This is the 100th post on this blog, which is nearing its first anniversary. Using this opportunity to share my experience as a blogger so far and a quick introspection… (September 07 update: I've deleted some old posts hence the post counts have changed now)
Though I was a bit late to enter the blogosphere, it was better late than never. I opened myself to the idea of blogging after reading couple of posts of my cousin Sandesh Karanth (check my blog roll for link). Later I’ve inspired few others to start blogging (may sound like a self praise but it is true. One such acknowledgment can be found here(It in in Telugu language))) and the journey has been pretty smooth so far.
I wrote whatever I wanted to and in the process have offended many people directly or indirectly. Though I don’t regret what I’ve written I hereby apologize to all those who might have been offended by my words.
Many people still believe I'm the only visitor to my blog. That is not true. I get few dozen to few hundred visitors per day(Have a look at the image below or check this for live statistics )Five to six thousand visitors have been to this blog since one year.
Nearly a dozen people have subscribed to my blog by email and I know another dozen people who visit my blog on a regular basis to read what I have to say. I’m very much thankful to the readership of these people in particular and to all my readers in general for their patronage.
If you wish you can subscribe to this blog by submitting your email ID here (follow onscreen instructions). You'll get all new posts by mail automatically without you having to visit my blog regularly.
Several totally strange people have visited my blog, most of them came through search engines and others by reference. Some of them found what they wanted and spent time reading my posts, while others left within few seconds and probably even cursed me for not keeping the content they were looking for and blaming search engine for wrongly directing them to my page.
Some left comments, some did not. Some readers mailed me, some just clicked on the rating widget. Still it is a nice feeling to know that people felt it is worth spending few minutes of their time reading my posts.
As a blogger I’m been reading several other blogs regularly, have given them links in my posts or blog as relevant and in return, many people who liked my blog have given a link to my blog in their sites. Thanks to all of them.
At times I felt as if I’m on top of the world, when some of my posts got listed in top of search results for specific queries (ex: my post on IBM Satyam takeover rumor was appearing in top 4 matches out of 65000 possible matches at one point of time. Detail here)
I wasn’t consistent on the type of contents I published in this blog (I still amn't). I wrote in English, Kannada, I wrote about different topics and subjects, I added photos, videos; as a result I still can’t define “what my blog is all about”. I haven’t focused on any one specific category, which probably is not good.
During the initial days I used to trouble everyone by mailing them about the new posts and inviting them to read my blog. I soon realized that such unsolicited and un-specific mailing will irritate people and eventually stopped begging people to visit my blog (though I kept blog URL as email signature). I still got a decent number of hits.
I experimented with HTML, I tried adsense and I employed several widgets to give value addition. In the process I learnt a lot about page ranks, Google’s search algorithm, page indexing, CTR, Search engine optimization, traffic generation, protecting and defending my contents against violation of intellectual property rights (i.e. some one copying your content and claiming it their own), usability and user experience, user navigation and browsing habits, what interests a reader and what makes them navigate out of a page and many more things. All these were good learning experience.
I learnt to live with people who say “Ya Ya… I’ve just read your latest post” even without opening my blog. Such people turn blank if I ask one more question like “what was the title of the post you last read” or “were there any pictures in that post”. (When you launch a blog you generally expect all your friends and relatives to read the posts and comment, but that will not happen, not becaue they have something against you, but because many people will not have the basic interest of reading or will not have the time to read your posts. I never forced anyone to read my blog but they probably wanted to be kind). I’ve also learnt to absorb comments like “You have no other work or what? Why do you waste so much time on this?” (If I watch couple of movies every week spending 5-6 hours no one will ever know, but if I use same time on blogging everyone will think I have lots of free time)
Some posts become popular, result in dozens of comments, while many others will not even be read fully by anyone. That’s all part of the game.
Going forward:
I don’t intend to be a full time professional blogger and make a living out of it. I have a day job to defend and I have no commercial interest in blogging; I have other interests to pursue. So blogging will only be a hobby for foreseeable future for which I can spare few hours per week.
Thanks again
Though I was a bit late to enter the blogosphere, it was better late than never. I opened myself to the idea of blogging after reading couple of posts of my cousin Sandesh Karanth (check my blog roll for link). Later I’ve inspired few others to start blogging (may sound like a self praise but it is true. One such acknowledgment can be found here(It in in Telugu language))) and the journey has been pretty smooth so far.
I wrote whatever I wanted to and in the process have offended many people directly or indirectly. Though I don’t regret what I’ve written I hereby apologize to all those who might have been offended by my words.
