In this post I want to share with you some information and lessons learned from about three months of participating in some social network sites. The context of it is focused on traffic that means I’ll try to answer the question: ”Is your effort worth to participate in specific social network site for traffic purpose?”
Article will be divided into four short parts:
Table of Contents
What works for me?
What doesn’t work for me?
What should work for me in the future?
Your recommendations about social network sites
Let’s start with it:
What works for me?
Below there are the most important social networks which drive traffic to my blog.
Triberr.com
At this moment it’s the best social network (in my opinion it’s not a tool, but exactly SOCIAL NETWORK). There are a lot of bloggers, internet marketers, SEO and social media specialists which share their content (blog posts) on Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms. I spend about 15- 20 minutes a day to check what’s interesting and what I want to share with my followers.
You may be interested in reading: How to Use Triberr – Best Social Network for Bloggers?
I get most traffic (except direct traffic and organic traffic from Google) from Twitter. Unfortunately visitors bounce rate is the highest and time spent by them on my website is almost the shortest…
You may be interested in reading: How to Use Twitter?
Traffic from Facebook is very interesting. Amount of visitors from Facebook isn’t impressive (in last 30 days it was 148 visitors from Facebook), but average time which they spend on my site is the longest (6 minutes 17 seconds)
You may be interested in reading: How to Get More Likes on Facebook?
Bloggers.com
Bloggers.com is a network of bloggers. You can get a lot of traffic from this source but you must be active on this platform. Especially when you will be one of three bloggers of the day (when I was featured I got 52 direct visits from this site only in two days) you can get some related traffic. What’s more, bounce rate is the smallest…
StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon also drive some traffic to my blog. But this traffic, IMHO, is not very good – visitors spend about 0 minutes and 6 seconds on my site on average and it’s about 63 times less than visitors from bloggers.com
There are also some “sharing” services which I didn’t try at all, but they sent some traffic to my site and I want to mention them below:
http://inbound.org/
BizSugar
Some of my articles got many votes on this community and it’s driving traffic to NoPassiveIncome. There are some popular bloggers using this site and I definetely suggest you to try it.
This article is hot on BizSugar, see here.
What doesn’t work for me?
I don’t want to describe why it doesn’t work for me. Maybe it’s a problem of topics on my blog, maybe I don’t know how to use it. In any case – I tried following sites without effect for my site. Maybe you have other experience? If yes you can share it in comments at the end of this post.
I got some traffic from this site. But it’s not so easy and in most cases they prefer videos, pictures or topics not related with blogging…
LinkReferral
I spent some time on visiting and even reviewing some sites they recommend. Unfortunately without any result… What’s more, I don’t want to link directly to this site because there are some links (a few, but there are) which neighborhood may be treated as bad…
Pinterest is only one site from this list which I want to give another chance. But at this moment I get only few visits a month from it…
What should work for me in the future?
In this year I plan to check how following social networks work (for traffic purpose). But you can connect with me even now (if you want of course 🙂 )
Slideshare
I plan to be really active here. My goal is to create at least five presentations till the end of this year. So you can connect with me on Slideshare to see my results 😉
I suppose links from LinkedIn are good not only for SEO purposes, but also for direct traffic and social proof. So don’t hesitate and connect with me on LinkedIn too.
Google+
I started to connect with some of my friends on G+ but unfortunately Google banned my personal account. I don’t know why and I’m still waiting for reconsideration. But you can connect with my website on Google+
You Tube
The last one network I plan to check this year is You Tube. At this moment I don’t know how I will find some time for creating videos, but I know that I must.
What is your recommendation about social network sites?
Okey, now it’s your turn. What works for you and what doesn’t work for you?
And what do you think about following social networks:
Blogengage
and
NetworkedBlogs
Please share your social network experience in comments below.
Christine Brady says
Hi Chris,
This is a great lesson in tracking!
I keep a close eye on these numbers too.
I do use Hootsuite and it is wonderful. The bounce rate is low and time on page is high. I highly recommend it.
I don’t use Blogengage, so curious as to what others have to say about it.
Reminds me I need to check my numbers today!
Thanks Chris!
~Christine
Chris Madej says
Hi Christine, thanks for your comment and info about Hootsuite.
I’m also curious about Blogengage – maybe someone is using it and will share own experience.
Sonya says
Thanks for sharing this. I’m not a blogger so don’t have Triberr but find Twitter and Facebook near the top. My top is RebelMouse as it totally exceeds all others.
Chris Madej says
Hi Sonya, thanks for stopping by. Twitter and Facebook really drive a lot of traffic to my site. And I must try RebelMouse.
