From Anne Giles Clelland, founder of Handshake Media, Incorporated, a VT KnowledgeWorks member company:
In anticipation of the 4th anniversary on November 30, 2011 of Inside VT KnowledgeWorks, the VT KnowledgeWorks blog, I have been compiling top ten lists and sharing conclusions from four years in the blog business.
The VT KnowledgeWorks Blog - Top Ten Posts from Its First Three Years
The VT KnowledgeWorks Blog - Top Ten Posts from Its First Four Years
Here's a list, according to Google Analytics, of the top sources of traffic to the VT KnowledgeWorks blog November to November, over the past 4 years:
2007-2008
Direct
Google (organic)
VT KnowledgeWorks
annegilesclelland.typepad.com (multiple blogs from my primary domain and account with TypePad)
Roanoke.com
2008-2009
Google (organic)
Direct
Roanoke.com
VT KnowledgeWorks
Handshake 2.0
2009-2010
Google (organic)
Direct
Facebook
Twitter
VT KnowledgeWorks
2010-2011
Google (organic)
Direct
Facebook
Google (referral)
VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership
VT KnowledgeWorks
I offer these conclusions from the data in this list.
(1) "It's still who you know."
As I mentioned in The VT KnowledgeWorks Blog - Top Ten Posts from Its First Three Years, nine months after starting the VTKW blog in 2007, I became a member of VT KnowledgeWorks, founded Handshake Media, Incorporated, and launched Handshake 2.0 in 2008. Its tagline is "It's still who you know."
The continued presence of "Direct" as a top source of traffic to Inside VT KnowledgeWorks underscores the power of "It's still who you know." Most direct traffic comes from someone typing i n s i d e v t k n o w l e d g e w o r k s . c o m - the blog's URL - directly into a browser. That someone knew someone - met a VT KnowledgeWorks member company founder, a VT KnowledgeWorks staff member, or heard about the blog from someone else - and started typing to find out more.
(2) Fan or not, Facebook matters.
Facebook has been the #3 source of traffic to the VT KnowledgeWorks blog for the last two years. That VT KnowledgeWorks has its own Facebook page, a VTKW Global Student Challenge Facebook page, and that I refer to it frequently from Handshake 2.0's Facebook page and my personal page are not what's important. That links posted to the VT KnowledgeWorks blog on Facebook get clicked on by Facebook users - and those users value those links enough to leave Facebook to visit the blog - that's what matters.
(3) Global matters.
In 2007, VT KnowledgeWorks was an incubator serving technology companies and entrepreneurs in the Blacksburg, Virginia area, home of Virginia Tech. Today, it is in partnership with universities and companies around the world. In 2011, its global site, VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership, surpassed its home site as a top source of traffic to the blog. As Lindsey Eversole, Global Partnership Manager, commented, "It's all GLOBAL - cool!"
From 2007 to the present, Google search users from 136 countries have found what they sought on the VT KnowledgeWorks blog.
And now for the top ten list:
The top ten countries of origin of visitors to the VT KnowledgeWorks blog, in order: United States, France, United Kingdom, India, Canada, Chile, Mexico, China, Philippines, and Italy.
The world wants to know about VT KnowledgeWorks.
***
VT KnowledgeWorks encourages and enables creative entrepreneurship world-wide, through innovative curriculum, local business resource centers, and a global network of cooperating regions, all focused on three essential contributors to success: clear understanding of fundamental business principles; access to timely, relevant information; and meaningful personal and corporate relationships. It is a subsidiary of the Virginia Tech Foundation, funded through the continuing confidence and enthusiasm of its clients, sponsors and friends, both corporate and individual. Its world headquarters is in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.
VT KnowledgeWorks sponsors include Attaain, Inc., BB&T, The Branch Group, Handshake 2.0, Harris Office Furniture, Hodges, Jones & Mabry, P.C., Hutchison Law Group, LeClairRyan, New River Valley Intellectual Property Law, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and The Becher Agency (TBA).
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