I just stumbled across an even more interesting measure however. Below is graph from a fantasy blog stock market called Blogshares. 
I don't know who is speculating on my blog but it seems to be a fascinating thing to do. I wish I had the time to play it.
6 comments:
Looks like a good increase. Besides the number of readers though, has keeping the blog been worthwhile in other ways to you?
Well besides "meeting" moi of course.....
Its funny, until I started blogging, I never realized how easy it is to manipulate internet traffic. I take those growth charts with an enormous grain of salt. My friend Jonathan puts it nicely in a recent post of his, "Nirvana. Bush & Cheney. NASCAR. Fredericks of Hollywood. Jesus on vacation. By simply typing the words "Elvis Presley Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich," I know I'll draw in a few hungry hunters seeking the King's favorite recipe. And it's not too likely they'll find precisely what they are looking for." I still get people coming to this blog searching for ways to clean fish bait.
Meeting you has been one of the most valuable and worthwhile things of this activity. But, I sometimes wonder, what if I stopped for a month or two? Might our relationship quickly dissolve? I've heard it said that these web communities are broad, but not very deep.
I think a more accurate measure of how I value the blogging is not based on who and how many people visit, but on who stays in my "Daily Dose" list of links. Those are the people that I have some sort of dialogue with. There might be a couple blogs I like to go to in order to learn something (those blogs seem to be periodic, I often gain and lose interest in blogs about fringe interests of mine).
Alongside the social aspect, I have found that blogging has effected/affected my "artwork" a great deal. I'm not just skating through Life anymore.
I could go on and on, but hey, Tracy, what are you doing posting comments on a blog? Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for some shows?
I wrote a few posts about our hamster and I still get hits based on hamster oriented google searches, "hamster funeral" just came up yesterday in fact. I don't make an effort to manipulate, but maybe I will include Jesus sometime and see what happens.
I look at my repeat visitors and kind of gauge my numbers on them. Though not completely accurate, they have risen considerably since I started the blog.
Alas, I AM fickle. If we were to drift apart, I will just move on to the next fab artist, who presents me with an in-depth, favorable analysis of my work. But for now, you are first on my list of "daily dose" blogs:-)
And how sweet of you to recall that I have much work to do! Who says internet relationships are not deep!! ha
I've been reading your blog off and on for a bit and this is a topic that I find fairly fascinating. As a computer geek in addition to an artist I've tried to keep up somewhat with the web2.0 phenomenom - mostly by reading gapingvoid.com but I also cruise around on some of the other web2.0 sites on occasion.
Hugh from gaping void is a brilliant blog martketeer (he's made wine and suits into extremely profitable businesses via blogging) and his comments about the value of blogging are that it's not about the traffic you generate, but it is the the "internal disruption" that blogging creates for the company or individual.
So basically what you said in your last comment about not skating through life anymore.
lisa call - thanks for the link! I love that kind of stuff. It is going to take me awhile to digest that gapingvoid blog. It is bookmarked. Also, I will spend time at yours too. I want to give it my full attention because you made such a nice "connect" for me.
Thanks Steve.
I first started reading gapingvoid back when we was writing a series of articles called "How to be creative".
http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/000932.html
He's got a interesting in-your-face style but I found a lot to think about in his comments.
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