Evaluating Success

[FredAt]

I have got my site online now for two weeks. The site provides information on a host of programming/development related issues. In the time I have done several things to promote it

a. Free Directory entries - this doesn't do much good but I put in a few entries anyway.
b. Free sourcecode uploads to a number of programming forums - I get tons of visits this way.
c. Links posted on relevant blogs

Thus far I find

1. I get a fair number of visitors per day - ranges from down in the 10s on the weekend to around 130 on weekdays.
2. Most of my referals are from the programming forums where I post code.
3. However, I am getting a significant number of referals from Google. This figure goes up each day - the latest being 21, yeseterday.
4. I have a visitor retention rate - i.e repeat visitors - of 17%

Being a relative novice to web mastering I find it hard to evaluate these figures and get an idea of just how well the site is doing or what more I should do to promote it. I am largely concentrating on organic link building - i.e. I create new high quality site content and then post links to it. I have come across a number of dubious looking ideas - paying for text-links, paying bloggers... which I feel are likely to be counter-productive in the long run.

I would appreciate any thoughts from those of you out there who have more webmastering experience.

[jbinbpt]

FredAT, Welcome to WebmasterWorld.

You are doing the things you need to do to gain solid traffic. Good content and inbound links will grow your site.

I would monitor the traffic like you have been and see if there are any patterns developing. Make small changes to structure if you need to make any and give them time to develop.

[FredAt]

Thank you very much!

[RandomDot]

Sounds like you're doing what you are supposed to be doing making the people who are interested in your websites contents, aware that it actually exists, with a non-aggressive approach to the whole thing - I think that'll be rewarded in time as your reputation in the market grows and people begin to relate to your website.

Don't know if it would be a good idea to pay bloggers or to pay for links on other peoples websites. Depends on what effect it will have according to the timeframe of your business. If you're in for a longterm commitment, then do what you think will be beneficial to you, your website and your users in a longterm scale, or just go with what you as a visitor and a part of the community you're aiming for would think if somebody did this or that to get you to visit his/her website.

That's about it, sincerely and have fun,

[FredAt]

Thank you. I learnt about things like paying bloggers etc as part of my promotion research. Don't think I ever had any intention of doing it. I am working to the principle that quality and honesty will pay dividends in the long term. When all is said and done techniques such as paid text-links, paid bloggers and the like are nothing short of dishonesty.

Most normal people would not think of robbing bank, joining an extremist organization or sellng drugs - or at least I am naive enough to think so - to make a good living. Can't see why standards should be any different in the apparently annonymous world of the Internet.

[londrum]

If your site is giving code and scripts away, then you might try putting links at the bottom of them ("This script comes courtesy of www.example.com", or something like that)
Lots of people will remove the links as a matter of course, but you'll get a hefty number that leave them in.
Easy way to build some backlinks.

[RandomDot]

Please don't compare legal and very viable options with illegal business such as drugs or theft or radical organizations which has other viewpoints than the official state. It's not illegal. It's usually paid for, and there are usually no laws against it.

I would even further say that it's not even dishonesty or unethical to pay for a link or a blog or anything on the internet. If it serves your purpose, then it's a viable option, but it's always a good idea to consider the consequences of your choices and how you come out to the people you want to get in touch with.

But perhaps you also want those companies which use television commercials and other ways of marketing their products to a wide audience to back off because it's so .... you know, not part of the show or movie you were watching? :)

Sincerely, and have fun,

[londrum]

Can't see why standards should be any different in the apparently annonymous world of the Internet.

spoken like a true newbie. don't take this the wrong way, but as your site gets bigger you will realise that it's a big bad world out there in webland. if you're worried about doing paid links then wait until the actual nasty stuff starts - i lost my cherry when people started scrapping my content and passing it off as their own. that is all too common in webland.

you have to do every little thing if you want your site to be successful. you don't have to break the rules, of course, but if you're passing up perfectly ligit stuff like paid links then you're going to get nowhere.