Want More Traffic?

I sent this diagram of effects to accompany our response to a request for proposal to “Not For Profit Foundation X”. The clients’ representative said the diagram spoke to her without the accompanying text that I was planning to write. I’m curious if it does for you too diagram of effects for how more website traffic can help a not-for profit foundation grow an effective community of practice This diagram shows (part of) what value a not-for-profit (corporation or foundation) that supports a community of practice can derive from more traffic on their site. It also shows (part of) what is involved in attracting more traffic… More traffic, especially more traffic that is appropriate for your site does not happen automagically . Let me know (e.g. : leave a comment ) whether you would like me to write more about the diagram, and/or make diagrams about some of the ‘details’ (e.g. quality content, conferences). — We got a comment from Ralph Poupore (see below) when we first posted this. uptime leads to traffic Hi Ralph, thank you for your questions To start with question f): f) that was one we decided to leave out. We could not quickly find a way to draw that arrow and still have the diagram look simple. To me the arrow would mean ‘if your site has no uptime, all your other efforts are futile’, and there is a point where investing in more uptime does not get you much in terms of traffic (e.g. increasing uptime from 364 to 365 days a year, especiallly if a site is never down for a full day at a time, which is about what we seem to have now). a) repution of members and the foundation leads to members. Interesting point I didn’t see that while making the diagram. You can run a succesful foundation without a website of course (if it is predominantly local, like a choir or soccer club for instance). b) Quality content and reputation might lead to traffic. You are right. It is not immediately obvious I find that out by meeting readers, e.g. at conferences Someone told me that he recommended small change to a colleague. She recommended it to her colleagues in turn. c) Quality Content leads to effective Community of Practice, eh yes. of course, how could I have overlooked that. I guess the diagram is made from the perspective where the current website of the client does not mean much in itself to the community, but merely supports other activity. For instance active member forums or in-depth articles (a form of quality content) would directly support an effective COP. d) Hmmm. member profiles of authors lead to book sales. Maybe. I don’t have an example for that. It might work that way for book authors who don’t have their own website. I believe a blog by the author might be more effective to drive book sales, but a member profile is at least a start. e) The newsletter would be written by editors. Some systems (e.g. Drupal) make it possible to collect content already present in the site for the newsletter. In that way, the newsletter is edited by the editors, and partially written by other members. Newsletters can definately drive conference attendance – a Newsletter is a great way to remind people of upcoming registration deadlines, call for sessions etc. I guess we are assuming in the diagram that participants register for a conference through the website (therefore the indirection through traffic). I also realize that conferences can lead to quality content – reports and photographs of conferences I go to tend to be relatively well read (over longer periods of time as well). Your questions stimulate my thinking as well. Thanks! Willem Contributed by willem on Mon, 29/10/2007 – 10:37. * reply Diagram of Effects comments Willem, first, I’d like to compliment you on the cleanness and simplicity of the DOE. Overall I find it easy to read and “get”. I’m not fluent in the DOE concept but think I basically understand, leading to some comments, based on my current understanding: a. If I take the arrows to mean “leads to/results in”, then I wonder if the two reputation clouds don’t lead to Members. (If I go to a website whose owner and members have good reputations, I might be inclined to join.) b. Likewise, Quality Content and Reputation might also lead to Traffic. c. Also, Quality Content might lead to Effective COP. d. Member Profiles (for authors) might lead to Book Sales. e. Who writes the newsletters? would they be Members or Editorial Staff? If the latter, wouldn’t EdStaff lead to Newsletter and Quality Content? And/or Newsletter to Quality Content and possibly Conference Attendance? f. Would Uptime lead to Traffic? As you can see, it is a very good diagram for stimulating thinking! Kudos. Ralph