Looking at analytics today we noticed that those who visit from the blogs of other friendly, intelligent bloggers are reading many more posts when they visit than those arriving from other sources. We thought our readers would appreciate knowing specifically where these other friendly blogs full of quality information can be found.

It is also an opportunity to painlessly learn something about Web Analytics. The percentages shown are bounce rates which indicate the percentage of visitors who only visited one page of a site. The lower the percentage the more visitors from a particular source find your site interesting enough to read more than one post or page.

These blogs are referring the most serious readers:

[NOTE: Updated with their DoFollow (DF) CommentLuv (CL) KeywordLuv (KL) NoFollow (NF) Disqus (DQ) status. Disqus defaults to dofollow. If status is not given it is unconfirmed.]

SENDING SERIOUS READERS to GROWMAP:

• Social-Media section of AllTop – @alltop – 19.13% – an excellent source of blogs specifically about Social Media.
• DF CL KL UntwistedVortex – @RTCunningham – 23.21% – Popular blog about Blogging and Internet Marketing
• DF CL KL Wassup Blog – @AussieSire (comments here as Sire) -  26.67% – We only recently found out Sire has half a dozen other blogs: The Elusive Pot of Gold (NF),  BlogSire (NF), SBizzTech (NF),  Load of Bullshit (DF CL),  Scenic Adelaide (DF CL), and Photos2Blog (DF CL).
• DF Marketing Matador – @eMatador – 33.33% – exceptional resource for Internet Marketing containing a custom hand-picked Marketing Search Engine
• DF CL KL Direct Sales Marketing Web – not currently on Twitter  – 33.33% – Highly interactive Marketing Blog offering good Beginner Marketing Tips. Dennis also has additional blogs at Dennis Edell (CL, mix of DF/NF) and Easy Cash Contests (DF CL)
• backtype – @backtype -  33.33% – A service that lets consolidates comments from across multiple sources
• DF UnstuckDigital – @MikeTek – 36.36% – SEO Consulting, Web Design, Web Analytics

What I find interesting is that when a blog becomes more famous and attracts a more mainstream readership bounce rates jump.  This could indicate that while their readers increase the core group of serious researchers becomes a smaller percentage.

• NF TwiTip – @ProBlogger – 54.55% – Blog devoted to Twitter
• DF DQ Michael Fructer – @fruchter – 55.56% – Social Media Marketing Strategies (Trackbacks are NF)
• NF Kiss Metrics – @KISSMetrics – 57.14% – Web Analytics blog (Their readers may be seeking more Analytics posts than we currently provide.)
• Probably NF ReadWriteWeb – @RWW – 57.14% – Web Technology News, Reviews and Analysis
• DF Blogussion – @Blogussion – 60% – Blogging Discussions, Tips and Tricks
• DQ Louis Gray – @louisgray -  64.58% – Silicon Valley Blog for early adopters, technology geeks, RSS addicts and Mac freaks
• Merchant Circle – @merchantcircle – 69.57% – Free Online Advertising for Businesses (Local Search Listing Directory)
• Probably NF TechCrunch – @techcrunch – 87.50% – Network of Technology blogs established in 2005
• Probably NF DoshDosh – @doshdosh – 89.66% – Exceptionally prolific and wise Social Networking and technology blog

Our in-depth posts may include insights that are beyond what mainstream users are seeking at this point in their learning curve.

You may wish to do a similar survey of your readers and then use this information to decide where to spend more time commenting. Consider both number of referrals and bounce rates and focus on sites that send the readers most interested in your posts.

There are some really exceptional blogs you probably haven’t found yet. The posts below includes some I plan to add to the GrowMap Custom AllTop feed.

RECOMMENDED INTERNET MARKETING BLOGS:

• UnstuckDigital: Five Great Internet Marketing Blogs You Shouldn’t Miss – Mike shares five exceptional don’t-miss blogs
• LouisGray: Blogs LouisGray Reads in his Custom AllTop Feed

These posts are here because both of these bloggers have extremely high standards. When they recommend a blog it is definitely one you’ll want to evaluate. Some will be of interest and some won’t but it WILL be time well spent.

DID YOU NOTICE? AllTop sends the most referrals and has the lowest bounce rates so if you’re not using it or your blog is not listed there you are missing a great source of traffic.

USING ALLTOP:

• LouisGray’s AllTop’s Custom Pages Finally Tip Me To Using the Product
• Mashable: My Alltop: Alltop Gets a Custom Feed
• 13 Ways to Brand Yourself with Alltop

NOFOLLOW or DOFOLLOW:

• Blogussion: Debate: Do Follow versus No Follow Links (Mar 12, 2009) – includes explanations of what NoFollow and DoFollow are and the pros and cons of each
• Andy Beard – Why You Should NoFollow Your Comments – or Not – Older post but still valid. Andy was an early proponent of DoFollow.
• More Than You Need to Know About DoFollow (May 2009)
• DoFollow Lists of Blogs, Social Networking Sites and Forums; DoFollow Search Tools; Understanding Do Follow and No Follow