(courtesy wstera2 via creative commons-attrib-nc-sharealike)
But, yesterday's "most read" list was based on the tally by a niche community of Learning professionals at eLearningLearning.com. If, on the other hand, I look at a tally using Google analytics, a different list comes up. The differences aren't surprising and are mainly due to one method tallying clicks to my posts from visitors to the eLearningLearning web site. While, Google analytics on the other hand tallies clicks via visitors on my site, as well as those who arrive via keyword searches on Google's search engine.)
The Business Casual"Best Of" list according to Google:
#1. Favorite 10 Tools For Creating Learning.
#2. Two activities to maximize networking opportunities at your next meetup.
#3. Google Wave's Rosie-new possibilities for online collaboration across languages.
#4. How to share a link to a specific timecode in YouTube video.
#5. Where to get pre-keyed (green screen) video for your web video or online project.
#6. Meeting icebreaker-How to get a group to acknowledge differences in perceptions.
#7. Recommended Facebook Privacy Settings For Kids?
#8. (Part 2) - A four-level framework for evaluating social network ROI.
#9. An eight-step process using Post-it notes to gain meeting consensus.
#10. The Change Curve On Death and Dying.
Insight - We Love Lists.
Though interesting, I can't say there were any real surprises here. Conventional wisdom for blogging says that visitors prefer reading articles with some kind of list. ("Favorite 10 tools..."; "2 activities to maximize...(something)"; "An 8-step process..."; and so on. As a matter of fact, this post will probably generate some views because it, too, is a type of list..."The top 10 articles at BusinessCasualBlog.com...".)Insight - We Love "How Tos".
The other thing conventional wisdom says that blog visitors like to read is some kind of a tutorial or procedural "how to". I had quite a few of those this year with my posts about meeting facilitation techniques. As a matter of fact, so popular were these this year that a review of visits by keyword shows that many folks are finding my blog through search engines using the words "networking activities". Since this seems to be an area of need for my readers, I'll make it a point to scrub memories and project notes from the good 'ol days as a management consultant with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). Don't be surprised if you see me make an e-book or two available for download. (Will that be helpful? Let me know.)Other popular keywords were, interestingly, "business casual blog". That tells me there's some name recognition I'm enjoying for my blog since folks seem to search for it for it by name. Others: "meeting icebreakers"; "rosie"; "google wave".
Suggestion - Implement Analytics for Your Blog in 2010.
Some of you with whom I've spoken about blogging might be a little amazed about the insight I'm able to glean from the underlying analytics. There's nothing sinister here (it doesn't go down to the person-level of detail, for example). All the analytics are at a fairly generic level using metrics such as: number of page views, number of unique visitors, visitor sources by keyword, visitor sources by site referrals, etc., etc. You're right, it is pretty amazing. Those are just a few of the metrics you can track.My point, though, is that if you're thinking about starting a blog in 2010, strongly consider adding Google Analytics to your blog. It's another form of monitoring the conversation, which I've written about before and which I reserved a chapter for in the book Stefan and I wrote this year.
Based on the insights I gathered, I'll be focusing more on providing meeting facilitation tips and "how to" type posts and tutorials in 2010. Let me know if you'd like me to add a tutorial for how to add Google Analytics to your blog or web site.
As always, thanks for visiting. And, in case nobody has said so yet, let me be among the first to wish you happy holiday and a joyous Christmas season. :)
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