November 30, 2005 [LINK]
Blogging styles and traffic
Mister Snitch (via Instapundit) observes that "Aside from the occasional, reclusive J.D.Salingers, most writers want to be read by as many readers as possible." There follows an analysis of the types of blogging that can be found, and the traffic-generating strategies behind them:
- Meme-du-jour bloggers (in-depth, focused writing, e.g., Michelle Malkin)
- Caterers (lack all convinction, e.g., MarKos)
- Nichebloggers (aka localbloggers)
- Internet guides (summarize others' writing, e.g., Instapundit)
- The celebrity-blogger (e.g., Arianna Huffington)
- The service blogger (e.g., Truth Laid Bear)
- The long-tail blogger ("the rarest of successful breeds. This style requires consistent blogging over a long period of time")
So which one am I? Some types of posts (e.g., bird-watching, canary hijinks) are probably of interest to practically no one. My place of residence (Staunton, Virginia) might lend itself to local specialization, but I don't have deep roots or a long-term commitment to the community. So I would have to say either the last one ("long-tail blogger") or, more likely, the reclusive J.D. Salinger []...
Congrats to Phil
Speaking of blog traffic, my New York friend Phil Faranda (Red Guy in a Blue State) has been blogging like there's no tomorrow lately, making me proud to have inspired his very interesting and useful outlet of creative energy. Phil has a great sense of humor, keen wit (necessary to survive in New York), and a well-honed style of writing (English major from Villanova!), taking on a wide variety of cultural, political, and economic issues. He recently generated a surge in traffic by making several posts concerning some misbehaving Carolina Panthers cheerleaders that most people have read about. Tsk, tsk! Well, I figured I can't keep up this holier-than-thou, aloof pretensiousness forever, so I signed up with the Truth Laid Bear "Ecosystem" blog database to find out where I rank. (See the bottom of the main blog page for current lowly status.) Don't count on me climbing to the top of the charts any time soon!
RSS - XML
Savvy bloggers (not me, certainly) are up to speed with the RSS technology, by which daily posts are automatically transmitted to regular visitors, by a subscription using an RSS feed software. I've put this off long enough, and yesterday I finally downloaded and installed NetNewsWire for Mac OS X, from ranchero.com. It's certainly a change of pace in terms of keeping up with news and views, and it may prompt me to take the next step in blogging and add RSS feeds as a feature. Stay tuned.