If you come here regularly you’ll notice I have tweeked things around a bit.
It took me a while as I am not very technically adept and before I could change the design I had to download a new version of Firefox and this still makes me nervous. I feel a bit of a granny sometimes (sorry grannies) trying to keep up with new technology and downloading something always seems a risk! My hands tremble a bit and I hold my breathe waiting for something awful to happen. But it didn’t.
I’ve learnt to ask for help and what I love about the internet is that for every problem (well almost!) there is a Forum. Somewhere out there in the world sits a kind person who will send you advice. Which is what happened today and I was able to tweek to my hearts content.
I needed to make a change as I have been asking myself why I am writing this blog. Recently I have had a lot more visitors and some very nice feedback but still I find my progress slow. I don’t know how to get more people to take a look and, most important of all for me, I don’t know how to encourage people to write in and leave a comment.
- Perhaps the word ‘comment’ is off-putting. Maybe ‘response’ is better. Like in a conversation you say something and the other person responds. Could just be one word or something longer.
- Perhaps there is something in the way I write that doesn’t invite feedback?
- Perhaps those who visit feel they have nothing interesting to say?
- Perhaps the people who read my posts are not the sort of people who feel comfortable leaving messages on blogs? (one of my friends feels this way)
I don’t know the answer but I must admit I sometimes get downhearted and that makes it harder to write something new. Perhaps I am an online version of a crazy person walking down the street jabbering away to themselves.
So if you have any suggestions or thoughts on how I can resolve this problem then please do leave a comment or a response!
I hope you like the new look!
I think every newish blogger, and lots that have been at it a while start to sense the contradictions inherent in the medium. I started my blog to communicate with friends and family, so I didn’t have to respond to every email with a 6 paragraph recap of our life, which gets O.L.D. very fast.
Then you start to get a little addicted to comments and readership. Of course, the vast majority of people who comment are NOT the friends and family you are doing it for, many of whom do not read it, and almost none of whom will comment. Que sera sera….Some of it, if you let it, could get you a little bitter, for instance Chuck the dog ALWAYS garners way way way more comments than anything else I ever post. Always.
But who is it for, why do you post? Once you have decided that, then you have a framework. Most of the bigger blogs tend to have a set style. A tone that never alters. Pioneer Woman is an ultra-successful example of this. She has a relatively fixed range of things she blogs about, and a very fixed tone; and is WILDLY successful. People come to the site wanting to leave it feeling a certain way, and they do. Consistently. I don’t want to run my blog as a business, however successful. It is written for myself, and for my family who do read. There are posts I put up that get little response, but they are important to me, so up they go. The tone, I hope, varies depending on my day/life/mood at that time, and so it is good. For me.
All that sounds nice, but getting no comments also kinda sucks. Actually, it pretty much sucks overall.
I sometimes get fussed about getting the readership up, but I’m good with what’s going on too. I figure that about 50 people turn up to the site every day, most of them on purpose, and that’s a good thing. I have met some of my readers in real life, and that has been pretty darned cool, though sometimes awkward….what stories can you tell them that they don’t already know?
Wow. I’ve gone on.
Bottom line? Figure out why you’re writing and let that drive the agenda more than anything else.
Nice new look! Clear for an early summer.
I write in a way to remember the ‘freshness’ of the things. In another year I’ll have a different perspective. Its nice for me as a memory keep of these early days here. and to keep my mother informed. 😛
good luck and big hugs.
thanks for writing in!
I also had an email from a friend – she is also a Blogger but sent her comment by email as she finds it hard to comment if I have COMMENTS EMBEDDED. I wonder if this affects other people?
Oreneta – thank you for such a great message. It’s good to know other people get down about lack of response too. Of course I write because I want to and I enjoy the process of picking out things that interest me and trying to find appropriate photos etc. But honestly if I just wanted to write a diary I’d do it in a lovely book and stick in photos for my non-existant grandchildren to look at when I’m gone. I don’t even know if many of my friends and family read this so although I started it as a means of keeping in contact, now I get more responses from people I have never met. So my motive changes a little and I keep those anonymous people in mind when I am writing. I don’t assume a previous knowledge of me or my life. Although I still more or less write what my mood dictates I now aim at a wider audience. Perhaps I have reached a watershed (what exactly is that?) and am feeling that most of the readers are strangers then I want to reach more of them. If most of them are friends and family then I’d like it to be more of a conversation and less of a monologue.
