9 ms·

How We Got 31k Pageviews in a Day by Pretending to be Obama

73 points by ajaymehta 14y ago

MWil 14y ago
Because he linked to the site in his article: Why the 100% spike in donations to the public debt in 2012?
brokentone 14y ago
Only 24,853 UVs and 31,097 PVs for a fully designed and built out microsite (a clever one I might add)? Just from my blog post (http://www.brokentone.com/blog/2566/ http://www.brokentone.com/blog/2566/) that made it to HN front page the other day (with really no other promotion) I got: 21,893 UVs, 23,094 PVs. Not phallus measuring, just providing some reference and cost/benefit.
- Wilya 14y ago
  Yeah, it's amusing how the article focuses on the pageview numbers, which aren't that impressive. A catchy rant making it near the top of HN will easily give you similar numbers. The number of social shares seems more interesting (3k Facebook likes isn't that bad, better than what I would have gotten), but if it didn't lead to more pageviews, I don't really see the point.
  - ajaymehta 14y ago
    Thanks! I think you're right, the 3k Facebook likes were great to see. Unfortunately the page was modded off of HN (like all the other April Fool's jokes) after rising to the top super fast... I think if that hadn't happened we would have ended up with quite a bit more traffic.
    - wtvanhest 14y ago
      One nice thing is that you probably got a diverse group of PVs rather than a homogeneous one you would see from just linking to reddit or HN. For a service like yours where you need random people finding out about it, I'd be really happy with your numbers and the fact that the traffic came from unique sources.
      - ajaymehta 14y ago
        Thank you! Agreed. The page was on HN for like 18 minutes. The cool thing was to see traffic coming in from all over the place and getting tweets saying "Best April Fool's prank this year!" :) It was a scrappy, last-minute fun project that managed to exceed expectations. The Crowdtilt founders thought it was sweet too!
- brador 14y ago
  For those who are phallus measuring, here's the biggest i've ever seen: http://bjk5.com/post/30813320623/what-traffic-from-60-minutes-looks-like http://bjk5.com/post/30813320623/what-traffic-from-60-minute.... Yep, that's per second.
- drewvolpe 14y ago
  I had the same take away; seems like a huge waste of effort for a very modest marketing return (and a not very funny joke).
- ajaymehta 14y ago
  Well that's awesome! Congrats on the success with your post. I think most people that put lots of effort into websites (whether they be simple blog posts, splash pages like this, or a fully-built-out product) struggle to get notable traffic. This might not be an unprecedented traffic success, but it was fun and generated a pretty surprising amount of buzz on social media.
powertower 14y ago
Here is the real form to help pay down the debt just in case anyone wants to - https://www.pay.gov/paygov/forms/formInstance.html?agencyFormId=23779454 https://www.pay.gov/paygov/forms/formInstance.html?agencyFor...
- gtaylor 14y ago
  In what cases would it ever make sense to "donate" to this? I ask this not to be silly, I really am genuinely curious if anyone actually does this, and for what reasons.
  - mmanfrin 14y ago
    There was a Planet Money (I think) episode that mentioned this. Their number were about $7 million a year on average, but that this last year or two have seen record (i.e., maybe 2x) donations.
  - eli 14y ago
    Is your question why do people care about the public debt? Or why they bother making a contribution that is small relative to the problem?
    - stfu 14y ago
      Slightly different - why do they think that there money is better distributed by faceless bureaucrats where they could themselves direct it to the causes they think need it the most.
- fosk 14y ago
  Maybe because 2013 it's not over yet. Check back on January 1, 2014. EDIT: The original question asked why there was a drop of donations in 2013 as stated in this page: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/gift/gift.htm http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/gift/gift.htm
seferphier 14y ago
> "We support this idea. would definitely be sweet to get paid back. -Chinese President Xi Jinping" "Man, this is a great idea. I bet this was Biden's thing, am I right? Joe, call me. -Bill Clinton" Genius.
- ajaymehta 14y ago
  Thank you! :)
ck2 14y ago
Except 30 of the largest corporations paid little to no taxes over the past few years. There would be little debt if you actually got them to pay and stop offshoring jobs and profits. General Electric paid an effective tax of TWO PERCENT over the past decade! We are being looted from the inside out and people still fall for this.
- grecy 14y ago
  Amazingly, you're being down voted. If using public services to make billions of private profit is not evil, I don't know what is.
  - Domenic_S 14y ago
    Really? Rapes in India; North Korea generally; wars in the middle east; letting our own homeless and elderly starve or go cold; school massacres; Ponzi schemes destroying the retirement of countless people... ...all this, and making profit using public services is the epitome of evil to you?
    - grecy 14y ago
      Ahh, the old "let's compare ourselves to third world nations so we look good". That's about as useful as comparing a sporting team to the one that always finishes bottom of the ladder... it just confirms you're doing fine, when in fact you are not. What I was saying was, in the context of a developed nation like The United States, using public money for private profit is evil, and if it were not done, the average standard of living would increase and poverty (which is an enormous problem in the US) would decrease. In the context of a first world country, doing that is very evil.
      - Domenic_S 14y ago
        Most of the things I listed happen right here in good ol' America. > What I was saying was No, what you actually said was that if that wasn't evil, you don't know what is. Which is an incredulous thing to say. > using public money for private profit is evil I see, so no government contracts should exist, or they should only go to non-profits. They're using public money for private profit, after all. > if it were not done, the average standard of living would increase and poverty would decrease. Unprovable.
hipstercatfish 14y ago
Pretty decent traffic... good idea though.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
orangethirty 14y ago
How much money did you make off of the traffic?

