Blogometrics

It was an interesting meeting, the third Dutch business bloggers meeting. Some thirty (correction 40 JB) persons, among which 4 women, showed up, bloggers treating subjects from drinks to cars, from marketing to sales. The subject of blogometrics was on the menu. The basic question was: do you measure the visitors and the pages visited?

The host Peter Wiegman, blogo chief of Mediaonderzoek (Media research), gave an insight in what he is measuring and how he is measuring. But he being a media researcher by training, you would expect him to have his own model.

For me the best presentation was the one of the co-host and chief blogger of Dutch language Marketingfacts, Frank Derksen (correction Marco Derksen JB). He spoke on Online communities: from stranger to evangelist. He looks at blogs as a community of people who pass by and read a blog, to lurkers, to participants and evangelists. All his positions were clearly supported with figures of the blog Marketingfacts. This site attracts 100.000 visitors a month, of which 10.000 visitors come back regularly. In turn 1.000 visitors become regulars, who like to take part in the discussions on the blog. Roughly 100 visitors become evangelists and start writing for the blog; presently Marketingfacts has just over 50 contributors to the blog. The 10 percent theory. It is an interesting vision on business blogs.

From his statistics it was also clear that a business blogs take a long time to be put into the market. Marketing facts needed almost two years before it really took off. This upwards turn coincided with attracting co-bloggers, who started to write contributions and respond to the reactions.

On my way home I thought about my blogs, Buziaulane and Content Market Monitor. While they are intended for the professional market, they need a professional approach. So I will have to start out measuring the traffic and get an idea what make visitors tick.

Tags: blogs

Blog Posting Number: 396