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| mq1965 |
In some ways this will sound like desperate self-promotion, or a need to stoke my ego by increasing my viewing count, but I am genuinely fascinated by the processes involved in weblogs and who reads and replies to them.
I have been fascinated ever since I started blogging, more so since I have started doing it a little more regularly. What is it that makes people read some blogs and not others? Obviously individual popularity will play a part, but that shouldn't account for the variation within my own blogs. Why is it that my most popular blog, The Dilemma of the Considerate Dominant, has over 700 views, most of them have 200-300 and the one I wrote yesterday is only in the 60s? I know it hasn't yet been up for 24 hours, but most of the blogs I have written have got more than 60 in the first couple of hours.
I started off thinking that the time of day it was posted probably made a difference - being high on the list of blogs just as everyone was coming in after work and logging on would get more views than posting at 2am just as most people had gone to bed. I think that plays a small role, but it doesn't seem to make a huge difference to eventual total numbers of views.
Probably the biggest factor is replies. If you get no replies then people will see no reason to come back and look at it a second time, whereas if a lot of people are replying others will come back and see what has been added to the debate. You will also draw in people who may not be interested in what you have to say, but will come to see what their friends who replied are getting involved with. I'm sure that has played the biggest part in The Dilemma getting so many views.
Even that, though, can't account for all the variation. I'm forced to conclude that the title plays a part in drawing people in, though exactly what will work to get people reading and what won't is more of a mystery. I'm not hugely creative in inventing titles, usually when writing memos and headlines for my profile ad I really struggle to know what to say, but for some reason blog titles seem to have come to me naturally, though without any real thought given as to who they might attract.
I am forced to conclude that using the words 'Meeting God' in the title of a blog puts people off from viewing it. I can't see any other reason why that blog would be so much slower in attracting views than any other I have written, even when first posted at a fairly busy time of day.
I wonder whether 'Meeting Tanos' would have been more of a draw? If so, what other key words would make people read a blog?
(Edited to add: Well this title obviously works - 11 views in the first minute. Meeting God took 15 minutes to get that many!)
Edited Mon 3 Mar 08, 6:05 PM by mq1965
| 3 Mar 08, 6:12 PM SemiTrainedApe UK, 4 yrs |
It's all in the title? The Dilemma of the Considerate Dominant is a novelistic or poetic title for a blog. It's also *about* BDSM, so it'll catch the eye of more people. Meeting God and other anniversary thoughts suggests - rightly or wrongly, I haven't had chance to read it - something more wordy, lengthy, even dry? What would make you read this? is a great title, posing a question and making people curious about the blog's contents.
I reckon it'll get *lots* of hits. I'll fiddle for the punters if you clean my cage. | |
| 3 Mar 08, 6:15 PM Scribbles UK(RH), 4 yrs |
I tend to go by the writer's name. If I like their blogs, I read them whatever they're called. Other than that... I have a quick look at the length indicator (ahem) since usually longer ones have had thought put into them, shorter ones are often pointless. And I often follow bookmarks, so if someone else I read has commented, I'm more likely to pitch up too. | |
| 3 Mar 08, 6:38 PM kisses_for_me UK, 5 yrs |
1. writers name (that can make a blog a must read, or dare I even say a must not read) 2. Title. Different titles will have different appeal depending on my mood, the time of day, what else I am doing. 3. Length of blog. I will generally assume that a lenghty blog has somethign worth saying, although of course not always the case 4. Replies allowed/number of Replies, this also ties in with author, some authors have little circles of friends that use blogs for chatter that can have an effect on reply numbers 5. Personal recommendation. aka "read this" memos & IMs. If a friend points me at a blog then I will go read it It's easy to tell the difference between right and wrong. What's hard is choosing the wrong that's more right. | |
| 3 Mar 08, 6:47 PM just_iana UK(SS), 6 yrs |
The writer, wheter a friend or someone who's posts interst me. Also i too follow bookmarks, and if i am interested by a person's view, they might be bookmarked...does that make me a blog stalker? and the title too....
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| 3 Mar 08, 7:24 PM Romola UK, 7 yrs  |
It was the title in this case, although I have enjoyed your blogs when I have read them before. There are some people who I read regularly, because they are always entertaining, and quite a few more who I will read when I notice they have one up, but aren't bookmarked or anything. Otherwise, an intriguing title always draws me in, except for one or two regular bloggers who have a talent for must-read titles that are rarely justified by what follows. Clearly, it's in your interest not to annoy other users of IC by felching the wanking barfs or weblogs with ads. | |
| 4 Mar 08, 12:47 AM mq1965 UK(DA), 8 yrs |
Mr. Strapp has the real answer - write something highly controversial! | |
| 4 Mar 08, 6:19 PM spirifer UK, 6 yrs |
That pretty much sums up how I view blogs, too. Although, since I sometimes don't get much time to be online, a very long blog may be a little off-putting at such times. The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation - Pierre Trudeau |
