Blog Readers or Twitter Followers - What’s YOUR Preference?
Even though it’s my birthday, there is still plenty of work to be done. Not wanting to leave you hanging, and not wanting to put guest posts back to back; here’s a quickie but definitely a goodie from me 
.
Darren Rowse (ProBlogger) recently did up a very interesting post about how 84% of People Would Prefer More Blog Readers than Twitter Followers (graghs and all).
Although I most certainly acknowledge the ever increasing popularity of Twitter and the fact that it is indeed an awesome tool when used correctly; however I strongly agree with the poll above and feel you can do a lot more for and with a healthy blog readership. A LOT more…..
What’s your opinion?
Dennis
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Kev
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sherry
April 10th, 2009 at 11:02 am
well let me start off by saying happy birthday to you and your 39th one and thats truly amazing that 84 percent have stated that they would rather have more blog subscribers than twitter followers but i would have to agree although i like twitter having a larger array of blog subscribers are a real plus for me
almir´s last blog post..Vital Tips That Can Aid Any Blogger
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
@almir, Thanks for the wishes!
April 10th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
I would definitely say blog readers as more important that Twitter followers, although if you use Twitter wisely, you can gain blog readers from your Twitter. Plus, if you take the time to get to know your followers a little better by reading their tweets and what they are interested in, you will get more ideas for topics that could be popular for your blog based on the trends of what people are talking about.
~ Kristi
Kikolani´s last blog post..8 Reasons to Use Delicious for Social Bookmarking
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
@Kikolani, Good point, twitter is definitely a hot spot for seeing what’s hot or not.
Kikolani Reply:
April 14th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
@Dennis Edell,
Overall, it is easier and quicker to get Twitter followers vs. blog readers. And the more followers you have, the more audience you have to work with to convert to your blog.
Kikolani´s last blog post..Twitter Lingo & Tips For New Twitter & Facebook Users
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 15th, 2009 at 8:07 am
@Kikolani, Easier and quicker perhaps, but targeted? Not necessarily since most are just looking for numbers…in this case it may take longer to convert then to find the blog readers themselves.
I suppose there’s many ways to look at it…
April 10th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
I think I’ll be the last person on the twitter bandwagon. To me it’s like small talk at a party, it just gets on my nerves. Give me a solid interesting provocative conversation any day. Happy bday btw.
DS - rainbow trout flies´s last blog post..The Pheasant Tail Nymph
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
@DS - rainbow trout flies, Welcome to the community!
You’re definitely not the last. Even I deleted my account, but do plan to start over.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
My vote would be for blog readers, but then again, I’m not on Twitter yet. However, from what I have seen/heard/read I still think the readers would be more valuable.
Nick´s last blog post..What posts do you find difficult to write?
April 11th, 2009 at 2:03 am
Yep - I vote for blog readers every time - I have a lot of followers on twitter (several 1000) but I get a much better response (and conversion were appropriate) from my registered blog readers. Seems like twitter suffers from ADD.
Mike
Unique article wizard´s last blog post..Linkvana News
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
@Unique article wizard, LOL at ADD.
Welcome to the community Mike!
To ensure proper URL linking in the future though, please follow the comment policy linked above the comment box at the bottom.
April 11th, 2009 at 8:00 am
hey Dennis,
Looks like it 5-0, blog readers v twitters.
I’m not surprised since I don’t think twitter is taken that seriously… ~ Steve, the trade show guru
PS. Did you mean “preferEnce” in you title. That would be my preference for the word.
Steve | Trade Show Guru´s last blog post..Trade Show Zombies, Spammers, and Tadpoles
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
@Steve | Trade Show Guru, I think it’s taken very seriously by those using it correctly.
Thanks for the heads up on the title.
April 11th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Hey Dennis,
Happy 39th birthday buddy… and many more !!!
In my opinion, blog readers are easier to “engage”… but
Twitter, if used the right way, can go Viral a lot faster…
you only need a couple of people to RT (Re-Tweet) your
post and you’re “exposed” to 1000’s of NEW potential followers!
