The Popularity Breakdown

One of the things I set out to do when I started this blog was to change how conversations happened on my website. Or on any bog I’ve ever had. I shut down comments so I could post in an uninterrupted way that let my words be heard. But I also wanted to get much more an idea of what people wanted me to talk about. People didn’t speak about what truly interested them (another reason comments were useless) and I posted so sporadically on my other blogs that I couldn’t generate a steady conversation.

I not only talk—I do some listening as well. Not because I’m looking to feel affirmed about the content I put out, but because not all content is good. Website advisers always tell you to put content out there, any content, but I’ve read enough blogs to know endless, endless posting is often just boring. Just plain boring. It’s repetitive, it doesn’t pay attention to what readers might actually be looking for, it can feel like a hammer being thrown at you if the person posts often. In short, it’s not actually content even if it does show your website is active.

That’s spammy and ill-mannered, so I divide my posts into sets of 4 and check them to see which one did best in each set. It can take months for final results, but eventually I find what one was most useful in that set of 4. And it’s often a surprise to me. People might not talk about what they’re interested in, but they do look at what they’re interested in. 

And there will be more updates.