Friday, January 30th, 2009...3:01 am
Can Twitter boost your blog traffic?
Well, I can’t speak for your blog, but I can tell Twitter has driven traffic to my blog. But then again, I’m a social-media evangelist.
I’ve written before out the the usefulness of Twitter for journalists.
I’ve experienced the utility of Twitter on my own beat, parenting. Right now, I’m setting up a series of guest blogs for my Family Life blog, and all but two of the bloggers I’m featuring I discovered through Twitter. (The other two bloggers I found on Facebook.) So there, social media naysayers.
Plus, I’ve found story ideas, blog topics and been able to assess the buzz on a topic from tweets.
But what about numbers? Does Twitter really drive traffic to my blog.
I can’t tell on my Family Life blog because I don’t have access to its stats. But I have all the access in the world to stats on this blog. So I checked them out.
The verdict: 25 percent of the referrals on this blog came from Twitter since I started my blog in mid-December. That means 25 percent of people clicked links from Twitter to get to my blog. (Number don’t count me, by the way.)
I tweet every blog post, and on occasion some good soul retweets it. Now I have nearly 1,200 followers on Twitter, and I’ve been fortuante that some Twitter heavy-hitters have retweeted my tweets. That sure helps. So I realize this example applies only to my blog and can’t be considered universally. (But those heavy hitters I met on Twitter, too.)
Now many people got to my blog from search engines, such as Google, as well. And this doesn’t mean my traffic would drop 25 percent if I stopped tweeting.
Yet I was impressed. Granted, my blog is new, so my numbers are small. But 25 percent is still 25 percent whether it’s out of a thousand or a million. And I realize that this is a study of one blog, so from a social science standpoint, it means nothing.
For me, it means I’ll keep on tweeting.
I guess the way I see it, if you want to build traffic, you need to do everything — not just a few things. And can you imagine if a newspaper Web site had multiple employees tweeting blogs and stories on a regular basis. (Not all day mind you; just here and there like you check your e-mail. Read a cool story or blog post and tweet it or Stumble it or Digg it.)
I think most bloggers would be thrilled with a 25 percent traffic bump. Wouldn’t you?
– Gina
I'm Gina Chen, a 20-year veteran newspaper journalist who is studying for a communications Ph.D. I want to see journalism survive. I believe news organizations need to embrace new media, change their thinking, improve their content and innovate. Read more about me 
10 Comments
January 30th, 2009 at 3:43 am
Twitter is the #2 traffic source for my blog with Google Search being #1 for me personally. I agree Twitter if used correctly can be a big boost in traffic to your site….it did lead me to your site
January 30th, 2009 at 3:47 am
Well, if that doesn’t prove my point, not sure what does.
Thanks for making me look so smart.
Loved your post on Qwitter by the way …
Gina
January 30th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
My two cents.
I think “driving traffic” may not be the best metaphor to use. It’s more like being a fish swimming in a conversation ocean. Every once in a while, you get a glimpse of another fish you might want to get to know. And all the fish are doing the same thing.
The blog or a local coffee shop is where the meet up happens.
The cool thing about twitter is that it is in real time. Just like real life. The other cool thing is that people are forced to edit their comments to a limited number of characters. It’s snack food communication.
January 30th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
To be honest, I don’t even bother with RSS feeds anymore. I just see what other folks say on Twitter, and if I catch their Tweet, I’m more likely to go back to their blog. My stack of RSS feeds got a bit overwhelming.
January 31st, 2009 at 1:56 am
Michael,
Good metaphor about the fish swimming in a conversation ocean. I like it because it gets to the essence of twitter being a conversation — not just a broadcasting system. That seems to be one of the most difficult things to explain to people who aren’t yet sold on Twitter.
Thanks.
January 31st, 2009 at 2:01 am
Daniel,
It’s interesting you raise that about RSS … I’ve found that sometimes rather than Google something, I just search for it on search.twitter.com. I find that particularly useful if I’m blogging on a topic (mainly for my parenting blog) and want to see what other mommy bloggers are saying.
If I Google the topic … I end up with the VIP blogs and the slick Mommy sites because they index higher. But on Twitter I find the quintessential mommy blogger, typing away while her kids nap. (No offense, mommy bloggers.) And, often, that’s just what I want.
– Gina
February 28th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
[...] (If you’re brand-new to Twitter, be sure to check out my tips on how journalists can use Twitter, how to get started, what to say on Twitter and how Twitter can help boost your blog traffic.) [...]
March 4th, 2009 at 1:35 am
[...] Expanding followers: When I get a lull, I go searching for new people to follow on Twitter. Sometimes I look for people who have a connection to (her local community).Other times I look for people with a health or fitness interest. As I increase the number of people I follow, the number of people who follow me, rises, as well. This can boost my blog hits. (People who regularly tweet their blog posts can see significant readership growth from that.) [...]
January 15th, 2010 at 11:49 am
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February 1st, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Hi all Im just getting started with twitter. hope to drive some traffic to my site,, sounds great though
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