Many will say that the same can happen with a blog
post… they’re right… But it takes a lot more time!
It’s all about Quality Content and Building Relationships!
Blog about crap, Tweet about crap, post crap anywhere,
and then ask yourself why this “Internet Thing” is not
working out!!!
Alright Dennis, that’s all for now, good post… now go
have some of that leftover cake
Pete
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
@Pete from Home Made Online Income, Some very good points there Pete, i wish more would listen closely.
Yummy cake indeed; still some left!
April 11th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Happy 39, I think time just passing too fast and no waiting at all.
Sherry´s last blog post..Car for me
April 11th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Hey Dennis! It’s my birthday tomorrow so happy day to you too! Just wanted to weigh in on the issue here. Haven’t been a huge participant in Twitter, but I think it reminds me of the Facebook status update. I’d have to say I prefer the longer form blog style. I want to hear more from a person than a text message update.
Matty Byloos´s last blog post..Monk: Straight No Chaser (1988): I’ll Flip Ya’
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
@Matty Byloos, Good points and happy birthday to you!
April 12th, 2009 at 9:27 am
I am using blog readers most of the time to check on contest and giveaway plus update on bloggers
Sherry´s last blog post..Car for me
April 12th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Happy Late Birthday! I’m not gonna ask how many times you have been 39.
I think that having a huge number of Twitter followers does not mean that you have near that many listening to you.
I also can not really explain much in 140 characters. When someone is needing help, I normally send them a link to my blog or another blog to get them the info they need. So, Twitter can be a great tool but, you still need blogs or forums…to get the whole message across. I could see me helping someone set up Skype 140 characters at a time. LOL!
Sheryl Loch´s last blog post..Tracking Article Conversations Across the Web
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
@Sheryl Loch, I don’t bother going there, lol
Very good point, both is the ideal situation.
April 12th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Yeah Blog readers for me. I mean these are the people who will stay with you for a long while.
Ben Pei´s last blog post..$4,800 A Month, To Believe Or Not?
April 12th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Blog readers for me without a second thought. My Twitter followers are growing too (about 300) but most of them are just happy to be a number although it’s partly my fault. I’ve not done much to find out more about most of my followers, unless if they happen to be my blog readers also.
Peter Lee
Peter@passive income ideas´s last blog post..4 Bloggers’ Interview:If I Could Start My Blog All Over…
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 13th, 2009 at 7:50 am
@Peter@passive income ideas, This is actually the main reason i deleted my account to start over.
Peter@passive income ideas Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 10:02 am
@Dennis Edell, I recently read a post from John Chow that he only follow targeted twitter users, ones like “make money blogging” niche and he offers 2 ways to do it:
(1) the free but cumbersome way is to find targeted
Twitter users using the Twitter Search.(http://search.twitter.com/)….you just type your particular niche keyword.
(2) is a paid and fully automated way called Twittersnipe
Peter Lee
Peter@passive income ideas´s last blog post..Case Study: How Work At Home Homepage Got High Page Rank PR4
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 11:42 am
@Peter@passive income ideas,
Curious, why do you call it cumbersome? So many swear by it, many of whom now go so far as to say Google competition as it grows.
Peter@passive income ideas Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 11:46 am
@Dennis Edell, Actually I was quoting John when he said it was cumbersome. To me it’s not but John said it to differentiate the 2 methods because he was promoting the automated tool in his post too (clever him) vs a manual process.
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 11:58 am
@Peter@passive income ideas, I thought of that after I posted it, sorry. That shoulda been oh so obvious. lol
April 12th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
my twitter followers have more than 200 now.
Sherry´s last blog post..Car for me
April 12th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Happy Birthday Dennis!
And yeah definitely blog readers for me. Like Sheryl said on the comment above “having a huge Twitter followers does not mean that you have near that many listening to you.”
Salwa´s last blog post..Traffic Monday: Why You Should Use (NOT Abuse) Forums to Increase Traffic
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 13th, 2009 at 7:51 am
@Salwa, Very true, especially when most are just there for numbers.
