Impact of Hypem Redesign: Data Analysis
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Howdy y'all,
I thought I'd share a bit of analysis on the impact of the Hypem design around new year on my traffic. Couple interesting points -- would love to hear how yours compare!
Hypem's notable changes: combined tracks, removed "view original post" and replaced it with "posted x hours ago"
Pageviews per visit:
-- Before = 2.14
-- After = 1.88
Bounce rate:
-- Before = 52%
-- After = 72%
Visits: tricky, but I think I've had similar #s of tracks in Top 20
-- Before =
July 2010 = 41k
August 2010 = 44k
November 2010 = 45k
-- After =
January 2011 = 31k (-31%)
March 2011 = 31k
April 2011 = 35k
Pretty interesting! Assuming their traffic continues to grow, the result seems to be in favor of Hypem: I'd imagine their users are looking less at the posts on original blogs, instead quickly returning to Hypem after they download a track. Further, I'd be curious to see whether Hypem's outbound traffic has decreased given that it's now less obvious for a user to realize where to click to view the original blog post.
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I don't have big input to add in detail traffic. MdM traffic now is highly depended on post day. (up and down 30% on days we post) And I don't have other blogs to compare with. But in general, the traffic source is changing than than a year or two ago. It now only take 2-3 posts to reach peaks. (before needing to slow down due to server overload) On top of that everybody is very busy.
About hypem. The front page is far chunkier now, It's too iPad oriented, not computer screen friendly. it's hard to use hypem to see overall what's going on online. I have to do 6-7 backpages clicks just to get basic sense. the front page is only 15 songs, as oppose to 2-300 lines a page.
Hypem web directory is also completely useless. huge pictures and few meaningless comment. no number.
as for referral on typical slow day. 50% bookmark/unknown, 30% other net search/indexing service, 10-20% hypem, (we hardly ever post in context of hypem. so not sure who still enter mdm from hypem.) A lof of new eastern european search/indexing service..
maybe if I am in posting spurt urge, I'll report back. (I don't even know what mood of music I am in right now, let alone doing weeks long posting campaign)
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I was just thinking recently that our stats had dropped from HypeM as well, but hadn't got round to investigating.I don't use HypeM that much either these days though - I will if searching for a a particular band, but not to discover anyone. Twitter and my RSS feeds seem to be doing the digital part of that.HypeM is still a very useful services, but not as central to music blogging as it once when if you weren't on there you didn't exist.
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interesting - I used hypemachine as a big HypeM fan before I started my music blog - i can say as a fan i LOVE the redesign... faster slicker etc. I think it's a shame the new design has impacted the blogs it relies on but as my blog has been rejected twice (ouch!) from HypeM, I can't say its a subject I'm not too much of an expert in!
I agree with squashed though on the blog web directory - i've never used it... maybe if it was recommended by artists or "top blogs" that would be better?
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Wow. As a HypeM blog, you can get over 1,000 referrals a day from the site. No wonder people complain about not getting listed. Me included :)@Jason It seems like HypeM is trying spread the traffic out to all blogs. If you search for a song, you get the latest post but when a song charts, users get redirected to the first post about the song. Seems fair to me but it does encourage people to either wait until everyone else posted a song before they post it. That's if they are not going to be the first that is..I used to go to HypeM quite a bit a year or so ago but now in days, I primarily use Soundcloud, Youtube, and Email to discover music. RemixTheVideo isn't listed, so HypeM doesn't matter in my strategies to gain a larger readership.
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I think less people are downloading free tracks anyway. It's just as easy to stream a youtube or soundcloud link.
Hypem seems to be rejecting a lot of blogs at the moment. Not sure why. My previous blog was rejected as it was on a radio station website and they don't allow DJ blogs. I resigned as a DJ in January so we'll have to wait and see whether my new blog is accepted.
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@gtimusic I didn't initially get a response but after waiting 4 months I decided to send a 'gentle reminder' email. Worked and we're on! http://hypem.com/#!/blog/sounds+good+to+me+too/14537
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Since the redesign, I seem to have a more steady traffic flow from Hypem, but don't nearly get on the Popular Page as much. It seems to be bias towards the blog's with more followers since that's what the new landing page is based on.I'm actually trying to get an article out about this very topic, but researching it has been very time consuming.
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The guy from Too Many Sebastians said it best earlier today in a Twitter rant. (Gotta love a good Twitter rant, eh?)"While I'm in a moany mood. Could hype machine sort out this "posted first" crap?""Y'know I could just write "dope" too in a pathetic bid to get "firsties" ""btw. I'm not arsed about "mad traffic". I just hate posting something and it getting directed to a post where they dont even put a buy link"here here.
