April 26, 2013

Blog economies of scale


I am a contributor over at Left Coast Rebel.  It's a great site, more libertarian than conservative (I hope that's a fair assessment). But I guess I have enough in common in terms of viewpoints that the blog owner over there, Mr. Left Coast Rebel himself, was gracious enough to invite me to be a contributor.  Mostly I just cross post my posts from here over there because I've been too busy over the last 6 months to be able to create enough content for one blog let alone two.  As a result of posting some of my posts in both places I have noticed there are some economies of scale* between the two blogs.



I've been lucky enough on this blog to have been mentioned on a few big sites - Hot Air, Conservative Grapevine (now Linkiest), The Other McCain and added to blogrolls on at least one other - Legal Insurrection. I've exchanged emails with a few big names and tweets with a few others which is very cool on a personal level.  I've also had times when I've received some really good (for me) traffic, but I truly respect the critical mass that Left Coast Rebel has achieved.


Left Coast Rebel is much more influential.  It has a lot more notoriety  There are hundreds of members/followers (I'm still below 100 and growing only one by one).  The site has been featured on an impressive number of high profile media outlets and sites:
That is an impressive list.  Left Coast Rebel also has some impressive endorsements.

"When compiling sharp conservative thoughts and takes for my Morning Jolt newsletter late at night and early in the morning, I find myself coming back to Left Coast Rebel again and again." -Jim Geraghty, National Review 
"Hey Tim, I appreciate the kind email and the plug on your site. It’s rare that my first feedback isn’t hate mail from a disgruntled statist! You carry on too – we’ve got our work cut out for us." -Tad DeHaven, Cato Institute 
"Thanks so much for all YOU do for liberty and individual rights. I appreciate your strong voice for capitalism. We're changing the culture -- keep it up!" -Jonathan Hoenig, Fox News 
"Congrats Tim. You have arrived." -GatewayPundit 
"Before we sell California to China or go Lex Luther on the San Andreas Fault, let's be sure to save the Left Coast Rebel." -Barack Obama's Cousin, Milton R. Wolf, M.D. 
"I like LCR because it seems like more thought goes into posts there than at many other blogs that focus more on horse-race politics." -Nate Nelson, United Liberty
But what I truly find striking is that one of my recent posts that showed up in both locations got less than 100 hits on my site and 20 times the number of hits on Left Coast Rebel. I'm no SEO expert but I know I used the same keywords for the posts in both places.  

The endorsements and mentions are anecdotal evidence of visibility. But it becomes clear that Tim is doing things right and has arrived when you see the difference in traffic on the same post. 

I wish I knew what this site was missing to get that same scale. I'm not jealous, just maybe a little ambitious. I have spoken with a couple of SEO experts who have some ideas that they'll share when I can afford their fees.  I'm definitely willing.  But I'm not convinced that is the entire story and I'm not sure what else factors into getting to that scale.

On the other hand, I should mentioned that I am very honored to be a part of Left Coast Rebel and will continue to contribute what I can, when I can.

*I realize I am using the term 'economies of scale' out of proper context but there is a common interpretation of it around scale that I am leveraging as a metaphor for the idea that bigger is more productive.

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