"New(ish) Miniatures Blog. Warchest. How to get traffic?" Topic
15 Posts
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Jimboba | 04 Nov 2014 10:08 a.m. PST |
I've been dabbling a while with a blog mainly focussed around various painting projects. There's a bit of content now so I don't feel too lame pointing folk to it. I have posted a few times, here and elsewhere, but get very little traffic (and no comments) back to warchest.co.uk. Wondering if anyone had recommendations for building up interest in a wargame-related site. I'll start; 1. Post to forums and other blogs. 2. Have good content (I'm trying). 3…. Any site where you can 'announce' your efforts? Thanks all, Jimboba warchest.co.uk |
Rick Dangerous | 04 Nov 2014 10:16 a.m. PST |
Your Khurasan mutants look superb! And I love the disguised TARDIS! |
MajorB | 04 Nov 2014 10:18 a.m. PST |
Any site where you can 'announce' your efforts? Er … TMP? |
yarkshire gamer | 04 Nov 2014 10:26 a.m. PST |
With me it just took time, try adding Friend Connect and Google + buttons on your blog to get regular readers. Link to blogs you like and a good majority will link back. Google plus has some fairly big discussion groups (the x wing one is about 700), join them and post there. Put some of your fav blogs down the side of yours, this will generate traffic for them and hopefully they will do the same for you. You could try having a twitter feed or tumblr account. Use other forums specific to you blog posts. Most of all enjoy it, if its good the readers will come and return again and again. Regards Ken yarkshiregamer.blogspot.co.uk |
Extra Crispy | 04 Nov 2014 6:12 p.m. PST |
Content is king. My site routinely attracts 12-15,000 unique visitors a month. But I have 650+ pages of good, useful content. And I hardly add to it much the past year or so… |
Gunner Dunbar | 05 Nov 2014 12:10 a.m. PST |
add a "follow" function, nice blog, I will follow once the button is there. link |
normsmith | 05 Nov 2014 12:10 a.m. PST |
When you make a post, if you think it is interesting enough then post a link in the various forums on the appropriate boards. It will take about a year of regular posting for you to get a regular audience. Don't be too concerned about comments, people don't do it. We live in a world of consuming, people will come along read and move on and perhaps have to cover 20 blogs in a day. They are unlikely to have have logged onto the forum or blog system and so it is inconvenient to have to do that to make a comment. Some people will recognise that if they want to see more of that content then either becoming a follower or adding a comment is good way to keep the blogger encouraged. I think you have to embark on these things because you really want to do it for yourself, or you are creative, or just like writing and sharing. You may draw your comfort from simply knowing that people keep on coming back to look, so they must like it. I also think that readers of blogs who don't comment or say thanks when they are generally enjoying work need to think about doing so from time to time – a sort of internet courtesy. |
Jimboba | 05 Nov 2014 11:49 a.m. PST |
Thanks all for the very useful feedback. Seems like the base-line is to push on with content and interact with folk. Will do. normsmith – yes, it's for myself, but like you said, it's nice to share and get some feedback (Thanks Rick Dangerous!) Gunner Dunbar – when you say 'follow' link are you meaning the Google Friends thingy? (I'll be honest, I'm not a social media 'consumer' so do not know the ins and outs of sharing, cross posting, etc). Thanks gain to all of you that took the time to share. Jimboba warchest.co.uk ;-) |
Mister Tibbles | 05 Nov 2014 12:26 p.m. PST |
I do not post comments when I must add my name and email, even if I spoof the name and email address. If the blog were with blogspot, I would leave comments. As it is, I will remain a drive-by reader only, which is a shame because commenting creates the blogging community. I have been reading the blog via my RSS reader for some time now. Remember that RSS readers do not trip the javascript that registers page hits on your blog. There really is no way to track exactly how many people are reading it since most hardcore bloggers like myself still use RSS readers like Inoreader to read blog posts. Officially following a blog using the Google widget is a courtesy I extend to blogs with low numbers of followers, just to let them know someone cares. (I also comment as much as possible to welcome them into the community and show their efforts are worthwhile.) I won't waste one of my 300 blogger follows on a massively popular blog--that fellow doesn't need another follow to massage his ego. LOL. Check this link for some tips: link |
Gunner Dunbar | 05 Nov 2014 3:14 p.m. PST |
Hi Jim, yes, I can see you have joined my sight, if you add that option to your own I can reciprocate, I am almost technically illiterate, so don't know how to follow any other way. |
Kimber VanRy | 05 Nov 2014 7:47 p.m. PST |
