contentious.com

Now that we’re into the year 2005, I thought it might be interesting context to look back at which CONTENTIOUS articles were most popular in 2004. I find this annual exercise especially instructive.

The most powerful lessons here for for bloggers and other online publishers: Never underestimate the value of your archives. Fresh daily publishing is definitely not everything in this medium.

Also, if you want to attract ongoing traffic, publish occasional basic backgrounders and primers intended for a general audience. And of course, controversy doesn’t hurt – at least not from a traffic perspective.

According to my site statistics, the top 25 most-requested articles from Jan. 1–Dec. 31, 2004 were…

1. What Are Webfeeds (RSS), and Why Should You Care?, Oct. 18, 2003. 10,331 page requests in 2004. No real surprise here. This enduring popularity of this article demonstrates the attractive power of publishing useful, plain-language primers, backgrounders and how-to pieces. As long as these articles are evergreen (not time-dependent), they are especially likely to attract inbound links from other sites and blogs. This generates a steady stream of ongoing traffic. Also, this article is one of my efforts bridge the gap between early adopters of an online tool and a more general audience. Whenever you successfully introduce an existing topic to a wider audience, you’re going to get traffic. Finally, this page is the index to the series – which means that someone reading the series would probably return to this page several times if navigating through the series nonsequentially.
2. 10 Cool Things to Do with Furl, June 22, 2004. 10,237 page requests in 2004.This is my blog’s true smash hit of 2004. It’s been online less than six months, but it’s attracted almost exactly as much traffic as the #1 article, which has been online all year. The popularity of this piece also represents the value of publishing on the right topic at the right time. I wrote this article just as Furl was getting popular among technogeeky early adopters. I helped introduce this web-based tool to a wider nontechnical audience by explaining its practical uses. I’ve since learned that this article is one of the most popular ways existing Furl users explain the value of the service to prospective users. Word-of-mouth always generates traffic.
3. How to Create Your Own RSS Feed, Feb. 6, 2004. 5432 page requests in 2004. You guessed it: Another popular primer! I’m frankly surprised at the sustained popularity of this article, since I know that it is currently fairly out-of-date. This demonstrates how taking a look back at site statistics can aid editorial planning. Now on my to-do list for CONTENTIOUS in the near future is an article, probably series, updating this advice – and also adopting my new preferred term, webfeed.
4. Blogging Style: The Basic Posting Formats , Sept. 22, 2004. 4597 page requests in 2004. Another series index page, which inflates the number of page requests due to nonsequential navigation. But still, another popular basic primer. See a pattern here?
5. Part 1: Webfeeds (RSS): What’s New Online? May 4, 2004. 4551 page requests in 2004. This is the first part of the series which is indexed by my blog’s most-requested page. Personally, I think this ranking offers a truer picture of which content most interested CONTENTIOUS visitors in 2004, since it is not a navigation page.
6. Part 4: Getting Started: You Need a Feed Reader, May 4, 2004. 4186 page requests in 2004. Another popular article in my webfeed primer series. It’s interesting that Part 4 is more popular than Parts 2 and 3, indicating the value of both offering nonsequential navigation in an article series and reviewing site statistics. Another interesting point: This particular article sees a steady growth in popularity, due mainly to an increase over time in direct inbound links to this particular page (rather than to the series index).
7. Part 2: How Most Webfeeds (RSS) Work, May 4, 2004. 3558 page requests in 2004. Another popular article in my webfeed primer series.
8. Winning RSS Nickname: Webfeed, April 30, 2004. 2994 page requests in 2004. I am not surprised that this announcement attracted a fair amount of traffic, both initially and over time. My “RSS Nickname” contest was fairly controversial, mainly because so many developers and early adopters of webfeeds were vehemently opposed to the concept. A common criticism leveled at me for offering this contest was that I was only trying to publicize my blog. Well, I think the rank of this article indicates that if traffic is my top goal for CONTENTIOUS, then backgrounders and primers are a better way to go! That said, I think this announcement ranked as highly as it did both because of the controversy (a factor that affected ratings for some of my other most popular articles) and because my effort struck a chord with a large group of people: Those who can benefit from webfeeds but craved a more accessible way to describe and explore this emerging medium.
9. Strong Finish: Writing Effective Conclusions, Jan 28, 2004. 2882 page requests in 2004. This is one of my classic writing tip articles (a practical, basic how-to). It has a lot of staying power. It’s attracted many inbound links, especially from educational sites.
10. Part 3: Main Advantage: Webfeeds (RSS) Save You Time, May 4, 2004. 2858 page requests in 2004. Another popular installment in my webfeed primer series.
