Timothy Ferriss, is an American author, public speaker, and productivity guru. He was nominated as one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People of 2007,” and is an angel investor and author of the #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BusinessWeek bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek, which has been sold into 35 languages.
Below is a video of his speech from WordCamp San Francisco 2009 is titled: How to Build a High-Traffic Blog Without Killing Yourself
In the above, including detailed screenshots, Tim covers:
- Why I blog
- How I blog and select best practices
- Frequency and tools — best times and days to post
- Blogging myths and how to harness data for better results
- Testing design and surprising findings that can be copied
- How I address comments and community building
- How I write and research for good social media response
- 20 minutes of audience Q&A on Twitter, branding, outsourcing, and much more
Tim Ferriss discussed the reasoning behind specific decisions he’s made in his blog design and content. One good tip Tim had was to study the “heat map” for your blog to see where people are clicking. For instance, he personally found that by changing a description from “categories” to “topics,” he received a substantial increase in click-throughs to the newly minted “topics” section of his blog. He also moved the RSS feed from the top right hand corner of his blog to a location further down when he observed from the heat map that new visitors (unique first timers) were using it to click out of his blog rather than remaining and reading posts. He offered tips on blogging: how long posts should be (both long- and short-form can work), how much time you should spend on a post (as much time as you enjoy).
Kevin from Social Media Answers, has provided some of the most important takeaways from it:
When are the best times to post?
10am EST and 6pm EST (usually peak digg.com times) with Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday having the highest engagement.
How much does copy matter?
When he changed the categories widget to say “topics” the average time on site and clicks on that section increased.
Dates at the end of posts after they fall off the front page.
Thank you for this, tt (even before I listen to it), because I know it’s going to be great. I have wondered about some of the issues he’s covered here, and I know this is going to be very useful. Thanks again! :o)
He’s a good speaker and when you view the video I think you will have no difficulty in isolating useful information and approaches.
Okay, tt, just finished it and yep, some great tips there. I’ll be coming back to listen again… :o)
Ah ha! So we agree that Tim’s tips are relevant and very useful. Thanks for returning and feel free to return again and again.
This was a very interesting blogcam. The information was very relevant and practical. thanks
I found it to be useful too so I’m glad you liked it. Although it was presented at a wordpress camp, the tips apply to all bloggers no matter which blogging platform they use.
For once will someone do something on Blogger.com.. I know WordPress is all hip and cool and all that, but I happen to like my Blogger blog and have really tweaked the hell out of it. Still, I’m sure some of these tips translate to other blog hosts.
Although Tim’s observations and tips were presented at a wordpress camp, the tips apply to all bloggers no matter which blogging platform they use. Also your wish is my command. There will be upcoming articles specifically focused on Blogger as well.
Timethief, I was just wondering if there was a transcript of this video at all. That would be a useful thing for those of us without broadband connections. Cool though if there’s not… :)
I’m sorry. I looked everywhere but could not find a transcript.
great stuff it was brilliant of you to share this with us
I’m happy to share what I find to be useful with others.