Does the number of hits really matter all that much? Do more hits make you a better blogger?
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[Edited: 2011 Sep 21 10:17 - Administrator B:102092 - Just testing]
Reply to this No, more hits don't necessarily mean the blogger is better in my opinion, but it can mean (s)he has succeeded in gaining some fans/popularity, which is always an achievement with there being so many competing blogs.
Though this brings to mind how difficult it can be to promote some of the most fascinating bloggers on TravelBlog. Some of the most interesting are the ones that many seem less interested in adding their recommend for. I suppose, popularity is not the only thing that makes a blog good, but it is something, and a lot of hits and recommends indicate that a particular blogger is popular.
This is a great discussion question, Jens, so I am going to branch this thread to make one especially for it. Hopefully, other bloggers will have an interesting 2 cents or more to add to it. 😊
Reply to this Thanks for dedicating a separate thread to this, Mel! 😊
I don't see myself as competing with anyone on here. It's still basically the same as in the beginning: a tool to let friends and family know what's up. Of course the approach and style have changed a lot over the years (thankfully!), but I'm not a sucker for hits or recommends. Maybe it's a cultural thing, maybe it's just me.
I don't condone cheap tricks like generic or controversial titles to appear more prominent in Google searches, but if that's what helps people increase views and boost their self esteem, so be it. Whatever makes them happy, but my thing 'tis not. The quality of the blog and photos is what should matter in gaining popularity.
Reply to this I don't think the number of hits makes you a better blogger it just means that you either write or display photos in a way that people can relate to, learn from or just enjoy looking at.
At the end of the day (for us anyway) the blog was primarily a way of keeping our family & friends up to date with what we were doing as well as trying to give an open minded opinion of the places we were in for those who may venture there after us.
We still like to look back at our blog now and it's an everlasting reminder of the amazing time we had.. if people don't read it anymore no matter it will always be there for us which is the main thing.
Reply to this I think more hits simply mean you got lots of people interested in your blogs -- interested in you or in what you do. It does not translate to one being a better blogger. But then again, how do we define "good blogger"? Someone who draws much interest ( popular) or someone who writes and photographs really well? In my opinion, many hits mean popular blogger.
Reply to this I'm sure the location has a lot to do with it. If you use the drop-downs to pinpoint the exact location and it's somewhere relatively unheard of, fewer people are going to find it simply because they aren't searching for it...
I'll admit though, when I see the 'subscribers' number go up, I get a bit warm and fuzzy, as it's nice to know that someone likes reading your stuff.
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As all above, we agree that the number of hits does not measure quality. It may or may not measure your number of fans. We look at our numbers from time to time with curiosity as they don't always make sense to us. From our point of view some of our better written blogs do not have as many hits as we would expect.
As Sophie and Dale have pointed out people may have opened your blog because they were attracted to your lead photo-- there is no way to measure if they actually read most or all of your blog.
We agree with BnK that there is a warm and fuzzy feeling when your subscribers or recommendations go up.
My personal opinion is that the number of comments received on any particular blog is a measure of enjoyment because they may have actually read the blog and liked it enough to want to make a comment on that particular blog.
Lilliram is a perfect example of a blogger who has many followers and receives many comments.
Reply to this I've never really been interested in bean counting. I write my blogs mainly for friends and family back home and even if one of my blogs got but a single hit, I would still be happy.
I would agree with many of the comments above and I would surmise that there are three particular things that seem to attract extra attention.
1) An interesting, humorous or well thought out title.
2) A really good front page picture
3) A location that hasn't been blogged by many members
I too get a little stumped as to why some of my blogs get more hits than others but in retrospect I've blogged a couple of locations with very few entries and this no doubt goes someway towards giving me the explanation I am looking for.
Reply to this Controversy brings it on
Haa haa. Never has a truer word been said 😊
Reply to this With the recent blog going viral I suppose the above statement was proven
Controversy brings it on
Reply to this Isn't the point of blogging to be read by others? Self publication? Personally I write for me , but more so for the sake of my family who I won't have to bore with stories when I get home. Hopefully they will have read all about it and I can just say 'my trip was great but its good to be home'. (Whilst secretly aching to jet away again)
Perhaps the more hits or subscribers we have the more we feel we should 'up' our standard of writing? Or perhaps its about accessibility, I read blogs that reeled me in with magnificent photos...sometimes my mind skims the words but what really gets me are stunning photographs of bizarre and exotic places, people and things.
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I think Crouching tiger solidifies a point and that is a great or interesting photo can attract your attention so you will open the blog and take a look. I certainly don't read in entirety each blog that I open--- often I do but not always. But, the photo raises my interest. I believe location and on occasion the title of the blog draws additional interest.
In the beginning we wrote with our friends and family in mind as our audience. Our writing changed a bit when we realized others were reading along. We believe it has made our blogs better.
Happy travels and writing.
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