The online publication I work for is one that has been directionless for several years. It has had some good strategies throughout the years, but due to conflicting interests in how to best offer our content online and on screen, the site has only reached the Top 15 list a couple of times this past year.
Anyway, when I became the managing editor of our online Entertainment Section, I was convinced that it was going to take a while to rebuild our brand. Give us a year, and we may reach 500 000 UVs/week, my boss said. Today, we average about a fourth of that on a good day. The company I work for is one of the most recognized and attractive brands in Norway, but as far as online standing, our users mostly think of us as a promotional venue that serves our entertainment shows. In some ways they´re right; in others, they couldn´t be more wrong (but that´s not what this entry was going to be about).
What I was just thinking is how amazed I am by how important external traffic is to a site´s success. Take any given Tuesday during off-peak season (we peak during prime time as we use reality shows and other entertainment formats to direct our viewers to attractive online content). We reach about 10,000 UVs a day. Take the next day: In addition to our regular content, we spruce things up with a sexy, scandalous title, a daring picture and a provocative lead. At midnight, our UVs have tripled compared to the previous day, just because other popular sites (portals mostly) linked to our stories.
The questions I would like to ask are:
1. How long does it take to build a faithful crowd?
2. What does it take to keep that crowd there?
3. Why do we have to click on every headline that includes Britney Spears and sex?
2 Comments
August 25, 2008 at 10:40 pm
These are questions that have plagued man since the beginning of time.
1. I think it’s difficult to say how long it will take to build a faithful crowd because I think the faithfulness comes in the consistency of brand. If your brand is ever-changing and all over the place, people will move on. You’ll get dumped like Jennifer Aniston did and your audience will find their own Angelina.
2. In a business context, people like consistency. Consistency does not have to imply “boring” though. Think of Target, for example. Their branding is simple and consistent and it sticks. Consistency in websites is similar. You have to set visual expectations for the users so that, no matter where they go on your site or how frequently (or not) they visit, the site still looks like it belongs to the same company and they know just where to go for information each and every time they visit. It never ceases to amaze me how something as simple as changing a link to a button confuses people and irritates them.
3. Because Britney Spears makes us feel better about our own lives and sex is one of the very few things in life that’s still exciting to most people.
August 26, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Thanks, Angerhangover. Very insightful information.