April 12th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I’m quite new to twitter so I can’ really talk about the benefits it brought me yet. What I noticed is that Twitter is a bit like Facebook in that some people following you do that purely on a social basis with no interest of what your blog is all about.
On the other hand, Blog readers are interested in what you are writing which makes them valuable.
I find that it’s easier to get Twitters followers than to get blog readers. The good thing about twitter is that you can somehow communicate directly and individually with each of them.
I have to admit that I have a certain difficulty to identify who is subscribed to my feed… If anyone has a tip on that, that would be welcomed!
Nicolas Prudhon´s last blog post..To “DoFollow” or to “NoFollow” That is the Question…
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 13th, 2009 at 7:53 am
@Nicolas Prudhon, I know what you mean, this is why I push for email subscribers when possible.
April 13th, 2009 at 12:52 am
A belated Happy Birthday Dennis, and as far as I am concerned I’ll take blog readers every time.
Sire´s last blog post..What Search Terms Are People Using To Find You
April 13th, 2009 at 3:38 am
Happy Birthday
for me blog readers are the best.
Tnomeralc Web Design Toys´s last blog post..tnomeralc web design toys arts in the web
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 13th, 2009 at 7:55 am
@Tnomeralc Web Design Toys, Thanks and welcome to the community!
To ensue proper URL linking in the future, please follow the comment policy linked above the comment box at the very bottom.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:35 am
It depends. Both of them are useful in one or the other way. But I would prefer for more blog readers
April 13th, 2009 at 11:50 am
If someone is really interesting, I suppose it would be nice to hear multiple styles of messages from someone, too. Tweets sometimes, but longer form, more interesting and developed topics the majority of the time.
Matty Byloos´s last blog post..Gerry Rafferty Easter Sunday
April 13th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
oooh, Happy Birthday Dennis!!!!!
I’d take readers rather than followers.
Alex at Net-Entrepreneur.com´s last blog post..Make Money With Affiliate Programs – Why 90% Fail Miserably When Doing Affiliate Marketing?
April 13th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Problem with twitter is two fold. First, in the internet marketing niche, the majority of followers are people looking to be followed back. second, you actually have to get them off twitter and onto your site to monetize them
Blog readers, people who actually take the time to come to my blog and read my posts are people who are interested in my content. They will convert
Niche´s last blog post..How To Add Your Blog Feed To Your Facebook Profile
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 14th, 2009 at 7:08 am
@Niche, Welcome to our community here!
An excellent point regarding trust, loyalty and conversion. I hope to see you around more often.
April 13th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Hey Dennis,
First off…Happy Belated 39th! I remember mine…My party was called my 1st Annual 39th Birthday Party!
I would have to agree with the masses: More blog readers than Twitter followers. However, as a fairly new blogger, I have found Twitter to be indispensable in getting word out about my blog and I have learned a great deal from all the useful links posted there.
But, all in all, I think a blog is just a much more intimate way to get to know the Author, their writing style, and sense of humor (hopefully!). You can sometimes get lost in the crowd on Twitter.
Coree´s last blog post..Improve Page Rank and Increase Traffic With Incoming Links
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 14th, 2009 at 7:05 am
@Coree, First off, welcome to our little community!
Great point here, you can definitely get to know the blogger him/herself more thoroughly and faster via their blog…unless you’re a total twitter stalker. lol
April 14th, 2009 at 6:57 am
I looks like I’m going to have to agree with everyone this time. I think Twitter is great but it’s just a tool. Blog readers is a goal.
Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog post..Zero To Three In 90 Days - Thanks Flickr!
April 15th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Blog readers, no brainer. I enjoy Twitter but it’s a “all about me” type thing. Granted I do learn and discover new and wonderful things.
Michael@TheBloggerSource´s last blog post..How To Get People To Keep Reading Your Blog
April 17th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Happy Birthday, hope it was a good one.
I would prefer blog readers.
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 9:10 am
@Michael, Thank you Michael and welcome to the community!
