Are you analytical? by Brendan Conboy
Are you analytical? Do you want to know why some things work and why others don’t? Do you analyse your KDP keywords, description and categories? In January, many people analyse and take stock of things, such as career choice, where you live, weight, how many books you read last year, how many you will read this year, etc.
I have spent
the last six months populating, growing and analysing my YouTube channel, and
every day I learn more about analytics and algorithms. This led me to look at
the analytics for blogger.com and More Than Writers, in particular, the 42
monthly blogs that I have contributed. There aren’t any in-built tools as such,
although there is some data for views and comments that can be extracted.
I love spreadsheets,
so why not use one for this purpose? The ratio of views to comments is interesting.
I have received a total of 19,036 views and 357 comments. When you consider
that half of those comments are me responding to people, the number is
significantly low.
Looking at
my averages, my blogs have each received 453 views and 4 comments from readers.
That’s less than 1% of comments/reader.
My most
popular blog was one called ‘What Is Poetry?’ which received 1,139 views and 8
reader comments. Find
it here.
As a predominantly
visual learner, I love a good graph – Every picture tells a story.
Lately, my
blogs have attracted a declining interest. Has anyone else noticed this? I’d be
interested to see your graphs.
Brendan Conboy aka Half Man Half Poet, is the author of 16 published books, including two fascinating autobiographies, The Golden Thread and I'm Still VALUED. In 1986, Brendan invited Jesus into his life, and God blessed him with the gift of rhyming words. He used that gift as a Christian Rap artist for 25 years and has written 6 poetry books, including the entire Book of Psalms in Rhyme. He has 3 published novels - Issues, Invasion of the Mimics and Legacy of the Mimics. He is the creator of Book Blest.
I like it! My hunch borne out in your in-depth analysis! I have mentioned this to ACW and picked up a mild sense of frustration from other contributors. On one other website, the rule is that you comment on three others before it permits you to contribute your blog/poem/post. Draconian? Maybe...but it's instilled in me the same approach. I try to comment on 2-3 per week as well as write my monthly post. The other stat - beyond your lovely spreadsheet and graph - is how widely around the country and the world are the posts reaching? I use Squarespace for my own blog, and this keeps count...even if it is Chinese bots!
ReplyDeleteI believe ACW is planning an update to the blog, so perhaps some of these questions will be addressed. However, I think commenting on blogs in general has been declining. Maybe community conversations are moving elsewhere, e.g. to social media?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan, yes, you may be correct in the assumption about blogs. I gave up on my personal one years ago. I currently focus on YouTube and growing that.
DeleteI often comment on the Facebook page as it promotes the post so that others see it more prominently.
DeleteHi Brendan, thank you for this thoughtful piece. I love a spreadsheet and a statistic! I think that the reality is blogging is past its heyday, sadly. Visual media is so much more compelling. I have to admit that I watch and comment on far more Youtube channels than blogs. It's a pity. Back in the day, I did follow a couple of bloggers. I also don't believe that following and commenting on blogs should feel like an obligation. We are all far too busy to be making time for something we don't really care about. I'm not saying I don't care about MTW, but my expectations about feedback are now more realistic. The fact is, most people might be reading, but they are not taking the time to comment. If we could get this blog out to members more easily, without having to transmit it through Facebook, that would be great. Hopefully, changes are afoot. Substack is also an option, as a lot of bloggers seem to have migrated there.
ReplyDeleteHi Jane, thank you for your thoughtful comment. Yes, sadly, I think you are right about blogging. I gave up on my personal blog several years ago and now focus mainly on my YouTube channel. Video content is certainly the preferred way that we receive content. It will be interesting to see how MTW develops with the changing trends.
DeleteAs a poet and MTW blogger I get the same frustrations. I want to make poetry accessible but others will say I 'tell' too much and don't 'show' enough. Though there is room for both. Whoever heard of a limerick that was full of imagery and no direct phrasing?
ReplyDeleteI find MTW quite difficult to post comments in and often lose what ive written. I tend to make my comments on the Facebook page, which don't get included in the stars here. Maybe we need to post our 'blogs' on the Facebook page but just make them smaller.
Hi Elaine, as a fellow poet, I believe our words are an expression of ourselves. With that in mind, we wouldn't dream of saying, 'You should be seen and not heard.' Poetry is very personal and I always respect that in another poet's work. I know what you mean about losing a comment on MTW. I think it's a 'Blogger' thing. As for making our blogs shorter, many exceed the word count. I see how long a blog is before reading it.
ReplyDeletePS thanks for the tip about checking the stats. It is more encouraging to read how many times the posts has been viewed rather than judge it on how many comments have been made.
ReplyDeleteIt might be worth asking if we can link our posts together more easily. When posting once a month, it can be more difficult to follow someone's writing trail on here.
PPS - Would the shift in date relate to when the ACW FaceBook page went to Members only?
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