Copyscape Saved My Arse & Other Mysteries

I haven’t plugged too many other websites in a some time, but I figure now is as good a time as any. I’m experiencing a bit of a lull before I start a fresh, new project next week and can’t see myself having much time to add to this blog again until after Labor Day. When opportunity knocks….

Dramatic title notwithstanding, I have to say there are a number of web places I frequent which have helped me out immensely. I believe in giving credit where credit is due so here goes:

Copyscape — So much stuff is ripped off online that keeping track of it all is a must. Because I accept guest posts across several blogs, I need to know that the articles I publish are unique. Copyscape has helped me toss two articles back which means I saved myself from the embarrassment of having to toss them after they were published.

Twitter — Is microblogging crazy, or what? Yes, I spam the heck out of Twitter-what else is it good for?! Seriously, I’ve connected with some new clients including one who used me for one gig and is considering me for a much larger second one. Seriously!

Thesaurus — I rarely open up a dictionary anymore and I can’t recall if I own a thesaurus. There are times I need to reach for a word that offers clarity on something I am trying to convey and this site is a must-have tool for me. Extremely helpful for when I’m working on a magazine article.

YouTube — Who knew that YouTube had such great tunes? No, I’m not talking about the garbled mess a lot of people upload, but dedicated channels with clear, crisp tunes? I’ve been discovering DC Talk and Toby Mac, my youngest son’s favorite artist and I must say his music is inspiring and enjoyable. Love my ear buds….

Google Analytics — Google is ‘da bomb for most things Internet. When it comes to helping me track traffic and where people come in, what they read, where they go and what they do and more, Analytics is an indispensable tool.  I just hate it, however, when I discover I broke the code and data isn’t being recorded.

Curiously absent from my list are most social networking sites. That’s because I have chosen to avoid most of them for a season so that I can do what I do best — writing for my clients and getting paid for my work!

Facebook, StumbleUpon Rock Your World!

I am glad that I didn’t follow through on my decision last year to close my StumbleUpon account. I was getting tired of SU, finding myself particularly annoyed with certain network changes that seemed to limit my ability to connect with people through this popular bookmarking service.

In addition, SU appeared to be going the way of Reddit—gamed and controlled by nasty people whose idea of free speech is to hurl invectives at other users. Cowards!

But I stayed on and have no regrets with my decision. I certainly don’t use SU as frequently as I once did, but I have also found that most of the cowardly users have now been contained. Life is good and, if a March 2010 StatCounter GlobalStats survey of top social media sites is accurate, then sticking with SU was a good decision on my part.

Yes, SU rocks your world if you use it: only Facebook outperforms it in sending traffic your way.

According to Stat Counter, Facebook is credited with racking up 48 percent of all social media hits, but SU is a strong second as it adds 25 percent to that mix. And Twitter? Not as important as some might think, generating just 10 percent of all hits. YouTube, Reddit, Digg and MySpace round out the next four spots, offering small amounts of traffic in comparison.

SU has never been a dud when it comes to social media—far from it. As recently as June 2009, SU was ahead of Facebook, but the world’s most popular social networking site soon soared while SU began to slip. Recent traffic reports reveal that Facebook has lost some of its steam while SU has recaptured what it had lost, but in all likelihood it will remain Facebook first, StumbleUpon second, with everyone else a distant third or beyond.

One of my chief reasons for staying with SU is that I was connected with so many people through this service. As I contemplated dropping SU, I realized that I would be saying good-bye to a significant number of people I followed and who followed me.

There really wasn’t a reasonable alternative: I don’t use Facebook all that much and Twitter just doesn’t offer the scale of the others. Besides, my traffic stats continued to rise thanks to SU interaction, bringing visitors and new customers my way.

Every social media/networking site has its benefits and faults but Facebook, with more than 400 million users and StumbleUpon, with its nifty bookmarking arrangement, capture more than two-thirds of all social media hits.

Looks like I’ll have to rethink my Facebook strategy next!