Sunday 16 May 2010

How many visitors to your blog??

I was just reading a discussion article on British Mummy Bloggers about how many people visit your blog each day.There were various comments and it made me think about my blog.One of the commenters blithely mentioned 250 visitors a day and I nearly fell off my chair. 250 visitors?? I would have to be handing out free chocolate to get anywhere near that!!

How do bloggers manage that? Am I really that dull that I am lucky to get 10% of that figure?? Ok... don't answer that one... Maybe other people spend more time on their blogs? Maybe they see their blog as a semi-career type thingy? I know that there have been times when I have surfed and visited and commented a lot more and then I do get more traffic.If you spend all day blogging and commenting then of course people will come by, if only out of curiosity.

But then you have to ask why do you blog? I blog for pleasure. I blog to empty my mind of worries or just to tell my computer what I have been up to. When I was a student, and a miserable one at that, I found writing very therapeutic and now that I am older it still is a very relaxing past time.The visitors who regularly come by here are like old friends. When I have been down they have picked me up with kind words and made me laugh with their quips.

I tell myself that I am going for quality rather than quantity. Having looked at some 'successful' blogs I do wonder why they are doing so well.Some 'blogs of note' are dull as dishwater, full of adverts and so on.The blogs I like are quirky, personal - obviously nurtured and loved by their owners - blogs that take me away from where I live, to places like Arkansas, somewhere.... Brighton...

I think that what really counts with a blog, unless you plan on using it to make bundles of cash, is that it is a little window to your soul, a place where you can say the things you wouldn't or couldn't say in real life, a place where friends meet over a cup of tea and share their lives. Some days you will be scintillating, other days a tad bland, but all in all its the sum of the parts that count.

5 comments:

Anon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Urban Cynic said...

Intersting - I often look at my stats because I also have my business website on Google Analytics. What I find irritating is that Analytics says 4500 people have visited my blog in the last year, with about 85 people a week coming. However, my Blogger profile says much less than that!

I blog for myself as well although I do keep in mind who will read it & try to make it readable rather than a private rant (I have a private blog for the mean irrational things I want to say to myself & others)

I too love that these blogs transport you to near or far-flung places & into the lives of others you may never meet.


PS - Thank you for the link to my blog; I love this lil ole town of mine!

Ellen said...

It's interesting. I like to think I blog for myself and I certainly find it hugely theraputic, but then, I love it when my visitor numbers are up.
I suppose it's gratifying, I like to think people will be amused, charmed or otherwise pleased by my ramblings.
Likewise, I've no idea how people get visitor numbers like that.
E

Gail said...

You write not only to please yourself, you write to please me.

Do not measure your success by those who visit, measure by how you feel when you are writing. This is the important part.

The writing is you and the reading is our pleasure.

Juli said...

It's difficult to become a "successful" blogger with a big readership, esp if you blog for the reasons that you and I do.

I don't think very many people make bundles of cash with their "niche" blogs--even if they have ads. xo's