The Oracle of Apollo Snippets from the life of Apollo Lee

Nine Years Already?

On this day in 2000, I started blogging in this space. Nine years of the Oracle of Apollo later, I’m scratching my head and wondering if the time for this site has passed.

I have no idea how to build an audience for any of my blogs, even the ones that are updated continuously with content. When I have periods of updating this site frequently, there’s no significant uptick in readership. Some people I’ve known for years have no idea this site exists, even though it’s printed on my name card.

The most hilarious, relevant, and useful posts here get no readership, but my analytics tells me that a steady stream of robots and spammers continue to visit the ancient posts that are only really of interest to me.

This leaves me the conclusion that I fail at blogging, have no idea how to build an audience, lack the ability to determine what kinds of things I can post here that will attract an audience.

What kinds of things make you click the entry in your RSS reader or make you want to come back? What kinds of things get posted here that you ignore?

I hear you, my friend. It’s hard to figure out how to attract an audience and even harder, how you can make them come back for more.
Firstly, you’ve got to determine whom you want to entice to respond to your writing. If you’re aiming for volume, you’ll have to substantially invest in marketing tools such as Google’s AdWords (which you undoubtedly know already) and loose the notions that quality is first and foremost, and that luck favors the prepared. If you’re aiming for excellence, you’ll be dealing with people who are extremely selective in the sites they visit and who may not surf as often as you like them to.
Secondly, you’re competing with a Twitter mind-set. If you can’t convey your ideas/experiences in less than 140 or so words, they will very likely drown silently in the deafening noise caught in that world wide web, and the ones that are accidentally caught by a lonely fisherman should appeal to him right off the bat or they’ll be flung back into obscurity. Although your “Nine Years Already?” plea caught my attention, the few archived snippets I read next, didn’t work for me: I’m more interested in how people experience as opposed to what, but that’s just me.
Thirdly, the modern-day eye wants more than just plain naked content, no matter how good or bad the words are sequenced.
I wish you good luck, my friend.

p.s.

I checked out your movie collection, many of which are in my collection as well.

Two movies I strongly recommend:

“Around The Bend”, with Chris Walken, Josh Lucas and Michael Caine.

“The World’s Fastest Indian”, with Anthony Hopkins.

Both Walken and Hopkins should have had Oscars for their superb performances.