Darren Rowse

Thanks, just in time for my new 40D. - Alexei Tolkachev

thanks for posting this, Thomas!! i think i have some reading to do! - carlotta fancypants

the most useful one for me is actually the one that refers back to your workflow. I was going to email you about this, I am very pleased that you have documented this for us aspiring amateur hobbyists. That being said I will be sharing the link both here on FF and via del.icio.us. Once again thanks for this Thomas. - Carlos Ayala

It's more of search traffic from google, the comments are present, but not overwhelmingly more than other posts (my blog is less than two months old) but people are searching this topic more than the others I posted. Thanks for the comment. - Keith Bloemendaal

If people are searching about this topic using a variety of different search key phrases then it's worth adding more content in the form of additional posts. If it's all on one specific search phrase then that's good too, because you may be able to spin off a whole new blog just about that phrase. - Andy Roberts

Thanks Andy, they are using a variety of search terms. - Keith Bloemendaal

like others - for me it depends on the source of traffic. If it's Search traffic, I do a couple of things: 1. optimize the page so it ranks even better. This involves some on page optimization as well as linking to it from other relevant pagses on the blog. 2. write related posts (usually not on exactly the same topic but on related ones that either extend the post, find a similar topic etc. - Darren Rowse

any posts about how to optimize a poplar post or page? - Miguel Wickert- Pineiro

will write something on that Miguel - keep tuned into ProBlogger - Darren Rowse

A related technical question: how to approximate/relate bandwidth to #visitors. Limits of virtual compared to dedicated. Host reliability, etc. - phil baumann

That's an easy one. YES! Expand on the topic any way you can. Ask for user experiences, turn it into a detailed series, do polls, how-tos, tweaking, etc. And don't blow the whole was at once. Space it out. Do other stories in between to keep the site from becoming just about that topic, which (like anything else) could become a past fad at any point and no longer relevant. - Ernie Oporto

I've been wondering about this very issue myself. How far do you go to capitalize on a great post. - Todd

it's important to do at least some analysis as to why it was so popular and performed so well. Sometimes the content had little to do with it. - Allen Stern

Thanks for all the responses, my blog is a niche that I have not found many other blogs to look to for topic help, and I am having a new wordpress site built by iBusinessLogic.com (Scott Pooler) and am working on some ideas for two more sites. This post in question has now quadrupled the traffic on any other post I have written, so I will be working on expanding the topic in the near future. - Keith Bloemendaal

I have a couple of posts getting traffic because they were linked from another site. I also just noticed I'm getting a small amount of google traffic. I would definitely like to see a strategy to capitalize on this situation. - Rahsheen™

I ended up creating two separate series on the blog based on the post's success. It allowed me to expand and use other networks to grow the audience even more. - Andre Natta

awesome, thanks Darren! I'm looking forward to it. :) - Miguel Wickert- Pineiro

Yep. In fact I did so earlier today after looking at analytics and saw organic traffic coming in from a certain post. - Brian Weaver

@Keith I think that if the first doubling does not push you to expand on the post, the continous grow is a clear sign that it has to do with the content, and not just "lucked out on digg". - Roland Hesz

It would make sense, but I'm guilty of not capitalising on it and just letting that one post bring in the traffic - Adam Christie

I write my blog for me, there are subjects that get more attention but I am not going to sell out what I enjoy doing! - Joe Dawson

@ Joe Dawson I write my blog for consumers, and if they are searching heavily on a subject, why not give them what they are looking for at my blog, especially if it has to do with my niche (which happens to be very small), so if trying to give them what they are looking for, while at the same time attracting more readers, then OK, I will sell out as you put it. My blog is not monetized though, so I get no money for it, I write on it for free, I would think selling out would have some monetary benefit to me. - Keith Bloemendaal

Sidebar on the right is supposed to be better for SEO, but heck if it looks good, keep it. - Tris Hussey

@Tris why right-side sidebar is better in terms of SEO? thanks! - Jansen Lu

Thanks for your responses, friends. Tris, why is a right sidebar better in terms of SEO? I was thinking more in terms of placement for users to take action, such as subscribing, signing up for e-letter, etc. Does left sidebar make that harder? Does it matter if users are right or left handed? BTW, my company "pages" will be in a top band beneath colorful, pretty banners at top of blogsites. Obviously, I want users to click on "pages," so they stand out on top. Robert, thanks for checking this convo.:-) - Cathryn Hrudicka

