Traffic is Both Down and Up

The topicability index for today has stopped on traffic. Many lensmasters have spotted an anomaly with the traffic to their lenses reportedly not registering correctly. I've noticed that as well ... enough to stop and do this blog post.

MHM-666

It's not just one or two lenses that are off, but quite a few which raises a bit of a red flag. While it is difficult to analyze each and every lens when you have over 445 lenses; I have looked at some of my more popular lenses which have always gotten good traffic. It's odd to see so many different types of lenses being 'off' ... can this be attributed to the time of the year? For the most part, school is out for the Summer. Are less people on their computers? Are people going to other sites?

Many are saying that their lenses aren't getting the traffic to which they've grown accustomed.

On the other hand, I've noticed other traffic that is way up! For example, my inbox is flooded these days with the good [thank you my friends], the bad [bummer!], and the ugly -- those spammy emails! Traffic might be reporting as down to lenses, but traffic is up with the number of emails.

Looking through some of my stats, it was quite interesting to see that 96% of my visitors are new and unique! That's up considerably from the 77% or so of previous months. It's great to see that new readers are discovering the benefits of Squidoo. Now, we just need to sort out what's happening with those numbers!

P.S. I'd like to see some seasonality studies -- I'll report back when I find some. Meanwhile, I'm off to find the traffic. May the force be with you! And, if you haven't yet discovered the benefits of Squidoo, why not join me as a lensmaster and we can discover that traffic together!

Should I be a Squidoo lensmaster

Should I or shouldn't I be a Squidoo lensmaster? Today in his blog post, Seth Godin asks the question, "Why am I here?" Indeed! I'm not waxing philosophical when I say that I've recently been asking myself that question a lot! It's been a time of examining how my time is spent; whether it is making sense that I participate in some form or fashion online at certain social media sites. After all, a person can spread themselves a little thin by trying to keep active everywhere -- unless you are a Wonder Woman or a Superman or perhaps Guy Kawasaki who is one amazing guy -- especially on Twitter!

Just as Seth's blog post was quite topicable for me today, so was the blog post from the SAMBA blog. The latest post asked another resonating topicable question of What do you hear? That topicable question was also picked up on by ChefKeem when he asked, "Do You Know Who Is Talking About You On The Web?" The SAMBA blog suggested that we check out Social Mention which is an aggregator that collects information from a number of different social media sites.

In addition to listening to what people are saying about your brand, also listen what they are saying about your competition. It is not sneaky, but smart!

So what does that have to do with whether I should or shouldn't be a Squidoo lensmaster? Here, hear! When I was taking a hard look at my presence online, I was evaluating my presence at a number of social media sites. I took a particularly close look at two different activities: blogging and Squidooing. I've been blogging since December 2004 and on Squidoo since March 2006. There is a ratio of 2 to 1 when you compare the number of lenses I have authored to the number of blog posts I have penned. Squidoo has had me in its hold for over 3 years.

It is interesting to compare worldwide readership of blogs to Squidoo lenses. Here is a snapshot of readership -- the worldwide visitors -- from my Jaguar Julie :: Blog On and On ... blog:


For comparison purposes, here is a snapshot of the worldwide readership -- the worldwide visitors -- to my >445 Squidoo lenses:


It's pretty obvious from the second snapshot that there is more cultural diversity in the readership for Squidoo lenses. The worldwide reach of Squidoo is quite phenomenal! When you author a quality Squidoo lens that has been optimized with rich, meaningful content and relevant keywords, your lens has an excellent opportunity of being indexed by a variety of search engines so that you can have a strong worldwide readership base. The icing on the cake is when you additionally promote your lens judiciously to social media platforms.

Let's take a closer look at the top twenty countries for the worldwide readership comparing Squidoo lenses vs. a Google blog. Looking at the snapshot above, and comparing the list on the left with the list on the right, you see many of the same countries. In this example, the top three countries for both are the same -- the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom! Together, for lenses they account for 77% of the readership base; for the blog, 72%. For the most part, this would be what I expected to see without looking at the tangible evidence.

You know it would be interesting to have a snapshot of the membership base of Squidoo lensmasters to see how their percentages stack up against the readership base. Much has been said that more Squidoo lensmasters are of the female persuasion; many of which are work-at-home moms. I'm thinking that the greatest percentage of Squidoo lensmasters DO come from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom!

OK, so back to the question, "Should I or shouldn't I be a Squidoo lensmaster?" If you are interested in having a worldwide reach that is quite phenomenal, I would say that the answer is a compelling YES! Do you have something that you are passionate about? Why not create a phenomenal lens to shout out to the world? Why not join me! I've invested many an hour writing about a number of things that I find interesting; looking to engage my readers -- my worldwide readership base.

And, now I'm looking to judiciously monitor my time by asking, "Why am I here?" and What do you hear? Can you hear me now?