Re:Ninite: How we got 18,000 beta users in 4 weeks
by Alex3917 on Monday October 26, 2009 @02:08PM
(#903752)
I'm not the author, but my own advice is: Personal, relevant, five sentences max. The same as any email you'd send to anyone else you've never met.
As for computing the traffic numbers, first look to see if they have a media kit on their page or an RSS subscriber badge. Then look at the number of inbound links on Technorati and Google. Then check sites like Alexa and Compete. Also check the number of comments on the site, if there are any. Pay attention to the quality of the posts themselves. Are they writing original ideas, like Fred Wilson, or are they mostly regurgitating the results of PEW research studies? Have they won any awards? And lastly, take into account what platform they're on. A Typepad blog is going to have different traffic patterns than a Tumblr blog, simply because of the ecology of the platform and the userbase.
Using this you should be able to get a pretty decent estimate of the readership, especially once you have 10 or 20 blogs where you have exact data to use as a benchmark.
As for computing the traffic numbers, first look to see if they have a media kit on their page or an RSS subscriber badge. Then look at the number of inbound links on Technorati and Google. Then check sites like Alexa and Compete. Also check the number of comments on the site, if there are any. Pay attention to the quality of the posts themselves. Are they writing original ideas, like Fred Wilson, or are they mostly regurgitating the results of PEW research studies? Have they won any awards? And lastly, take into account what platform they're on. A Typepad blog is going to have different traffic patterns than a Tumblr blog, simply because of the ecology of the platform and the userbase.
Using this you should be able to get a pretty decent estimate of the readership, especially once you have 10 or 20 blogs where you have exact data to use as a benchmark.