Here is what I've been told. Because HTML is read top down, often the left side bar info comes before the content on the page. So engine have all that crud to go through first, then your content. People look to the right first ... then left ... then right. So I'd put a newsletter sign up right side, towards the top. - Tris Hussey

A right sidebar would only have SEO benefits because usually it means your actual content is appearing first (to the search engine spider), meaning there is less chance of it getting lost, there may put slightly higher importance placed on it etc. unless you've got a really complex sidebar with a lot of javascript etc. it's probably not a huge issue. - Martin Jamieson

Thanks, this is great info. I'll copy this discussion & send to the two people working on my sites. I do have good SEO as far as titles, meta, key words in blog content, etc., so hopefully this would overcome the sidebar being to the left of the blog, but maybe we can change it. I could test it both ways, as I've been changing my blogs openly for months, and ask readers' opinions about how it looks and works. Thanks again. - Cathryn Hrudicka

twitter, when it is not down :) - Amit

I still like the simplicity of Twitter, but do see the advantages of FriendFeed. - Jennifer James

I agree with Jennifer. Both have advantages and I like the use of both. - Tim Bossie

I love Twitter but I still haven't really gotten a full grasp of the benefits of FriendFeed. This new "Rooms" may really change how I look at and use it though. - T. Meier

I like both for different things and different reasons. - Sally Church via fftogo

I like Twitter, and am just now getting used to FriendFeed. - Arachne Jericho

Too early to tell - Twitter seems to have many problems these days - Chipper Dave

I just started on FriendFeed on a day when Twitter is ailing...kind of liking the applications of Friendfeed, connectivity and rooms, too. - Susan Cartier Liebel

I'm new to both - but really like Friend Feed. Twitter is down quite a bit. - Traci Knoppe

Thats interesting, there is almost a 50/50 split - Mathew Ferguson

I like both and this is new ask the question again in a week or so:) - chris shouse

I like Twitter the most, but when it's down I'm over at Friendfeed ;) - Mario Olckers

I still don't really know what friendfeed is about yet but it seems like they have different dynamics and will be used for different types of mini conversations. - Matthew Bennett

They both have their uses... Twitter still wins for simplicity, FF is still quite awkward to manage at the moment IMO - Martin Jamieson

I would like FF to have a darker font for comments. It's too light and barely readable. Anyway, on topic. FF ads to conversation while Twitter gains on simplicity and chit chat. - Alex Cristache

At least FF is more reliable (so far :-) - Amadou M. Sall

I can see myself using both. These rooms seem good at conversation that involves a group interacting together. Twitter is dominated by one person. There are still many people interacting with that one person but the community doesn't really benefit from what everyone says like they might here - Darren Rowse

Ditto, twitter when it is not down. - Grant Griffiths

I definitely prefer twitter. - Bryce

I feel like they are totally different. I like them both. - Rob Brydon

There's no way I can live without Twitter, but I like Friendfeed too - Michael

Like FF, but no matter how hard I may try, can't stay away from Twitter - Sharon Bray-McPherson

Twitter & FF different. Twitter compares to Jaiku and FriendFeed compares to Pownce or Facebook feed. I like both Twitter and FriendFeed and will use both. And I really don't understand why Scoble (and now others) are obsessed with continually comparing the two. *That* makes no sense to me.... - Barbara K. Baker

I like FF so far -- but it has a potential for a high noise factor that might not scale well. - Martin Hall

I am use to Twitter not FF, so it may not be fair to say. But I am like Sharon, can't stay away from Twitter. This format seems a bit more confusing to me, but like I said I am not use to it. - Laurel

I'm still voting for twitter, it's sexy, it's fun, it's easy, it goes down a lot - what's not to love? Don't get me wrong Friendfeed is great, but the more friends I add, the harder it is to sift through relevant content. Perhaps if FF were more like Twine and both of those were on Socialthing and Socialthing made connections like Personal Brain it would all work itself out. - Melissa Pierce