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Not to derail the thread, but how do people feel about buy links? I don't really go out of my way to post them, mostly because I figured it's pretty self-explanatory that if you want to buy an album you can go on Amazon.com and search for it yourself. Or go to Google and search for the band's name and buy it from them directly. (Or of course, hunt it down at a record store.) Do our readers really need to be spoon-fed a link to buy the album? Or am I thinking about this in the wrong way? I always saw the music blog's role as identifying good stuff you may not have heard about; I didn't see direct buy links as crucial to that.
More on-topic (and somewhat @SGTMT), I sent a note to Hype and just heard back. The response was very polite but still a "no." Kinda bummed, but life goes on.
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+1 to Too Many Sebastians' frustration. I personally tend to resent the blogs that don't accompany MP3s with text. On the flip side, I'm somewhat okay with the "first." Perhaps the solution is to 'purge' the shitty blogs that don't add anything to the conversation?
@gtimusic -- I've been using iTunes links since the get-go. They've done pretty well, earning us $100-$200 a month (and earning artists $2k - $4k a month). Bottom line is we link on every single post, and generally don't allow downloads (except on SOTD). This is partially to avoid getting in trouble.
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Yea, there really needs to be some sort of way to report blogs that are down or whatever. A few time I've come across a "first posted" link back to some blogspot account that's been deactivated.I try and put up buy links - and links back to their social networks - as much as possible. My recent SoundCloud binge has gotten me posting remixes/mashups a lot lately, so I really can't post a buy link for those.@jason, what made you choose iTunes over Amazon? I realize it's more so the standard, but doesn't Amazon pay out more?
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@gtimusic sorry to hear that about Hypem. I imagine in 5 years time they'll have faded away and something bigger and better will be on the scene!
@zechmann would defo choose iTunes over Amazon. I've tried various different routes into Amazon from affiliates links and and astore and found little success. Amazon pays out more but gets way less traffic.
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@zechmann -- not sure the rules for Amazon, but with iTunes, anything purchased within there for the next 3 days is 5% commission, so that includes Apps and movies.
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Yeah I try to add buy links to Amazon, iTunes and 7digital for MP3s, and then Amazon and some indie record shops like Banquet and Rough Trade for CDs and vinyl.We get a little bit of revenue from it, not nearly what Jason makes - but I like to think we may be getting a few more sales for the artists by making it so easy to buy from their favourite shop. I post iTunes buy links with SoundCloud uploads too which can earn a bit if you're first an everyone else embeds your stream.
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As far as posting buy links, I do it but mainly for one reason: I'm generally posting albums and about artists that aren't necessarily mainstream so at this point, they're not gonna have albums on Amazon or iTunes.I'd say if you're culling your jams from places like Bandcamp and Soundcloud, it's probably a nice courtesy to your readers and if those albums and songs you're posting about can be downloaded free or cheaply it's certainly a good idea. But, dude, if you're posting about Arcade Fire, a reader should surely be able to locate that on his/her own...
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My HypeM traffic has gone down since the redesign, though it does seem more steady. I don't really mind how people find my site, as long as they do, and like what they find!For buy links, I always post an Amazon link. It's for the UK site though, and to be honest, I get very little money from it. Then again, I'd rather not make any money so I can't be accused of profiteering from posting mp3's.
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FolkHive, I have the same issue. A lot of the stuff I write about is only available on the artists' or labels' websites, and I think that relying on people to remember to Google it will lose a band a lot of sales.
As to stats, this thread reminded me to check mine for the first time in months, and according to Google Analytics I had five readers in February, one in March and none in April.
I don't wish to boast about my readership, but I think that might be a *slight* underestimation.
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@FolkHive Good point. I always try to link back to bandcamp whenever possible. Although, did you see any of the twitter tantrums after Arcade Fire won the Grammy? I think my favorite was the one about how this unknown band "The Suburbs" shouldn't have won. I think musicforants.com posted a whole compilation of the funniest ones. You'd think Arcade Fire was somewhat of a household name, but there's really large sections of the music-listening population who had never heard of them before that.
@SongbyToad That actually makes sense. (Well, it doesn't, but I mean it fits with my own observations.) I've been wondering why GA's reporting has been lower, sometimes by a lot, than Wordpress Stats. I understand that a lot of people don't like the Wordpress Stats plugin, but at least it seems to update in real time (or at least faster than Google and sitemeter) and seems to capture more activity than the others at times.
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@gtimusic The Wordpress stats plugin is actually the one that's wrong. GA is accurate. The Wordpress stats plugin will count all sorts of non-legit hits, including simple pings from other servers, spambots, etc. GA is the industry standard for advertising agreements, and I promise it's going to give you an accurate reflection of your #s.
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Jason, I beg to differ.
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Matthew, would love to see your coding. I'd reckon you just have it integrated incorrectly, though I'm open to reconsideration.
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Nah you're probably right. I haven't even tried to fix it yet, just making sarcastic remarks. It says something that this has been going on for three or four months and I only just realised it.
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