hypocritical : talking the talk without walking the walk

March 13, 2006

Thanks to FeedBurner: Web traffic versus RSS traffic

Let me kick-off this post by first thanking the fine folks at FeedBurner, without whose RSS feed tracking information I would never have had the data into which to dig. And that would be a shame, for me. Not necessarily for you. I mean, you have better things to do. Me? I've got data into which to dig. Go figure.

Anyway, the folks at FeedBurner provide an invaluable service for folks and their RSS feeds. If you haven't gone to FeedBurner, you should. Now. That's far more important than reading my half-baked postulations. Go. Now. Please.

Oh you're still here? Fine, glutton. Suit yourself.

Second, let me stipulate that these findings are by no means "comprehensive." And they're based on a very slim sampling. (I mean, seriously. You've read these entries before. Do you think I have a huge loyal following?)

So, over the last 30 days, I've tracked the visitors to my site. One group based on RSS feeds and the other based on traditional Web surfing. And, it's actually fairly interesting. Far more interesting than my continuing to blather on, so let's get to the content, shall we?

Here's the FeedBurner tracking info on my RSS feed over the last 30 days:

  1. When good (Starbucks) presentations go bad

  2. At Sunrise sitting around the Campfire at Basecamp

  3. Newsflash: Effective typography = Ugly

  4. Yes, Virginia, there is a Web 2.0

  5. How I spent my long weekend

  6. Apple's err... Nokia's latest ad campaign

  7. Join Bode.com for a Nike URL faux pas

  8. Museum of Modern BETAs: Top 10 BETAs for 2005

  9. Almost the Web 2.0 trifecta

  10. Flashback: Mis-marketing the Portland Trail Blazers

  11. Fingers crossed, knocking on wood

  12. Join Bode.com (Redux) or Don't try to Join Bode.com...

  13. Dear Google: No more Google Image (literally and...

  14. Interland gives me a HTTP 500 Internal server err...

  15. Apparently, I'm Seth Godin tonight

  16. Adobe + Macromedia = ?

  17. Sitting around the Campfire at Basecamp with your...

  18. Web 2.0 interface design checklist (#1 on Web traffic)

  19. All work and no blogging makes for a dull feed

  20. Typepad trackback ain't

  21. Microsoft can't use PowerPoint either

  22. Work with me here

  23. Flashback: Dear Whitman College graduates of 1993...

  24. WebEx and Live Meeting absolved of guilt, charged...

  25. ... and he's stalking me


And here's the good old-fashioned Web log tracking for the same time period:

  1. Web 2.0 interface design checklist

  2. Join Bode.com for a Nike URL faux pas

  3. Les Schwab: An impeccable Northwest service brand

  4. Sunkist: A not-so-hidden logo sin (the overwrought-with-hyphenated-adjectives post)

  5. Arlington Pediatric Center: Volunteers needed

  6. Seeing, touching, hearing, smelling, and licking Martin Lindstrom's BRAND sense

  7. Museum of Modern BETAs: Top 10 BETAs for 2005

  8. Stiffing Starbucks, et in terra Pax

  9. When good (Starbucks) presentations go bad (#1 on RSS traffic)

  10. Logo : Branding :: Face : Personality

  11. Flashback: Mis-marketing the Portland Trail Blazers

  12. Sitting around the Campfire at Basecamp with your Backpack

  13. Apple's err... Nokia's latest ad campaign

  14. Good marketing communications: Somewhere between psycho stalker and couch potato

  15. Isn't it semantic?

  16. At Sunrise sitting around the Campfire at Basecamp with my Backpack

  17. Join Bode.com (Redux) or Don't try to Join Bode.com because it's no longer a site

  18. St. Patrick's Day, an increasingly vulgar brand that continues to remain popular

  19. Dear Google: No more Google Image (literally and figuratively) for you

  20. How I spent my long weekend

  21. Why business people speak like idiots

  22. Let me sign up! I'll BETA test anything

  23. Flashback: Dear Whitman College graduates of 1993...

  24. Home Depot: A procrastinator's dream

  25. Presentation Zen on Steve Jobs' conversational presentation style


Some initial findings:

  • Most Interesting Tidbit: The majority of the traffic I received via RSS feeds was a direct result of my resyndicating the content on my other site, flashgeek.

  • Second Most Interesting Tidbit: I expected that RSS traffic would be ranked by the latest content published to the oldest content published, given that the latest content had access to a larger subscriber base and we always hearing everyone talking about the "speed" of RSS. This was not the case. Apparently everyone is as far behind on their blog reading as I am. So they're trailing by several weeks, or at times, months.

  • The two lists only share 11 posts in common (44%).

  • Of those common posts, 6 received more recognition in the RSS feed and 4 received more recognition in the Web traffic.

  • Those that received more recognition in the RSS feed generally had a "buzzword" of some sort in the headline (e.g., Starbucks), but it was not necessarily the first word in the headline.

  • Those that received more recognition in the Web logs generally had a "buzzword" in the first position (e.g., Web 2.0), which no doubt, helped their search engine rankings.

  • Most popular subject matter in the RSS feed? Shockingly, Web 2.0 and those companies that have been categorized as such (e.g., 37signals) (32%).

  • Most popular subject matter in the Web logs? Marketing communications and branding related subject matter (52%). Again, shocking, given that this is what I loosely claim to be the topic of this blog.

  • The most popular content in the RSS feeds tended to consist of shorter, punchier entries while the more popular content in the Web logs tended to consist of longer, more involved (and no doubt keyword rich) posts. Guidance there? If I want RSS traffic, I need to learn to shut up or, at the very least, break it up.



Now, it should be noted that the bulk of the Web traffic tends to come from a combination of referring links and organic searches. Meaning? Meaning the work is divided between search engines that spider the content and bloggers who chose to reference the content (and thank you, as always, to those of you who do). While the RSS traffic is based purely on individuals who have acted (made a specific effort to subscribe to the RSS feed) (thank you to all of those subscribers, as well).

What else can this data tell us? Hopefully, there are some more grains of wisdom yet to be extracted. I'll keep digging. And if you see anything obvious that I missed, please by all means, let me know.


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Thanks to FeedBurner: Web traffic versus RSS traffic
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