During a quick nosy of one of John Chow’s latest articles, “Twingly Top 100 Blogs“, the RSS subscriber count located in the top-right hand corner happened to catch my eye. As a regular reader of this inspiring blog, the bright-orange counter has never managed to catch my attention previously. That probably says more about my inability to notice my surroundings instead of a flaw in John’s web design.

John’s 40,000-odd subscribers is beyond impressive.  Consider that 42,527 is more than the number of people that live in the majority of American cities. Heck, in the Dakotas you will be pushed to find a city with a greater population than John has subscribers.

The RSS Subscriber experiment:

Undoubtedly, John has accumulated his 40,000-odd subscribers over a number of years.  Nonetheless, it got me wondering how many subscribers could I attract in a mere 24 hours. If I did everything possible to increase the subscriber count, what could I achieve?

In inspiration of John Chow’s success, I have developed an experiment to determine the number of RSS subscribers that I can attract in a mere 24-hour period.  What will I be doing special?  That’s part of the fun! I haven’t quite thought of that just yet. I’ll determine the techniques that I use as I go along.

Now, you’re probably thinking to yourself that it will not be a “24 hour” experiment if you throw a regular sleep schedule into the mix.  Guess what? I will be refraining from sleep for the next 24 hours. In fact, I’ve topped up the cupboard with 13 Red Bulls (I managed to buy some loose for a reduced price) and am prepared to navigate the web for the next 24-hours in an attempt to earn RSS subscribers.

Help me on my Quest:

I could always do with a helping-hand.  There are several ways you can aide the experiment:

• 1. Post your own post about the quest.  Trackbacks are enabled, so you will receive a free link back to your blog. Encourage others to join in and follow some of the recommendations below:
• 2. Utilize various forms of social media to publicize the experiment. This can vary from Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon or any other means you can think of.
• 3. Most importantly, subscribe to BlogaPro’s RSS feed either by email, or through one of the many RSS readers including:
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  If all else fails, Feedburner’s own Email Subscription just might tickle your fancy.

Win a copy of Darren Rowse’s “ProBlogger”:

If you subscribe to the BlogaPro RSS feed by Email, you will automatically be entered to win a free copy of Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger. The winner will be selected at random.

Please note that this competition is available to readers worldwide. I will pay for any S&H costs. Without further ado, enter the competition by subscribing via email.

Note: The winner will be announced after 48-hours (it will take me 24 hours to recover from a lack of sleep).

And time starts now…

UPDATE: An post updating the results of the experiment has been released.

I must admit that I have been rather reluctant to publish this article.  This is not due to the fact that I despise blogging but merely the fact that I was unable to attain a set goal…

Over a week ago, I took it upon myself to try and measure the StumbleUpon (SU) effect.  Of course, such a feat is useless without public support.

Prior to conceiving the idea, I had been researching similar effects caused by the likes of Digg and Slashdot.  Due to the lack of information of the potential benefits of being ’stumbled upon’, I decided to try measure the effect myself.

Unfortunately, I was unable to gather the much need public support that was required.  While the article did receive a few hundred hits (approximately 348 in the first 24 hours), it failed to gain notable attention.

Reasons for Failure

Why exactly was my attempt a complete failure? Simply…

1. The biggest mistake made on my behalf was the fact that I submitted the article to an unpopular category - the “StumbleUpon” category.  Articles published within the confines of the ‘Internet’ or ‘Blogs’ directory receive the most attention.
2. Some people thought that my underlying motive was to promote BlogaPro.  I’m not going to lie; I jump at every opportunity to promote my blog, but in this case, I was hoping to conduct a test in the name of research.
3. People are not interested in the benefits of SU - at least not the majority of them.  They use SU because of the social benefits the community offers and the ability to discover ‘undiscovered’ sites/pages.

I’m sure a number of you are familiar with the Digg/Slashdot effect; after all, there is a Wikipedia page that is dedicated to the phenomenon.

While the ’slashdot effect’ has received a lot of study, few have taken the time to consider the effect of being ’stumbled upon’.

With the StumbleUpon (SU) front page purporting that there are over 6 million stumblers, the benefit that the social-community-site brings is potentially huge.

I actively use SU on a regular basis (gcs584).  Even though I don’t submit as many articles as others might commit, I do enjoy wading my way through the many great sites that others have stumbled upon.

I owe a lot to SU; my previous blog gathered some of its best followers after one particular visitor decided to commit one of my articles.  At that stage of the game, the blog was fairly new and struggling to survive due to a lack of motivation on my part.

I write in hope that others might read - at the time, nobody was reading.

The Experiment

How much traffic can SU drive to your next big article?

In order to properly measure the full potential of SU, this article needs to make it to the front of the pack - the front page.

I have adopted Google Analytics as my tool of choice to measure the number of visitors to the site.  Unfortunately, I am on a shared hosting plan with bluehost, but past experiences suggest that the server will be capable of handling the increased traffic. After all, the hosting company does provided unlimited bandwidth.  I’m sure it will be run through its paces…

In order to ensure an accurate measurement, I have signed up for a free account with ServerMojo to track the server’s up-time.  A great feature of the service is that others can track the server’s up-time themselves.

How can you help us measure the effect?

That is where you come in.  In order that we mimic the submission of popular article being stumbled, I am going to need all of you to contribute to the effort.  Remember, the goal is the front page! I encourage your participation in two ways:

1. Either click the button located just on the left, or select the “I like it!” button located in your StumbleUpon toolbar.
2. Post a link to this article on your blog encouraging others to participate in the effort.