Warren says
Hey Chris, LinkedIn, Triberr, Facebook, and Twitter are all working for me.
Slideshare, Google+, Youtube are all areas I’ve neglected though, but see tons of potential in. (I’ve never made a single video) Gasp! LOL 🙂
Don’t worry, it’s on my list of things to do.
Have a great day buddy, and I appreciated the comments on my site.
Cheers!
Chris Madej says
Hi Warren, thanks for your comment too 😉 There are tons of social sites – we must only choose the best network(s) for us.
BTW – I also didn’t create any single video 😉
Chris
Warren says
You know buddy in our industry video is kind of important!
We better get on it before they’ve all been made! LOL
I was actually playing around with Camtasia yesterday (screen capture software)
Doesn’t look so hard.
I’ll just have to come up with the topic and get it done.
One of my biggest challenges was adding too much to my “List” and stretching myself too thin. I’m now trying to focus on a few projects at a time rather than twenty! 🙂
Chris Madej says
Hi Warren, you are totally right – focusing is very important. So Youtube must wait a little 😉
Simmeon says
Hey Chris,
A ton of my traffic is coming from Facebook and Twitterr, with only a marginal amount coming from organic sources. But it’s a relatively new blog so I expect that to increase as time goes on.
Chris Madej says
Hi Simmeon, thanks for your comment. I also get some traffic from FB and Twitter, but two major sources of traffic are direct visits and organic traffic. So I must work on social sources and traffic from guest posts!
Mukeshkumr says
Twitter is still one of robust social networking site for traffic generation. As I think if your latest post got 5 retweet, you definitely counts 10%-20% more visits as compare to other days.
Chris Madej says
Hi Mukeshkumr, thanks for your comment
Adrienne says
I love Triberr as you may know Chris and it’s one of my sources of traffic as well along with Facebook and Twitter. I still show that the majority of my traffic remains on my site for a little over three minutes, sometimes longer so I’ll take that any day.
I have other sources of traffic that I use that aren’t on my top ten list but they’re still bringing me traffic so I’m not going to complain at all.
I love that you shared what works for you and what hasn’t at least so far. I know others will find this helpful too.
~Adrienne
Chris Madej says
Hi Adrienne, thanks for your support.
As I wrote in the post – Triberr, Twitter and Facebook are my best sources from social networks. But I’m considering another social sites 😉
Yeremi Akpan says
Thanks Chris for the revealing post.
I have also used Twitter and Triberr to good results. Between them they account for the bulk of my traffic.
I am beginning to get more and more direct traffic from Google and believe if I get more active on Google Plus, my direct search engine traffic would take a steep climb. 😉
Chris Madej says
Hi Yeremi, thanks for your comment. Your tip with Google + and direct search engine sounds very interesting 😉
Steve Longoria says
I’m really getting into Twitter lately. I find it’s easier for finding business minded folks on Twitter compared to Facebook. Linkedin is a gold-mine too, you just need to work it right.
Chris Madej says
Hi Steve, I have similar feelings like you, thanks for stopping by.
Raaj Trambadia says
Nice share Chris. What I think is that Facebook would “attract” quality traffic because people click the links not only to check out the original thing….but to read it. While as you mentioned above, twitter is something where people will visit the link and leave it within seconds…While from facebook, people could already see the featured image and the title-description of the post.
And about Blog Engage…it works more …if i engage more! As simple as that 🙂
Chris Madej says
Hi Raaj, Facebook really works, it’s fact 😉
And what do you mean “it works more …if i engage more” – how much time you spend on it and how many traffic you get from it?
And thanks for your comment!
Sandeep Kumar says
Hi Chris…..
Thanks for sharing your experience…
I am also having almost similar experience with Social Bookmarking and networking sites.
I got decent traffic from Facebook but i am not getting any traffic from twitter.
I am working towards that and in August month i am mainly focussing on traffic from social networking sites.
Thanks for your article it will help me to make my decision.
Chris Madej says
Hi Sandeep, great you like this article. Twitter is really good for traffic and also for “social buzz” – you must try it.
Sandeep Kumar says
Hi Chris…
When you are going to publish your next article…..I am eagerly waiting bro.
Chris Madej says
Hi Sandeep, it’s ready, but it will be published in two hours – 3.00 PM Polish time zone. I make some tests what time is the best time for publishing 😉
And thanks for your question, I like it 🙂
BTW – please read email from me 😉
sandeep kumar says
Hi Chris bro…
I have replied to your e-mail….
Sorry for delay in reply bro….
