic! I agree with Kathy, above. It’s hard for me to keep up with blogs that update every day. I’d like to, but let’s be reasonable. As for me, twice a week works best. I’d love to make it three times a week, but my posts are usually pretty long, so I figure, eh, give the readers a break.

• 14 The Trade Show Guru // Jul 5, 2009 at 2:47 pm

  @Kathy and JD, I think you two publish posts on just the right schedule. No “blogging metamucil” needed for either of you. 🙂
  For humor/entertainment/give-me-something-interesting-or-funny-to-read-on-my-break blogs, I think one to three times a week is “just right” and means I can keep up with reading (most of) the posts. Daily would be too much. And I don’t think most bloggers have THAT much (of interest) to say. ~ Steve

• 15 Internet Strategist @GrowMap // Jul 5, 2009 at 5:52 pm

  I suspect the main reason many recommend posting every day is to maximize traffic – especially for bloggers who sell advertising.

  If you post once a week and have 100 read each post you have 400 visitors. If you post once a day and have those same 100 readers you will get 3,000 visits in the same month. THIS is probably what is behind the “post every day” recommendation.

  It only makes sense that the more times a month you post the more opportunities you create for your regular readers / subscribers to visit. I’d be interested in asking Mitch whether he really “lost” visitors or the same visitors visited less often because there were no new posts to read.

  I suspect quality is far more important in the long run because for every reader who wishes you would write every day there will be some who wish you would stop writing so often because they are being overwhelmed with unread items in their reader.

• 16 The Trade Show Guru // Jul 5, 2009 at 6:29 pm

  hi GrowMap,
  Thanks for dropping by. I agree that the more quality posts one writes, the more traffic your blog should pull. The challenge is to write the quality posts…
  I guess I am really asking, does anyone think that a search engine (i.e. google) would rank a post from a blog that is updated daily any better than an identical (but not duplicate content) post from a blog that is only randomly updated, say monthly, all other factors being equal. The more I think about it, since google is trying to deliver the most relevant page (I think) I don’t see why the regularity with which the blog is updated could be much of a factor.
  So for search engines and how they would rank a specific post, I’ve think now it matters little.
  For human readers (that aren’t coming via a search engine), it’s a different matter…
  And I think on that, most of my commenters above are saying “don’t overwhelm us” and “only publish quality posts, whenever you have one.” ~ Steve

• 17 Internet Strategist @GrowMap // Jul 10, 2009 at 1:21 pm

  Post frequency affects how often the search engine visits but probably not so much your position in the search results. Since the latest changes Google is doing some really strange stuff.

  For example, some Tweets from Twitter are getting onto the first page of results. It will be interesting to see how long they stay.

  Reviews in Local Search directories are having an effect on where businesses rank. There are bound to be various algorithmic inputs for activity on Social Networking sites. Getting stumbled at StumbleUpon seems to be a really good way to end up on the first page of the SERPs.

  I write for people and do the right thing and hope the search engines and especially Google don’t penalize me for what I do. I refuse to give Google any more power over our collective lives than they’ve already taken.

• 18 The Trade Show Guru // Jul 10, 2009 at 2:45 pm

  Hey GrowMap,
  Half of what you wrote went over my head, but I agree! 🙂 And I agree the best policy is not to worry to much about it and just write good stuff, whenever that is. ~ steve, the non-tweeting-non-twittering trade show guru

• 19 Wasim // Aug 18, 2009 at 4:04 pm

  I would suggest that we post 2 posts every day which would be unique and about something that interests us. Google loves blogs that are updated on a regular basis. One should always blog as a reader. That’s what I think.

• 20 The Trade Show Guru // Aug 18, 2009 at 5:37 pm

  hey Wasim (aka photoshop guru?),
  That sounds like a lot of work (but it probably is what google would like to see).
  Cool “photoshop guru” website you have. The trade show guru wishes you good karma! ~ Steve, the trade show guru

• 21 Wasim // Aug 20, 2009 at 1:43 pm

  Hey thanks a ton for the compliment Trade Show Guru! Glad you liked it.:)

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