11. Sick of Registering to Read the News? Feb. 19, 2004. 2825 page requests in 2004. In this article I started to discuss strategies that enable web users to bypass compulsory registration on many popular sites. This article attracted much attention, and inbound links, because of the controversy. A big part of this controversy raged in professional journalism/media circles, another community to which I belong. In that respect, this article drew attention because of its community-bridging nature: I presented the perspective of many average web users (who dislike or distrust site registration) to a professional community with vested business interests in supporting site registration. Traffic to this particular article and its follow-ups died down after a couple of months, which I find is typical. Controversy tends to be time-dependent, not evergreen.
12. PowerPoint Presentations Online: NO! STOP! DON’T!!!! Nov. 18, 2003. 2575 page requests in 2004. Talk about controversy! This article’s popularity extended from 2003 with approximately equal and ample amounts of praise and scorn. Many web users and people in the business world have a uniquely intense love/hate relationship with PowerPoint. Any article which directly addresses such a touchy issue is bound to attract attention – especially if it takes a strong stand on the matter.
13. More Corporate Blogging Resources, March 30, 2004. 2460 page requests in 2004. This was one of my first “Grab Bag” articles, in which I present an annotated list of links and resources on a particular theme. I think the sustained popularity of this article reflects a general increasing awareness and interest in the field of organizational blogging. Although this article has attracted several inbound links from other sites, I get about as much direct traffic to this article from search engine queries.
14. Part 7: For Publishers: Why Webfeeds (RSS) Beat E-Mail Newsletters, May 4, 2004. 2426 page requests in 2004. Yet another popular installment in my webfeed primer series. I’m surprised this one ranked so highly. I probably should explore the webfeed/e-mail newsletter issue further in future articles.
15. Part 6: Finding Good Webfeeds (RSS), May 4, 2004. 2404 page requests in 2004. Yet another popular segment of my webfeed primer series.
16. Part 11: Why Do I Say “Webfeedâ€? Rather than “RSS?â€? May 4, 2004. 2354 page requests in 2004. Surprisingly, the popularity of this article has increased dramatically in recent months. I think this is due to rapidly increasing usage of the nickname “webfeed” on the internet. Cool – looks like my contest did some good.
17. What Is Podcasting and Why Should You Care? Oct. 29, 2004. 2308 page requests in 2004. I consider this article another blockbuster for 2004. It’s been online just over two months yet it’s attracted considerable traffic in that time. Again, another primer which introduces a general audience to a useful (although currently geeky) medium. Bridging that gap really works, at least for this publication.
18. Strong Words Free Your Mind, March 30, 2004. 2295 page requests in 2004. Like my Strong Finish article mentioned above, this is another popular writing tip. I am frankly surprised to see that it was one of my most popular articles in 2004, since I didn’t think it would resonate especially well with CONTENTIOUS readers. This indicates the importance of intuition in blogging: I chose to write about this topic even though I believed that not many readers would be very interested.
19. Part 5: Subscribing to Webfeeds (RSS), May 4, 2004. 2258 page requests in 2004. Yet another popular installment in my webfeed primer series.
20. Part 8: Publishing Your Own Webfeed (RSS), May 4, 2004. 2227 page requests in 2004. Yet another popular installment in my webfeed primer series.
21. Grammar and Punctuation for the Web: What’s Proper? Sept. 13, 2004. 2130 page requests in 2004. This article was reasonably popular mainly due to controversy, I think. A huge portion of regular CONTENTIOUS are content professionals, many of whom view rules of grammar as fairly immutable. This article raised the point that perhaps some rules or conventions of grammar and punctuation might bend to suit online media better. That sparked a bit of outrage among more conservative editorial types, but others also applauded this statement. We’ll see how traffic to this article sustains over time. So far it’s still pretty significant, but it’s only been online a few months.
22. Persuading Bosses to Allow Blogs, Nov. 26, 2003. 2053 page requests in 2004. Another surprise hit with staying power, all the way from 2003! As with my Strong Words article mentioned above, I wrote this article mainly based on intuition. The topic felt important and pressing to me, although not too many writers were discussing this angle of organizational blogging directly at the time. I think it’s time for an update to this article, maybe even a new series.
23. Part 10: Disadvantages of Webfeeds (RSS), May 4, 2004. 1951 page requests in 2004. I’m glad that the “reality check” portion of my webfeed primer series got such good traffic.
24. Writing Transitions: Framing Before Finishing, May 5, 2004. 1937 page requests in 2004. Another basic writing tip article with a lot of staying power and wide appeal.
25. Part 12: The Big Picture for Webfeeds (RSS), May 4, 2004. 1801 page requests in 2004. Well, it looks like a fair number of people probably read my webfeed primer series all the way through. Excellent!