Twelve-hundred . . . and 1,766

I hadn’t done it in a while . . . I hadn’t looked at my stats for a while. It turns out I just ticked over on 1,200 subscribers. Just twenty-one more and I’ll claim a palindromic following.  

To be honest, my daily visitors are about what they’ve been for the last few years; between ten and twenty. I suppose if I were a more focused blogger I might be able to build a real following. What? Yeah, the 1,200 are not exactly real. Many subscribed and stopped visiting moons ago. Many don’t even have blogs anymore. Also, I get a lot of people subscribing because they have a business. They will like four or five random posts within the span of a minute and then subscribe.

It makes it look like they are interested and then — I presume they hope I will check out their blogs/storefronts. What they don’t know is that if you randomly pick one of my 1,766 posts, you’re likely to land on something that takes a bit of effort (time) to read. 

Something like THIS or THIS. 

Those are at least somewhat interesting because of the photos. I mean, there are photos in THIS post, but also a lot of talk about photography. 

By far, three types of posts are popular with the few readers I have . . . posts about birds, animals, and flowers. 

Oh, OK, my travel stuff does very well, too. What is generally ignored is my fiction followed in quick succession by my opinion pieces. I won’t even bother linking any here. 

Why this post? Well, there are some new readers, and I’m too distracted right now to do a proper post, so I thought I would throw some links together and sprinkle them with some words aimed at establishing some kind of rapport, and voilà, instant post. 

All I need is a photo or two to anchor it . . . Something that’s I may not have shown before . . . 

That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below.

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Note: if you are not reading this blog post at DisperserTracks.com, know that it has been copied without permission, and likely is being used by someone with nefarious intention, like attracting you to a malware-infested website.  Could be they also torture small mammals.

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Please, if you are considering bestowing me recognition beyond commenting below, refrain from doing so.  I will decline blogger-to-blogger awards.   I appreciate the intent behind it, but I prefer a comment thanking me for turning you away from a life of crime, religion, or making you a better person in some other way.  That would mean something to me.

If you wish to know more, please read below.

About awards: Blogger Awards
About “likes”:   Of “Likes”, Subscriptions, and Stuff

Note: to those who may click on “like”, or rate the post; if you do not hear from me, know that I am sincerely appreciative, and I thank you for noticing what I do.

. . .  my FP ward  . . . chieken shit.

Finally, if you interpret anything on this blog as me asking or wanting pity, sympathy, or complaining about my life, or asking for help and advice, know you’re  likely missing my subtle mix of irony, sarcasm, and humor.

35 thoughts on “Twelve-hundred . . . and 1,766”

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  1. The whole WordPress world is a bit of a mystery I find. I continually add content but the visitor statistics remain as flat as a pancake. Most posts just die a death. I have tried a few tings, challenges, competitions, opinions but nothing ever changes. Is WordPress for real I sometimes wonder?

    I like the palindromic following idea!

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    1. Having read your posts, I can give you a hint explaining the mystery . . . one, your posts are well written, and by that, I mean informative (hint 1 – most people want entertainment, not education). Two, they are not short attention-grabbing posts; they have structure and pacing and a flow (hint 2 – most people are easily bored; if there’s effort and time involved, they’re going to pass). Three, you’re old. That’s not an insult; it just means you are still anchored into a different way of interacting with people. That should be a plus, as there are many old people who would appreciate your posts . . . if they could figure out how to use them dang new-fangled computer thingamajigs. But the bigger problem is that in every aspect of our interaction with the modern world, we’ve been trained to expect the quick payout. (hint 3 – people expect a certain flow as in a quick grab, a splattering of information, a quick out).

      I can tell you when I got the most views and followers . . . it was a month during which I switched off from the Internet and blogging and everything online . . . BUT, I had set up 30 scheduled posts consisting of minimal writing and a couple of photos each.

      One other time, I did the Untitled series; again, one or two photos and no words. Not the same results:

      Untitled Post – Epilogue

      Of course, that’s not what I like to write.

      I think one of the keys is to engage on Twitter and Facebook, but, if you want some sobering numbers as to why readership is not likely to increase much, if any:

      Thoughts on Blogging

      As most people won’t click on the link, here’s the relevant facts (these were in 2013; the numbers are larger now):

      From WordPress (September 2013 Hot List), during the month of September on WordPress alone there were 1,369,067 new blogs created, or an average of 45,636 each day. That’s blogs, not posts. And that’s just WordPress. There are other blogging platform out there.