Or is it just for me? And everyone can take it or leave it as they please? Mmmmm not sure about this.I want to connect.
I have often thought about using Duna more on the basis that furriness invites more responses. But I feel bad doing that and not including my own two collies.
Tiffany – yes I love the immediacy of it and as a way of recording history it is useful. But I still get curious about why people write so many comments on Facebook and not on the blog? Do you think a blog is still seen as a bit self indulgent?
Well, I will continue to muse on all this and keep writing of course because I really love it. And when I get responses that is the icing on the cake! love to all – evene those of you who are reading this but won’t write in! K x
Hi Kate!
To everyone else – I’m that friend who blogs but emailed… K, thank you for changing the comment box thingy.
I popped back because I was interested to see if you had a response. Really interesting reading both Oreneta and Tiffany’s comments. Having been blogging for over three years now, I have a steady group of people who drop by, but I simply don’t have the time to respond to each and every comment. I do know that posts which include Walter (my dog) often generate the most comments, and that’s fine. Most of my family think blogging is self-indulgent nonsense and equate it with facebook and twitter. I think it’s different. I’ve no interest in the latter.One of my sisters reads my blog,and loves reading craft and interiors type blogs generally, but she never comments anywhere. In the end I think you have to blog for yourself, and let the whole comment thing go.
Right, I’ve waffled on for long enough! Looking forward to seeing you soon Kate.
Love Diana x
Hi Kate – if you invite comments by asking a question or an opinion sometimes you will get more responses, exactly as you have done here. I think bloggers tend to leave more comments than non bloggers, empathy maybe and they have less fear of doing so, being judged and so on, or maybe we are just blasé about the whole thing. Site stats, I presume you get those on Blogger can be misleading, sometimes people just look, following a Google hit and leave. I used to worry about these things, but actually if I had hundreds of comments it would freak me out so I am quite happy to get real comments from a few lovely people like you! Take care, Jo
Joanna thanks for writing – I did get more response from asking a question, you’re right. I agree that bloggers also write more – I suppose we are more used to just writing something and sending it off without fear! I’m sure there are many reasons why people don’t leave comments and I also look at some sights and say nothing. But more and more if it makes me think of something then I don’t just keep it to myself but send it in.
Me too – if there were 30 or 40 people to reply too I would probably feel overwhelmed. But it’s great to have 5 or 6 and be able to connect with more people.
It’s been useful for me to get everyone’s feedback and I do feel better about it all. Now – back to writing and just enjoying it! All the best K x
Getting people to leave comments is a challenge. You can always install a visitor counter if you are curious to see who logs on and reads, but doesn’t leave comments. I think if your content finds sympathetic ears then you will have plenty of readers but I would say that the majority of readers don’t leave a comment and they are then named “lurkers”. Not a bad thing to have a lot of lurkers, it means you are being “read”. Leaving comments on other people’s blogs will often mean they will then leave one for you, and if your content rings true then they will start to follow you or link in a way that they can see when you post something new. I had someone help me design my banner a while back (since I am, too, technically challenged). For me, my blog is an outlet for my creativity and I’m happy to know that other people will read it and get a laugh or nod in recognition of a feeling or experience. One thing I will say is that I rarely check back to someone else’s blog to get an answer to something I wrote to them. If someone leaves me a comment, I will go directly to their blog and leave them a comment, mentioning their words to me. Does that help any? Hoping so.
Hi Kate, I really enjoyed reading all of the responses to your post. I too have felt that I’d like to get more readers/commenters. Sometimes I put up a post that I think is great and then nothing! And then I’ll put up some dashed off thing and whamo, lots of comments. One time I posted with a title of Chocolate and it was just pictures of a great chocolate shop I had found and had tons of visitors. So, I sometimes think it is hit and miss. I too don’t want to lock into a specific theme for my blog but like to post about what inspires me. I love reading your observations in your new country, I get to be a virtual traveler that way. I especially like that you talk about the everyday aspects of your life in a foreign country.