Why won't they come?

akmacca · Feb 4, 2010

I started my blog as part of my platform for my writing and I quickly realised that I knew very little about writing. Certainly not enough to write a blog about it.

Undeterred I started to write about my expat experiences, my time in the military and other odds and ends. I also found it a great way to communicate with family and friends back home.

I have often wondered if anyone reads my blog as I have received very few comments. To try and find out if the blog was read I added a Public Blog Patrol statistic counter. (for the life of me I couldn't get Google analytics to work) This lead to moments of joy and many more of despair.

Some days I have 10 or more hits and others zilch! So I have to wonder why I bother writing a blog every second day when it doesn't appear to be read by but a few. Am I doing this for my own personal
self-grandizmdent or am I hoping that something will come of it?

I do enjoy it.....usually. And it keeps me writing, but is it worth the angst?

Do any of you guys have the same problems and how do you direct traffic to your blog?

Chris P · Feb 4, 2010

I think many people are blogged out. How many blogs do you read versus the number of people you know who have them? I do not regularly read anyone's blog, nor do I have one myself (well, not one that I've posted to in over two years).

Another issue is visibility, which, as in anything, is the hardest part. How will people know about your blog?

nighttimer · Feb 4, 2010

After looking at your blog, I can tell you know how to write (a prerequisite for any blog as far as I'm concerned) and you have a subject that interests you. The thing is, it's a specialty interest so it may not interest most people.

That's not a bad thing. It just means you have to figure out who is most likely to read your blog and how to best reach them. Finding sites that are similar to yours and exchanging links might work. I'm an African-American who blogs about politics, arts and current affairs, so I try to link to other sites of a similar bent.

The only real gripe I have would be the color of the blog. Black isn't a bad color, but it makes some of your posts hard to read. The Vancouver Olympics post of 01/21/10 is unreadable unless you highlight the text.

You might want to submit your blog to the AW Blog Review section for pointers and think about joining the AW Blog Chain.

Don't get discouraged if your traffic is slow. It takes time to build a blog that people want to follow. I'm going into my second year of blogging and I never thought I'd make it to through the first.

Keep plugging away and in time you'll know whether to keep on going or to give it up.

havefaith22 · Feb 4, 2010

I get about 25-30 hits on my blog a day and I started it in October. 0% of these hits are from google searches (tags). All my readers came from forums I belong to (incl. this one) where my blog link is listed in my signature. Recently, I started googling other mommy blogs in an attempt to network as well.

Are there any forums relating to your blog's topic that you can join? That's where you're going to start finding readers.

Good luck!

Brad · Feb 4, 2010

A couple things. Since your book has not launched yet, there probably aren't many people searching for the term "tommy tippett". People are searching for solutions and information when they enter queries rather than entertainment - for the most part. You might want to consider switching to a domain name with keywords related to the obstacles of traveling, which seems like the focus of your site. Secondly, you need to make it more scan-friendly if you don't want people to bounce away. They will likely enter the site and see that they have to read several paragraphs to get a feel for your site. Try to embolden the topic sentence of each paragraph if you are writing articles of any length. Or create subheadings. I would limit the byline you have above to something short and simple (i.e. Solutions to Travel Conundrums).

I would advise you to sign up with StumbleUpon and use the toolbar for a while to see what kinds of sites are popular with people. Try to determine if your site would fit into the mix of the sites your are shuffling through. Create a big RSS button so people can subscribe - I don't know if you can do that with blogger, but if you are serious about getting traffic you may want to transfer to wordpress.

You can also create articles on websites like Hubpages, eHow, Squidoo, etc. They're called "web 2.0". They are trusted by Google and rank well, and they also carry high "pagerank". This means that every time you link from one of those sites to yours, it will increase Google's trust of your site. Just read some general SEO articles.

Hope that gets you started.

akmacca · Feb 4, 2010

Appreciate all of the advice it is both good and sensible. Cheers

akmacca · Feb 4, 2010

Brad said:
A couple things. Since your book has not launched yet, there probably aren't many people searching for the term "tommy tippett". People are searching for solutions and information when they enter queries rather than entertainment - for the most part. You might want to consider switching to a domain name with keywords related to the obstacles of traveling, which seems like the focus of your site. Secondly, you need to make it more scan-friendly if you don't want people to bounce away. They will likely enter the site and see that they have to read several paragraphs to get a feel for your site. Try to embolden the topic sentence of each paragraph if you are writing articles of any length. Or create subheadings. I would limit the byline you have above to something short and simple (i.e. Solutions to Travel Conundrums).

I would advise you to sign up with StumbleUpon and use the toolbar for a while to see what kinds of sites are popular with people. Try to determine if your site would fit into the mix of the sites your are shuffling through. Create a big RSS button so people can subscribe - I don't know if you can do that with blogger, but if you are serious about getting traffic you may want to transfer to wordpress.

You can also create articles on websites like Hubpages, eHow, Squidoo, etc. They're called "web 2.0". They are trusted by Google and rank well, and they also carry high "pagerank". This means that every time you link from one of those sites to yours, it will increase Google's trust of your site. Just read some general SEO articles.

