Comments on: A Blog’s Life

By: The Envoy

The Envoy — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:37:00 +0000

I blog because I want to express my view to a niche crowd that I do not have in my real life.
I blog because I want to get opinions from people across the globe, across communities, across professions and social divides.
I am not an educator by profession, though.

Nancy, on point 8, try a statistics counter like Statcounter or Google Analytics.

By: Doug Noon

Doug Noon — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:56:55 +0000

It’s a good point, that the longer you hang in there, the more traffic you’ll probably get due to attrition in other blogs. I’d also point out that commenting on other people’s blogs is a good way to advertise your own, esp. if you visit blogs that are related to your own. I like your blog, btw.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:46:11 +0000

I have found that if I’m not getting much traffic after a few months, I’ll pretty much abandon a blog project. I’m feeling that way about one of my blogs now, because it just doesn’t get any traffic, and it’s been around almost a year now. I may try to sell it, or just let the domain expire and leave it as a Blogger blog, I don’t know.

It’s easy to get discouraged if you feel like no one is reading. My problem in part is because I tend to comment on people’s blogs, but they don’t return the favor, which to me is why so many bloggers probably quit. You just don’t feel appreciated at all.

The average lifespan of a blog seems to be about 2-3 years, with posting frequency going down after about 18 months on most. I find it very telling that of the top 100 blogs on Technorati, only half have been around for over 28 months. It’s like if you hang in long enough, you’re bound to succeed, because everyone else has quit.

By: Ruminate » Blog Archive » The Life Cycle of the Blog

Ruminate » Blog Archive » The Life Cycle of the Blog — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 02:19:36 +0000

[...] Doug is pondering the lifespan and life-cycle of the blog: This quote really moved me to think about the various motivations for blogging, and to wonder if there isn’t a natural lifespan for a blog that exhausts itself like any other project a person takes on. [...]

By: Nancy

Nancy — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 02:36:54 +0000

A lot of what you said rings true with me. I’m a mature (?) teacher three years from retirement. i started a blog for my students and I like that, I’m fine corresponding with 10-12 year olds. I thought I had something to say so I started several other blogs. Here’s some observations I’ve made about myself and the blogging world in general in the last 4 months:
1. I hate to write, and I’m not good at it–a harsh lesson after all these years!
2. The blogs I like to read irritate me.
3. Blogging is serious business–you must quote your sources, no room for idle chat.
4. Most bloggers just take stuff off other blogs and blog about it.
5. There are probably only a dozen or so bloggers in the edusphere and they just keep commenting back and forth to each other.
6. Most blogs don’t make me laugh.
7. In a way it’s just like the teachers lounge–people complain about stuff and criticize stuff but don’t do anything about it. At least in the lounge you don’t have to quote your sources.
8. Most blog posts have no comments. Does that mean nobody is reading them?
9. Some bloggers are intimidating and don’t seem to invite or appreciate comments from people outside their inner circle.
10. I’m a talker and talk mostly in sound bites and quips. I want people to listen to what I have to say–but I don’t always want to defend what I say.

I loved what you said about arguing–I agree. There are things at my age I don’t want to spend my energy on. (Was I suppose to quote what you said on your own blog?)