Monday, 14 January 2008
Blog on Last Legs
In my short blogging career, this blog has had 2 holidays, one death and one miraculous resurrection but the final bell is tolling now and will continue to toll until the end of January. Then, unless I can see some improvement in traffic, the blog will die its final death.
Continued blogging at current levels is pointless. Whilst I appreciate those who do call regularly, with traffic at less than 10 visitors a day, I'm virtually blogging into an empty and unresponsive space. I doubt many could continue long under those circumstances and I can't. In one sense blogging is lonely because each of us sits alone to type but blogging is also a shared experience of reading and commenting and being read and commented upon. I have found blogging to have been predominantly a lonely experience and, therefore, one I am unable to continue.
This may seem like a side swipe at those who do not visit but it is not. CalumCarr's Take, regardless of its inherent quality - if there be any quality - does not appeal to nearly enough readers to make blogging worthwhile. That's the bottom line. As with a business with few customers, a blog with few readers will fold.
The blog holidays arose because I couldn't devote the time to produce a blog I was happy with. That is not an excuse I can use this time: I'm not writing this under the stress of our home life, I'm devoting the time, I'm happy with the blog but the blog is not attractive to readers. There's nothing else I can do.
The following sentence I wrote in May last year: "I was hesitant about posting today because I didn’t want the post to be seen as an attempt to extract kind words and support. " I feel this today too. This isn't a trick. I'm blogging about how I feel. Really I feel like finishing up now. I would finish up now except I have two more posts in my head and just in case traffic picks up with the New Year some distance away.
The key question is, "Will the life support machine be switched off in 2 weeks?"
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9 comments:
Twice in a few days I have read this same thing. The other time was at Andrew Allison's site which I still check, even though he left BP with James.
I wanted to comment but didn't dare at his site, but I will here. Steve Green, who also left with James, made a nice comment for Andrew fortunately.
Every one who has a blog has one for his or her own reasons. I was a medical blog reader for four months( I am a retired hospital pharmacist) before I started my blog and I had a blogger profile for commenting. One day I made an introductory post, telling a little about myself, instead of showing nothing when someone checked the profile and saw no blog.
I'm not a writer, in fact it is quite difficult for me to write a post, though I'm getting better, that is if I have an idea.
I decided to continue and write things for my two adult children (45 and 41) although they don't read it. It's about things I've done, books I've read, places I've been, what I think about certain things. Quite trivial in the scheme of things. One day I'll print it out as a book and give it to them. They'll know me a little better perhaps, as I never really knew my mother.
Along the way I have acquired a few regular readers, but most of my traffic is google searches. The truth is to have real people come visit you, you have to work hard and visit them. That takes time, time you don't have.
I don't know why you started your blog, I only joined BP in July when you were basically quiet and it has been sporadic since and I have never had time to check the archives. It seems you like to talk about politics and surely as a Scot there are things on which you have a different point of view . I thought your post on Britishness showed that. I think the highlighting of the terrible situation for treatment for EDs in Scotland was valuable although painful for you.
So why not treat it as a kind of journal for yourself? Don't think you have to produce posts because the blog is there, but do it when you have the ideas. So what if it's once a week. Or three days in a row and nothing for two weeks. Most of us have everyone on a reader so if you write something we won't miss it. It's true I don't follow the politics of the UK except in a general way, so for the BP mostly political bloggers I tend to pop over from the reader when a post is different.
I'll repeat the three rules of blogging that Dino, one of my medblog docs calls the cardinal rules of blogging.
1. Write well -- you do that just fine.
2. Have something to say --I assume you do
3. Mix it up -- vary the post topics. Don't be a johnny one note.
Yes blogging is lonely, but really think about why you are doing it and what you get out of it. Does it take you away from your everyday problems? Whatever you do, don't let it add to them.
One suggestion is to just pick a couple of bloggers you like and visit them and develop a rapport with them by commenting and you'll find they come around. I think you only need a few regular readers who comment to make it worthwhile.
In BP, I have found that Grendel and Jams and Shades are three people who visit well and I find their blogs quite interesting. They don't often comment (Jams more than the others) but I have MyBlogLog and I see them almost daily at my site which can have not too much of interest for them. Find a couple that you think you might like to visit regularly. Even a little bit of feedback helps I know.