Chris Madej says
No problem 😉
Aditi says
Hi Chris!!
All the networking sites are just great. Off all, I must say that I like to use Facebook and Twitter. I have been using Facebook as well as Twitter for a long time and it is so far the best social networking sites. I really like reading your post. Thanks for the share!!
Chris Madej says
Hi Aditi, thanks for your comment.I see that Facebook and Twitter rulez 😉
Norbert says
Hi Chris,
Thanks for sharing this. Social networks are a boost especially if you have a relatively new domain like mine.
I get good traffic from twitter. I plan on trying triberr.
I once got lots of traffic ( about 100 visitors) from stumbleupon in about 2hrs when one of my posts was stumbled. The bounce rate was however the highest.
Chris Madej says
Hi Norbert, thanks for stopping by. StumbleUpon give us only a “shot” – I think I’ll not invest my time into it anymore.
And give Triberr a try – it’s really worth it 🙂
Rudraksh Pathak says
Hey Chris thanks for sharing this post.
You are right Social Media sites are really helpful in boosting your blog. I like Facebook, Twitter and BlogEngage. It really give me quality traffic. 🙂
Chris Madej says
Hi Rudraksh, thanks for your comment. How much time do you spend on BlogEngage to see enough traffic?
Ehsan Ullah says
Hey Chris, Thanks for sharing your insights on social media.
The social media sites which worked for are:
1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. Google+
4. StumbleUpon.
The social media sites which doesn’t work for me are:
1. Reddit
2. LinkReferral
3. BlogEngage (I hate this one!)
4. Delicious
And the other ones like Bloggers.com and Pinterest etc are fine. I’m also planning to start video tutorials on Youtube.
Chris Madej says
Hi Ehsan, and thanks for you.
You wrote that you hate BlogEngage – may I ask why? I was thinking about trying it…
Carlos says
I liked the fact that you’ve concluded which social network visitor stayed more on your site.
And you’re right twitter clicks are more in number but people do stay less on site, due to type of links on twitter.
How ever facebook links looks interesting to people, and they spend more time on site.
Chris Madej says
Hi Carlos, bounce rate and time on site is for me almost as important as amount of visitors 😉 So it was my duty to share it with you too. Thanks for stoppping by.
Shalu Sharma says
Stumbleupon has been good for me. I never realised that Slideshare could be useful, I am going to explore this in more detail. All in all Facebook has been pretty effective. To be honest this is the first time I have heard of Triberr so I need to look into this. Seems very promising indeed.
Chris Madej says
Hi Shalu, thanks for your comment. SlideShare is also on my list 😉
Tim Bonner says
Hi Chris
I must admit I had a look at Triberr when Adrienne mentioned it but I got lost on the site. I’d better take another look at it and see if I can figure out in my head what I should be doing with it.
Most of my traffic is organic or direct at the moment, although increasingly Twitter is bringing some decent traffic my way. I’m trying to get up to speed with Facebook and Google+ as well.
I tried Pinterest, didn’t like it, couldn’t really see how it was any use for me personally and left it at that.
I’ve explored a couple of the others such as Reddit and StumbleUpon but it gets to the stage where it’s overload and I can’t keep up with every social media site out there!
Thanks for this post, it’s been really helpful. I will check out Triberr again for sure.
Tim
Chris Madej says
Hi Tim, thanks for your insights. I only want to mention one more thing about triberr – don’t give up with it to early. It’s not intuitive, and at the beginning you may be little bit confused with it (I was). But it’s worth to try it.
Chris
Ammar Ali says
Most of my traffic is coming from facebook and twitter!
I’m also getting traffic from youtube too. From my old video. I create year ago. 😉
Thanks Chris!
Chris Madej says
Hi Ammar, great to hear someone who has traffic from YouTube. I’ll try it. And thanks for your comment!
Chris
Ishan says
For me, FB and Twitter work well.
Though I am not promoting that much, but traffic is good and consistent. Biggest source of my traffic are search engines.
Though the problem with them is that visitors bounce very quickly!
Chris Madej says
Hi Ishan, thanks for sharing your experience with us. For me search engines and direct visits are the most important sources of traffic, but as I wrote in the post, Twitter, Facebook and Triberr are the best sources from social networks 🙂
Matt Smith says
Hi Chris. Great post! Nice to see what works and what doesn’t work for other bloggers.
Personally, my best social media site that sends me the most traffic is LinkedIn. This has been my best referrer since I started the site. I also use Twitter, Facebook Google+, Pinterest and a few bookmarking sites including StumbleUpon & Digg. They all send traffic, but LinkedIn is BY FAR the best for me.