April 18th, 2009 at 5:12 am
Hi Dennis,
To me, definitely blog readers over Twitter followers. Since many had already made clear on the reasons, I will not go deep into it. The feeling is mutual: simply because your readers are the ones who truly interested in your content.
Nonetheless, Twitter is still important to me as a social networking tool, benefits in relationship building & meeting great people who I could learn alot from.
Thanks for your visit to my blog. Hope to see you again sometimes. Perhaps in Twitter someday? ^^
@wchingya
Social Media/Blogging
Ching Ya´s last blog post..How To Personalize Your Twitter Background with Free Twitter Designer
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 9:20 am
@Ching Ya, Thanks very much for your view, and welcome to our little community! I hope to see you around more often.
April 18th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Follow up comment from me — just started using Twitter this past week, and for whatever reason, traffic also started going up to my personal blog. I think it can’t be underestimated that the power of these two thing in tandem really amounts to something.
Matty Byloos´s last blog post..Heatwave and Boogie Nights Video
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 9:21 am
@Matty Byloos, Good job! I hope it continues yo work for ya. Feel free to leave your new link behind.
April 20th, 2009 at 1:15 am
Hi Dennis. I’ll take blog readers any day. But that’s bc I define myself as a blogger and hope to blog fulltime some day, perhaps. To answer your question properly, a blogger must determine what his bottom line is. If his bottom line is to be a pro blogger, than obviously readers are most important.
However, who says BOTH readers AND twitter followers aren’t important? It’s like apples and oranges. Both are very important — but both are two different animals, I mean fruits — they each supply something different. Twitter is vitally important to me. But it doesn’t always translate into blog readers. On the other hand I’d be sort of lost w/o my Twitter followers/friends. They bring me friendship and a lot of intellectual stimulation. I want both Twitter followers and blog readers.
I’d have to say my first choice is readers, bc w/o them I wouldn’t be a blogger. But twitter is VERY important also, and we should NEVER undervalue what Twitter can be in our life. I have learned a tremendous amount on Twitter, become more social and connected, RTed posts of others and of my own, and had a lot of fun. And what I value most about Twitter is not only what I learn, but even more importantly, I value the new people I am learning from that I’ve met.
Dennis, when will we see you on Twitter? You would love it! Don’t listen to those who say negative things. Just don’t add spammers, don’t be a spammer, all will be cool!
krissy knox
krissy knox´s last blog post..John’s Battle with Zoster
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 20th, 2009 at 5:47 am
@krissy knox, Very well put Krissy, they are each of vital importance (assuming one uses them correctly) in their own ways.
I’ll be back on Twitter soon enough!
April 21st, 2009 at 4:44 am
For sure blog readers. To have 1000 twitter followers is not a difficult task. You just need to keep following all the profiles that you see and hundreds of them will follow you back. It’s not the same with blog readers
Ajith Edassery´s last blog post..Latest innovation from Google Labs - News Timeline
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 21st, 2009 at 6:28 am
@Ajith Edassery, Quite true. Followers are far easier to archive, but which is more valuable to the individual; that’s the question.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Definitely blog readers. I find its easier to get people from my blog to my twitter profile than the other way around.
Now that said, I get a third of my blog traffic via facebook for some wierd reason.
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 22nd, 2009 at 6:40 am
@Jeremy Lichtman, Welcome to our community!
What have you tried so far to switch that around some? (Going from Twitter to blog.)
Interesting indeed about Facebook, especially a full 3rd; good job.
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:26 am
Hi Dennis,
I use ping.fm via a wordpress plugin to push out links to my blog entries. I have a large chunk of my different social media profiles setup via ping.fm, which means that the content diffuses out in a variety of ways. I also occasionally login to twitter directly (I’ve never really liked tweetdeck) and post, generally in an attempt ot engage people in conversation (a hard thing to do on twitter though).
With regards to facebook, my status gets updated via ping.fm as well, which is part of the solution. In addition, I have installed plugins on my profile and my company page to display RSS from my blog and from twitter. Now that said, the total amount of traffic that I get on my site isn’t particularly large, and seems to be focused on a small set of friends / business partners who are interested in the same stuff that I am. The topics I blog about are probably too niche for general consumption.
