Yahoo! Yesterday I sent the email below to about 35 of my good friends in hopes that my blog statistics would not show a loss for March.

Curiously enough, after I sent this note out, I attended a meeting for my biggest client, who this month is paying for half of my time each day (80 hours a month) for a massive project.

The reason for the meeting was to meet the team who would be handling the company’s search engine optimization and “buzz building.” Their job is to drive traffic to my client’s site. By traffic, they’re talking 40, 50, 100 thousand hits in one day after a viral marketing campaign.

Fifty thousand hits? In one day? I was trying to imagine my little blog getting 50k hits, or even 5k, or even 500 in one day (which I had a couple of times). That would throw my world upside down.

But this strategy is really all about numbers right now and not necessarily about finding the types of web surfers who are going to buy my client’s services. If you get 50k hits in one day or huge numbers over the course of a few days, your search engine rankings can increase significantly, making you easier to find for your real audience.

I’ve been successful several times at creating very small buzzes that provide a spike in my stats (like yesterday). But do they keep coming back? Do they sign up for the daily updates? Do they become loyal readers? The term that web folks use for the act of people buying into a site is conversion.

I’ve noticed via statistics that most of them just pop in, read the one post, and pop out. This means that either my content overall was not of interest to them or that my post didn’t impress or that they’re just chronic poppers who don’t really visit one place over and over. I tend to fall into the latter category, discovering a cool site and visiting once or twice then getting out of the habit. The site is still cool, but it just doesn’t occur to me to go back. So I’m not necessarily offended when someone spends a few minutes on my blog then moves on.

So my client’s goal is to count on the volume to 1.) increase search engine ranking, and 2.) find a certain percentage who really want and like the product.

For reference, the Top 8 Reasons Why I’ll Never Make a Living as a Blogger:

 Dear friends and family,

I’m severely addicted to the statistics from my blog, and I’ve been very happy to see the numbers of visitors increase every month. But — OH NO — this month I may actually decrease! This freaks me out, so I’m asking for help.

Thus, Happy “Forward to a Friend” Day! In the interest of spreading the joy about my cupcake cravings, bad hair and newfound testicular fortitude, I offer you this cut-and-paste opportunity to share Life on Avenue Z with people you care about. Or people you really want to annoy. Or something.

And if you haven’t been by in a while, I invite you back.

Thanks (and I hope you find humor in this silly little time-waster).

Beth

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Dear [daughter in her 8th year of college],

I know you wanted to become a writer. That’s a really stupid idea. Here’s proof:
http://www.lifeonavenuez.com/index.php/2008/03/21/crazy_writer_lady/

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Dear [college friend after his divorce],

I know you’ve always wanted to follow your dream and become a writer. Maybe now’s the time…
http://www.lifeonavenuez.com/index.php/2007/10/30/on-doing-what-you-love-for-a-living/

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Dear [friend from grade school],

Remember that bad haircut you got when you were 12? This one has got to be worse…
http://www.lifeonavenuez.com/index.php/2007/11/20/another-lesson-learned-disguised-as-a-post-about-my-hair/

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Dear [computer geek friend],

Here’s a list of gadgets that might make your life complete…
http://www.lifeonavenuez.com/index.php/2008/02/14/ten-tech-tools-love/

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Dear [woman looking to quit her job],

See? All women have a tough time taking a stand…
http://www.lifeonavenuez.com/index.php/2007/11/09/funny-how-a-synonym-to-getting-tough-is-growing-badouble-ls/

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Dear [chronic worrywart],

Wow, I think this chick has you beat in the Chronic Obsessing Department….
http://www.lifeonavenuez.com/index.php/2008/01/09/my-parents-basement/

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Dear [friend who was recently laid off],

Was this how yours went? Bummer, dude…
http://www.lifeonavenuez.com/index.php/2008/03/19/anatomy-layoff/