Today was one of the weirdest and most confusing days in my history as a blogger so please bear with me while I whine a little bit. In the grand scheme of bloggers, I don't whine much so I think I can be excused just this once.
My story over at The Sports Logo Pundit about the Hollywood Fame basketball team, which is partially owned by Nick Lachey, was picked up by Deadspin.com, the sports outlet of Gawker Media and one of my favorite sports websites anywhere. This meant that I had a huge, hurking monster of a traffic day.
That's great and all, but out of the nearly 1000 people that stopped by, I had one comment. One! I didn't expect to have hundreds of comments or anything, but I thought that a few more people would say a little something. I like comments, especially on a blog that rarely gets them. Hopefully it will at least translate into some links and some new readers.
On the other hand, today was one of my worst traffic days here on Down With Pants! I'm especially upset about this because of the new design. I put a lot of work into it and am pretty proud of it and would like to have people take a look. I really don't want to hop back on Blog Explosion because the hits from there are as bad as the Deadspin hits but something needs to be done. Anybody found a good traffic exchange that is actually working for them? Maybe I just need better content to match the look. I don't know.
In other whiney news, my car suddenly has itself a gremlin. The anti-theft device, also known as the really stupendously annoying honking and flashing bullshit, has decided to randomly go off tonight. I don't want to be the asshole in the neighborhood with the alarm. I really don't. So now my car is sitting there unlocked because when you lock it up it automatically turns on the anti-theft device. Fucking great.
The first time it happened my crazy bitch of a downstairs neighbor came up and knocked on my door to let me know. You know what that means now, don't you? I can't complain about her loud ass Kelly Clarkson at 2:00 AM for at least a month, and that's one of my favorite hobbies. Double fucking great.
To top all of that off, I was a space case this evening. I lost the keys to my gremlin ridden car. I tore the house apart looking for them getting more and more pissed off and perplexed along the way. When it seemed that I had looked everywhere, I decided to quadruple check the car, and sure enough, there they were...IN! THE! IGNITION! Half an hour late for basketball all because my dumb ass can't take the keys out of the car.
*Project Runway spoiler alert* At least Michael didn't get the boot tonight on Project Runway, I couldn't be happier with who did. Plus I had these incredible bacon and rosemary pork chops from Trader Joe's for dinner. So it isn't all bad, I guess.
My story over at The Sports Logo Pundit about the Hollywood Fame basketball team, which is partially owned by Nick Lachey, was picked up by Deadspin.com, the sports outlet of Gawker Media and one of my favorite sports websites anywhere. This meant that I had a huge, hurking monster of a traffic day.
That's great and all, but out of the nearly 1000 people that stopped by, I had one comment. One! I didn't expect to have hundreds of comments or anything, but I thought that a few more people would say a little something. I like comments, especially on a blog that rarely gets them. Hopefully it will at least translate into some links and some new readers.
On the other hand, today was one of my worst traffic days here on Down With Pants! I'm especially upset about this because of the new design. I put a lot of work into it and am pretty proud of it and would like to have people take a look. I really don't want to hop back on Blog Explosion because the hits from there are as bad as the Deadspin hits but something needs to be done. Anybody found a good traffic exchange that is actually working for them? Maybe I just need better content to match the look. I don't know.
In other whiney news, my car suddenly has itself a gremlin. The anti-theft device, also known as the really stupendously annoying honking and flashing bullshit, has decided to randomly go off tonight. I don't want to be the asshole in the neighborhood with the alarm. I really don't. So now my car is sitting there unlocked because when you lock it up it automatically turns on the anti-theft device. Fucking great.
The first time it happened my crazy bitch of a downstairs neighbor came up and knocked on my door to let me know. You know what that means now, don't you? I can't complain about her loud ass Kelly Clarkson at 2:00 AM for at least a month, and that's one of my favorite hobbies. Double fucking great.
To top all of that off, I was a space case this evening. I lost the keys to my gremlin ridden car. I tore the house apart looking for them getting more and more pissed off and perplexed along the way. When it seemed that I had looked everywhere, I decided to quadruple check the car, and sure enough, there they were...IN! THE! IGNITION! Half an hour late for basketball all because my dumb ass can't take the keys out of the car.
*Project Runway spoiler alert* At least Michael didn't get the boot tonight on Project Runway, I couldn't be happier with who did. Plus I had these incredible bacon and rosemary pork chops from Trader Joe's for dinner. So it isn't all bad, I guess.
10 comments:
New design looks hot. Don't let those nasty lurkers get you down. As far as blog exchanges go, BlogMad gets much higher turnover than BE and I have a few actual *readers* from BlogMad which makes a big difference.
Have you finished watching VM yet? I've been waiting for you to post on that so that I can comment.
My blog traffic has been growing at an insane rate for the past two years, but it doesn't seem to make any difference in comments. Even after I analyze "unique visitors" to remove search engine hits and track returning visits so I can get a more accurate "reader count" -- my readership continues to grow independently of commenters. There are those "regulars" who comment, but 95% of people just don't.
News story traffic rarely results in new readers that last very long. If I get linked to on Fark or am interviewed or win some kind of award or whatever... my traffic explodes, but only temporarily. I'm sure a few people stick around and keep reading, but most people are only there to read the story without commenting, so you would never know that. If I didn't have the stats telling me otherwise, it looks like a typical day from a comments standpoint.
So don't feel bad... it seems that this is "just the way it is." I remain shocked that anybody reads my silly blog at all, so receiving even ONE comment is kind of thrilling. :-)
Ever since I joined the beta, my comments are WAY down. I think that we are all suffering from the comment cycle at the moment.
excellent - love the new look!
I call them Gawggers - they just come by to look.
Bean - Thanks! I've been meaning to test BlogMad out, I've heard a few people raving about it.
Avitable - We finished and it was awesome! I decided not to post about it because I don't want to be a spoiler.
Dave - It's true, and actually my comments to hits on a normal day is pretty satisfying. I, being a marketer, am very interested in conversion rates, so I always want to take full advantage of people surfing by. That's just the way I am.
Kevin - I with you there. That's what frustrates me is the random dips in comments especially when you think you are writing good stuff.
Snackie - Thank god he finally "got auf". Hahaha! I'm so funny. And I'm with you on the cock and balls stuff. The patterns seem really odd.
MC - Yeah, I've had trouble with your blog. I've tried to leave a couple comments but haven't had any luck. I'm glad I didn't go to Beta yet.
Dawn - Thanks! I do appreciate it. I'm so self-concious.
Chanakin - I gawg all the time on yours and I'm pretty bad in general about commenting. I usually get to the party late or can't find anything interesting to say. I'll try to be better.
I just came through blog renting at Recommended. Your new template is really good!
I've found that blog renting is my best traffic thing for getting returning readers. Visiting other blogs regualarly and commenting works too.
Kristarella - Thanks a bunch! I too have found really good traffic from Rent My Blog, the only worthwhile feature on Blog Explosion anymore. Commenting a lot on other blogs is the key and it's something that I am bad about.
So I can isolate this... did you try the "Other" setting?
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