Blogging About Blogging (Again)

~ beetleypete

Having recently been consumed with my daily serial, I suddenly remembered that it has been a while since I blogged about Blogging.

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If you look on the right hand side of any of my main blog pages, you will see that I supposedly have 8,585 followers of this blog. Don’t worry, I am not going to repeat myself about what really constitutes a ‘follower’. (Not on this occasion, anyway.)

However, let’s consider the statistcs.

Given that number of followers, you might imagine my views to be at least 50% of than number. But considering my best ever views barely exceeded 800 in one day, that is not the case. Despite that apparently healthy amount of followers, the best I can manage, on a very good day, is less than a 10% interest on my blog.

As far as I am concerned, that is yet more proof that follower numbers are little more than an illusion.

***Note to new bloggers*** Read that part before you ever concern yourselves about how many followers you have.

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The new year of 2021 saw a huge increase in people starting out with blogging. My own unscientific evidence shows that around half of them gave it up quite quickly. Maybe they didn’t get the interaction they had expected, or perhaps there was not the amount of followers they had hoped for. I don’t know the answer to that. But they have stopped commenting on my blog posts, that’s undeniable.

Maybe my stuff just bored them silly? That’s very possible too.

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Spam has increased dramatically. Yes, I know that 99% of it is caught by WordPress and put in the Spam Folder. But having 200 Spam comments a day doesn’t help when I am trying to trawl through them to find one from a genuine follower. As you might imagine, I have given up on that.

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Emails from people wanting to help me with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) have also increased, to the point of annoyance. For any of you bothering to read this, please stop. I don’t give a stuff about my Google rankings, or my placing on a page searched online. Don’t care, never will. Please stop. I’m asking nicely.

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Gravatar links to blog sites. Well this hardly ever changes, despite me posting about it until I am tired of typing the strange word ‘Gravatar’. In the last week alone, I have had at least ten followers with no site links directed from their Gravatar image. I’m not even going to bother to add a link about how to do that. It’s freely available online, so look it up. Or don’t look it up, and then you will never have any followers except your family and friends, as nobody else will be able to ever find your blog.

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That’s all for now. No doubt I will be revsiting the subject soon. I usually do.

85 thoughts on “Blogging About Blogging (Again)”

    1. I put the time in. I answer every comment, and comment on every post of those I follow. I offer guest posts, advice to new bloggers, and really enjoy every process that blogging involves. But I am retired, so have the free time to do all that. 🙂
      (And I have been doing this for 10 years, by the summer of 2022.)
      Best wishes, Pete.

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        1. Deciding to retire at 60 is the best decision I made in my life. If I could have afforded it, I would love to have done it five years earlier. Whether or not you write a blog when you retire, my advice is to do it as early as possible.
          Best wishes, Pete.

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  2. Pingback: Blogging About Blogging (Again) – Jackanori, (MPD)

  6. I still go through my spam. Once had a comment from London’s best blogger (Diamond Geezer) there. But yes, I’m getting much more these days and an increase of followers. I’ve noticed the same gravitars on other sites’ followers. Looking forward to your next blogging rant.

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    1. I am sad to say I can no longer trawl through the Spam for genuine comments. With it still running close to 200 a day, life’s too short.
      I can always be guaranteed to rant about blogging during the course of any year.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  7. Pete blogging is therapeutic for me…so stats are not that important…..Spam has picked up again….a bunch from Thailand these days….I see John has thrown in the shoe again….I guess he likes Medium better…..sad chuq

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  8. It would be interesting to see what percentage of “followers” never attend our blogs after signing up. I’m sure it is ridiculously high. The only number I pay attention to is comments. That is a better reflection of how many bloggers are engaging with the page

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  11. Yes indeed, Pete! It seems that the more followers I get, the more suspect they become! And the percentage of views to followers decreases, as many have no intention to view, rather to get their gravatar out there for marketing or some other purpose. If I get a follower that looks suspect I remove them.

    And I like what one of your commenters said about closing comments. Sometimes I’ll have a single post be grabbed by a spammer and load it up with comments. As you say they end up properly in the spam folder but what a hassle to have to go in and delete. I have closed comments on that post when that happens.

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  15. It depends whether only a 10% connection bothers you. I expect most people have the same stats – I usually only get around 50 views a day when I post a blog. At the end of the day we cannot do anything about it, so I’m pleased that at least 50 people see my blog out of around 2400 followers.

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    1. Same with me, Stevie. I am incredibly happy with the interaction I get, and honestly wouldn’t have time for much more. I only mention it as so many new bloggers ask me why their views do not correspond to the amount of followers. I found that out long ago, as I am sure you did.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  16. I still don’t know how wordpress or blogger count email readers. I suspect my reading by email doesn’t show in your daily stats. Apologies that I don’t often comment these days – following too many blogs.

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  19. Thanks for your many advice pieces. I always intend to figure out how to make my site more friendly but I love the fun of writing, reading (an infinite amount is available), and commenting (all for free!) so much that I end up squandering every possible minute on those activities and never have the time for the technical side which seems like drudgery to me, especially with all the complaints and hassle I hear about. I retired 18 years ago and still haven’t gotten around to cleaning out my garage! I’ve only been Blogging for five years and I expect I am overdue for some problems. By the way, your serials are brilliant. You have a gift.

