Speedlinking - December’s Most Vocal
There was a lot of great conversation during the month of December as we discussed a variety of topics, such as affiliate marketing (what not to do with affiliate marketing and the real power of the Amazon Affiliate Program), social media (10 people worth following on FriendFeed) and even blog tips (how to add a comments link at the top of your post).
There were laughs and tears. There were unveilings, predictions, and moments to help others.
Basically, there was a little bit of everything in December.
Therefore it should be no surprise to hear that there was a significant increase in the amount of conversation, increasing from 498 comments in November to 692 comments in December. That is an average of more than 30 comments per post!
For the month of December, the following posts had the most active discussion:
- Win Canadian Club Whisky Schwag :: 128 comments
- Two? Three? Try Seven Hours On The Road :: 44 comments
- The Real Power Of The Amazon Affiliate Program :: 43 comments
Who was doing the most talking?
If I were being lazy, I could simply copy the post from last month as the top five commentators are exactly the same - although the order has been switched up a little bit.
1. For the fourth month in a row, Nick from romandock dot com secured the top spot with 47 comments. Recently, Nick examined a post that I wrote about how closely parents monitor the games and programs their children consume and concludes that violent video games and violent behavior has a correlation, but not a cause-and-effect relationship.
2. Jumping up two places with 32 comments is Neil from Goodies For Free. With all the discussion about affiliate programs and earnings, Neil announced that he is launching a new free PS3 news site and hopes to leverage a few affiliate programs. After taking a look, I already see that Neil has implemented ads from one of the affiliate programs we have discussed here. Good luck Neil!
3. Nicole from Great Prices Here should get an award for consistency, as she again grabbed the third spot with 25 comments. If you’re ready for a few laughs, take a look at Nicole’s post on the best commercials of 2008. With the Super Bowl (and the insanity surrounding Super Bowl commercials) quickly approaching, how many will top those from 2008?
4. Slipping down a few spots, Andrea from According to Andrea shared her thoughts 24 times. While I was tempted to share her post that was all about me, I have to give props to the awesome birthday present that she gave to her son a few weeks back. And yes…I used to be a huge fan of what they will be doing!
5. Rounding out the top five, Ling from Uptake had 21 comments. After having a lengthy vacation to Disney World just a few months ago, I’m already getting the itch to go somewhere again. However, it will most likely have to be a long weekend type of getaway. That is why this mention of the Grand Hotel in Mackinac Island, Michigan caught my eye, although it does seem a little pricey.
Normally, that would conclude our look back at the activity from the previous month. However, since we also concluded the calendar year, I thought it would be fun to take a quick look at a recap of the entire year as well.
As I mentioned earlier, December alone had nearly 700 comments and that was quite a bit above the monthly average. Over the entire year of 2008, there were 5,621 comments posted. Taking a quick look back to 2007, I see that there the number of comments has nearly doubled - that is great to see, thank you!
Who did the most talking?
The list of people above will give you a good clue as to who did the most talking throughout the year, as you need to be at or near the top month after month to make the annual list.
Top 5 Commentators of 2008
- Nicole from Great Prices Here with 262 comments
- Nick from romandock dot com with 235 comments
- Ling from Uptake with 202 comments
- Steve from Gadgets 4 Nowt with 199 comments
- Andrea from According to Andrea with 171 comments
With more than 5,000 comments over the course of the year, obviously there has been a healthy amount of discussion on most of the posts.
Which posts had the most discussion?
In a sign that people really do love free schwag, many of the posts with the highest number of comments were contest posts although there were a couple of non-contest posts that cracked into the top five as well.
Top 5 Commented Posts of 2008
- Win Canadian Club Whisky Schwag (128)
- Blog Blazers :: 40 Top Bloggers Share Their Secrets (64)
- Free Advertising :: Enter For Your Chance To Win (62)
- Confessions Of A Lazy (And Shy) Blogger (57)
- Building A Closer Community With KeywordLuv Plugin (51)
That concludes our look back at December, as well as 2008 as a whole. There has been a great deal of conversation and I am looking forward to even more in the coming year. Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to share even one comment, as I truly do appreciate hearing from all of you and having an opportunity to start a dialog with you.
