This is a little embarrassing to talk about, so don’t tell anyone ok? Sometimes, not that often but still, I seek validation through my blog. Like when I’m having a really cr*ppy day and everything is going wrong, I find comfort in a supportive comment even if I’m not sure how sincere it is.
Or other days, when I’m having a real good day, lotsa likes, lotsa comments, I’ll get just a little full of myself. Pump out my chest out like a robin and walk around all proud and stuff, even though no one else knows about it, and if they did, let’s face it, they wouldn’t care. That’s fine though I know and it makes me happy.
Pretty silly right? Randomly (occasionally drunkenly) rambling about anime isn’t exactly a skill to get all pleased with yourself over. I read other people’s blogs, I know there are better writers, more creative, occasionally funnier (that last one hurts a bit). I may be silly, but I’m not delusional. But just because there are other great blogs out there doesn’t really take anything away from mine you know?
And as childish as it may seem, I figure you get your happiness where you can in life. As far as guilty pleasures go, writing for strangers seems on the innocent side of things. Heck, it may even have a benefit or two. It certainly has allowed me to interact with some fantastic folks.
But there’s a definite flip side. Views fluctuate, and stats go down. This can be depressing. Not soul crushing or anything but it can deflate you on an otherwise great day. My personal demon is that posts that mean a lot to me, that I really enjoyed writing and I’m enthusiastically sharing, often get ignored. Not always. I have been lucky to get some readers that will kindly go out of their way to let me know they’ve read or enjoyed a piece – for that I’m eternally grateful but you know, everyone gets busy sometimes and I have really weird tastes, so it figures that the posts I love would not be for everyone.
All of this is well-trodden territory. So, 5 paragraphs later, will I finally get to the point??? Yeah, we all know having our blog do subjectively well is a rush, so what? Well, even though getting some external valorization through blogging sounds like a good idea, is it? Is it really reasonable? Is it ok to admit you get a thrill from it?
This isn’t one of those instances where there’s a right answer. Most likely there’s a right answer for you at this moment, that will change with time and doesn’t apply to others. But here’s mine: YES. You should be proud of your blog. You should be happy when someone else acknowledges your posts. You know what? (this is just me – I should never be listen to) You should even be bummed when your beautifully written and passionate posts go ignored.
You can use the disappointment to fuel your next post. Get better, more passionate. Rant! Try new things. We all know that failure is by far the best teacher. That’s my secret – constant defeat!
Of course, keep in mind that it doesn’t in fact mean anything. The capricious nature of the reader app, the way a post title comes off, even international holidays you may not be aware of, all play a big role in how much exposure your post will get and that has nothing to do with the post itself.
The reverse is kinda true as well. For instance, if youtube has every episode of an anime except 4, and you happen to have a review for episode 4 of that anime, with a corresponding post name – you are probably going to get a whole bunch of people who are looking to watch the episode to your blog. That doesn’t mean they’re not going to love the post and subscribe for more, but it also doesn’t mean that your episode 4 review was that much better than your episode 7 review.
But just because you know the somewhat arbitrary nature of stats, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy them. It also doesn’t mean you haven’t earned most of them.
Then again, if you’re obsessing over it, you probably won’t have fun.
I’m a very lazy person. Whenever possible I go for the road of least resistance. It’s just easier that way! At some point I realized that if I really cared about views and followers, I would have to learn about SEO and start really using the power of social media platforms. I dun wanna. It sounds like a LOT of trouble. But I did come up with a brilliant idea instead! Focus on different stats!
My biggest joys are the clicks from my site to another. I’m working on that. I try to share other sites with you whenever I think you may like them. I’ve been a bit wanting on that front lately, but I’ll get back to it. Promise! And my search terms. I have zero idea how to get interesting searches to my blog but whenever I do it fills me with glee. I tell strangers about it. I can have a post completely bomb, but if someone got to my blog with “eps file file camp hustle” (real search) it completely makes up for it. Admittedly “anime bath timekids » (also real search) scares me a little…
So if you get bummed out over your blog, be bummed. Whine about it. Maybe just to me, it could get annoying for some folks. I get it though. And if you are proud of your blog, stand tall and declare it. You’ve earned, probably! And we’re happy for you!
