I do not think this blog is living up to its full potential. I
believe its primary deficiency is its small number of readers. It would be a great platform if I could up my readership from the current six people who occasionally read it to about a dozen regular readers. Does anybody have any ideas about how to do this?
YES. Write about everything :-)
ReplyDeleteBe human. Write about the dog ;-)
I'm unsure whether I'm counted in the six, but I read your blog on RSS so you don't get many hits from me.
ReplyDeleteThe key words here are "niche", "content", and "focus". Pick a niche that you want to focus on and write really good and interesting content for that niche. Is your niche about living in Arivaca? Then focus on that and have interesting content a few times per week. There are actually quite a few people out there that are interested in what is going on here. Leave comments on other blogs that people interested in Arivaca might go to and make sure you leave your web site address along with your name. Put the address in correct html so that it gets read as a link. Use the right keywords in Technorati.
ReplyDeleteAll of this, of course, applies to any other niche you want to focus on. While utilizing niches is almost magical, make sure you don't go to narrow with your niche. Part of the reason you have such a small audience is because the historical stuff you right about is so narrowly focused. Perhaps you want to focus on borders and migration? Over time, as you provide more and more content and become more and more a voice of authority in this area, your blog will become as important as being published. Remove all of those references to how dumb the academic world is, that is probably half the reason you have not had much success in your job search.
Lastly, rename your blog when you start your new focus and start with a clean slate.
I would still suggest that your niche should be "otto". Being an Otto :D
ReplyDeleteYou know what, create a second blog. Where you can be a human ;))
Dear Otto,
ReplyDeleteReading your blog on a regular basis and judging from the number of visitors I get to my blog, I honestly must admit that there is limited potential to blogging about the FSU. I get perhaps 70 readers a day, and I expect you will reach approximately the same level if you only persevere. The thing is though that readership is limited if you are not very well established or publish several posts every day, as e.g. Registan.net, Siberian Light or Robert Amsterdam. Then, of course, there is the alternative of stiring up a debate, as la Russophobe does. The latter, I would, however, not expect from you. So, really, my only advice is to keep on blogging, and in due course your number of visitors will increase as the number of blog readers with an interest in Eastern Europe expands. Good luck! I will be following your endeavours closely also in the future.
Yours,
Vilhelm