Blog Dissection

Here is some shocking (and startling) news:  my blog readership seems to be tapering off after an initial surge (last September).  Why is this?  How have I failed to capture the elusive and discerning audience of the blogosphere?  Let's examine.

FOLLOWERS. 

I have seven.  Please note that I treasure my seven followers like seven jewel-encrusted lavender-scented boxes full of my favorite assortment of DB Infusions chocolates.  Even if one is my mother and another is my brother.  They still count!  However, by cool blog standards I should probably have at least 5,000 followers by now chomping at the bit for updated entries and leaving me comments about how much they relate to my stories and wish to be my best friend. 

WORD OF MOUTH.

Have you ever thought about how dumb that phrase is?  "Word of mouth."  No one ever uses the other options for this such as "word of paper" or "word of computer screen." 

Semantics aside, one of the best ways to gain readership in an online setting is for people to share their love of the blog with others who may also find it funny/educational/edifying/instructive/lame.  I know this is true because I have personally referred many people to the blogs that I like.  I have done this by speaking of the blogs, writing about them in my own blog and emailing the links to friends.

Perhaps if I was more calculated in my entries to appeal to a wider range of people I would see more of this. 

GRAPHICS.

I admit that in my early days of blogging, I made a much greater effort to create original artwork and post the occasional photograph.  It is possibly coincidental that I was in a very "artistically" creative phase at that time and was able to find constant inspiration to illustrate the things in my life that lacked photographic evidence. 

However, I am not a professional artist.  Nor am I a cartoonist.  I have NO ARTISTIC TRAINING WHATSOEVER.  Wait, I take that back.  I did take Art Survey in college and had to do a self portrait.  Maybe someday I will get that scanned and posted.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Hold on, you say.  Lots of people don't make their own drawings for their blogs.  They choose the alternative mode of graphic expression - the photograph.  Oh, do they ever use photographs.  Honestly, I think that everyone out there must have cameras far superior to my humble little Canon PowerShot because there are some SERIOUSLY beautiful pictures on almost every blog I have ever read. 

Here is the problem for me.  I am not the kind of person who remembers to carry their camera.  If I'm on vacation or in a situation where a camera is obviously necessary, I can usually be counted on to take a few shots.  However, I am not the kind of person who likes to be IN photographs and I therefore am not the kind of person who assumes that other people like to be photographed.  This leads to most of my pictures being of places and things but not people. 

There is a time and place for this (in an album on Facebook or Picasa) but they do not always relate well to the content of my blog entries.  Thus, my blog is quite text heavy and therefore less aesthetically appealing to the masses, I guess.

DOMESTICITY.

I am not crafty.  I am not a whiz in the kitchen.  Heck, I've never even painted the walls of my house which should give you an idea of my skills as a designer. 

On occasion I will cook or bake, but it is hardly a moment worthy of sharing.  Luckily, there are many writers of blogs who share their recipes, patterns and the beautiful finished products associated with said items to make up for this void in my own entries.  Thank goodness for these people.  They satisfy my need to know that there are indeed average people in the world who can make beautiful things. 

Obviously, I do not have children.  I have only recently adopted a dog and while she is quite funny and entertaining in her own way, I cannot share her wacky observations or regale you with stories of her learning and experiences.  Many people who do have children are able to utilize them to great advantage and I certainly enjoy reading about them even though I cannot empathize.

As for me, I have nothing to give in this category (aside from the fact that I can knit scarves) which means that I must rely on my powers of observation, recollection and writing as the sole means of blogging. 

CONCLUSION.

So, dear readers, what do you think?  Should I endeavor to rework my theme towards one of the proven plans to popularity?  Should I bring back the illustrated childhood stories?  Do you want to see more pictures of my dog?  Was the live-blogging experiment interesting?  Maybe I should focus and do commentary on current events (not just my own).  Or I could review books - I am in training to be a librarian, after all. 

Unless someone has a really awesome concept or neat idea, I think I might just stick to the hodge-podge approach that has served me thus far.  Sure, I may not be the most popular site on the internet, but I don't think that would be such a good thing anyway.  I shall remain under the radar for now.  At least until Blogger decides to make me the Blog of Note...  (hint hint).