visiting cemeteries
In yesterday’s newspaper section on digital goodies and troubles associated with their use there was a short line on blogs, unfortunately without any reference to the source of the statistics. The ten liner said that there are, based on statistics of web users, their surfing patterns and the number of blogs on the web, with high probability more bloggers out there than blog readers. Like any other statistic this one is of little use, so why bother?
I am a very spoiled blogger, enjoying the comfort of high hit numbers and returning visits, visible and countable thanks to my statcounter account. I know that 40% of my blog visitors are from the US, I know that on average I have two hits daily on the blog from surfers using Google’s search power for “picture of candle” and for some visitors I even know how long they stay. For obvious reasons I assume that their 60 minutes stay is devoted entirely to reading the blog. At the end, Statcounter’s tools give me lots of statistics that sooth my ego and curiosity, but so far this does not translate into anything that would deliver real value.
So, why bother. For one, because the journalist did not think things through, probably had no idea what he’s talking about and I don’t like that. There are thousands of blog skeletons out there, they have seen posts and visitors for a while and then they died. With their electronic bones slowly whitening under the sun, they still appear on Google because Google has some sort of memory. Reading them comes close to visiting cemeteries….which is alright per se, but does not count if you do a statistic “how often do people visit other people”.
The other reason is my suspicion that most bloggers do not really worry whether their posts are read by the many or not. It is a few that we care about. You, yes you, dear reader, you are one of the few I really care to see here…..There is a sublime joy in posting that I still have not understood. The journalist might better write about why do bloggers blog!
(picture: Yesterday’s layout of some leather scent bottles. I am going through some variants figuring out where to go….. A sign of hope… the nose power is coming back slowly….)
# posted by andy : 7:48 AM
5 Comments:
Yours is certainly not a cemetery Andy, in fact it's very much alive. It's actually a very important part of my daily perfume surfing.
My day is not complete without at least 3 visits to your blog. I must remember to put it into my favourites though because I always get here through 'blueroll'.
I share your views about blogging - if it was only about turning sales then ok it would have limited value - but there is the wider aspects - you and I for example would never have met if it were not for the blog - and I would never have tried your perfumes - etc etc etc
However I have also connected with people completely outside of perfume or toiletries and that too has been valuable - the journalist was off on his valuation that is for sure
You know, this suddenly reminded me of a litereal cemetary blog I had bookmarked a while back - click here. No one ever comments there, myself included, but then... the point is to look at those pictures, and I find them both haunting and beautiful. To judge that site by comments alone would simply be silly. I think that man posts them due to his own appreciation for the strange beauty and historical story telling of death monuments.
Dear Kathie
Thank you! What a special blog that is.
Actually Katie I sorta turned my nose when you mentioned this blog but I looked at it - and you're right it is a strangley lovely blog.
I once took a photo of Anne Bronte's grave - I wasn't sure why then and am not certain why now - but it is a beautifully peaceful and ordinary grave - and I liked the setting
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