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  23. It’s a fascinating world, Pete…phantom followers, suspicious motivation – and the true “blogging friends” we have all met through the sharing of stories – that’s the part that makes all of the annoyances worthwhile – after all, because of blogging I can call Ollie my friend!

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  25. Hi Pete, I’m not for sure about a gravatar. It will be two years in a few months when I began blogging. I don’t have a lot of followers, but my readers are devoted. But even better, and my whole purpose for being in this space,…was to find amazing people out there in the world and make connections (and to learn more). The best thing I’ve done in life is to seek wisdom and connections with those who aren’t just like me. After my tramatic brain injury it was this, after years of therapy and bringing myself “back from the brink”, that gave me confidence to write. I’ve been off of Facebook for 3 1/2 years. Although I use Instagram, I find most social media very draining. I wish I had more time to read on here. Numbers just don’t matter to me. But people do. Take care, Pete.

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    1. Your Gravatar/Site link works perfectly, Karla. Clicking on your photo takes us to your profile, and the website link is on it. You have got your blogging sorted, and you are a valued and supportive part of this community indeed.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. Thank you for your kind words and encouragement, Pete. That means so much to me. That was my goal on in this “space”. You are indeed valued and supported too. I never knew about the photo link. Thank you for sharing that. Stay safe and healthy; all of you!

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  26. Do I have the gravatar link you speak of? I hope so, because while I don’t have patience for all the techy side of things I did spend time trying to set things up well 😁
    I only began blogging because we took an extended trip overseas and it was a good way to talk about it with family and friends. Then I began doing some prompt wiring, specifically FF.
    My follower numbers remain disappointingly low, probably I need to follow more (daily) prompts. But there’s only so many cute animal prompts a girl can take😁
    I sometimes write opinion pieces but this last two years, fake news, news via social media – and I struggle to care enough.
    It’s very interesting to read how, for all your followers you get so little actual engagement. Which means, comparatively, nobody reads mine!! 😇

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    1. You do indeed, Trish. Click on your photo, and I can proceed to your profile, where there is a link to your site. Job done! 🙂
      So many of my followers are companies trying to sell products or services. The more followers you get, the more jump on the bandwagon. I know for a tact that three of my followers have died since I started blogging, but they are still listed as followers nonetheless.
      Just enjoy it, and ignore my blogging grumpiness. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  27. About being overwhelmed by spam, there was a period of time earlier this year when I was getting between 300 to 500 spam comments a day, almost all caught by Akismet. But like you, with that many spam comments, I didn’t have time to manually go through hundreds of spam comments search for the very few legit comments that got swept up with spam.

    At the suggestion of another blogger, I went to my discussion settings and set it up to automatically close comments on any post older than 45 days. My daily spam count immediately dropped from 300-500 to less than a dozen per day. Given that most blog posts have a relatively short shelf life, and that most legit comments are made within a few days to a week of the post, I thought this was a good solution. If your concerned about too many spam comments, you might want to consider doing that too.

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    1. Thanks for the tip, Fandango. I actually get a lot of genuine comments on very old posts, including on my ‘About’ page. That makes me quite reluctant to close comments on any post, but I’m sure you are right to say that would help.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. You have one, I just clicked on it. 🙂
      Your photo is your Gravatar, but you could choose any image. Mine is the dog next to my name. Clicking on your photo gives me an intro to you, (Belfast to Sydney) and takes me to your main profile, where you have added a link to your site. You are sorted, wrookie! 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  29. Thanks for the insights. I do not have much experience. Still finding my way forward. I do believe I understand.have seen these same things. I wish to respond to all who respond to me, with a thankyou or thought at least. I love in put, and learning how to do it better. Once attracted I like to follow people and like what I read if that fits the bill. Not all things do interest people. I hope I am at least interesting with my own. I think keeping it simple, and making sure to write well goes a long ways. I figured so much for statistics, thought they are revealing, Things do not always connect. Bet wishes! Pejj

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  30. It took quite me quite a while of random people following me for no apparent reason (no commonalities with my blog content) to see a pattern: new bloggers who expect me to follow them back. Not happening. I care nothing for men’s fashions in the Phillipines.

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    1. I had a company in Australia who wanted to pave my driveway, and one in China offering me ‘good sex with young girls in Guangzhou’.. Both followed my blog, and as far as I know they are still on my list of followers. 🙂
      Thanks, Liz.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  32. One of the plus sides of going self-hosted, that I’ve found, is the spam comments are next to none, although in the past 2 months since going self-hosted, a plugin I use has stopped over 13,000 comments even making it to spam.

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      1. Pete, hand on heart I was absolutely petrified of going self-hosted because I was convinced you had to be clued up on all the technical know-how. I’m with Lyrical Host and they are fantastic, nothing is ever too much trouble for them and they are more than happy to help with everything and anything. They will talk you through the process of migrating your blog – they do it for you. I pay 10 a month, although I know their prices have gone up a tiny bit, but they have so much to offer!

        I am hoping to write a review soon about my first few months with them, and I’ll be including a 10% discount code 🙂 It’s less hassle than I had anticipated, the first few days I was quite stressed because I wasn’t sure if everyone could find my blog, but my regular readers appeared and all has been fine. Happy to answer any other questions (if I know the answer!) 🙂

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        1. Thanks for letting me know that, Ami. I will be interested to read your post. It is something I considered a while back, but thought it would be too much hassle.
          Best wishes, Pete. x

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