Heads or Tails: To Blog or To SearchWarp, That’s the Question
Posted: Monday, September 26, 2011
by Jennifer Stewart
Stepping out of History
I’ve been writing a blog on wordpress.com for about two years now. I’ve written about 500 posts in that time, and my blog has been my diary in a way – especially when I first started it. Oh, I remember that day, it was such a triumph! I’d heard about this thing called blogging about a year before and wondered what it could possibly be. It didn’t sound in the least bit attractive, more like some kind of indigestible food.
I was terrified of the internet, didn’t even have it at home. And internet cafes – gaaahh. Hideous. Dark, gloomy, seedy. Eugh. Not conducive to creativity or spiritedness of any pleasurable kind. Nothwithstanding which, I inched my way towards opening the door to that crazy place called cyberspace. Curiosity killed the cat.
Not this one, though. It wasn’t just curiosity, it was the chance to have my say in something other than my head. Then I moved to a new area, and found an internet café that was actually light, and friendly. Huh. I inched a bit closer to cyberspace. Somebody told me about blogspot. Didn’t look as difficult as I thought it would be. So I decided to write my first blog and just see if I could open an account and post it.
And the rest, as they say, is history. I’ve always wanted to write that. Whew, pressing the button “publish” for the first time was such a rush. It always is, when you finally achieve something you’ve been sure you could never do, no matter how big or small it is. And then I was like a runaway train. I’d write my blogs at home and walk down to the café via the beach to post every day. And the words just poured out. It was great because I knew nobody was reading me, so I let myself say what I wanted to.
The day I had a reader was earth-shattering. Omigod, what if they hated what I wrote, what if I was too out of control, what if I wrote too much, what if I made it too personal, what if they never came back. But I got used to that, too, as I did to all the rules that all the blog authorities say you have to follow. I ignored them all. I switched to wordpress.com at some point because they have so many different templates, it gave me a sense of being slightly more individual.
The first year rolled by and in that time I accepted that my blogs should be shorter and I worked through a lot of the personal stuff. And my stats started to do quite well. Nobody ever left comments though, so it was all kind of impersonal, I had no relationship of any kind with my readers. Then I discovered SearchWarp. And I got to experience what it’s like to get comments, and also to be read by a lot more people. Still I’ve kept up my wordpress blog, and my readership has been doing quite well without me doing any marketing at all.
But I have to tell you, it’s nothing – nothing! - like the readership I get on my SearchWarp articles. I’ve had about 12,000 page views on my blog in 2 years (500 posts) and 125,000 page views on my SearchWarp articles in less time than that, and with about 150 articles. For a while I’ve often been posting more or the less the same thing on my blog and SearchWarp, but then somebody said that diminishes my standing with Google. So here’s the heads or tails thing. I’m sure you can understand my debate – should I keep my wordpress blog or should I just focus on SearchWarp?
Actually probably you’re wondering why I’m even debating anything at all.
Not this one, though. It wasn’t just curiosity, it was the chance to have my say in something other than my head. Then I moved to a new area, and found an internet café that was actually light, and friendly. Huh. I inched a bit closer to cyberspace. Somebody told me about blogspot. Didn’t look as difficult as I thought it would be. So I decided to write my first blog and just see if I could open an account and post it.
And the rest, as they say, is history. I’ve always wanted to write that. Whew, pressing the button “publish” for the first time was such a rush. It always is, when you finally achieve something you’ve been sure you could never do, no matter how big or small it is. And then I was like a runaway train. I’d write my blogs at home and walk down to the café via the beach to post every day. And the words just poured out. It was great because I knew nobody was reading me, so I let myself say what I wanted to.
The day I had a reader was earth-shattering. Omigod, what if they hated what I wrote, what if I was too out of control, what if I wrote too much, what if I made it too personal, what if they never came back. But I got used to that, too, as I did to all the rules that all the blog authorities say you have to follow. I ignored them all. I switched to wordpress.com at some point because they have so many different templates, it gave me a sense of being slightly more individual.
The first year rolled by and in that time I accepted that my blogs should be shorter and I worked through a lot of the personal stuff. And my stats started to do quite well. Nobody ever left comments though, so it was all kind of impersonal, I had no relationship of any kind with my readers. Then I discovered SearchWarp. And I got to experience what it’s like to get comments, and also to be read by a lot more people. Still I’ve kept up my wordpress blog, and my readership has been doing quite well without me doing any marketing at all.
But I have to tell you, it’s nothing – nothing! - like the readership I get on my SearchWarp articles. I’ve had about 12,000 page views on my blog in 2 years (500 posts) and 125,000 page views on my SearchWarp articles in less time than that, and with about 150 articles. For a while I’ve often been posting more or the less the same thing on my blog and SearchWarp, but then somebody said that diminishes my standing with Google. So here’s the heads or tails thing. I’m sure you can understand my debate – should I keep my wordpress blog or should I just focus on SearchWarp?
