Because I believe in markets, it's impossible to ignore the pointlessness of carrying on with the ol' Kole Hard Facts. My message is freedom, and nobody's buying. What's worse is that the viewer doesn't even have to buy. And yet, 30 hits a day? Forget it.
It's been extremely discouraging to watch 2008 sink into the political abyss. One of my most recent posts captured it all, via a Reason column, pointing out that freedom was no part of the major party conventions. Only more and more government. And the people? They love it. They lap it up.
Well, that is, when they even bother with policy. I found it hellish enough when it was all about the horse race. Now it's worse. We have this tiresome game of 'gotcha', where a gaffe, or even a non-gaffe, or something someone associated with a candidate did is exploded and extrapolated into having the finger on the nuclear arsenal's button and dying to fire. Even my two favorite Hoosier non-libertarian blogs, Advance Indiana and Masson's Blog, have not spared us the dregs of the rancid vat of partisan slime. Both have become unreadable to me, and are indicative of most political blogs out there, whether statewide or nationally. Sadly enough, their hits have soared as the stench has wafted higher. So, I just find it pointless to continue in this climate.
The market has spoken. Mainly, there is no market for the Kole Hard Facts. Thank goodness there is a market for an effective right-of-way agent.
See you near the equipment cabinets, or at the rink.
4 comments:
It's not the market, it's marketing.
Here are some ideas...
1. Use loss leaders.
Sell milk for $3.26 to get them in the door.
While they're in the store, many will buy more stuff to cover the loss and then some.
Applied to blogging: Post stuff that people what to read. While they're in your "store" enough will read other stuff to make the effort worth your while.
Ray Boltz coming out of the closet is not really a libertarian issue. But it listed #1 on Google hot trends (http://www.google.com/trends), I thought it interesting stuff, so I posted it. Six hour later 31 visitors landed on that story's page. While there, some clicked over to read other stuff. 97 landed on the hurricane Ike story page and another 11 hit the page I posted days ago about Oprah interviewing Elizabeth Smart.
In all ENDdiana.com scored 1,155 page loads on Friday. 899 were unique visitors compared to 962 on Thursday and 948 on Wednesday.
While there many (not all) clicked over to the Obama-bashing stuff I like to post and apologetics for Sarah Palin.
2. Use search words in your headline and article body
Search engines can't find your blog if the words aren't on your blog.
The Jill Biden biography post drew several hundred hits because the words "Jill Biden Bio" were in the title. The search engines found it. They don't find every post, but when they do, new people are introduced to your other stuff.
3. Cross link
The post about Jill Biden includes a link to Sarah Palin's biography and visa versa.
Another idea: Include links to your labels on every post. You do this by clicking SETTINGS > FORMATTING and entering the links in the Post Template window.
4. Display your stuff in the window
Get your latest post up where readers can see them and easily click on them. Blogspot has a gadget that will allow you to post RSS feeds. Post the RSS feed to your blog OR move your blog archive up to the top of the side column.
5. Invest
It'll cost you about 1 hour per day, one new post every five minutes. If you like to write, it's not an effort.
$10/year for a simple domain name ain't gonna kill you. Schansblog.com, RexBell.com, Endiana.com, etc. Koleblog.com and Kolesblog.com are both available. Once you get the domain it's a simple thing to forward it to your blog. http://www.godaddy.com
6. Get links
This is one area where I need much improvement. But the more links TO your site, the higher your search engine intregity. Once each week post your best stuff to the top three article directories. You can find a list here: http://www.wilsonweb.com/linking/wilson-article-marketing-1.htm
That's my 2 cents worth.
Keep blogging.
Your advice is no doubt sound, but it's just not what I'm interested in. Post stuff people want to read? No thanks. I'm not interested in bait & switch, er, loss leader, or whatever. If after five years plus I can only attract 25-30 looks/day on the merit of what I want to write, I get the picture.
I think you've got the wrong picture.
I heard your interview on WSC in 2005(?). It was one of the most lucid explanations of libertarian view I'd ever heard.
There are two aspects of meal preparation: First, is it nutritious;? second is it palatable?
Many libertarian apologists are like the boring professors who connect with the intellectual but no the emotional aspects of their students, then wonder why they fall asleep in class. Or the fundamentalist preacher who reads his sermons in monotone.
Anyhow, you publish good stuff and I, for one, will continue to read. Considering the dearth of libertarian bloggers (relative to others), one less will be a major loss.
Keep in mind also there are some of us who log on periodically; maybe 2x per month. Your 30 daily visitors could be over 200 monthly visitors.
Surely you won't deprive us of your insights. :-)
Keep blogging, my friend. You're one of the best.
Mike,
I'll be sorry to see your blog close down. Good luck!
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