Many people still believe I'm the only visitor to my blog. That is not true. I get few dozen to few hundred visitors per day(Have a look at the image below or check this for live statistics )Five to six thousand visitors have been to this blog since one year.
Nearly a dozen people have subscribed to my blog by email and I know another dozen people who visit my blog on a regular basis to read what I have to say. I’m very much thankful to the readership of these people in particular and to all my readers in general for their patronage.
If you wish you can subscribe to this blog by submitting your email ID here (follow onscreen instructions). You'll get all new posts by mail automatically without you having to visit my blog regularly.
Several totally strange people have visited my blog, most of them came through search engines and others by reference. Some of them found what they wanted and spent time reading my posts, while others left within few seconds and probably even cursed me for not keeping the content they were looking for and blaming search engine for wrongly directing them to my page.
Some left comments, some did not. Some readers mailed me, some just clicked on the rating widget. Still it is a nice feeling to know that people felt it is worth spending few minutes of their time reading my posts.
As a blogger I’m been reading several other blogs regularly, have given them links in my posts or blog as relevant and in return, many people who liked my blog have given a link to my blog in their sites. Thanks to all of them.
At times I felt as if I’m on top of the world, when some of my posts got listed in top of search results for specific queries (ex: my post on IBM Satyam takeover rumor was appearing in top 4 matches out of 65000 possible matches at one point of time. Detail here)
I wasn’t consistent on the type of contents I published in this blog (I still amn't). I wrote in English, Kannada, I wrote about different topics and subjects, I added photos, videos; as a result I still can’t define “what my blog is all about”. I haven’t focused on any one specific category, which probably is not good.
During the initial days I used to trouble everyone by mailing them about the new posts and inviting them to read my blog. I soon realized that such unsolicited and un-specific mailing will irritate people and eventually stopped begging people to visit my blog (though I kept blog URL as email signature). I still got a decent number of hits.
I experimented with HTML, I tried adsense and I employed several widgets to give value addition. In the process I learnt a lot about page ranks, Google’s search algorithm, page indexing, CTR, Search engine optimization, traffic generation, protecting and defending my contents against violation of intellectual property rights (i.e. some one copying your content and claiming it their own), usability and user experience, user navigation and browsing habits, what interests a reader and what makes them navigate out of a page and many more things. All these were good learning experience.
I learnt to live with people who say “Ya Ya… I’ve just read your latest post” even without opening my blog. Such people turn blank if I ask one more question like “what was the title of the post you last read” or “were there any pictures in that post”. (When you launch a blog you generally expect all your friends and relatives to read the posts and comment, but that will not happen, not becaue they have something against you, but because many people will not have the basic interest of reading or will not have the time to read your posts. I never forced anyone to read my blog but they probably wanted to be kind). I’ve also learnt to absorb comments like “You have no other work or what? Why do you waste so much time on this?” (If I watch couple of movies every week spending 5-6 hours no one will ever know, but if I use same time on blogging everyone will think I have lots of free time)
Some posts become popular, result in dozens of comments, while many others will not even be read fully by anyone. That’s all part of the game.
Going forward:
I don’t intend to be a full time professional blogger and make a living out of it. I have a day job to defend and I have no commercial interest in blogging; I have other interests to pursue. So blogging will only be a hobby for foreseeable future for which I can spare few hours per week.
Thanks again
Hi Srinidhi, Congrats for successfully blogging 100 posts. Great going. Keep it up. I dont understand why you feel that writing on divesified topics is not good. I dont see any problem with that. In fact its good in the sense that you get a chance to post your views on various topics there by opening up yourself for different discussions. Probably you may learn new things. From the readers' perspective, they get to know many things related many other areas which they would not have explored... What do you say?
ReplyDeleteCongrats shrinidhi! keep going!
ReplyDelete@ Surya Kiran
ReplyDeleteYour point is verymuch correct and agreed.
Just that I feel I'm becoming jack of all and master of none. Ideally you need to specialize in something in life. Once cant become a doctor, engineer,lawyer, accountant, soldier, all at once...
@Logesh: Thanks
Shri, you're right about friends and relatives not reading one's blog. It happens to everybody. Most of my audience are friends reached through blogging and participating in online communities.
ReplyDeleteYes Hari, all writers are readers by default. Also a regular blogger will have a reliable internet connection, dedicated time towards reading and writing. Others who may not have good internet connection, time or interest are unlikely to visit blogs on regular basis...
ReplyDelete