What adding fanfic has done for my website/blog

Lissywrites/ October 15, 2013/ Uncategorized/ 0 comments

Like I’ve said many times before, you want to have an over-arching theme to your blog. Having a single theme will gain you a constant following in the beginning, then you can add more diverse content, which will bring in even more viewers from that separate readership. Categories work wonders at this point, and since adding my fanfic category, I’ve noticed a major difference in the way the two contents pull people in. I’d like to share my results with you today. Now, onward to the list!

  • FANFIC RECEIVES A MUCH SMALLER READERSHIP
    I expected this. There was no surprise in this case, especially since I don’t have that much fanfic up to begin with. I’ve gained 3-4 followers per fanfic post, which, compared to my writing tip follower gain, is around .004% of my total followers. Nearly non-existent. No need to fear though, as my next point kinda balances it all out.
  • SMALLER READERSHIP, BUT A MORE CONSTANT READERSHIP
    Though I didn’t gain many followers when I started posting fanfic, I didn’t lose followers either, and my followers view my fanfiction more often than they do my actual writer tips. A writing tip post will receive about 100+ views upon posting, then lose all clicks after about a week. Fanfic will receive approximately 25+ views and will dwindle to about 10 views daily. Those 10 views will continue on past a week, and sometimes even into a full month. And even after that month, they will still receive daily views. It blows my mind, especially since most of my followers started out with me posting nothing, but writing tips. The transition has been interesting.
  • THE MOST POPULAR PART OF MY BLOG IS A TIE BETWEEN THE “FANFIC CATEGORY,” AND THE “PERSONAL POSTS CATEGORY”
    This absolutely blew my mind. Like I said before, I started out solely as a writing tip blog, and that is how I met a bulk of my friends and followers. I also have less of both of these posts than I do writing tips. I have wondered why this is the case, but I still haven’t figured it out.
  • THOSE WHO COME SOLELY FOR WRITING TIPS TEND TO BE DRIFTERS
    This is another point I wasn’t surprised at finding out. How-To channels on YouTube have been known for their outrageous amount of views, yet poor following. People google what they need, find their answer, then move on. I think my personal posts and my fanfic are what keep people coming back or at least sticking around long enough to up my visitor count.
  • ORIGINAL AND PERSONAL CONTENT IS THE BEST CONTENT
    I haven’t been blogging for very long, but one thing I’ve come to learn is that original and personal content is the best content. I love everyone who takes part in my discussions and reads my posts. Those are the people I talk to the most and who have gone beyond the realm of lurker and reader. I am proud to call them my friends. It was because of writing tips that they came to my blog, but the personal content is what brought them out.

I PREFER FRIENDS OVER READERS.

Readers are wonderful, and all the nice little analytics above are easy to see and base everything around, but it’s not human interaction. It’s not personal, and it doesn’t get me excited to post anything new. Discussion, personable interaction, and friendship is fun. So, as always, you can find my questions for you all below:

Why do you blog? What do you blog about? Have you found that personal posts aren’t what I say they’re all cracked up to be? Do you prefer readers or friends? Will you be responding to any of these questions today? Let me know, and comment below! I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks for reading.

-Lissy

Have a request for a blog post topic? Just wanna ask a question? Go to my Home page, fill out the contact sheet, and shoot me an email! I look forward to hearing from you.

Want to help me out? Check out my Poll page when you get a chance. All of the answers help me out.

Share this Post

About lissywrites

As an avid writer and poet, Alyssa Hubbard explores the earthly and spectral talismans that carry us from life to death and back again through her work. As the darkness within makes its way from pen to paper, she finds room for more joyous activities, such as sampling new ice cream flavors, singing in public, and geeking out over the latest anime. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in English, works in Digital Marketing, and has been writing (professionally) for 8 years. Her work has been featured in literary journals and magazines such as Adanna, The Coffin Bell, and many others.

0 Comments

  1. I found this post very interesting as I am also a new blogger but you already seem much more experienced than me and you have loads more followers, for a similar type of blog. I haven’t used the categories as yet although I’ve been tagging all my posts so I’m going to try that out now. I don’t have the option to follow the blog by email subscription yet either but to be honest, as a newbie, I feel a bit afraid of that! I have to do things one step at a time. I follow quite a few blogs but as yet, don’t really feel I have made any ‘friends’ as much. Social networking seems so transient 😉 Thanks for the tips in this article.

    1. I’m glad you found my post interesting, and your compliments on my blog are very much appreciated! I’m blushing!

      But you’re very right about social media. People are always jumping from one thing to the next, but there always seems to be content that is constantly re-noticed or rediscovered. It may not have the desired amount, but it’s much more consistent. Strange, but true. I learn something new everyday, and I’m right there with you: taking it one day at a time. 🙂

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*
*