Iain Dale has announced that his December traffic was marginally down on November and October at 130,872 unique visitors and 228,952 page downloads. I did a quick calculation and my uniques were roughly 43 times less than his. Should I therefore:1] Slit my wrists forthwith and give up the ghost;
2] Warmly congratulate Iain and hope he'll link to me just the once, for goodness sake so that I can double my traffic that day?
3] Feel quietly proud of being a member of Blogpower, of my traffic being three times what it was in October, of the twenty or thirty e-mails to friends each day, of being better regarded now by those excellent bloggers who were initially a little cool and of the new blog friendships which have been forged;
4] Throw up the hands and seriously consider my position as a blogger, as Clive Davis is now doing?
I think one should be gracious about these things. Iain worked to get where he is, he co-started Doughty, he brought out those lists, he's done much. And he's visible. I'm not and cannot be. Plus his blog is entertaining and always fresh. That's why he gets his Malkin like statistics. Plus I like his jaunty cheekiness and indefatigability. Now, where's that carving knife?
Oh, no.3 James, please! Carving knives don't work, anyway. [Yep, tried that, too!]
ReplyDeleteRazors pain you;
ReplyDeleteRivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.
Résumé
Dorothy Parker
3 please, James.
Definitely number 3!
ReplyDeleteBefore Blogpower, I had come close to giving up blogging, but it's given me a new lease of life!
Number 3, beyond doubt. You are, characteristically, too modest to mention that it was you who set Blogpower in motion. You've helped establish links, and yes, friendships, which may never have otherwise developed. That's a very good thing to have done, whichever way you slice it. There will be big beast bloggers out there who will never do even 1/43rd as much for their fellow bloggers as you already have.
ReplyDeleteJames,
ReplyDeleteStick with 3 and forget about it.
They also serve who only blog and wait...blogs crying out in the wilderness and all that...
Number three.......
ReplyDeleteThree cats, one dog me.......
tea
xo
Okay, so by now James you should be getting a consensus loud and clear: number 3 it is! x
ReplyDeleteNumber 3 James. Blog power has been great for me, seeing new blogs and building traffic. A great invention of yours there. You still get 10x mine anyway and I think I do ok!
ReplyDeleteBut overall, blogging is narcissitic. You do it because you want to and want to share your thoughts with the world. If you lose that will then stop and expend your energies on something else that will bring you happiness.
Ian Dale wants to be a Member of Parliament. I am sure that he would prefer to have 43 times his readership. He has a niche and has made an investment in a related unique business that will always give him additional readership.
ReplyDeleteAlmost all of us do this for fun and therapy. You have made a huge difference to so many people. Who cares how many people visit your blog. Think about the quality. If you want unique visitors, put up some porn and some appropriate google attracting phrases.
You have invested a great deal in a small group of people. Surely that has more value than attracting gazillions of people who are not interested and couldn't care about you.
Most of the people that we meet on the blogosphere, we will never meet in real life, but there is a real connection and I and many others value that.
You should too. You have made a big difference for a relatively small group of people and I think that is more precious and valuable.
Ok I will shut up now. My Scottishness is closing in.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's the next day now and I was most surprised to check just now and find all these comments and your advice is surely to be taken.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I had a little message from Iain himself and he was, as he customarily is, more than gracious. This is why I like the man and don't begrudge him.
I'm with 2 and 3. Iain strikes me as a nice guy, he comes across like that so I don't begrudge his success and neither should you. But as everyone says you shouldn't underrate your own efforts- blogpower is amazing its wonderful, its really good and all of us in it are emensely grateful to your work. On a personal note- I've really enjoyed talking via blogs and comments to you- it would be such a shame if you gave up- so keep going.
ReplyDeleteAnother one says No 3, Iain will always be dozens steps ahead of us, he is a professional. Blogpower is a tremendous achievement which you should be proud of.
ReplyDeleteI lvoed Tom Paine's verse, btw, typical of him to always have a few perfect words.
Btw, I check my dailytraffic sometimes, but have no idea about monthly figures, I've never once checked it, wouldn't know how to. I don't want to become obsessed.
I've said before that the blogging phenomenon will suffer if it solely becomes the preserve of people who have the means and the time to post several posts each day, surf and leave comments elsewhere and effectively blog full-time.
ReplyDeleteAll the advice on how to raise traffic focuses on at least daily posting, responding to comments as they arrive, reacting to breaking news etc. At this risk of being disrespectful to those fortunate enough to heed this advice it kind of precludes anyone with young family, job, other interests etc. (e.g. a life!).
I'm not suggesting for a minute I have these in abundance but surely there's room for blogs that are updated once / twice a week with thoughtful and provocative posts..