The Challenge: Post 60 updates to the DNA Digital website in 60 days. The Result: 158% increase in visitors, or 2,100+ extra visitors compared to the 60 days prior.

I can’t believe I made it! Initially when I devised the idea I thought it should be 30 posts over 30 days, because an additional 30 posts would mean 30 extra items for google to index, and so organic long tail traffic should increase proportionally and bring up the baseline daily traffic for the site.

But then, in a show of gusto and determination I decided to double it .. 60 posts in 2 months! And I started late into the month. I immediately got cracking and started to write new, original and unique content. And I made it! 60 posts in 60 days – on the dot.

This is something many people try to outsource, and they end up with articles which are paraphrased, generic and boring. This stuff is “content farming” and Google is starting to recognise it for what it is and penalise sites for this approach.

My approach was simply to write about stuff that I care about, and get excited about. Each night, sometimes with a baby in one hand, I typed out another idea. Some posts were short articles, some were longer articles, specials, portfolio additions, and sometimes just a good old fashioned rant.

It was hard work, and some nights I couldn’t get to it but others I could write a couple and queue them up. I learned a lot along the way about writing, sharing and tracking results.

So for the data nerds, here are the raw figures for the first 60 days, then the 60 days of updates :

So obviously there were some massive spikes for new visitors which pushed my estimate of a 100% increase (double) to 158%.

In that time one of my articles was picked up by Gizmodo and Lifehacker, and printed in full there so I didn’t benefit a great deal from link-through traffic, but there was a small spike.

Two of my articles went mini-viral by themselves. The one about hiring Indians to design a website about bad indian website design, and a recent article about the economics of Bitcoin.

Here are some things I learned if you want to do something similar :

• Be dedicated. Daily updates, even if it’s a small one. Pick a time each day to devote an hour to writing.
• Keep notes about good ideas to write about as they come to you. You will have days where you feel like you’ve run out of ideas or motivation.
• Write about stuff you care about, stuff you enjoy. It will come through in your writing.
• Don’t be afraid to be personal – inject yourself into the writing.
• Tell a story, don’t just regurgitate information. Put yourself and your feelings into it.
• Be humorous .. especially if you are talking about boring stuff (like web hosting and business!)
• Write punchy, dramatic headlines – they will get more clicks.
• The first sentence or two must also be compelling, as that is what many link sharing services will include.
• Use a photo or graphics that relate to the article, try to make this compelling too, not just boring stock stuff. Hot girls and nerdy meme themes help get more clicks!
• Always use categories and tags effectively
• If you are targeting keywords, drop them into headlines but don’t ruin your article for the sake of keyword stuffing.
• Don’t be afraid to write about unrelated things, your website doesn’t have to be monotonously tied to one subject. I wrote about babies, driving, pranks, nerd culture and lots of stuff not specifically related to the business of web hosting and marketing.
• Share on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ .. also consider Reddit, but send out the share links at about 12-1pm in the day. This is about the time workers go browsing their social networks, reading some stuff over lunch and sharing it throughout the afternoon.  This method has always increased the engagement on the site and the spread of the articles.
• Don’t post your best stuff on Friday, or Saturday as most networks get much quieter during these times.
• After you’ve posted something, fire up Google Analytics and go to “Home” -> “Real Time” -> “Overview” and watch your visitors reading your articles in real time! It’s really neat.
• Don’t be a wanker – write short, readable sentences and stay away from long winded overly verbose writing styles. People read the internet quickly – they skim. Get to the point as quickly and entertainingly as possible.
• If you write a speciality article that can be shared on other sites you should. I’ve submitted some of the “how to” articles to tutorial websites and others to related online news sites. That’s how Gizmodo picked up one article.
• Most of all – write stuff that is WORTH sharing. If you do something fun and entertaining, people will share it around.

Here are the most popular articles in the last 60 day experiment (besides the home page, which is always #1)

Why Bitcoin Didn’t Die Like The Government Wanted it to.		794
PS Tutorial: “Game of Thrones” Styled Maps!		305
Paying Indians to Design a Website About Bad Indian Websites		293
Business Catalyst Review – Overpriced & Underwhelming		164
Australian Website Design		162
Why Microsoft Surface is the Goofiest Piece of Crap I’ve Ever Seen		153
How To Live In a Car While Working in IT		144

I can’t recommend this challenge to any business highly enough. Google places much more emphasis on content creators and after 60 days I already feel like I’ve learned a lot personally about writing, and about what my audience is interested in.

Moreover, I’ve been rewarded for it by Google who has increased my position across the board. The exploitable issue is that blogging in general is dying in the face of social networking and micro-blogging like twitter. But the reality is that if you use them both together you get a powerful effect on your website success. My sales are way up, and I haven’t spend a cent. Just time and effort. Most business owners are too lazy or unwilling to write and share content so their site’s languish. The good news is that if you can be dedicated enough to do it yourself, the results are dramatic and easily push your site above the competition.As abandoned blogs gather cobwebs, your daily updates will push your ranking up quickly. You can exploit the laziness of your competition.

Thanks everyone for reading my stuff in the last 2 months! I might take a little break but I have some exciting new articles in the pipeline and have been in discussion with some traditional dead-tree newspapers who may also e picking up some of my new articles. Watch this space.