      On WordPress, there were 35,282,026 posts for September, and October saw the publishing of “36,311,289 posts, with a collective word count of 9,036,553,158 (yes, that’s over nine billion). If each post took two minutes to read, it would still take you 138 years to plough through them.“

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        2. Ha Ha! A couple of years or so ago I was recording about twice as many hits as now but then something changed, Google I guess, and the visitor numbers plummeted. Thanks for stopping by!

          Liked by 1 person

  2. Ive looked at my stats three times in the last three years. Last time was three years ago. It;s a waste of time, particularly if you don;t care how many folks subscribe, follow, visit or view.

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    1. The only thing I pay attention to are the comments. That’s good feedback on the level of engagement (low) with the stuff I put out.

      I’m banking on future generations discovering my content and marveling about the breadth and depth of the offering. Yes, I’m hoping said future generations will be awash with discerning and refined tastes.

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  3. I’ll make this comment short and sweet, because I just spent the last 15+ minutes working on a previous comment and then closed the fu.. TAB, before I had a chance to send it! Thanks for the suggested post.

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    1. You are welcome.

      If I may make a suggestion . . . compose responses (or even posts) in an outside editor (I use Note for quick stuff and Word for longer stuff). When you are done, just copy it to WordPress. You then lessen the chance of losing stuff, especially if you set up automatic saves in the options for your editor. Go one step further and switch on history, and you’ll have everything saved, even stuff you changed before saving the final draft.

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  4. Thanks for the new word ‘palindromic’ . . . I’m a tad more knowledgeable now than before I read this post. And I bet you didn’t realize just how important your posts can be to your readers! So, congrats on the numbers and for attracting new followers.

    Learning a new word, looking at beautiful tea cups painted with images of my favorite flowers . . . and all this before I even had my first sip of tea . . . what a wonderful way to start this day!

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  5. Did water drop off the plant leaf?! That is a very cool photo!

    Is that your office with your photos on your walls?!

    I like your teacups, too. They are divine. 🙂

    Congrats on your stats! And your new followers!

    I was shocked by how many of my readers/friends quit blogging in the past year. At one point I counted 24 of them. 😦 But, I know that more than half of them did so because of health and life changes as I still keep up with them via phone, snail-mail, and e-mail. But I miss them around here. 😦

    You have a great blog, Emilio…lots of variety and I love your stories and your photos!
    HUGS and Happy Whee-kend to you and Melisa!
    🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. No, the leaf was just to fill space. Also, I should have used milk or added color to the water to make the details stand out more.

      And yes, that was my office at work . . . before the company was sold and the new owner (a bully if there ever was one) had people remove personal items that might detract from looking professional versus encouraging actual professionalism.

      Here’s more of my time in that office/job:

      The Office and the Rainbow

      Things I see, and things I do

      And thanks for the congratulations and wishes, and happy weekend to you as well.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  6. Congratulations and thanks for this post. You are crystal clear and unfortunately right. The stats on blogs and posts are fantastic as well. Back in December 2015, when I checked WP’s stats, I realised that I had a nano-blog navigating on this ocean. That gave me peace of mind, and I never again checked their stats nor mine. I write and photograph, for my sake. If people follow, like or comment, I receive it as a gift, but expect nothing, because, like mine, they also are nano blogs, living alongside many others of the WP’s community. It is impossible to read and comment more frequently unless one has nothing more to do in life, so when we post and get at least 5-10 comments, and from the same people, that is special.
    I wish I had more hours in a day to reciprocate, but there is life outside blogging as well.
    Thanks again for an insightful and very informative post.

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    1. Yes, once you realize that you are competing with billions of other words each month, you stop worrying about what kind of traffic you get. ANY traffic is good. If one is lucky — and I count myself among the lucky ones — you establish a few decent relationships and that in itself is reward enough.

      It’s also why I limit the number of blogs I subscribe to; if I subscribe, I aim to read the posts, and that takes a lot of time. I’m retired and don’t sleep much, so I have an advantage over most people, but even then, 20-30 active blogs can soak up a lot of time just reading, let alone corresponding.

      In that, I’m sure I’m not doing anyone any favors with my mega-posts, but as we always say, we blog for ourselves.

      Thanks for the comment.

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  7. Love that crockery, shows great taste, I assume that Melissa selected it all.
    Love the office, now that’s what I call an office!
    Looks like you have a big power plant computer system still with all your photography stuff and rambling on you probably need it!
    doesitevenmatter3 is such a delightful lady. 🙂

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    2. That was my work office and that machine was adequate for what I was doing (mostly, writing reports). My computer is more massive (about 55 pounds) and with lots more computing power. My home office, however, was better.

      You can see more of the office that was in this post:

      Bare Bones Selfie

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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