Comments on: Why did Newser’s traffic fall off a cliff?

By: Newser Will Never Replace New York Times « Citizen Jayne

Newser Will Never Replace New York Times « Citizen Jayne — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:14:19 +0000

[...] the streets” and exploring news beats and the need for that will never be diminished. The recent drop in Newser visitors may prove that an aggregated news website is not the future of journalism and does not compare to [...]

By: Ian Bell

Ian Bell — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:06:36 +0000

How is this any different than any other site out there? Most other news aggregators like Mahalo.com or Digg, farm search engines with catchy headlines and good SEO tactics.

It’s all passer-by traffic. 546K monthly visitors is still nothing to balk at. A lot of larger sites buy traffic as well. It’s not uncommon to see Wallstreet Journal ads on other news sites.

By: Paid Content : paidContent Quick Hits: 8.21.09

Paid Content : paidContent Quick Hits: 8.21.09 — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:38:27 +0000

[...] » Why Newser’s monthly traffic has fallen by about two thirds (or some one million visitors) since May, and what it means for the challenge of building a loyal audience on the web. [Neiman Lab] [...]

By: MichaelJ

MichaelJ — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:02:40 +0000

Nice data points to demonstrate that clicks do not equal fans and that not all clicks are the metrics of “life time customer value.” Some thing is true of every media or shop. Lots of browsers, small percentage of buyers.

It helps explain why CPMs in Print and on the web are losing value every day. As soon as it’s possible to measure exchange, instead of exposure. It’s only common sense.

By: Robin

Robin — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:02:45 +0000

@Josiah: Disagree that aggregators can’t get organic search traffic. That’s, in fact, the main driver of traffic to sites like Digg and (especially) the Huffington Post. But, it takes a lot of clever work and some serious SEO to pull it off; it’s very different from just buying a bunch of clicks.

By: Andrew Golis » Blog Archive » links for 2009-08-21

Andrew Golis » Blog Archive » links for 2009-08-21 — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:01:45 +0000

[...] Why did Newser’s traffic fall off a cliff? » Nieman Journalism Lab Not all traffic is created equal. Valuable lesson. (tags: nieman.journalism.lab newser michael.woolf hyperlinks metrics) [...]

By: Josiah

Josiah — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:55:01 +0000

By definition news aggregators can’t really get ‘organic’ traffic via search engines as the content isn’t theirs.

What this does reveal is the core audience.

I wouldn’t kick a half million visitors per month out of bed ;)

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:16:08 +0000

They bought most of their traffic and did not get it through “organic” methods. Once the flow was cut, they were left with the “real” number and a realization as to their following of customers.

I guess it goes to show you that big names offline, past accomplishments, doing things the way they “were done” and not adapting to, or understanding the current online landscape can kill. The old way(2007 and before) of online marketing does not fool the new and upcoming generation, and this is exactly the direction they took to look good in the eyes of the stake holders, advertisers and consumers involved.

I feel cheated!

By: The Far Edge » Blog Archive » Newser Has Dramatic Traffic Drop, Report

The Far Edge » Blog Archive » Newser Has Dramatic Traffic Drop, Report — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:57:52 +0000

[...] has dramatically dropped from a peak of 1.6 million uniques to 565,000, reports Zach Steward in the Nieman Journalism Lab, siting Quancast [...]

By: Readers Not Flocking to Michael Wolff [Media Crack] | Geek & High Tech

Readers Not Flocking to Michael Wolff [Media Crack] | Geek & High Tech — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:10:54 +0000

[...] the aggregation site run by Most Important Man In The Media Michael Wolff, has seen its traffic fall by about two thirds since May. This is directly attributable to Michael Wolff being [...]

By: dan bloom

dan bloom — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:51:19 +0000

Part of the problem with Newser is Wolf’s often ascerbic and bitter personality, as if he is king of the world, after James Cameron, that is, and with a guy like this running the show, traffic will slow eventually. He has a high IQ and writes and thinks very well, a great reporter, but his EQ is not so high, and readers can sense that. He needs anger management classes, and I say this as a friend.