Some things I've found: 1. Post to TMP, manufacturer forums and other specific sites. Facebook groups and places like Reddit also drive traffic. 2. Write content with long term relevance. People search for reference, so articles on modeling techniques, suppliers and specific scenarios hold popularity over time. Some of my consistently popular posts that's are read daily are on broad topics like '15mm WWII terrain'. 3. Thematic timeliness also helps. If there's a news story, holiday, anniversary, movie or something else going on in the non gaming world, a gaming tie in article catches this hook. I wrote about Nazi zombie games a while back and that article still gets hits. I wrote an article about an old football game, and people hit that every weekend during the season. 4. Pay attention to what's popular. If one kind of article gets hits, write more of that. If no one reads something, don't write about that. I was trying to write a monthly article on my favorite Kickstarter games but no one ever read them and they were a pain to write, I stopped. 5. Treat your blog like a real publication. I organize my site and have ongoing series of articles so I've wound up with an easily referenced series of archived articles that people search every day. Finally, really question if you care about hits. I've written about some things I love that people don't read and written other things I don't care much about that scores lots of hits. |
Trojan Points | 06 Nov 2014 5:19 a.m. PST |
Have you considered guest posting i.e. proposing other blog to write a post for them? 1. Locate a suitable blog (cough mine cough) i.e. one with similar target (no real point promoting your blog on a cooking one) and similar to slightly higher audience (the higher the audience the more exposure you'll get but the lesser the chance the blog owner will be interested in you)… 2. Contact the blog owner and make him a offer he can't refuse: a) introduce yourself and your blog, provide a couple of link to post that showcase the variety and quality of your content b) show that you've done your homework by proposing a couple of subjects that would both fit nicely with his editorial content and showcase your own strength c) open the option to discuss conditions: your target owner might not be interested in the subject you propose but might be in a variant on the same theme… d) make the offer risk free for him by proposing to write the article and to leave him the option not to publish it if he's not entirely happy with it. 3. WRITE AN AWESOME POST HE CAN'T REFUSE TO PUBLISH! 4. Add a couple of line about you and your blog as an introduction and add a link to it both in that introduction and at the end of your post (most readers will read your post and scroll down before following links, make their job easy by providing them with a link a the end too) 5. Promote that post the best you can (own blog, facebook, twitter, forum, you name it). Don't duplicate the post on your blog though, your goal is to make the other blog owner happy by driving traffic to him not, to compete with him… What's in it for both of you? - You tap in his audience which will see your post and (hopefully) follow your link to your blog - He gets quality content without having to do anything - He gets some extra traffic sent by you (but given that your targets should have higher traffic audience than you, from a traffic point of view you get more of it that he does, hence the reason to select target that have more audience but not too much more) - You both get a highly relevant backlink and Big G just love those. - He might propose to reciprocate and you get the free content too plus twice every advantage… |
khurasanminiatures | 06 Nov 2014 8:01 a.m. PST |
I think just keep at it -- as more people follow your blog, attention will grow exponentially. You're doing it right, just hang in there. Very pleased that some of my models have inspired you and I hope they help with enjoyable gaming. Very nice work btw, that's always fun to see. |
TWD6968 | 08 Nov 2014 5:50 a.m. PST |
*dons SEO hat* You should also consider making sure you are writing for "natural search". Think about the terms potential visitors might use when searching for the content you have created and include those words and phrases in you titles, sub-titles and body text. For example if you think a reader might be looking for material about 2mm Hittites, you should entitle your post Painting 2mm Hittites and include the words 2mm Hittites in the text. You may also want to include the phrase 2 mil or micro scale or other variations that people may search for. Calling your post Braille Scale Biblical Beardies may be funnier, but Google won't return it as a search result for anyone typing in 2mm Hittites. Although we like clever puns and plays on words in the titles of our posts and often use shortened phrases – "Naps" instead of Napoleonic for instance- or acronyms – WFB instead of Warhammer Fantasy Battles – Google won't necessarily pick those things up so make sure you include likely search phrases in your text. Don't assume, Google won't. Although you'll likely get a lot of traffic from other blogs and message boards, a considerable amount is likely to come from what people type into Google. Your stats may give you a clue as to the search terms people are regularly using and the type of content that may increase your traffic. *removes SEO hat* |
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