I Used to Get 5,372 Hits a Day Until My Mom Learned to Stop Hitting Refresh
Posted on August 11th, 2007 by Jonathan Dalton
This morning, in just a few hours time, the Premiership opens another season in England. I realize this interests virtually no one here, but I know Athol cares and I apparently continue to rack up international visitors based on the little map on the right.
(Incidentally, there’s a real estate angle coming up. Maybe even a Phoenix real estate angle, just for the keyword joy of it all. Play along with me for a moment.)
A colleague and I were discussing the quality of play any given weekend and the consensus was the best matches are between middle-of-the-table clubs because these teams have little if anything to lose. They’re not going to finish high enough in the table to qualify for Europe and they’re not going to finish low enough to be relegated. They’re just going to play their games and let the cards fall where they may.
These teams take chances and, on occasion, display individual moments of brilliance.
One of the biggest problems with American soccer is there is virtually no individual creativity. There are none of those moments, as described in Vision Quest, that raise your heart because you suddenly know what man is capable of achieving. Due largely to the regimented system of youth play in this country, American soccer is methodical to the extreme. Effective to some extent, but often uninspired and unentertaining.
The same can be said for the vast majority of real estate blogs, and for the same reasons. Some agents took the plunge and will write about nearly whatever whenever they choose. They have a writers’ soul and are more concerned with the end product than the count of keywords in each paragraph.
Perhaps the SEO value is lower but there’s a better chance of elevating the spirit of the readers, of making the readers realize the human mind is capable of more than repeating the same key phrases ad nauseum.
Real estate blogging has begotten a cottage industry of those creating blogging platforms and dispensing blogging advice. Some of the advice is useful. Most is as inspirational as stereo instructions. Keep it short. Add some pictures. Pack a few keywords. Stay on point. Did we mention to keep it short? Don’t write about blogging. Don’t write about national topics. Write local. But keep it short. And add some more pictures.
You almost can envision some blog authors’ lips moving as they count the steps like some Arthur Miller student. One two three photo, one two three keyword, one two three photo, one two three Technorati tags and we’re done.
Over the past couple of days, the arguments have been less about the methodology of the writing than how to measure your effectiveness. I’m fully in the camp of those who only believe in counting unique visitors because my own hosting servers’ stats are notoriously inflated.
But you know what? When I first started my original website, I was happy to view inflated numbers. Because they built confidence. And confidence, even when built of faulty figures, is confidence nevertheless. To paraphrase Crash Davis, “if you think you’re winning because you’re having sex or because you’re not having sex, then you are. And you should know that.”
At the end of the day, the efficacy of any given blog platform, any given set of guidelines, matters only to those trying to promote their own platforms or guidelines. Let Odysseus and the Fairy Blogmother and the Tomato step into an octagon and sort it out already. Three blogs enter! One blog leaves! Three blogs enter! One blog leaves!
For those of us who set out to write the posts daily in hopes of finding a topic that resonates, it doesn’t matter if an agent in North Dakota wants to judge their success by the total hits on a daily basis regardless of IP resets and the rest.
Let them believe what they believe if it helps them achieve what they want to achieve. Because for those blogging for business, the only numbers that really matter are those being entered onto a deposit slip. The rest is so much fluff.
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Can I say a very lout “AMEN” to this:
“Because for those blogging for business, the only numbers that really matter are those being entered onto a deposit slip. The rest is so much fluff.”
I play soccer, I have a love hate relationship with it, because I’ve lived in America too long. In soccer the creativity of the player is part of the entertainment and you paint a very good picture. I didn’t realize you liked soccer. At least you write as if you do. My apologizies if I’m mistaken.
It seems like the cottage industry of RE blogging community is hampering the actual growth of blogging. That is because they present a cookie cutter version of everything. And no one fits into a cookie cutter. I think you need to do it the way you want to do it and within the business model you operate under. If you want to just write for the sake of writing then write, if you want to post pictures all day long, post pictures all day long. If you want to stray off topic for days on end then stray off topic. Your choice. If it works for you great. Like you said at the end of the day what matters is the deposit slip.
I’m taping all of this weekend’s Premier League games, if that’s a hint.
Not every approach will work for everyone. And for some, like it or not, blogging is not going to be effective no matter what they try.
I prefer real football. You know, the one rarely played with feet. I don’t “get” soccer.
As for blogging, I grow weary of the “you’re doing it wrong!” chatter. There is no wrong. It is what it is. If it works for you, do it. If not, adjust what you’re doing.
Really, really excellent post. My blog is slowing increasing in readership, but I don’t care that I am not getting thousands of visitors. People I know are starting to tell me they read my blog and they thought it was great. It reinforces who I am, and what I know- that will lead to money in the bank, not thousands of hits.
Ahh, Jonathan! The Beautiful Game! I am am grateful that I speak Spanish sufficiently to watch The Beautiful Game when I get a moment on the weekends. I can’t wait until Congress sends me a high-def TV. Beautiful!
I pick up every fifth word, which didn’t stop me from taping the Torneo de Apetura over the weekend.
Funny story … Jaguares scores to tie the game and announcer starts yelling “Gol, gol, gol, gol, gol, gol, gol, gol …” My beagle pup runs into the room and stares at the TV like the dog in the old RCA ad, trying to figure out what’s making that noise.
Fulham-Arsenal made for a better match though I can’t tell you how tiresome it is becoming to watch Arsenal pull out these wins in the closing minutes match after match after match.
How did you manage to get two active conversations running from the same post? Very well done..
I played soccer my whole life - from 2nd grade all the way through college, but can’t stand to watch it on TV. It’s a little slow. Give me college football anyday!
As for blogging - we tried to use it as a platform to share knowledge & ideas with our sphere of influence, and didn’t really expect any big things from it. I’ve got to be honest though, it’s always a good feeling when readership goes up or when someone else notices what you’ve written. And to think we’ve even found clients from it… Wow!
I’ll take college football, too … which reminds me that I need to figure out what happened to my ASU tickets.
Soccer on TV is fine with me … at least if it’s a match akin to the Cruz Azul-Cali fiasco at UOP Stadium a month ago, I can change channels when both teams decide to play for the draw.
I’ve never gotten a good handle on who I captured from the blog or from the web site overall. They seem to run together to be honest. Once someone steps at the web site and talks to me, they seem to dive head-first into the blog.