You have some of the most loyal readers of any blog I visit! Kudos to all those who left comments. Quality commentators encourage great bloggers to keep on truckin’.
Derek, you’ve been a positive contributor and had a great 2008. Just wait - I know 2009 will see your fans more than double over this year. Thanks for being the first to add your list to our FriendFeed challenge. Anyone who missed out then is welcome to add theirs now. I used that link in this comment.
I’m fortunate to have you as a colleague and a friend. Thanks for all you do. If you’re planning to run any new contests I’d like to donate two $50 gift certificates redeemable on any item sold by my favorite gift store - one for you so you know they’re worth recommending and one to give away for your readers.
In my time blogging, I have been fortunate to have an outstanding group of readers (and commentators) that make this all so much fun and worthwhile. As a result, I’ve had the chance to meet some truly outstanding people - including yourself.
I’ll touch base with you about the contest, as I am sure everyone would enjoy something like that. Speaking of contests, I actually need to select an alternate winner in my previous contest as the selected winner never contacted me.
Pick me! Pick me!
Nicks last blog post..I’d go solar if the cells were cheaper and more efficient
no, ME ME ME!
Thanks for the extra links derek
I am hoping to use the affiliate programs when I finally get the rest of the site up and running correctly and can start writing posts on a regular basis.
I think it is great that you actually take the time to visit the other peoples blogs/sites to make a post about them.
Cheers
“I think it is great that you actually take the time to visit the other peoples blogs/sites to make a post about them.”
That could be part of why people keep coming back.
Jesses last blog post..Changes Coming to the iTunes Store — It’s going DRM free
You’re welcome Neil. With a decent amount of traffic, I think you will have pretty good success with the affiliate programs.
As for visiting blogs, I’m subscribed to the RSS feed for a good number of the people here and try to stay current daily. As I read, I usually star posts that I might use for a Speedlinking post and then go through the most recent posts to pull out some gems.
Darn it! Last time, I said you’d find it difficult to top 498 comments in December, on account of the holidays. Guess I was wrong… And thanks for the free link schwag.
Always happy to distribute the free link schwag! I was quite surprised myself that there were so many comments last month.
Congrats to most active commentators
… They are doing great job giving this blog more quality and community style.
Jessica Ws last blog post..Why is Professional Web Design so Important
Mackinac Island is awesome and is worth the extra dollars…IMHO
That is good to know, although maybe that would be a nicer spot to take just my wife for a getaway (even though the post describes the family atmosphere).
Thanks. I did not ever imagine that I will hit the top ‘talker’ position! Seems weird!
Shall keep at it Derek. I enjoy visiting and commenting on your posts.
Nicole Prices last blog post..New Year Resolutions to Help You Save Money
Thanks for all of your contributions Nicole! Every month you have been consistent and ranked near the top.
congrats on being top commentator, nicole!
I am also pleased that you got a few laughs from my post. I can assure you that I have received some hilarious responses to it from very discerning friends.
Nicole Prices last blog post..New Year Resolutions to Help You Save Money
We wouldn’t be here without you Derek, so keep up the great work for 2009
Appreciate that Steve!
Wow, we sure do talk alot on this site. I guess that’s why it feels like such a tight-knit community and why I don’t mind the fact that (based on the numbers above) I must have received over 500 emails from this site in December.
Thanks for the mention and the love…I was surprised when the post you linked to only received 1 comment after being posted…
Nicks last blog post..Housekeeping - January 2009
Lol, there have been a lot of emails - as I get a notification on every comment so I can be sure to keep tabs on the feedback.
Sometimes it is surprising to see a really good post receive just a few comments and then something silly gets a lot of discussion.
It just goes to show that you never can tell what is going to be popular. I’ve never had anything get the amount of discussion that you get here, but I have been pleasantly surprised by the discussion on some posts while somewhat disappointed by others.
