The Blog Posts No One Reads
In the old days I used to refer to blog posts that didn’t have any comments as orphans.
People thought it was clever and sort of witty but they also found my audioblogging posts about wandering through Target or the grocery store to be exceptionally good too.
But in the good old days of 2004–06 comments were usually plentiful and it was unusual, cool and progressive to have video or audio on your posts.
Some of my international readers would tell me they thought my accent was really cool and I would laugh and say “what accent? You are the one with the accent.”
Back then I was just a blogger and I never worried about being ranked for Dad, dad blogger, daddy blogger or any other keyword. I just wrote my stuff and had fun.
Back then if no one commented I figured it was a poorly written post or checked to see if Blogger/WP was having some sort of technical issue because that was almost always the answer.
Now the orphan posts are not unusual and I wonder more if people are actually reading the material I crank out and not just because I crank out a lot of it.
But because we are besieged by content, by bells, beeps and whistles that demand our attention and require our eyeballs, or at least try to.
So here I sit, writing while on hold, listening to awful music sharing these thoughts with you, wondering how much of the noise catches our attention long enough for us to actually read what is out there.
Wondering if you are like me and have winnowed the number of things you subscribe to down because you don’t have time to read the things you really want to.
Asking myself how much of my best stuff goes unread, unseen and unheard because we just didn’t have the time to read it.
Thinking that it is not just about marketing our material and tooting our horns. That is a part and a piece, but it is not all of it.
I suppose it is also part of why I link to posts like Where Fire Meets Water and The Finish Line Isn’t As Close As You Think because it gives them a chance to be read and seen.
Lately I have done that less to get them read and more because they make sense to me, or should I say something I wrote calls out to me.
Something that I saw, said, heard or observed resonates now and so I put it out again because part of the reason I write is to learn about myself and clarify my thoughts and ideas.
Comment There & Get A Comment Here
Some of the newbies and the old timers will tell you if you comment there you will get a comment here, meaning you can drive traffic to your blog by commenting on others.
There is a lot of truth to that but some of it is growing old for me.
Maybe it is because I have a crazy amount of stuff happening in my personal and professional lives or maybe it is because 12 years into this game I am tired.
What I know for certain is I want comments here because someone was moved by my words and not just because I commented on their blog.
Comment here because the words made you feel, think or see. Comment because you want to be part of a discussion and not because you hope it will make me comment there.
Final Words- For This Post That Is
The funny thing about blogging is that you never do know what will resonate with others and what won’t.
Your best work will be met with scorn and disdain and or ignored while your worst will receive the opposite treatment.
If you jump on the treadmill you’ll run with a million rats chasing cheese and fighting over some crumbs.
It is a cruel and obnoxious way to put it, but it is sometimes true.
Some bloggers will bully others or at least try to and they’ll go after you guns blazing if you disagree.
But there are other approaches and ways to view the world.
The pie is bigger than we think and realize.
There is an enormous opportunity and if you open your eyes and manage your expectations you just might find you get what you need and maybe even what you want.
It is a hell of a ride, this blogging game. See you in the comments….maybe.
Originally published at www.thejackb.com on May 17, 2016.