Regards,
Jeremy
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:54 am
@Jeremy Lichtman, Thanks for the reply, I’ve heard lots of good things regarding ping.fm and what you can do with it.
I assume you don’t use one of the post to twitter plugins for the same reason; “too niche”?
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:00 am
I’m using ping.fm to post to twitter, rather than doing a direct post from wordpress. My reasoning is that ping.fm is going to also push the same stuff out to 30 or 40 other websites.
I suppose I could disable twitter posts from ping.fm and put in a separate wordpress plugin, but that seems inelegant.
Nothing really to do with the content of the website in this case.
Jeremy Lichtman´s last blog post..Why Be Stealthy?
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:06 am
@Jeremy Lichtman, No you’re right, that makes perfect sense. It also saves some plugin load on the blog, if only a little bit.
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:43 am
i guess twitter can be a method in obtaining more blog readers
on 2nd thought i don’t think the conversions are very high in trying to do that simply because many of those individuals would rather converse on twitter than on a blog
but i even heard that twitter is killing the blogosphere as its gaining massive popularity and that blogging may become obsolete
but im not yet happy with twitters’ service because many people on twitter are following a bunch of people and its as if their not loyal to the people their following as their following many others which makes twitter’s service unfaithful as compared to the blogging atmosphere in which your blog readers value your opinion therefore they subscribe to your blog because they enjoy what you have to share with them which makes them more loyal in your eyes
almir´s last blog post..Vital Tips That Can Aid Any Blogger
April 27th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Twitter is a fad. There is nobody in the world that can convince me otherwise. Granted, right now it’s a useful business tool, but in less than 3 years I doubt anyone will be using it. It’ll be on one of those VH1 “Remember the ___’s” shows with a bunch of people saying “Remember Twitter? That was crazy, dude!” My point is that it’s one of those fads where people get into it and then abandon it in a month.
Blogs on the other hand, show up in search engines, provide actual information (instead of just links), and in general have more reliable readers.
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 28th, 2009 at 8:03 am
@Alex, First off, welcome to our little community!
You might be right, but as you said it has been proven an invaluable tool for many, so why not?
“Blogs on the other hand, show up in search engines, provide actual information (instead of just links)….”
That’s it’s purpose, to provide as much info as possible, via links, then move on….the links (hopefully) lead to the good stuff.
“My point is that it’s one of those fads where people get into it and then abandon it in a month.”
Ironic. A great many (probably more then not) blogs never make it even a year before being abandoned.
Use it while it’s available I always say.
April 28th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
For now, linking Twitter to Facebook to my recent blog postings (via Twitterfeed and Facebook), seems to be responsible for the most recent traffic swells. So whether it’s a fad or not, in the short-term, it’s what’s happening and seems to be worth paying some attention to. The good news is that texting isn’t and hasn’t gone anywhere, may be even more popular or may have caught on first in Europe, and Twitter is basically a visual platform for texting. Think of all the people in offices who can’t be on their phone while they work. Twitter crosses over that hurdle pretty nicely.
Matty Byloos´s last blog post..Monday Reading List: April 27, 2009
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 29th, 2009 at 10:15 am
@Matty Byloos, Very well said!
June 2nd, 2009 at 11:08 am
For me Blog readers come first and Twitter Users comes next.
I completely agree with “Kikolani” that if we use Twitter properly then those who are following on Twitter can become our blog readers which I think is really a good thing to have.
Typhoon´s last blog post..Google May 2009 Toolbar PageRank Update - I am still PR4
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:11 pm
well the good thing about twitter is it’s short and direct while blogs, not all of the blogs though are long and indirect. Anyways, you can combine the two. Tweet your blogs on twitter to attract readers, right?
August 28th, 2009 at 10:14 am
I think I would rather have more blog subscribers because having a lot of Twitter followers can be a chore at times. I would rather having people reading whole posts rather than brain farts, also.