June 10th I started this blog and though it has not been two months, I see by the statistics that the average visit is about 50 seconds, with the shortest time recorder at less than 5 seconds, and the longest being 14 minutes and 23 seconds. I have also studied from where my traffic is coming, including how a visitor has found Four Seasons in a Life, was through a notice on FaceBook, a referral from Twitter, or did it come from a link at a friends site?
Once all the nerdy statistics are absorbed, the realization begins to sink in that in our busy lives we seem to settle for glancing at images and maybe reading a few lines before moving on to the next blog or Twitter post, at least so it seems.
I am a newbie, so why am I gripping about or am I?
Every evening for more than a month I have spent randomly looking at blogs to see what is out there and to also educate myself, when I realized there are only four kinds of blogs, the business blog that wishes to inform, sell and have a better relationship with the consumer, this includes blogs of private organizations and groups, to the family blog sharing pictures and adventures of their children with grandparents and other families and friends.
The other kind of blog is by individuals how are very passionate about their profession or hobby, sharing their love and expertise with us. The last group belongs to those who think they have something to say but really are just rambling on about anything that comes to their mind.
Which of the four types does my blog belong to? Let me be honest and say that as I stride for category three, the passionate professional, I have a long way to go and so it must be category four.
The problem is that I have too many interests. From painting, photography, collecting ephemeral objects to wanting to write stories and up to now, I have not discovered the right mix to express what lies within my heart. This is further complicated by the statistics collected from both of my blogs, including my own observations that most blogs have short entrees, followed by a couple of images.
So have we settled for snippets of information sprinkled with photographs? I cannot answer that, nor shall I, even if I could, why should I answer this question for you? Everyone who has a blog needs to follow what he or she believes in is right for them, not what appears to be the norm. If we begin to follow what everyone else does, we are settling for less and we might as well just not even bother.
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3 comments:
Hmmm. I don't know what happened. ( I just tried to comment and it disappeared. ) Anyway, in case it didn't go through, I said I know what you mean, regarding your blog. I, too, didn't know what my blog was 'supposed to be'. So instead, I decided to simply let it be, what it wants to be. :-)
I have thought about having an additional blog or two- vegan cooking, good living - music, food, wine, outdoors, reading, being kind and compassionate - all of that. But in the interest of time, time to create and time to be, I am restricting myself to my art blog and may resume my second blog eventually. A post can take me about 3 hours. If I post 2 times a week, that's nearly a full work day! Plus the time to read blogs and comment....I'm grateful that we are living at a time were we can connect with like minded individuals in such an intimate manner over the internet. Aren't we lucky?!
O! the eternal blogging questions...
I started my blog telling myself it was for me primarily - a way of keeping track, of marking time, of seeing myself more clearly.
Then came the desire for readers/viewers/followers!
I began to comment obsessively in the hope of reciprocal comments. I participated in a massive 'event' and gave away photographs.
Ultimately a pile of perfunctory comments were less satisfying than the occasional word from someone whose blog I loved.
I've retreated into posting what i fancy and being happy with my limited (highly discerning) 'audience'.
I was never much of a joiner anyway.
p.s. i'm adding you to my blogroll - your posts are a joy - long short or in between.
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