I haven’t used Triberr before, but I guess I should give it a try. Sounds like you have had some good results from using it.
Chris Madej says
Hi Matt,
thanks for stopping by. You are first person which has most traffic from LinkedIn. I must try it too. About Triberr – it really works, you must try it. I’m the ruler of one Tribe on Triberr so if you want you can join it – please let me know about it.
BR, Chris
John Banks says
Hi Chris,
You make some interesting points. I have to agree with Matt Smith on this with LinkedIn, this is where i get the most traffic from social media sites. But – this may change, I plan to use more of YouTube and Pinterest (although i am not convinced the IM niche is really suited for it)
Alternatives like Flickrr, SlideShare, and Tumblr can also bring in some dribs and drabs. I actually think they all should form part of the jigsaw as they all have the potential of the ‘pebble in the pond’ effect……
Regards,
John
Chris Madej says
Hi John, thank you for your comment. YouTube and Pinterest for some niches are the best sources of traffic, but as you wrote, IM niche may be not suited for it;)
Deepak says
I will try Triberr.com and try to get traffic but as you said reddit never worked for you i have cracked the secrete code which was hidden till now and now i get good traffic from it will all social sites work quite good for me.
Thanks for great article Chris
Chris Madej says
Hi Deepak, thanks for stopping by. Could you share the secret about reddit with us?
Annetta Powell says
Hi Chris,
I am going to check out on Tribber!
It is really unfortunate that Google blocked your personal account. One of my friends had the same issue and he was using gmail as his main email and all his financial accounts, insurances, whatever you can think of was connected to it. Well, he mentioned all that and in the appeal and got his account back in 2 days.
You will definitely love Google+. G+ will bring your writings a lot of attention in the Google search results.
Chris Madej says
Hi Annetta,
thanks for your comment and sorry for late answer – I was on my short holidays 😉
G+ is surely interesting, but I made a reconsidiretion request some months ago – without any results…
Chris
Ashish says
Hi chris,getting traffic from twitter and reddict didn’t work from me and thanks for providing triberr which I have never heard of,will have a try at it.
Chris Madej says
Hi Ashish,
thanks for your comment. You must try Triberr – it’s really worth it 😉
Chris
Vigor Jakusky says
Triberr.com looks cool kinda like theblogfrog.com.
In my opinion the best social network for bloggers is blogsynergy.com
Felicia says
Hi Chris,
These are certainly a lot of social networking sites. In fact, I haven’t even heard some of them. Personally, twitter and facebook does magic for me since I was able to form a huge but good network. I have not tried pinterest as of yet but I heard it is also capable of generating a lot of traffic. Hopefully when I try it, it will be able to deliver the same way I’ve read about it.
Chris Madej says
Hi Felicia, thanks for stopping by. Some social networks can generate a lot of traffic for us – we should only take care about it 😉
janmejai says
Just joined triberr,heard for the first time about it.I hope it will help me a little.
However For me Facebook is the best,it drives a Huge traffic.
vasudevan says
Thanks for sharing this informative article.Because i am a new blogger your post about “Social Network Sites” is really helpful for me and also other bloggers..i hope from here i got some valuable thing about Triber.com..Sure i suggest this information with my friends….Really thank u a lot:)
Anshul Singh says
Nice article thanks for share with us. I think google+ and facebook is better for getting traffic for blog and its always genuine
Paul says
For content finding and sharing;
Facebook, Google+, Youtube & Vimeo and recently Stumbleupon, are my favs
Lee says
Hi Chris
I have loads of images on my site and have just opened an account on pinterest. I have only been on there a couple of times and still trying to get my head around it. And how to utilise it properly hope it works as it should be the best social site to compliment my site.
Great info lee
Amal Rafeeq says
Hi,
Great Informative post it is.
I think you should combine all those Social Networks and wait for the result. It will be Huge I hope.
Anita Campbell says
Hi, I am the CEO of BizSugar. Thanks for your feedback. We take all criticism and comments very seriously.
I was very concerned about your feedback and wondering what we had done wrong.
However, after an investigation I’m now confused. You see, numerous articles from this URL are included on BizSugar. You can do a search for the domain name and see for yourself.
In fact, articles authored by you, Chris, are included on the site. For example, your article about Triberr is one of the ones included on BizSugar.
This article itself, in which you make incorrect claims about BizSugar, is on BizSugar with 24 votes. We certainly accepted it.
You wrote us an email claiming that your articles had been removed. We wrote you back saying we would be happy to investigate – tell us which articles. We never heard from you with specifics.