Hope that gets you started.

Brad appreciate the advicde. Couple of questions if I may. If I change the domain name do I lose those who have already bookmarked the site or those that are followers. Same deal if I move to wordpress, I take it I lose the same people?

What are the advantages of wordpress over Blogger?

Cheers

Brad · Feb 4, 2010

Yeah, I think you would lose the users that bookmarked it or those whom are following you if you changed the domain name. Maybe, you can change the domain name with blogger to something like outdooradventures.blogspot.com without losing people. I haven't used it that much so I'm not sure. Another option would just be to make a big "I've Moved!" statement and provide a link to your new address; anyone who reads your blog would follow the link.

It may not be completely necessary to move to wordpress (by "wordpress" I mean using your own hosting in conjunction with wordpress software, not hosting it on wordpress.com), but it is a lot more customizable. Since you own the domain name, it is also self published, rather than owned by blogspot.com. That probably doesn't matter much, but it is nice to know.

Polenth · Feb 4, 2010

akmacca said:
Brad appreciate the advicde. Couple of questions if I may. If I change the domain name do I lose those who have already bookmarked the site or those that are followers. Same deal if I move to wordpress, I take it I lose the same people?

What are the advantages of wordpress over Blogger?

I wouldn't recommend changing your domain name for the sake of the search engines. Stick with the domain you want to keep (and your name is a good one for a writer... if you haven't register yourname.com, it's worth doing that), because it will muck up bookmarks, links and your PageRank to keep switching domains.

Your domain name matters very little in search. Google cares far more about the site content and who links to you.

You don't need to move to Wordpress if you like Blogger. Both are fine for hosting a blog and it mostly comes down to personal preference. With Blogger, you can add in your domain name later and it'll handle redirecting people. So there's no rush.

On the original subject, it does take time to build up a blog audience. Are you building the right audience for your genre/subject of book? I think that's your main issue at the moment.

I've found Twitter is handy for blogging. I meet a lot of new people on Twitter, and many of them visit posts when I post the link to Twitter. Not everyone likes social networking, but if you do, it's great for getting your blog out there.

Brad · Feb 4, 2010

All reputable sources I've seen have said that domain name is pretty important for search engine results. I just thought that if he is only seeing 0-10 visitors a day, he doesn't have much to lose. My firefox plugin shows that he also still has 0 pagerank.

Polenth · Feb 4, 2010

Brad said:
All reputable sources I've seen have said that domain name is pretty important for search engine results. I just thought that if he is only seeing 0-10 visitors a day, he doesn't have much to lose. My firefox plugin shows that he also still has 0 pagerank.

Having a domain name can be important. Having one that's logical is important for visitors, as you want one that people can remember.

Keyword stuffing your domain name isn't important, which is what you suggested. Google looks at the words in the domain name, but it's very low down the list of importance. You could build up a good ranking for fogobbrhleorigoolbnig.com if you wanted to (though your visitors will hate you).

For a writer, registering yourname.com is the logical name as visitors will remember you by name rather than subject (in the case of most writer blogs). Some people go for an arty name, especially if their name is hard to spell. What you don't want to do is go for writer-fantasy-mystery-crime.com or any other keyword stuffed names. Some articles tell you to do this, but they're wrong... that's not what Google cares about and it won't improve your PageRank or where you come in the search results.

Matera the Mad · Feb 5, 2010

I am often surprised at what brings search engines to my site. There are hits from phrases resembling the domain name, but they aren't a majority. My fan-fic archives attract a lot of hits. That is probably a good thing, since my main work should appeal to the fandom I practiced in. The word "drum" turns up frequently, and it's in the novel's title. My blog, a recent addition to the site, has several posts about making drums, plus a variety of other rants and babbles. Get enough stuff in, and things start to happen.

Contrast is extremely important for easy reading.

Lindzy1954 · Feb 5, 2010

I would have to agree that most of my blog hits (still very minimal, so I am no expert) come from friends and aquaintances on different writing boards and online communities (AW, JacketFlap, etc.). I think that there is something to be said for "word of mouth" in the writing community and I too, am in the process of trying to create a blog that will appeal. The author of "The Bookshelf Muse" site once told me that in order to have a successful blog, you need to figure out who you are targeting first. For example, if you are targeting other writers, try to come up with something you can provide that will be of assistance to them. . . a toolbox of sorts. If you are targeting agents or editors, putting together a site that nicely showcases you and your work is the most important thing.

http://www.lindsayncurrie.webs.com

Brad · Feb 5, 2010

Polenth, I don't suggest a ridiculously keyword-stuffed domain, but if you can naturally include keywords for the niche, it is helpful.

Why won't they come?

akmacca

Wants to get it right

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred

nighttimer

Am I Evil? Yes, I Am!

havefaith22

Brad

akmacca

Wants to get it right

akmacca

Wants to get it right

Brad

Polenth

Mushroom

Brad

Polenth

Mushroom

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

Lindzy1954

Chi-Town Scribbler

Brad