Articles recently commented on:

1. The United States, the NEW Roman Empire
2. Wallner files (GulfLink/Gulf War): Stephen Richard Phillis
3. Referrer spam and spamming the web server
4. Is Object Oriented Programming the best way?
5. Dachshund now vicious according to city of Lafayette, Colorado
6. Analyzing traffic quality: "Along for the Ride!"
7. Cheating EntreCard, Adgitize and other services, part two

Rate My Blog

Excellent! Very Good Good Fair Poor

Follow Mar Matthias on Twitter

Follow Rev. Mother Theresa on Twitter

Website thumbnails generously provided by ShrinkTheWeb

Traffic Shock: the good, the bad, and the ugly

by Mar Matthias Darin

Once in a while I do a through audit of my traffic sources to my page. Tonight I finished my first audit to my blog. I have an unique perspective on the traffic my blog receives as I built the server with my own hands and installed all the software. I use both my logs and compare them with multiple outside sources, including Google Analytics.

I analyzed a year and a half of log data to get my results. After my analysis, I got results that I do NOT like. Also, I did get a surprise from the audit that I do like.

First, the good... I have quite of bit of good news from my audit. A few places I didn't think would do very well actually performed better than I expected. the next bit of surprising news is that Along for the Ride!, in its eight months of age, has ranked within the top ten traffic sources to my blog. I am quite please at how well it has done. Finally, one of my referrers has an average of 45 minutes per visit. That is very nice. I'm gonna have to figure out a way to show my gratitude to my gracious referrer.

Second, the bad... My bounce rate is way too high for my liking. I know why and and not happy about the cause. EntreCard pushed my bounce rate to an average of 91.34%. Without EntreCard, my bounce rate is 80.10%, which is within the acceptable range for advertisers. Now that I have left EntreCard, I am already seeing a huge difference in my bounce rate, pages per visit, and average time per visitor. Its improving so I suppose that means I am moving in the right direction.

Third, the ugly... When I was a member of EntreCard, I dropped three hundred cards a day. EntreCard's stats looks quite impressive... Little did I know, they were not accurate, VERY inaccurate. My return of investment was below HALF of what I put in. I spent two to four hours a night, every night, visiting blogs and dropping my card. What did I get out of it, an average of one hundred and forty-two return visits with the exception of one time, in which I received three hundred and twelve visits. In my opinion, EntreCard is EntreScam, and I've been had and ain't none to happy about that.

The audit was laborious, tedious, and seem like it took forever to complete, however, it was very informative. I gained a lot from the audit, as I always do, that provided me with a good amount on information that I will use to improve my blog.

Top tags: audit, entrecard, average, blog, bounce, good, rate, traffic, hundred, per

Comments from RWS Photo ^{219.94.83.242}

Yes, Entrecard does upset the bounce rate

Comments from Mar Matthias Darin

I know it sure wrecked mine...

PermaLink Home
Previous: My words oft flee
Next: Why Jews hate Blacks

Related articles (based on tags) PPACT: Page 1737, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009 EntreCard, no-more, forever more PPACT: Page 1498, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009 EntreCard introduces paid advertising Along for the Ride! policy update ObamaCare: Page 790, America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 ObamaCare: Page 295, America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009