To clarify for everyone: I'm not looking to do wholesale changes to the blog again. It seems like I inadvertantly touched a nerve with this post, for which I'm truly sorry. All I wanted to do is simply find out what people like about the blog and concentrate a little more on the things that people like.
Hiyas!
Today's post will be basically me asking you the reader your opinion about my blog. This morning, I got my latest blog report and the result was a little bit shocking to say the least. For the first time since late August of last year, the amount of people that choose to take the exit to Cedar's Mountain dipped below my personal Mendoza Line of 100 weekly visitors.
For those who don't know the real trivial stuff about baseball, the Mendoza Line was named after a ball player who struggled get his batting average above his actual weight. Example, if your weight was 190lbs, you wanted your batting average to be above .190
Because of that small drop in the amount of people stopping by, I decided to do a poll and ask you the reader what you would like to see a little more of in this blog. I also decided to tie in that poll with this post, since one of your choices is 'Other', and you need a place to elaborate on what that 'Other' should be.
So please, make your voice heard. Offer your opinion on what you would like to see a little bit more of in this blog. Let's actually have this blog do what it states in the second to last sentence of my profile:
What you'll experience is entirely up to the Cyber World/Real World
Saturday, August 8, 2009
21 comments:
Go on, give me your best shot. I can take it. If I couldn't, I wouldn't have created this wonderful little blog that you decided to grace with your presence today.
About that comment moderation thingy: While yes, it does say up above I can take it, I only use it to prevent the occasional miscreant from leaving thoughtless and/or clueless comments.
So remember, all of your comments are greatly appreciated and all answers will be given that personal touch that you come to expect and enjoy.
G. B. Miller
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G, I'm just a traveling fool and that is the only reason I haven't been back on a regular basis. Please don't change a thing about your blog. Interesting thing is I've never checked my stats on Pulp Writer. I could have zero fans or a thousand. Hmmm... maybe I should.
ReplyDeleteDavid, already got that factored in. I am a realist when it comes to my regular readers. I'm just trying to find a way to keep the occasional reader that trips across my blog via Google or Blogger. Not so much looking to subtract anything, but more looking to enhance what I currently write about.
ReplyDeleteI love to go off on tangents with my blogging. Sometimes though, I just need a small hand to help me adjust those tangents.
Hope that life is treating you well during your current journey across this big blue marble.
I always read your post but usually via google reader which will not show me as visiting. I know I should comment more often but I've gotten l;lazy on that front as of late. Seems like I'm always short on time.
ReplyDeleteI think in general, we're always short on time to do what we want to do.
ReplyDeleteI have that factored in as well. I think what it is that I wasn't getting repeats from the drive bys that were hitting my blog.
I guess what it boils down to is that I probably becoming a little more in tune to what people might want to read versus what I want them to read.
I really enjoy it when people stop by to read, so I try to find that good blend of keeping true to myself and giving people more of what of they want, thus making them want to become repeat visitors.
My traffic has been down a bit too. I think it happens for a variety of reasons and goes through cycles. I don't see anything particularly you should change.
ReplyDeleteYou're probably right about it being cyclical.
ReplyDeleteIt's not so much as wanting to change the blog, because I think I got a good mix going, but more enhancing what I already got.
I'm just looking to see if there is something that people would like to see me write more about in the blog.
While I love your stories, I find myself commenting more on your insights and life posts.
ReplyDeleteI thin ksummer traffic slows in general.
ReplyDeleteI love stories about YOU, any of them. ANd I LOVE PHOTOS.
Photos of your town are great.
And how 'bout..
-- photos of your sock drawer, your cubicle at work, your car, your kitchen sink, your wife's favorite flower, your favorite tie, your bookshelf.
:)
Bearman: Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThe insights and life posts are the good base for the soup. I'll try to work a few more of those in. As a matter of fact, I do have a couple of those insight/life posts popping up in a couple of weeks.
One is about blogs (go figure) and the other is about writing (go figure again).
I seemed as of late to be writing a few more in-depth/thought provoking posts. Not sure why other than having time on my hands at work.
Jannie: I would have to agree with you to a certain extent about the traffic slowdown in the summer, but for the most part, it has been a steady influx of visitors in spite of it being summer.