73 points by ajaymehta 14y ago

MWil 14y ago

Because he linked to the site in his article: Why the 100% spike in donations to the public debt in 2012?

Only 24,853 UVs and 31,097 PVs for a fully designed and built out microsite (a clever one I might add)? Just from my blog post (http://www.brokentone.com/blog/2566/ http://www.brokentone.com/blog/2566/) that made it to HN front page the other day (with really no other promotion) I got: 21,893 UVs, 23,094 PVs. Not phallus measuring, just providing some reference and cost/benefit.

Wilya 14y ago
Yeah, it's amusing how the article focuses on the pageview numbers, which aren't that impressive. A catchy rant making it near the top of HN will easily give you similar numbers. The number of social shares seems more interesting (3k Facebook likes isn't that bad, better than what I would have gotten), but if it didn't lead to more pageviews, I don't really see the point.
- ajaymehta 14y ago
  Thanks! I think you're right, the 3k Facebook likes were great to see. Unfortunately the page was modded off of HN (like all the other April Fool's jokes) after rising to the top super fast... I think if that hadn't happened we would have ended up with quite a bit more traffic.
  - wtvanhest 14y ago
    One nice thing is that you probably got a diverse group of PVs rather than a homogeneous one you would see from just linking to reddit or HN. For a service like yours where you need random people finding out about it, I'd be really happy with your numbers and the fact that the traffic came from unique sources.
    - ajaymehta 14y ago
      Thank you! Agreed. The page was on HN for like 18 minutes. The cool thing was to see traffic coming in from all over the place and getting tweets saying "Best April Fool's prank this year!" :) It was a scrappy, last-minute fun project that managed to exceed expectations. The Crowdtilt founders thought it was sweet too!
brador 14y ago
For those who are phallus measuring, here's the biggest i've ever seen: http://bjk5.com/post/30813320623/what-traffic-from-60-minutes-looks-like http://bjk5.com/post/30813320623/what-traffic-from-60-minute.... Yep, that's per second.
drewvolpe 14y ago
I had the same take away; seems like a huge waste of effort for a very modest marketing return (and a not very funny joke).
ajaymehta 14y ago
Well that's awesome! Congrats on the success with your post. I think most people that put lots of effort into websites (whether they be simple blog posts, splash pages like this, or a fully-built-out product) struggle to get notable traffic. This might not be an unprecedented traffic success, but it was fun and generated a pretty surprising amount of buzz on social media.

powertower 14y ago

Here is the real form to help pay down the debt just in case anyone wants to - https://www.pay.gov/paygov/forms/formInstance.html?agencyFormId=23779454 https://www.pay.gov/paygov/forms/formInstance.html?agencyFor...

gtaylor 14y ago
In what cases would it ever make sense to "donate" to this? I ask this not to be silly, I really am genuinely curious if anyone actually does this, and for what reasons.
- mmanfrin 14y ago
  There was a Planet Money (I think) episode that mentioned this. Their number were about $7 million a year on average, but that this last year or two have seen record (i.e., maybe 2x) donations.
- eli 14y ago
  Is your question why do people care about the public debt? Or why they bother making a contribution that is small relative to the problem?
  - stfu 14y ago
    Slightly different - why do they think that there money is better distributed by faceless bureaucrats where they could themselves direct it to the causes they think need it the most.
fosk 14y ago
Maybe because 2013 it's not over yet. Check back on January 1, 2014. EDIT: The original question asked why there was a drop of donations in 2013 as stated in this page: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/gift/gift.htm http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/gift/gift.htm

seferphier 14y ago

> "We support this idea. would definitely be sweet to get paid back. -Chinese President Xi Jinping" "Man, this is a great idea. I bet this was Biden's thing, am I right? Joe, call me. -Bill Clinton" Genius.

ajaymehta 14y ago
Thank you! :)

ck2 14y ago

Except 30 of the largest corporations paid little to no taxes over the past few years. There would be little debt if you actually got them to pay and stop offshoring jobs and profits. General Electric paid an effective tax of TWO PERCENT over the past decade! We are being looted from the inside out and people still fall for this.

grecy 14y ago
Amazingly, you're being down voted. If using public services to make billions of private profit is not evil, I don't know what is.
- Domenic_S 14y ago
  Really? Rapes in India; North Korea generally; wars in the middle east; letting our own homeless and elderly starve or go cold; school massacres; Ponzi schemes destroying the retirement of countless people... ...all this, and making profit using public services is the epitome of evil to you?
  - grecy 14y ago
    Ahh, the old "let's compare ourselves to third world nations so we look good". That's about as useful as comparing a sporting team to the one that always finishes bottom of the ladder... it just confirms you're doing fine, when in fact you are not. What I was saying was, in the context of a developed nation like The United States, using public money for private profit is evil, and if it were not done, the average standard of living would increase and poverty (which is an enormous problem in the US) would decrease. In the context of a first world country, doing that is very evil.
    - Domenic_S 14y ago
      Most of the things I listed happen right here in good ol' America. > What I was saying was No, what you actually said was that if that wasn't evil, you don't know what is. Which is an incredulous thing to say. > using public money for private profit is evil I see, so no government contracts should exist, or they should only go to non-profits. They're using public money for private profit, after all. > if it were not done, the average standard of living would increase and poverty would decrease. Unprovable.

hipstercatfish 14y ago

Pretty decent traffic... good idea though.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

orangethirty 14y ago

How much money did you make off of the traffic?