Last week I wanted to leave BP and stop blogging altogether myself. Trust me I know what it's like to feel despondent about blogging but for very different reasons. I had my actions and my integrity under attack for days. I wanted to disappear in a black hole. I could not think of a single thing to put on my blog. But then I decided to tough it out. An idea came, not very good, but I got going again. I'm determined to make it to the end of one year, next month, and then think about it again.
I hope you can tough it out too Calum with your blogging. Do it for yourself, whatever reasons you have to do it. Write it for your sake, or for that reader who might come one day and return again and again.
Sorry, I've written a post here in your comment section and probably not one word of use to you.
Take care
jmb
jmb
Wow!!!
Thanks!!!
I have now installed MyBlogLog and so with this and my Sitemeter I may get a better idea of traffic. I'll see.
I had a run in with James in which James was angry about a couple of comments I had made and he posted negatively about me - only 1 sentence in each of 2 posts. Privately, I explained, apologised and supported but to no avail I suspect. This as nothing compared with your unfortunate time. I hope your feeling better about it. Sometimes difficult situations pounce on us and our instant decisions can turn out badly BUT all we can do is our best when this happens. Getting it right instantly requires luck.
I don't want to stop the blog but if I continue to blog for little return then ......
At the same time, I do want to stop the blog because it's going nowhere.
The blog cannot be appealing enough to visitors otherwise there would be far more return visitors.
I have tried , as you suggest, to visit a few blogs regularly and there is only one blog - not BP - where there is a rapport.
The only conclusion is that I am wasting my time as a blogger.
There Steve Green came by! I think it is nice to see the friendly avatars on MyBlogLog. Plus you leave a trail of your visit yourself. Extend it to more than 3, though, you can go up to 10 in a single line. It's an option in there somewhere. I have actually 30 on mine which someone told me how to do.
The problem is that men suck at leaving comments. Women are much better at that.
I was visiting Tom Paine today and while I don't know how much traffic he gets he has post after post with no comments.
Don't forget the people who read in readers, like bloglines (me) and google reader (me also) who only click over to the site if they want to make a comment so these don't appear in the stats. You actually have three subscribers in bloglines, and 7 on google reader. So 10 people bothered to subscribe. Well I guess I subscribed twice, once in each so 9.
Well Calum you must make up your own mind about whether to continue this crazy blogging activity. If you stop, don't kill the blog, you might change your mind. You've done that before.
Best wishes, whatever you decide. I do hope things improve for your family situation and that Mrs C gets the help she needs. As you know, even with all the best help in the world, this is one of the most difficult illnesses to cure. Good luck.
jmb
Calum-- I am very sorry to hear this. And, I feel absolutely awful. I know that I have not visited you as of late and I have left even fewer comments. You always seem to leave such great comments for me. So, I hope that I can reciprocate in the future. And, I also hope that you continue. I love the fact that you provide a UK take on my blog and I hope that I can provide a US one on yours.
Kevin
You have absolutely no reason to feel awful. Finding your blog has been a massive fillip to me. I mentioned some time last year that I felt at home at Life etc. We comment on each other's blog when able: that's all we can do
The basic problem is that my blog has never taken off: in fact it hasn't started to taxi yet! I have to accept that my writing doesn't engage enouhg of those who have visited. It's the power of the market: some flourish and others wither.
Thanks for your kind words about my comments but it's quite easy to write positive comments when you are so active - you deserve them.
My posts are quite different and I think positive comments are much more difficult to find.
Don't feel there is any particular need to comment. Do so only when it's right for you.
I'll visit again soon and thanks for everything.
Well, I will keep visiting as long as you are here in cyberspace. I appreciate your perspective greatly. And, it is nice for me to know that you are "out there."
Will link forthwith.
Not that it will bring any traffic other than me.
But I do try to visit everyone on my blog roll on a regular basis.
Chin up big fellah!
Grendel
Cheers
Calum,
Whether you continue or not is up to you, but I wouldn't rely solely on Sitemeter stats and the like. I read your blog through an RSS reader which means that I don't visit your blog but I still read every single post. There will be plenty of other people who do this.
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