Was My Copyblogger Guest Post a Failure?
You may not have heard, but on February 22nd I had a guest slot on probably the most prominent copywriting blog in the world. And I really enjoyed it.
But did I reap the benefits that guest posting is supposed to bring? The extra subscribers, traffic and interest that having your name on a leading blog in your niche can generate?
Well, read on and find out.
My Copyblogger Guest Post – The Results
Let’s get one thing clear straight off the bat. I’m not as popular as Lisa Barone, as this picture taken a few days later shows.
But let’s have a look at those stats for a second.
Reach
My post was Tweeted 339 times and liked 34 times on Facebook. That makes it easily the most widely shared post that I’ve written.
But that’s generating traffic for Brian Clark and the team over at Copyblogger. What about me.
Has Unmemorable Title benefitted from my guest post at all?
Subscribers
The main thing I aimed to do with my Copyblogger post was increase the number of RSS feed subscribers. The post I wrote for UT was designed to funnel people towards signing up, and I set up a new Feedburner feed to see exactly how many new readers my post generated.
Taking a seven day average of the posts I’ve published since my Copyblogger post, that’s 70 new subscribers. Not a bad haul, when you consider that none of those readers would’ve signed up if I’d not written a guest piece.
Traffic
Over the past 12 months, I’ve averaged around 150 unique visits to Unmemorable Title per week. That’s partially down to a number of quiet months last year when I didn’t post much, but on weeks when I post, I see around 250 hits.
The week before my Copyblogger post saw 325 hits, thanks to my very popular post about #followfriday getting a second wind.
The week of my Copyblogger post had 544 visitors coming to Unmemorable Title, while the week since then has seen 367.
Given how often I post, this ties in well with the 70 new RSS subscribers I’ve acquired, and would suggest that my average audience may well have increased.
Interestingly, the link on Copyblogger itself didn’t appear to generate too much traffic, accounting for 96 unique visits (behind Google, and ahead of SERPd – where I guested in October).
Foolishly, I didn’t add a link to my Twitter account to my Copyblogger signature.
However, before I guested, my follower count had been static at around 750 followers for about six weeks. As of March 6th, I have 797 followers.
Admittedly, a fair number of those new people are bots, but a good five or six are genuinely interesting people.
So, was my Copyblogger guest post a failure?
In terms of generating Lisa Barone style buzz, yes. But then that could be said for anyone who isn’t Lisa Barone.
In terms of generating traffic and subscribers, the post’s been moderately successful. I now speak to a larger audience than I otherwise would, and I’ve acquired a few new genuinely interesting Twitter contacts (not least the superb and supportive Sonia Simone, who put up with months of prodding as I tried to secure my guest slot).
But there’s one way in which my guest post was a resounding success.
Every good blogger and writer I know seems to labour under the misapprehension that they’re somehow burgling a living. And I know I do.
But by getting my work featured on such a highly regarded blog, I’ve almost proven to myself that I do know my way around a sentence, and the 18 months I’ve invested in Unmemorable Title haven’t been a total write off.
And surely that alone is worth the time and effort I put in to writing a tongue-in-cheek piece about how to fail at guest posting?
12 Comments comments for "Was My Copyblogger Guest Post a Failure?"
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Very cool breakdown, thanks for putting it together. 🙂
One thing I’ve seen is that the rewards of guest posting are cumulative. So the first one generates a certain amount of traffic, the second one that snowballs a little, and you build more momentum the more you post.
Lisa (who rocks) has a huge social media presence, so it makes sense that she got lots of retweets because she’s got so many people out there who want to give her a shout-out. That just comes with time and effort. 🙂
And thanks, btw, for giving me an excuse to run that photo!
Ah, I should’ve known you’d be angling for more free content! That said, I do have an idea for another guest post at some point in the near future, so keep an eye out for that.
I’m always amazed by the amount of buzz Lisa can generate, and I’ve been a bit of an Outspoken Media fan for a while so I just wanted an excuse to put that picture of me being featured next to her work!
I’ll second what Sonia said — there have been a few people who have grown their businesses and even launched complete new ones from writing for CB — but it took more than one post. 😉
Also, on your traffic counts, most people read Copyblogger from RSS or email, not the site. So those clicks would all be from unique URLs that don’t give you an accurate view of actual traffic from your post.
I think you did great for a first timer.
Thanks for the comment Brian. I’ll have to get working on that second post!
I’m really happy with the way it’s panned out – when you’re dealing with (relatively) small numbers of visitors, 70 new subscribers isn’t to be sniffed at.
Hey Andy,
62 vs 70 comments isn’t bad. As for the Social Media end of things, Lisa’s post might have gotten the push because of the accusation of plagiarism by a commentator.
That being said, Outspoken Media has a bigger following so Lisa’s regular commentators probably came over to show support.
I enjoyed your post and it was good to see a fun post on Copyblogger but you know what? I’m more interested in finding out what you learned by posting for CB. How was the editorial process? Do you think your writing improved?
Well I didn’t see your guest post on Copyblogger but this analysis was interesting, so well done on making the most of it by breaking it down afterwards too! I’ve always wondered about guest blogging – it’s good to see where the benefit comes from.
Andrew,
I think you’re being hard on yourself. These results are stellar and you should be doing the happy dance right now.
In fact, video yourself happy dancing and include that with your next guest post. Guaranteed your numbers will go through the roof. Well, at least you’ll make everyone laugh.
Hey, I’m chuffed to the bits with the results. As I said to Brian, 70 new subscribers is great.
Hey I’m one of the new people on your RSS – so it worked on me. Being in the US I enjoy the word-play and idioms a writer from the UK brings. I’m enjoying the feed, thanks!
I actually thought the post was great! I am new to copywriting so any new info that I can get helps me out a ton!
Guest posting is half art, half science. Strategy, creativity and “luck” play their role. Congrats for your publishing results though!
You did something significant, that’s bigger than any number. I’m not sure if Lisa Barone is that popular or just a snippet in her title, “Jersey Shore”. Nice voice in this blog.