It seems that no matter how hard we try to come up with a formula, there is no way to predict how much discussion a given post is going to get (unless of course it is one of those “comment to get entered” type contest posts)
Nicks last blog post..I’d go solar if the cells were cheaper and more efficient
Absolutely, I actually was thinking about that yesterday as Andrea had written a guest post over at The Man Page awhile back that just now received the first comment. It was a great post, but just did not generate a response.
Oh I got a response to it?? wow! yay me! I didnt think I was going to ever get one. I was hoping to get SOME sort of feedback to it.
Hmmm, I wonder why I never commented on it…unless of course it just wasn’t worth commenting on
Just kidding, I probably just didn’t see it.
Nicks last blog post..I’d go solar if the cells were cheaper and more efficient
yeah, we all do talk alot here. i personally find it cool that we all contribute here and help out derek keep his blog going. even though we all may not “know” each other and never have met, i feel like i pretty much know where everyone is at and know what they are about.
Lol, I had to laugh about the idea that we “know” each other. There have been times when I will say “this person I know…” when referring to a blogging friend that I have never met. My wife always rolls her eyes and comments that I don’t “know” the person, which is technically true but there is a certain degree of familiarity after awhile.
I totally feel the same way! I am often talking about all of you as if you’re people I actually hang out and/or go to the bar and grab a drink with. I think that the familiarity we have with each other and my doing that have something to do with Tammy’s deciding to start her own site - as a way for her to get to know these people that I am always talking about
On that note, I can’t wait till I can finally go to a conference and meet some of you and get a drink for real!
Nicks last blog post..I’d go solar if the cells were cheaper and more efficient
Just shows we also like our drink at Christmas. Can’t beat a Canadian Club (or as my better half calls it, Columbian Coke - bit of a slip of words there!)
Am I reading that right? 692 comments?!?!
That’s amazing! The following here definitely drew in. It seems as though every post is full of great thoughts. Congrats on building such a great community.
Also - I had never seen the “He’s Humping Me” post. Nice.
Jesses last blog post..Changes Coming to the iTunes Store — It’s going DRM free
Yeah, you’re reading that right! The community here is outstanding and I have been thrilled with the opportunity to enjoy some dialog with everyone.
Thanks for the shout out about Jack’s bday present. We had such a great time. it was loads of fun. it was amazing how the crowd got so into it. lol
what i find funny about my total posts here is that it was based on me being here for about half the year. i came across your blog halfway thru the year last year and never left. lol We shall see what 2009 brings us.
Are you going to post about the event and share any pictures? You should see the crowds at an event that is not for a live TV audience, those are some really interesting people.
yeah, i actually planned to post them last night but i had fallen asleep around 930 which is odd for me cause I usually fall asleep around midnight. lol i am into too much gaming.
be looking for my post about it soon! I can only say that the picts didnt come out as good as i had wanted them to. I wish i couldve taken my Nikon instead of my lil ol canon.
btw, i posted about the event and the pictures, if you are so kind to go check’em out.
Are you saying that you’re going to be shooting for the top spot in 2009? You say that and I might have to try and give you a run for your money
Nicks last blog post..I’d go solar if the cells were cheaper and more efficient
yeah Nick, thats what i am saying! You up for a challenge??? lol
I guess I don’t really have much choice other than to accept so I guess it’s on
Nicks last blog post..I’d go solar if the cells were cheaper and more efficient
Shall we have a wager…. Nick is 5 to 1 odds on!
i feel the love here. lol
Lol, that comment reminded me of that hilarious commercial where the woman gets in the car, blows one, and then realizes there are people in the back seat.
We have chemistry here, do you feel it? I felt it.
Enjoy!
LMAO, thats a funny video. poor girl…..
I think I’ve seen that before, it is quite hilarious though!
Nicks last blog post..Where have all the good phones gone?
Wow, you’ve got some loyal readers and commentators.
Susans last blog post..True Elegance
128 comments on a single post? In a single month? I envy you.
You’re not the only one who envies him…there are several of us. As far as increasing the comment count on your own posts, unfortunately, Derek hasn’t shared his magic formula with us yet.
Nicks last blog post..Where have all the good phones gone?
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