About a year and a half ago I created MattHurst.com as a social networking hub, which I hoped would help make a more personal connection to a new audience while uniting my social media profiles on a single site. Initially the site drew some interest from my friends, even earning me a few kudos from other social media pros, and shot to the top of search results for my own name. But over time the micro-site did not sustain interest, or at least did not attract many visitors to the site.
It’s hard to know exactly why the site didn’t receive much traffic, but one trend I noted was that most visitors to the site came directly, rather than through search or referral links. Using Google Analytics I conducted an audit of the site’s performance, and found the site not only had fewer visitors than expected, but that visitors to the page didn’t spend much time – often less than 1 minute. Since the site didn’t host any original content but rather aggregated my social media streams, it seems that the site didn’t offer visitors any compelling reason to stay on the site once they arrived. In short, the site failed to achieve my goal to connect with a new audience.
While it’s disappointing that the site didn’t attract as much interest as I’d hoped, like any good online marketer I knew I needed to change the strategy based on my measurements of how people used the site. So last week I relaunched MattHurst.com, using my Tubmlr site as a new means to connect with would-be visitors. Starting with over 1000 posts I’ve published over the last 3.5 years updating this Tumblr blog, the new site offers original, compelling content I hope will interest readers/viewers.
My new site also gives me an outlet to connect with people in a different way than my professional blog at MatthewHurst.com, by serving as an outlet for my interests in infographics, internet memes, and cultural commentary that might not reflect my professional brand as much as my personal tastes. And as before, I’ll be keeping a close eye on my site’s performance, and making any adjustments necessary to meet my goals