We welcome constructive criticism. We know we are not perfect, and we know there is lots we can improve. We try hard. But you have to give us a chance — and you have to get the facts right.
Thanks
PS, I will leave this same comment over at the posting on BizSugar, also.
Anita Campbell says
Hi Erik, We welcome and value you as a member at BizSugar. We have no problem with your activity at BizSugar. We hope you will continue participating. 🙂
The only problem we have is with the statement in this article, that pertains to BizSugar. That is why I had to speak up.
Articles from this site are being accepted at BizSugar. There are more than 10 articles on BizSugar right now.
For anyone having trouble submitting, we actually read our emails and respond. Heather and the rest of the team will be happy to assist you.
Thanks!
Anita Campbell says
Erik – you are wonderful! That is more than I could have hoped for.
Come on over to BizSugar everyone!!!
Anita
Ritul Gangwar says
Hi Chris,
What a wonderful list you had made. Very nice and informative article , thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Regards
Joe Hart says
Many people have suggested me to try out Triberr..The skeptic in me never gave it a chance..I am taking your word and going to give it a try..Thanks.
Regards
Ganesh
mcaullum says
Thanks for sharing some of the best sites for getting juicy traffic i will definitely give it a try to tribber
Angela says
Thanks for the post!
I received a bunch from reddit. Although I’m not personally a member – even know I still get a trickle from a few weeks back. It was awesome to get so much traffic but because it was in a list of interesting articles, most people came, read and went. Mine made it to top of the list but I have to admit I got pulled in by all the others too! :0 Still super happy to have been submitted!
mcaullum says
Facebook and twitter are too far the best social network sites for getting maximum exposure on blog/site ..some of the best ways are suggested by your site appreciate your source
Aime Jones says
Hi Chris !
Thank you for sharing this great post !!All the social networking sites are doing well due to the increasing number of net-savvy people.
Regards
oliversmith says
Hi,
There are some social network sites i have not heard about before this blog. like bizsugar, Triberr etc. Thanks to you for sharing this new updates for me and gaining the traffics for my websites.
tomhunt says
Hi Chris I like your way of explaining things it really helps the readers to take stuff according to their needs. I think twitter is giving enough traffic to websites which are tweeting pictures, links and more more great sharing stuff for one to get aware of and get acknowledge of.
MSI Sakib says
Hello Chris,
You given traffic sources are mind blowing. I didn’t use triberr before. So, I was unknown about it’s power. But after reading your article I joined triberr immediately. I hope to have great traffic result like you. Thanks for you such contribution.
Yavan Kumar says
Hi Erik,
Twitter is number 1 referral for my blog to send traffic, and that is why I like it most.
Blog Engage is not so good for the traffic but you get a good community of bloggers there, and you find some good topics in your niche to comment. You can build some good relationships there.
Philip Verghese Ariel says
Hi Erik
This is indeed a great list!
Though I am in most of the places but sad I am yet to reach some of the wonderful pages you mentioned here like Tribber, I will surely read the connected link on this site: How to Use Triberr – Best Social Network for Bloggers? and will try to join in.
In the initial stage i was only using twitter, facebook and Google+ in fact i was mostly using G+ and twitter but in the recent past i found that facebook too is a powerful site to move around.
Hey, Tsu is missing in this list, i think its really one of the most popular one now, also Digg too is a powerful one, and hey though some of the sites like Kingged, ahaNOW, ABC, IBA, PAC etc are more of a community but I think they are almost like a social sites too! If I am wrong pl. correct me LOL
Anyways Thank you so much for this post
I am bookmarking it and will surely check out for the rest of the places
Have a good day
~ Phil
Crystal Luminescence says
Hi Erik, that’s a superb list. I use Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, but I don’t post very regularly. I have StumbleUpon good for generating traffic and Scoop.it is very good back links. I use to post a lot when I had a travel blog, but my current sites are for reviews and most of my traffic is from Google. I think I’ll try a few of these networks to see if they work for my niches or not. Graham
Gautam Kumar says
I have tried most of the sites mentioned above and for me Stumbleupon,Scoop.it,Reddit and Biz Sugar worked well and not to say Facebook and Twitter too.
Ankur says
Hi Thanks for the article nice work… FB and twitter are the best.
Vihaan Rao says
I guess all the social sites are equally important, each site provide some amount of traffic for the business growth, we need to analysis and accordingly make changes required in it for the growth of the business
theyvid says
Facebook is the best
Richacontentwriter says
Social networking sites is very necessary in order to interact with customers as well as increasing site traffic.