Thursday, 02 July 2009

• Actually, Xanga Should Drive Traffic to Its Users

  The goal of a social network is to grow in traffic and the way they do that is by driving traffic to their users. 
  
  It is funny but I have noticed that some people think that xanga should not have to drive traffic to their users.  I have even heard it suggested that people should get their own traffic.  The funny thing is I agree that xanga users should find traffic and not depend on xanga.  However, the goal of a social network is to grow by driving traffic to their users.
  
  Let me give you a few examples.
  
  1.  Craigslist.org
  
  According to compete.com, craigslist is the 13th most popular site on the internet.
  
  Take a look at craigslist for a moment:  Link
  
  Now look at the New York Metro:  Link
  
  Craigslist drives traffic to people placing ads, looking for jobs, looking for a relationship, blogging and several other things.
  
  What is the number one objective of Craigslist?  It is to drive traffic to its users.  Craigslist proves for us once again that growth on a social network is not dependent on who has the prettiest website.  It is not based on the content of the website. 
  
  It is pretty simple.  Craigslist has grown because it drives traffic to its users.  The good people of craigslist are brilliant.  I remember the first time I visited Craigslist.  I remember thinking, "Genius."  Why?  Because the people at craigslist drove traffic to their users.  It is the reason people visit craigslist.  It is the reason people post there.
  
  What would happen if craigslist decided they were no longer going to drive traffic to their users?  The users would go somewhere else.  It would take a few months but slowly people would stop going there.
  
  How does craigslist drive traffic?  They do it by using the power of their front page and developing links.
  
  Did craigslist just put up a 1000 links one day?  No.
  
  Here is how craigslist progressed.  They started with a handful of links.  Here is the link:  Link
  (This link is how craigslist looked in December of 1998).
  
  See how they only had a few links and they used the power of their front page to progress?  That is genius.  It is the same basic method xanga used to develop the ish sites but instead they focused on the users.
  
  Then craigslist started to grow.  So craigslist added more links.  Here is the link:  Link
  (This link is how craigslist looked in March of 2000).
  
  Then craigslist grew more.  Here is the link:  Link
  
  Craigslist grew over time by simply driving traffic to their users.  I can't help but to laugh on xanga when someone comes along and says something like "Simply driving traffic to users will not cause growth."
  
  2.  Wordpress
  
  Go take a look at the front page of wordpress:  Link
  
  What is wordpress doing?  They are driving traffic to their users.  The feature users in the middle of their page.  But also look in the right hand at the top.  Wordpress drives traffic to links like "Art, books and Christianity."  Notice how big the link is on Michael Jackson.  That is plain genius.   Michael Jackson is a huge issue in the news.  Wordpress is driving traffic to people who blog about him.
  
  I can see why wordpress is growing at the speed that xanga has been dropping.
  
  3.  Youtube
  
  Take a look at www.youtube.com:  Link
  
  Youtube constantly puts the most popular videos of the day on their front page.  The good people of youtube are pretty smart.
  
  But lets look at the early days of youtube when they were trying to grow.  Here is the link:  Link
  
  Look at their front page.  What were they doing?  They were driving traffic to users by driving traffic to their users.
  
  Then youtube started to feature videos but they still drove traffic to popular tags:  Link
  
  Now look at youtube in the later part of 2005:  Link
  
  With all of their might, they were using their front page to drive traffic to users.  They gave it top priority of the front page.
  
  For most of their growth stage, youtube drove traffic to users:  Link
  
  Then at one point, youtube decided it needed to make more money.  So they put up promotional videos:  Link
  
  But did you notice something about that last link?  Youtube put "videos being watched right now" above the promotional videos.  The "Videos being watched right now" is blank now on the archives but clearly youtube thought it was more important to drive traffic to their sites than to their add sites.  Why? 
  
  Because youtube knew the way a social network grows is to drive traffic to their sites.
  
  4.  Google
  
  Take a look at google:  Link
  
  What is Google's number one priority?  They want to drive traffic to sites.  They want you to type into that search engine and go to other sites.  The people at google are geniuses.
  
  5.  Xanga
  
  Go to the front page of xanga.com:  Link
  
  What do you see?  Xanga drives its traffic at the top of the page to the ish sites.  Look at the top rotating box.  Notice that 80-90% of the posts in that top box are ish sites.
  
  Then for 80-90% of the day the top post on the featured section is an ish site.
  
  Does anyone see the problem.  All the other sites are growing by driving traffic to the users.  Xanga is decreasing in traffic while sending all the traffic to ad sites.
  
  Why is this a problem?  It is a problem because xanga is driving traffic to sites that can't invite a friend to join xanga.  No offense against the ish sites but they don't have friends.
  
  Xanga should begin driving traffic to their users with the same passion they have had for their ish sites.
  
  I am not saying that xanga should add a bunch of links with categories.  I think xanga did something like that before and it didn't work.   Xanga should start by driving traffic to the Top bloggers.  Before you object hear me out.  They should create 20 super sites.  Other sites will benefit from these super sites.  I am not just talking about putting them in the top rotating box.  I am saying they should do anything and everything to grow these sites. 
  
  Then they should look at a new category while not ignoring the first category.  They should focus on an "uncensored" xanga and drive traffic to sites with an edge.  It is funny because some people will think they have a better chance of being featured with the ish sites.  The reality is that if xanga created a religion link instead of a Revelife site, the people would get the traffic and it would go to their site.  If xanga created a dating link instead of a datingish site, the traffic would go to their sites instead of an ad site.
  
  I can't really take credit for all of these ideas.  I just learned them from the smartest people on the internet:  The creators of google, youtube, wordpress and craigslist.
  
  
                                               

  • 9:02 AM
  • 345 Views