Bloggers have different reasons for caring about how many people read their blog. Having a lot of readers may allow them to sell advertising or, in my case, convince a publisher people are interested in what they have to say. It may just encourage them to write more about subjects readers seem more interested in.
When someone starts a blog, their family and friends may be the only people who read it, unless they are already famous. But over time other people find their blog, perhaps my searching for a certain subject or phrase on Google. Searchers have found my blog looking for “jamba juice cheeseburger chill, “wedding homilies ephesians 5”, and “argentina casa rosa.”
I hope some of them come back. I hope you come back too.
You can subscribe to a blog you like, so you are notified when a new post occurs. Twitter and Facebook announcements are other ways to find out when new material is up—and even what it is about.
But the main reason readership increases —and bloggers keep going—is you recommend a blog or a particular post to your friends. When you do this on Facebook or Twitter, for example, my page views go up.
This makes me smile.
It doesn’t cost anything to read a blog. But if you like it, feed it.
It takes subscriptions, “likes” and referrals keep it alive.
[Recycled Wednesday—I’m experimenting with short form writing this year, so each Wednesday I will be republishing something that originally took me 500 word or more in 250 words or less. You can always check the original post (or page in this case) to see what I left out. Sometimes writers—and readers—deserve a second chance.]
the daysman 