As for the picture posts, I will definitely keep that in mind as well. I do have to finish up the last of my Sunday walk and I still want to do a video of my short story "Saturday".
If anything, everyone will get to hear what I sound like (from what a friend has told me, I have a very distinctive Yankee accent).
And...if your jonesin' for cube pic, here's one for ya:
http://cedarmountainnewengland.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-home-away-from-home.html
Whoops, you may have to copy and paste the link.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if this one will work, but here it is again.
http://cedarmountainnewengland.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-home-away-from-home.html
The summer is a busy time for me. Kids are at home and we travel quite a bit. I'm in the States now.I do read your posts but sometimes don't get the time to comment. As for what you should add to your blog? Anything that comes from the heart. I like a variety of posts. On my own blog I will skip from the serious to the shallow. I wouldn't want to read a blog that was always the same stuff again and again.
ReplyDeleteI kind of like it as is - you seem to mix it up, which keeps it interesting for you and others.
ReplyDeleteLL Cool Joe: I can relate to sometimes being busy in the summer. And I can definitely relate to hitting a blog that simply sticks to a constant theme.
ReplyDeleteI think what I want to do is simply enhance what I got, not do wholesale changes (which I did last at the beginnin of the year) to the blog. Ain't nothing worse than alienating or scaring your readership, which is what I seem to be doing.
Lynn: Thanks. I do try to keep it fresh as possible with the amount of topics that I talk about.
I think that you have an excellent mix, now!
ReplyDeleteI really don't think you should worry G. This is a pretty eclectic blog which I find interesting. You can get kinda screwed up with stats - you have a lot of folks who comment on your site and that probably is a better judge of quality/interest than random hits. Since folks are usually looking for something specfic when they google unless your post really hits the mark they're pretty unlikely to stay. I've found the majority of sites I read through blogging contacts - usually by reading a person's comments on a friend's site. If they write something that clicks with me then I may check them out. But they have to be pretty darn good for me to hang around:))
ReplyDeletePs - I give free chocolate bars to anyone who subscribes to my site:))))
I enjoy your blog. I like the variety of the posts. I've been crazy busy with my son's wedding and I'm now trying to catch up on the blogging world. I think the traffic goes up/down. Be true to yourself and what you want to write about - that's what not only attracts, but keeps your readers. Though I've heard rumors that having provocative titles helps - like including bra flinging - lol!
ReplyDeleteWho knew Jannie had a sock fetish? ;)
Mama Z: Thanks. That really means a lot to me.
ReplyDeleteJane: Only if they're sugar free. :-o
On a serious note: I don't try to get hung up on stats beyond trying to maintain the status quo. I think its just the perfectionist in me. I try to keep everyone happy while keeping myself happy at the same time. Most of the time it works, sometimes, I wind up doing things like this post.
And I'm like you. If I read a comment on another blog that peaks my curiousity, I'll check it out.
Talon: Thanks. I try to keep it a good hodge-podge of stuff without stretching myself to thin.
I heard that having provocative titles can get people to come by in droves.
Maybe I should try something like, "Bra flinging for newbies".
I concur that I like what you've been up to, n therefore always return- but on Day Off when I have time to read longer posts as you tend to do.
ReplyDeleteI've never checked my stats either! I write it for me no matter who pops in
I find it strange that out of 100 so few % want to comment! Lotsa shy lurkers in the readers...
Or have all the comment folks mention "Thongs, guitars, sex, underwear, tigers, horses, drunk, crazy, high-heels, strut, motorcycle, Nascar, Micheal Jackson, Paul McCartney,..." n tons of other popular search terms... to reel them in.
ReplyDeleteGood idea. I should start populating the titles of my posts with those words.
ReplyDeleteRight now, one of the top ten search terms that land people on my blog is "Truck Stops", which is connected to a short story of mine called "Truck Stop Cutie".
Whoops, sorry about that, I didn't see the other comment that you made.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that I can get you to come back on a regular basis.
I do have a tendency sometimes (okay, all the time) to write lengthy posts. Habit I guess, but I do like to explore a given topic in greater detail, just to make myself think and to make the readers think.