Actually probably you’re wondering why I’m even debating anything at all.
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Top-level comments on this article: (10 total)Hey Jennifer. I never considered myself a blogger and have only published on SW and MyPetTale. Like you, I have heard Internet horror stories but SW has always been pretty safe. I don't really consider myself a writer, but now and then stuff just bubbles over and I need to write about it. The coolest experience was to have someone from a Colorado online newspaper ask to reprint one of my ramblings. If you are taking a poll, I'd say stick with this writers' community, but since I've been here for so long, I may be a bit biased. Great story - thanks for sharing your experience.
The thing I like about SearchWarp is, it's a community of writers and you are never alone. Having your own blog, well, you're kind of on your own. Having said that, there's probably good reasons for having your own blog spot. Let us know what you decide! Decisions. Decisions. :)I'm hoping the decision will become clearer for me at some point. Right now I've decided to keep both, but write different articles on each, even if it's the same topic. It's hard to know with the internet what's a good thing to do, so I'm just going to go with my gut.
I was much like you in my early discovery of the Internet and I was duped into believing I could make lots of money through some affiliates !! ...................................!!
SW is different. When I don't talk about money I find myself happier.
Blog spot or Wordpress etc make us like a One-man-show if no followers.I was duped too, Hilda, about affiliate marketing. I couldn't keep it up because I can't stand the dishonesty, it made me absolutely sick to my stomach. I can't promote products I don't anything about.
Yes, a one-man-show is no fun at all...
Jennifer, I understand the dilemma. Fortunately, it is not a choice that must be made, or absolute. Sometimes an article may seem to belong somewhere else by design, although that is probably rare as very few topics will not fit SearchWarp. I guess it also depends on your target audience. Obviously, you have a strong target audience here AND at your blog.I like what you say, Suzi, about it not necessarily being absolute. Probably the problem for me is I write about a lot of different things, so I don't really have a target audience with regards to my topics. I'm hoping to build one for just me, but that's harder!
Sometimes just bouncing our thoughts off of each other helps us to find the answer.It does, Elle, you're right. And even if the answer doesn't come straight away, the dilemma at least feels less burdensome.
Im always trying to choose whether or not to blog on my own site or write for other sites. I think mixing it up is a good choice because as you say there's the potential for lots more new readers on sites like Searchwarp.I'm surprised to see how much this is a dilemma for so many people. Good god, is this the beginning of the fall of the blogging empire?! Thanks for commenting, Calum.
You are right. When I first started writing. I worried about these things as well. Now I just love to writeProbably you'll just naturally find your way to the right outlet, Maxine. Thanks for commenting.
Hi Jennifer.
I have a blog on wordpress that I haven't added anything to in at least a year. My focus has been SW, mainly for the reasons you mentioned.
But lately, with the new organization, it seems to be a little harder to get noticed and I'm not getting nearly the number of comments that I once did. It's a little sad. I like hearing from everyone. But I'll just keep plugging away at it. Who knows ... things might change.
I did love your story of how you entered into the cyber world. I remember hitting the "publish" button on my blog for the first time! It WAS a rush.
Hugs,
DianneI'm not getting nearly as many comments - or readers - as I was before, either Dianne. And the articles come and go very quickly on the front page, which is disconcerting. Maybe it's just because people need to get used to the new format. I'm hoping so. I know I'm just starting to feel familiar with it.Bruce said that he wants to attract something like 20 times more authors, 20 times more readers and have 20 times more articles in order for SW to remain viable. I may have part of that wrong but that's what stuck in my head.
The new format, with our articles getting bumped down the list by every new article that is posted to the Group in which it appears means that in order to maintain a constant presence on the homepage, we will have to write many more articles and post them more frequently than in the past ... well, that is true for me anyway. I don't have the time for that really. So I'll have to be happy with what I've got.Wow, Google really did stuff things up, didn't they? It's infuriating when somebody has so much power and they wield it regardless of the effect on their loyal customers. Anyway, I understand the need now for more readers and authors etc. But you're right, it does put pressure on writers to keep up. Hmmm.
I've had my wordpress blog on for a very long time now and I haven't added as many posts you did. I envy you for that. :D It is a great achievement and I say you should continue posting on SearchWarp and Wordpress. Your blog looks great. Please keep going.Oh, thanks Shyam; it's been a while since anybody told me anything good about my blog. You know, it's amazing, just this one comment from you makes me want to keep going with it. That's how important love is. Thanks, my friend :)
In my opinion you should continue doing what you have been doing. I envy you for 500 successful posts. :-) I wish I could write as much. Your blog looks great. As long as you have been balancing both SearchWarp and Wordpress together, I think it is perfectly. It is the expectation that is making you toss the coin. Expectation is always bothersome.
P.S.-First time the comment didn't appear and I thought I had to try again. Oops!They both have appeared, so here's my reply to the bit you added! You're so right about expectation, it's a huge distraction. You just gave me a giant aha moment!
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