Random Ramblings

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Today we say good-bye to Another Suburban Mom.  She was one of the first people I met blogging – and the first I met face-to-face.  Anonymous blogging is hard because people never know if the person online is who they are.  But she has always been the real deal – only sans real name. She will be missed on blog, but will be around on Twitter.

G gave me a great idea (too late) for my blog.  Since it is Shark Week, he was suggesting I should have had a snark week.  I almost went there midweek, but decided to skip it. Next time there will be a Snark Week.

Ok – let me be snarky for a second…..

I am noticing a huge trend these days.  Whether it be on blogs or Twitter or Facebook or…..whatever social networking thing you use,  going around complaining about lack of comments, replies, likes or loves is not going to get me to engage.  Not at all. I don’t care if it is HNT or a status update, if I have something to say, I will say it.  If I don’t, I don’t.

I have worked with web teams for a long time.  The first thing they will say is that you need to have good, relevant content for the audience visiting your site.  Content is the key. Original content.  If you want the reader to take actions, you need to give them an action to take.  Any web professional will tell you this is the key.  Unless you are The Bloggess or The Pioneer Woman, you are not going to get hundreds of comments each day. But you know how The Bloggess and such get their comment?  They advertise their content – they do wacky shit that makes people laugh. They have a theme and tell a story that a lot of people can relate to.  And people share their shit everywhere driving up their traffic.

Would I love hundreds of comments each day? Sure – who wouldn’t. But I have readers. I have active readers as my stats and feed reader stats will show. But a lot of times, I know I am posting things that won’t necessarily elicit a response.  And you know what? I’m okay with it. I blog not for comments but for myself. I like to write. I like to toss it out there and see what happens. But I’m good if nothing happens.

In my last job position, I worked on a web store project.  The conversion rate (rate of visitors that actually resulted in a sale) was like 5%. Five percent of traffic resulted in a sale. Think about that for a moment.  And that was a web store.   And we complain if only like 1% of blog readers leave comments if a web store only has like a 5% conversion rate.

Look, I’m not being cynical – okay, yes I am – I’m just being realistic.  Technology is ever evolving. Tumblr is replacing most blogs these days. Google+ is going to start syphoning off the Tumblr and Twitter people.  And I’m sure there will be a startup in Silicon Valley that brings us the next big thing that results in even more change to the social community.  Get over it.  Or at least shut up about it because, to be honest, I’m sick of the whining.   Not getting comments? Then do something different already.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
~Albert Einstein
Let me step off my soap box now.

The other night, I left the kids behind with G and went and sat in my favorite park in the Pearl District. Long time readers will recognize the fence. This park is located in the middle of downtown.  I love this place. They are reintroducing native plants and all to the area. There are “no dog” rules to help give the native plants a fighting chance. There are great places to sit and enjoy the green.

I sat, listened to music, took pics, and read.  And mainly, just relaxed and tried to get out of my head.  I needed the time away – doing nothing – just being.

A few days ago, The Bloggess posted something about bananas talking to Victor, her husband.  I laughed like a crazy person, then read it to G and the girls.  We read through the comments and the girls started tossing out their suggestions.

The next day, after taekwondo, G and the girls went to the store. I came back from work to find these:
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“I want to split” and “No glove no love” and “Smoothies = Murder”
and

“It’s all in your head” and “That shirt with those pants? Seriously?”

There will never be plain bananas in our house again.

My contract gig will pretty much end next week.  I put out the word I was looking, and have gotten some positive feedback.  A few jobs forthcoming – and some other good prospects. My fingers are firmly crossed.

This weekend, I will be at a race track watching Domenico and other motorcyclists race around a track. I’m hoping to take some great pics while there. I love action pictures. I took sports pictures for the school yearbook at my start. And I loved it.  Nothing like trying to execute an idea with things moving outside of your control. Good, challenging stuff.

Have a great weekend!
And remember:

7 Comments Add yours

  1. Osbasso says:

    You do snark quite well! I lament the fact that we didn’t get a full week’s worth this week… 🙂

  2. Yeah, people whining about not getting enough feedback can be tiresome. And I don’t like leaving empty ‘I agree’. Or ‘nice pic’ comments just in the hopes that someone will reciprocate.

    Buuuutttt…I do realize most people do this in part to be social and some periodic feedback from regular blog-staplers is always nice.

  3. DCHY says:

    I learned long ago that when people leave comments on YOUR blog, YOU take the time to go to their blogs and leave a comment. That’s being respectful and polite.

    The comments stopped when people stopped reciprocating. Not hard to figure out when you see the bloggers’ comments on other bloggers after claiming they didn’t have time to visit your blog.

    Drives me nuts that places like Tumblr require you to create an account just to leave comments.

    You’re right about one thing…we need to stop being whiners and learn how to entertain our readers betters. Problem is, I like getting comments…I like knowing what my readers think about my posts. 😉

  4. Chapter Two says:

    phones make it harder to comment and more and more people are using them. I however have learned to go back where I started- I blog for myself. for me. to dump my head, or to feel better about myself or to share a joy by putting it in the world. to remember who I am and remind myself often.

    I post less now that I am back to that way of thinking and the quality may not even be as good but I am happier.

    comments or none- i really am ok. I remember when I got my first comment. 1 was enough…..now why would I complain that I only get 18?

    and my site meter too shows the same amount of people visiting as before. just less comments.

    whiners need a good bitch slap. I’m giving them out for free- lines starts now. 😉

  5. Coy Pink says:

    ” I don’t care if it is HNT or a status update, if I have something to say, I will say it. If I don’t, I don’t.” YES!! I knew there was a reason I liked you. 😉 You are often a refreshing voice of reason on the bat-shit-crazy internet. I SO need to get myself down to your corner of the earth and share a beer with you.

  6. Thanks for the shoutout. I did talk about commenting this week before I closed up shop.

    I do think that technology has a large part in the drop in comments. I also know personally I will go to a blog and see so many thoughtful, insightful, deep and meaningful comments that I figure anything I might add is trite or stupid and X out.

    I also find that sometimes I will read something in my reader and mark it unread to comment later, and then when later finally comes, feels that it is now too late to say anything, that the moment has passed.

    I believe for many bloggers a comment days or weeks or even months afterwards is still welcome.

    I would also enjoy snark week.

  7. Vixen says:

    I love that last poster. So perfect.

    Sigh…yes…the whole ‘not enough comments debate’. I have always felt you got out of blogging what you put into it. And that if you were blogging for comments…then maybe you were blogging for the wrong reason??? IDK….

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