So I have this friend... She runs this blog that posts daily cues. Maybe you've heard of it? Despite a good number of daily visitors (even on the worst day) and over 80 followers, 4 of the last 7 days don't even have 5 participants each. She's tried giving away wildcard awards, she's tried giving out money. While traffic spiked, participation did not. She wants your honest feedback - what would you suggest?
We Have A Winner (sorta)!!! 02/26/10
Winner: Me! And you! And the blog!
Reason: Thank you all for your fantastic feedback. I'm putting some of your ideas into place immediately and some are going to take a bit more thinking. I've been feeling a bit burnt out, to be honest, and really want to up the participation levels to make it more fun for everyone involved. Look for details to come. And thanks for being loyal and awesome!
10 comments:
I don't have a definitive answer, but I would suggest you check out http://www.creativecopychallenge.com. They have a lot of participation for their twice weekly posts.
I think it has to do with the almost immediate feedback received.
I have only recently gotten into these writing prompt blogs, and cannot always participate, but every time I do at CCC there is feedback on the posting.
I do like the concept here and will continue to check back often.
This friend of your has a great concept on her hands, and perhaps given time, participation will pick up?
I think in time things may pick up and even though you have followers that doesn't mean that they are going to take the time to participate in every thing that is posted and what not. I find that it is hard for me to take the time to participate sometimes because of the time it takes to type or responses and what not.
When you started--excitement!--although,
When it died down, the numbers were low.
But this blog is great,
So keep going, Cate--
Remember, most progress is slow.
In other words, hopefully in time the core readership of people who want to comment often--not just when they first discover the blog--will increase. But that takes time. You are doing awesome with this blog.
Pimp it out more. Talk about it on your blog. Ask other bloggers to help you promote it- some kind of partnership sort of thing. I don't participate often but I want to... it's just a matter of getting the buzz going so I remember to pop in each day!
I think it takes some time and growth. I try to comment as often as I can, but sometimes I either go for several days without a chance to really do more than just look at the prompt or I come up blank in response. I love the idea and the creativity! Maybe look at which cues are getting the biggest responses consistently and while growth is going on trend towards those types of cues - i.e. if photos work well do more photos.
I try to participate often, but there are two reasons I don't leave responses every time. Either I don't have time (a constant problem with everything these days) or I can't think of anything interesting to say. I'm trying to be more open and respond even if what I put isn't necessarily good. Maybe that's part of the problem - not your blog, but participants maybe feel too insecure in their own responses to post?
When I'm pressed for time, I usually go to the cues that interest me most, and I've noticed they tend to be the same couple of categories every time. I wonder if some other participants are doing the same thing? Maybe you get a handful who love photo cues, another group who responds more often to you're friends' issues, etc... which is a good thing in the long run.
It will just take time (not the answer you were searching for, I'm sure). You have a fantastic blog here, and the people who DO participate are amazing (self included, of course). The answers are fun to read - which would explain the higher traffic you're getting.
A couple things to suggest for your friend:
The Day 1, Day 2 thing is a little confusing. Maybe each day could have a name like Motherish Monday, Throw-down Thursday, etc.
Personalize the blog a bit. Let folks see there's one person behind it. Maybe your friend could include why she picked certain pictures or words. Be more of a fellow player than an administrator.
Take cues from your regular player's own blogs. Don't forget to leave a comment telling them that their funny story or whatever has become a cue! It'll create a sense of community or place. If you notice one of the regular players changes their picture to something interesting, use it as a cue.
Feature wackiness. My other friend recently found this ad for pajama JEANS: http://marvelous-misadventures.blogspot.com/2010/02/more-crazy-pajamas-i-sense-theme-here.html. You could ask if anyone knows someone who'd wear such a thing, or to describe a type of person they'd think would wear them.
Link elsewhere. If your friend finds (or is referred to) an odd website (such as http://www.savethewords.org/), share it and pose a cue about it.
Join other sites and button-up. Playing along with meme sites and link back to them. Your friend's audience is the meme crowd. The folks who look forward to the daily newness of meme and game blogs.
Pimp the players. Feature a bloglist of folks who have the 7/7 button on their blogs.
Broaden the give-aways. Say someone who wins all 7 buttons gets to host a gift card giveaway on their blog sponsored by 7/7. Entry rules could be the standards: follow on twitter, play 7/7 day during the giveaway period, etc.
Your friend can email me if she has a question about any of these. I have a bunch of ideas and can help with the wackiness, links, etc.
I also find the announcement of winners confusing. For example, I've been searching for the winner from Valentine's Day... can't find it but find stuff before it and after it. Maybe you could do a separate post once a week that lists all the winners- make a bigger deal out of winning and the buttons and such.
I want to thank everyone for giving me your input. I'll be setting aside some time later this week to go through all of your responses and think about how to best promote this site. Thanks!
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