It happens to me more then a few times a day at the moment, which is quite a luxurious position I guess, that I see new unique referrers in my statistics. These are new sites linking to me. But sometimes they're not... Sometimes, it's a post that has been there for 3-4 weeks, or even more, on a low traffic blog, where nobody bothered to click the link to my website.
Now I make it a habit to try and comment when someone links to me in a post, have a bit of a look around the site, and if I like it, I'll throw it in my feed reader. You get that chance only once though, since in the statistics program I use to track that, Mint, you'll only be a unique referrer once.
I might notice you through other channels too: you might show up in my vanity Google Alerts, Technorati blog reactions feed and Google Blogsearch feeds. And still, people manage to stay hidden for a few weeks. So here's the deal: if you know you're a low traffic blog, or you're linking to someone and for one reason or the other you're not sure people will click that link within 24 hours, click on it yourself! Make yourself and your link known to me, and that goes for any other blogger too.
Every blogger likes getting links, and there are more bloggers who use the same policy towards the people linking to them as I do, make use of that, make sure we notice you!
I'm already doing this since I want other blogs to recognize that I commented their content on my page. Unfortunately the metal scene is not so much blog driven, so a webmaster might recognize the link in his stats but no editor will get the information.
@Sören: well at least you're doing what you can to make it known! You might consider e-mailing the editor thanking him for the good content and telling him that you linked to it.
That's a good idea, in the end it's all about networking - isn't it? :-) Most magazines get an email from me when my sites offers really good content like a video interview or a special fan related competition. Most of the magazines pick this up and publish a news about it. Hard-won subsists the squirrel.
I'll attest to this! He came by and commented on my blog yesterday/today after I wrote about his latest plug-in.
lol - one of those, '..oh yeah' moments. Good advice, thanks Joost.
Oh, and don't forget to enable referrers before doing it... :-)
I'm not sure how many other people surf the net with referrers disabled.
@Sören: it sure is!
@JLH: heh, thx :)
@Web Designer Glasgow: good, that's whay I'm here for :)
@James: only a few...
I do appreciate you visiting my blog to thank me for the link I gave you. But actually it should be me thanking you for the great plug in.
@Ben: hey that's how it works, we help each other out :)
Good stuff Joost....I did this for a few links already.
Also did it for the sites in my blogroll, could be a good idea too!
Thanks for the tip. I actually just wrote a post about your new RSS Footer tool. Hope you got the link :P
@Daan: I only link to friends in my blogroll, so they'll usually know about it, but if they don't, it's a great idea!
@FireflySEO: it showed up yes :P
Hi Joost, I'm wondering if you noticed any traffic from my post : Best Free SEO Tools.
All the best,
Paul
@Paul-S: I've seen it in my traffic stats like 2 secs ago, and commented, though I must admit I've been there before and didn't take the time to comment back then :)
I always click the links myself, but that is because I want to be sure it isn't a dead link ;).
I love to see how one placed link generates like 20 or more clicks to my page and since my blog is quite new i'm always anxious to see the logs
yeah but I'm lazy, where's the clickbot plugin that can do this automatically? :)
Hehe Google Tutor, that might well be a part of my blog marketer's toolkit ;)
Great tip. Some thing I will start doing and if it is cool with you pass on to my readers.