We all want to boost readership to our Websites, but not all traffic is good traffic. Visitor count is not a good reflection of readership.

I’ve been studying Web analytics for about two years. I look at patterns, trends, navigation, etc. These give me insight as to how my Website works. I use a server based analytics tool that let’s me monitor visitors in realtime and it also spits out a monthly report, which I can use to see how my Websites are doing.

For most of us that blog, what we want is readership. Regular visitors that come to our Websites. I haven’t quite how to figure out conversion rate on mariobourque.com, but then I’m not offering any paid service - yet.

I have noticed, thanks to Google News and Alerts, that keywords in blog posts (more importantly in post hearers) that are relevant to topics that are popular at that time are more likely to be found than not.

For example, I published a few posts on the iPhone near the release date and the amount of traffic on mariobourque.com went through the roof. Same thing with Bill C-61 (Canadian copyright amendments). I’ve picked up a few regular readers, but most of these people were looking for iPhone related information, not the filthy diatribe of a UX guy.

I’ve been experimenting with posts over the past six months, and am making an effort to bring more relevant content to my own blog. It’s been a question of time, and I have a liitle bit more of it (actually,  I made time for it), so the content will be of interest to some.

The best way to increase readership is to get your name out there. People need to know who you are and they need a compelling reason to visit your site. Depending on your subject matter, your audience may vary. Think of a number that reflects your potential audience. These are visitors that are in your area of expertise or market. Look at this number and compare it to your actual stats. The next step is to think of ways to get to that missing audience. Whether it’s posting on news sites, twittering, advertizing, or presenting, you need to look at new ways to reach those who may not know you, but would benefit from your knowledge.

Email me or leave a comment if you have specific questions.

http://blog.sinohosting.net/beware-of-chinese-domain-names-fraud/

I had previously reported being contacted by a domain name registrar regarding my company's domain name in China.

See my previous post for an explanation. See above link for information on the fraudsters.

Kraig Swensrud is the Sr. Director of Marketing Products at Salesforce.com. Recently he developed 7 best practices to help marketers adapt to "Marketing in the Google Era."

Marketing in the Google Era Part 1 - Seven Proven Techniques for Marketing in the 21st century - Kraig Swensrud, Salesforce Marketing: https://admin.acrobat.com/_a13852757/p59236471/

Marketing in the Google Era Part 2 - Secrets of the Salesforce.com Marketing Machine  - Sean Whiteley, Andrea Wildt: https://admin.acrobat.com/_a13852757/p20952289/

This week, I received an email from a domain registrar in Hong Kong. He was inquiring about a Chinese company wanting to register some domain names and an “Internet Brand” based on Trapeze Group.  I’d never heard of Internet branding in China and was curious. This is the description from his email:

“Internet Brand is the name of a kind of popular and convenient domain name in China, also known as “Internet Keyword”. The form of it is different from a traditional domain name; it has no prefix “www.” and no postfix”.com”. Simply input “Internet Brand” into IE Address bar and users can get the destination website directly.”

“The laws and regulations to register and manage Internet Brands are the same as Cn domain names.  If it is registered successfully, it will have an electronic certificate send to our government, for guaranteeing  unique registration. “
“Internet Keywords must be registered only through the registrars accredited by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) in China.”

Now, both IE and Firefox (and I assume other browsers) have this feature built in already. The choice of search engine is up to the user. This is something specific to China. Another Website says:

“Once your Internet Brand is registered, it can obtain full support from a nation-wide portal website and well-known search engines. At present, more than 2000 portal websites such as sina.com, sohu.com, 263.net, baidu.com, search.com.cn, china.com, TOM.com, and local information port have fully provided this feature, covering more than 90% of Internet users in China. “

So from what I understand…

Chinese portal sites that are registered with the government have access to this “Internet Brand” database. If I register my company, Trapeze Group, and a user in China enters “Trapeze Group” in their address bar and does the search, it would send them directly to our Website.

For our type of business, the only customer in China is the government, so not a huge concern; however, let’s use Pepsi for example…

If Petsi Cola (fictitious name) registers Pepsi as an Internet Brand, then traffic would go to Petsi Cola rather than Pepsi Cola. Did I mention it is first com, first serve and you cannot contest it in court? So, all this business is now being taken away from Pepsi Cola and going to Petsi Cola. Profits go down for Pepsi, and Petsi Cola has their best year ever!