Now that I’ve started sharing my blog on some of my social media platforms, the amount of traffic directed to my site has increased significantly, and I actually have things to look at and think about with regard to Google Analytics.
The most intriguing thing for me, is that I can literally see the spikes in traffic that coordinate with when I, or someone I know, shares a post that I have written. Originally, I was just sharing posts on Facebook when I wrote them, but I recently opted to include my URL in my Instagram description, and I was able to notice a tiny spike in clicks when I posted a photo to Instagram recently, drawing more people to view my profile and therefore to more website clicks. This also gives great insight into the kinds of blog posts my friends want to see from me, and what kinds of content I should be producing in the future.
Overall, Facebook is my main source of clicks, as most of my friends use it on a daily basis, and it is the most accessible sharing platform that I use for external links. Almost all of my traffic is generated by redirects from Facebook, with a teeny, tiny number coming from Instagram, and one from a Google search (pretty sure that one was me). It’s great to get personal feedback from my friends and colleagues about the work that I share, but there is nothing quite like seeing how the numbers play out on the screen. Very cool!
It’s really interesting to see how much my actions (sharing, posting) do in fact affect my analytics and how important this is in drawing traffic to my blog. I’m looking forward to the possibility of collaborating on other people’s blogs and seeing if that draws the same amount of traffic that social media tends to.
