Blog visitors: How do they find you?

I like to read my visitor traffic logs.



I confess. I read them several times a day, in fact.



Since I know, within a narrow range how many daily visitors I will get, I spend my time reading other parts of the report.



One of the interesting areas to ponder, is from where the visitors arrived. I'll use my two stable and growing blogs as examples.



The following is not entirely an exercise in navel gazing, but to use the blog traffic sources as case studies. By closely examining the sources of your own readers, you can concentrate your efforts on gaining more traffic, in more productive ways. Simply use what you learn from the logs.



Let's examine the traffic logs for this blog, Blog Business World and for my roller derby blog Wayne's Derby World.



The first thing that pops out, is the disparity in the search engine traffic, between the two blogs.



The vast majority of the new visitors to Wayne's Derby World, arrive from the search engines. Whether from Google, Yahoo, or MSN Search, the visitors found my roller derby blog through searches of topics related to that sport.



One of the reasons for that search engine traffic is probably the limited number of alternative sources for roller derby news. There simply aren't any others.



A second reason is the search engine optimization I have done on that blog. It ranks on Page One on Google and Yahoo for almost every roller derby related topic. It is only natural that the blog will benefit from that strong search engine exposure.



If your blog has unique subject matter, be certain to strengthen and raise your search engine profile.



Wayne's Derby World also receives solid referral traffic from other roller derby related websites. There aren't many of those, so the upside there is limited in scope. For that reason, I count on the search engines to deliver the goods.



Blog Business World has exactly the opposite sources of traffic flow. The majority of the new and returning visitors to this blog, arrive from other blogs or business related websites.



The level of traffic from the search engines to Blog Business World is much lower. That is despite Page One listings on Google for some strong keyword searches. The number of searches resulting in new readers is not as high as for roller derby, despite my optimization efforts.



What can we learn from this study?



Take a close look at your own visitor logs, and see how your new visitors arrive at your blog. If the majority find you from the search engines, you will want to strengthen your search engine optimization efforts even more. That is especially important if your topic is fairly unique.



That optimization should include writing additional posts, containing your most frequently searched keywords. Don't neglect your secondary keywords either. To score high search engine rankings, you need to have strong keyword laden content, along with abundant incoming links.



Adding more incoming links will get some link generated traffic, but it will also enhance your more important search engine presence. Search engines love incoming links. If your new traffic comes from the search engines, you will want to make it easy to find your blog.



Should the majority of your visitors come from other blogs and websites, you will need to work on adding more link exchanges to your blog. Create as many link streams into your blog as you can, to help potential new readers find you.



One benefit of this exercise, of enhancing your blog's strengths, is it also bolsters the weaker part. The effect will be noticeable, but still less than from the main visitor source. The incoming links and added content will benefit you and your readers as well.



Check your visitor logs and see how your visitors arrive.



By opening the channels wider, more readers can flow your way.