The king is not dead... but he's not feeling too well

Had a real surprise this weekend when I got the New Tech Press web metrics for the past week (yes, it's doing quite well, thank you).  I got to the end to see where most of the referrals came from and had to sit down for a minute.


About 30 percent of the traffic on NTP comes from referrals, like blog posters mentioning the article or the site and, of course, web searches.  For most of the past year, most of the referrals came from Google, which is no big surprise.  That changed after Microsoft launched Bing last month.  

I started noticing that more and more visits were being referred to NTP through Bing almost immediately, but last week, the final result was that Bing referrals were twice Google's.

I have no idea why this is so, but I do know that the searches are for subjects in my metatags and keywords and when people are searching for news on EDA, semiconductors, green technology, they are being referred to NTP through Bing, more often than through Google.

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a big fan of Microsoft, but from a purely selfish perspective, I have to take my hat of to Bill's team.  They are really helping me out.

Comments

  1. Harry GriesJune 29, 2009 at 6:47 AM

    I noticed recently that IE now forwards to a Bing search if I type in a URL incorrectly whereas it used to use Yahoo or Google search. Probably other MS products are doing something similar. I'm sure they'll claim these as valid searches. What chutzpah!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brian FullerJuly 1, 2009 at 6:31 AM

    Lou, nice post on an important topic. It prompted me to look at my own analytics a little closer.
    I was particularly interested in referring sites.
    What percentage of traffic comes in from your other social media channels?
    In my case, for June (the first month of the new WordPress version of Greeley's Ghost) tied for most referrals was Twitter (with the also-new brian-fuller.com shingle site). Second was a redirect from the old blog and third was your site! Thank you much, amigo!!)
    Facebook was fifth.
    I'm keeping my eye out for the dynamics between Facebook and Twitter when it comes to touting a new post. Facebook seems to be cementing itself as a place for more personal sharing (which was is its charter to be sure) and Twitter is evolving as a bit more (from my perspective) nuts and bolts place to do "business."
    Another month or so of analytics may bear this out.
    I'm interested if this tracks with what you're seeing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lou CoveyJuly 2, 2009 at 1:00 AM

    On Safari, I can set my search engine fairly easily. Right now it's on Google, but once in a while I set it to Yahoo and other search engines just to see if I get some different readings. I can't fault MS for defaulting to their own search engine and for what it's worth, Bing searches seem comparable to Google, whereas Yahoo is not.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lou CoveyJuly 2, 2009 at 1:06 AM

    Actually, I'm not getting jack from Twitter, but Facebook referrals are significant. I think it depends on how you focus what you are doing. I generally don't accept a lot of casual friends on Facebook and focus it more on business. I use MySpace for younger friends and keeping up on social trends. I am, however, getting some hits off LinkedIn and Plaxo.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I'm old and you are not. That's good thing.

Image
I turned 64 this year and have been on the receiving end of scams and offers related to social security, dementia and Medicare for weeks now. I'm also getting offered senior discounts without asking. None of that has bothered me as much as getting dismissed because I'm no longer in my 30s (which bothered me as much when I was in my 20s). Today, however I had a revelation and I'm feeling much better about my age. I was doing a session with the marketing team for a small business back by telephone and was in the process of breaking down their preconceived notions about communication when the youngest member of the team asked me, "How do you know this is what our customers are thinking?" "Because I've been doing this for 40 years," I replied. "Oh." She replied.  Then one of the business owners, well into his 70s asks, "Wait a minute. You said you've been doing this fo r 40 years. How old are you?" "I'm 64....
Read more

Speaking of ethics in sponsored content...

Image
An article today in Forbes on ethics in sponsored content  brought back memories of our recent discussions regarding UBM Tech's methodology changes and the larger discussion about whether corporations can be expected to deliver ethical content. The article points out that Edelman has posted their own set of ethics regarding sponsored content that remarkably mirrors Footwasher Media's position:  That it isn't PR or advertising.  It's something different from what most corporate advocates practice and it must be, by nature, ethical or it loses all value. Many people in the news business have taken ethical standards for granted.  They seem to believe that they are intertwined with the genesis of journalism itself.  It isn't true.  The news business, supported by advertising began in the 1700s with Benjamin Franklin's founding of the Pennsylvania Gazette , but the separation of advertising from editorial did not appear until th...
Read more

Why you don't (or do) like social media, Part Three

Image
When you boil down attitudes toward and execution of social media practices, it's all about leadership.  Real leadership, not the popular definition that rises from the horrific misinterpretation  of Geoffrey Moore's book, Crossing the Chasm .  Let me explain that reference a bit more in depth first. Moore stated fairly simply that for a technology company to be successful, it must attain the perception of leadership in a market niche.  The misinterpretation of that concept is what screws up the marketing for so many companies.  Moore's statement was an indicator of success and a strategy, not a tactic.  If you are the perceived market niche leader, Moore explains, THEN you know you successfully crossed the chasm.  Therefore your marketing strategy must revolve around developing the perception of leadership.  However, most companies believe that saying you are a leader in your marketing documents, even when you are clearl...
Read more