The Results

I hope to publish the results of the experiment within the next 48 hours.  The release of the results will potentially be extended if the ‘effect’ carries on for more than a day.

Stay tuned!

[Update:] The results have been posted.  See how we managed…

Roaming around on Twitter, I found a gentleman who goes under the alias of “AlanzEyes “. Initially, he appeared to be your average Twitter user, but on closer inspection I determined otherwise.

One of the greatest aspects of Twitter is that it allows users to share a URL/link to their favorite web page.  It’s a great means of promoting your site.  Sure, you can link to your own personal site and hope that you acquire your newest, avid reader, but let us be honest…it’s not all that original.

AlanzEyes has taken a slightly different approach in his use of the URL feature.  He has created what I call a “gateway page” - a web page dedicated to those users who visit his personal site via Twitter.

Not only does the the page encourage individuals to track him on Twitter, but he offers an incentive: “I’ll follow you if you follow me, and we can share with each other.”

For those users who have never visited his site, the page functions as a personal message.  Right off the bat, the author is able to develop a relationship with his visitors.

So, just how successful has Alanzeyes’ gateway page proved?  AlanzEyes has managed to grab a total of 131 followers in 506 updates (at the time of publication).  With a bit of Math, that equates to an average better than 1 new “follower” per 4 Twitter updates.

Due to the success of AlanzEyes’ gateway page, I have decided to adopt his strategy but with a bit of variation.  I have created my own gateway page which can be located through my Twitter account .  Let’s see how well it works…

I must admit that my recent use of Twitter has moved from intrigue to complete infatuation.  Nonetheless, the actions of fellow users have brought several bad habits to my attention.  While I am an advocate of using Twitter to publicize your blog, there is, however, a wrong way to go about it.

A common strategy as of late has been to try and gain notoriety by trying to follow as many users as you can locate through the Twitter community.  Others are even more desperate, unwilling to to take the time to add users themselves, that they enlist the help of a computer bot to explore Twitter in search of potential new ‘targets’.

In fact, I had one user who Twittered a personal message to me: “Hey Gavin funny thing, we have the same interests… i am following you - will you follow me?“  Needless to say, I lacked any desire to return the favor.

So, what’s wrong with adopting the described approach?

Firstly, your target audience will struggle to take you seriously.  It will prove difficult to gain the notoriety and respect that you might otherwise receive and deserve.  As soon as I was approached to engage in an exchange with a completely random individual, my instant impressions were, “Are they desperate or are they DESPERATE?”

Secondly, your stats on the number of users who are following you will mean nothing when you find yourself following 16,000 individuals.  Other users will feel that you did not earn your statistics the proper way; instead, you went around begging.

The bottom line: If your blog is worthy and your “Twitts” are interesting, you will find that users will be more than willing to follow you.  At the same time you will earn a better “Following” to “Followers” ratio - a key statistic.  Those individuals of the Twitter community who are well-respected stay far away from the aforementioned approach.

A Twitter account provides a great opportunity to leverage the number of visitors to your site.

Twitter is unique in comparison to other online social media. It’s not the site itself that is unique rather its the visitors that Twitter brings.

Unlike “other” social media which tends to bring one-time visitors, Twitter forwards those individuals who will visit consistently or on a permanent basis. Ironically, these “followers” often do not consist of those Twitter members who have subscribed to your Twitter feed or even have a Twitter account.

Why does Twitter tend to convert visitors into ‘repeat visitors’? That is a good question, a question which I have been trying to understand. In reality, Twitter is comparable to an RSS feed - updates are seen by numerous Twitter users. It’s almost as if your updates are “broadcast” in their face.

What is most notable is that Twitter is a truly, community-building site. It does not suffer from the same privacy implications encountered by other social media.

The best feature of Twitter is that it provides growth opportunities for not just new but also well-established blogs. While Twitter was almost an “underground” affair, the once elitist site has gone mainstream. In fact, very few blogs do not take advantage of Twitter.

Looking to get kick started? Feel free to inform me of your twitter feed by leaving your username in the comments.

I’m so keen on Twitter that I have two feeds running simultaneously. One of them is my own personal account while the other provides updates related to BlogaPro only. Take your pick…

Technorati has been a popular tool ever since its inception. It ranks as the 504th most popular site in the entire world [at the time of publication] according to alexa.com. There is of course no wonder, that many bloggers use the site in an attempt to garner a reputation.

A few crafty individuals have discovered that mutually agreeing to exchange Technorati favorites can boost the publicity of your site in turn resulting in higher web traffic. An early adopter of the technique was “Maki” of doshdosh.com.

A site that was once struggling to receive web visitors suddenly became one of the leading sites on the topic of ‘Internet Marketing’. In fact, Maki exchanged so many Technorati favorites that doshdosh.com was suddenly catapulted into the ‘Top 100′ most popular blogs.

Technorati utilizes a ranking scheme called “Authority”. There are two ways that a site can increase its authority:

1. By another site linking to an article on your site.
2. By another user adding your site to their technorati favorites.

Because the algorithm behind the authority scheme is in fact so simple and easy to understand, it is easy to take advantage of.

Experiment

As a social experiment, I challenge all of you to exchange favorites with the visitors to your site. In fact, I’ll help you get the ball rolling…

1. Add BlogaPro to your technorati favorites by following the favorites link.

2. Inform me that you have participated in the technorati favorites exchange:

• You can either create a post linking to this article (which will create a trackback) OR

• Leave a comment down below providing your site’s URL and your technorati username/ID - I’ll reciprocate by adding you to my “favorites”.