It's Friday. I know what's going to happen. It's the same thing every week and i'm kind of undecided if what happens is a good thing or a bad thing.
Back in early February, i wrote a post called, Friday Cattle Auction. It wasn't a particularly good post. It was one of those posts where i tell you about some of the things that happen to me over the course of what i do to make a living. The thing is, it seems to be a wildly popular post. But, maybe it isn't? I mean, nobody has ever left a comment there. No one ever said to me, "that Friday Cattle Auction post is some really good stuff, i wish you would do more like that one!" Yet, it sits #3 on my list of most popular posts. (i'll wait if you want to glance over and look at that list to confirm that.)
It only just occurred to me that, on Friday, is when i get all of the hits on my Friday Cattle Auction post. Because......on Fridays, some people actually google Friday Cattle Auction. (sometimes it takes me a while to become aware of the obvious.)
After discovering this, i'm not exactly sure how i should feel? Granted, i'm a little sad about it. I don't know what causes a post to be popular. I guess, in the back of my mind i was thinking that maybe i had accidentally written a masterpiece that was so poignant that people, after reading it, were left without words to express their satisfaction. But i've gone back to reread it and i'm pretty certain that's not the case. Also, i feel like i'm letting people down. Google is sending people here to get news about the Friday Cattle Auction and i have nothing to offer them. I dealt with this issue for martial arts guy but if you want the cattle prices i don't know what to do? I could link an actual auction site but i don't know where you're from. I would like the information to be relevant to you. So, i'm at a bit of a loss.
This has taken on a bit of a life of it's own. It's sort of like the mythical, perpetual energy machine, or a Russian nuclear reactor melting it's way to the Earths core. I don't know how to stop it? ........or, if i even want it to stop? It's still traffic, isn't it? But it's accidental traffic. I'm torn.
So, there's only one course of action to take. I have to create an EPIC post! So EPIC, that everything else will pale in comparison to it. I'm talking Pulitzer Prize shit here! Plus, i have to come up with a title. Not just any title, it has to be something people google every fricken day! If i can generate enough traffic, i may be able to blow Friday Cattle Auction right off the popular posts list.
Right, lets get started.................um..........i may have to think on this a while.
............or, i could just go back and change the title, but then i wouldn't get so much traffic, sigh. (i'm secretly hoping to get some of that google, perpetual energy machine traffic by using that title.)
I can see how you're torn about this. Naturally, we would much rather have traffic from authentic readers who are genuinely interested...rather than accidental traffic.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with that "epic" post. I have a post like that, in which it is untouchable in comparison to other posts. Maybe because it is Christmas related? There it sits still on top of my list of popular posts!
Maybe you could find a way to embrace the accidental traffic!
Embrace the accidental traffic.....like the dark side of the force?
Deletelol! Something like that! You could use that telekinetic energy to move viewers around as you see fit! Use the jedi mind trick and force them to read and leave a meaningful comment!
Delete......you're not going to tell me that you're my father, are you?
DeleteI'm siding with WorkingDan. Embrace the accidental traffic. Occasionally I get hits on my blog because I once posted a story called "Penis in the sky." You can see where I'm going with that. Traffic is traffic. So they come for your Friday Cattle Auction...but they stay cause you're awesome!
ReplyDeleteAlthough in the interest of full disclosure: I came here because of a comment you made on Brett Minor's blog. Then I initially stuck around because you mentioned farming (and I'm kind of obsessed with farmers - don't know if you noticed) and then I really stayed and started reading some of your older posts because you make me laugh!
Hmm...is that enough ego-stroking for one day? :)
yes it is, thank you, i'm purring now. :)
DeleteI had that happen with the post in which I mentioned "big boobs". View skyrocketed overnight on that post, and I'm sure some folks were hoping for photos or something much more exciting than what they found. LOL I wasn't happy with the posts showing up on my favorite posts lists, so I deleted it and created my own using the links list widget. I chose ones that got a lot of views but also said something that I thought was meaningful, cuz how meaningful is it to go and read a list of questions that everyone was asking? And yet those get a lot of hits. I guess folks are curious about what the questions of the week are? But of course now I'm curious about your Friday post, so am headed there to read it while waiting for that Pulitzer Prize Winner to appear above! :-)
ReplyDeleteactually, i probably would have looked if you had a post titled "Big Boobs". :)
DeleteI'm still trying to get into some peoples older posts to look around. My reading list has grown like crazy lately and i'm just having trouble keeping up with the current stuff!
I get some interesting search combinations:
ReplyDeleteKlingon Whore is probably my favorite
Creepy Murderers is a new one
Jedi Squirrels
...about a dozen other squirrel phrases
Angry Birds Klingon - WOULDN'T THAT BE AWESOME! Star Trek Angry Birds...I'd so buy into that.
I love the random readers. As long as you post some gems randomly, people will find them.
You check to see who stopped by but it's also fun to see how they got there, It's kind of like Cracker Jacks. What's in the box is pretty good, the surprise makes it awesome.
DeleteYou have to know that i'm coming by to look for something about Jedi Squirrels!
I love your thought process... starting to sound like me lol! Let me know if you come up with an epic title that brings in the visitors - I think I'll give this idea a shot too ;-)
ReplyDeleteepic ideas take some though, i'm working on it. :)
DeleteYour back online i see. :)
Someone, it might have been Brett, used a title that didn't have anything to do with the post ;-)...
DeleteYes, I'm back, although temporarily. They've given us a quick fix but will take us offline soon to do a proper one.
The titles to my posts always apply to what I wrote, but it may be a thought process or joke that I thought was funny at the time. If you didn't see the movie I was referring to or follow my logic, then it doesn't always make sense.
ReplyDeleteYou never know where your traffic will come from. My #2 post got hundreds of hours with minutes of it being posted. I wrote about the UARS satellite falling out of the sky on the night it was supposed to happen. Due to the number of people looking for info on it, I got a ton of traffic very fast, but it was far from being one of the better things I ever wrote.
i'm finding out that sometimes, google has a strange sense of humour.
Delete