Well, I’ve tried everything else. They’ve cut me off from half my readership (maybe more), WordPress denies there’s any problem, and there seems to be jack-all nothing I can do about it… So I guess I can do pretty much anything that occurs to me: when you open the blog with one view–yes, just one–on your Home Page, you just can’t do much worse.
I propose, for the rest of the year, to post at least one Christmas hymn and one Easter hymn every month, until Christmas comes around again. It might look like of odd in July or August… but it may be the Lord will like that kind of oddness.
And again, why not? It wouldn’t hurt to have these two most special holidays in mind all throughout the year.
Do you mean “one view” on the entire blog for the day, or “one view” of a particular post? I know that even when I’m rushing around on my hamster wheel on a given day I view every one of your posts at least once — often more than once, if I want to come back and comment later when I have more time, or if someone else has made a comment that I want to read, or if someone has replied to my comment.
Of course, if you’re opening your blog and seeing only one view for the day first thing in the morning, people just may not be at their computers yet. Does it happen again if you log off and then log back on later in the day?
That was “One View” of the Home Page/Archives. That never happened before. There were other views of other posts. Of course, I’m not up at 3:00 in the morning posting on this blog. But it does cover all the world’s time zones, so it’s always morning or always afternoon somewhere.
My regular loyal viewers are still with me, but I’ve been virtually cut off from casual or serendipitous views, amounting to better than half my total viewership. It’s extremely frustrating!
And now I’m going to feed the beast who’s crying his heart out in the next room about horrible people who starve their cats (he last ate almost three hours ago!), and then get my own lunch, after which I have some chores to catch up on, so I’ll have to come back later to read the posts I don’t have time for now (QED).
“Feed Robbie” every time she makes a peep is Patty’s watchword.
I think that what you are up against is saturation. Over the last few years, the number of things competing for our attention has increased, dramatically. When someone has too many competing requests, inevitably, some are overlooked.
If I were going to publish a blog, YouTube channel, etc. which had daily posts, I would go for a smaller number of posts, with every post being as meaningful as possible. For example:
One hymn
One success story, such as a community that successfully challenges an abuse of authority
One outrageous or ridiculous abuse of authority
One light post, something numerous and/or heartwarming.
An animal video
This gives readers a limited number of posts, and makes it more likely that readers will be able to give attention to each post.
That would be five posts. I usually offer seven. I try to offer a highly mixed bag.
In 2020, following this formula, I *averaged* 400+ views a day.
Nothing has changed by the results.
Other Christian bloggers have told me they’ve had the same experience: vanishing viewership. We are pretty much agreed in believing it’s Big Tech stifling us.
I’ve been thinking about this, and now I think, “All right, let’s try something a little different.” So I’m knocking off now with five posts instead of six… with a critter video around suppertime.
You’re not the only one who’s told me to slow down a little. They’re all friends who have my welfare at heart. So maybe I should listen.
The changes on January 2 could be algorithms changing priorities and causing less traffic to come your way. I have no suggestions regarding how to remedy this. It may not even be deliberate, but then again, it could be entirely deliberate. Some problems are beyond our reach.
The Information Age has changed things, greatly, and sometimes in unexpected ways. Having rapid data flows with notifications is a good thing, but we’re all getting bombarded with notifications, and for that matter, we’re all getting bombarded with information. The problem is in sorting through all of the information.
As an example, in the last 20 minutes or so, I’ve received 7 emails on my work account, which did nothing but waste my time. Announcements of events which don’t involve me, and remarkably, an apology for inaccurate information in one of these emails and another email with a corrected update, It’s a massive drain on one’s attention, in an environment where attention and focus are of the utmost importance. In the workplace, we have so many notifications coming at us, and are so swamped with information, that it is considered impolite to call someone, without first sending a text asking of it’s ok to call.
On the personal front, it’s not all that different. Most days, I receive several text messages informing me that my Netflix account has been locked and I need to logon immediately. These are spoofed messages, designed to harvest logins. I don’t even have a Netflix account, and never will. This also happens with PayPal, Amazon.com, etc. all of them “phishing” attempts, by trying to alarm the recipient and then lure them to a bogus website that looks genuine, but only serves to harvest logon information, and/or credit card info.
So the pleasantries of things we want, like a nice Christian blog, are hindered by the deluge of information and distraction. As I see it, the only solution is to make things as simple as possible, allowing the reader to decide quickly whether or not to open the link. While the news is distressing, uplifting stories still come along, and I think that attracts a wide audience.
There is a channel on YouTube dedicated to people who have left a harsh and destructive cult. Even though I have no experience with this cult, I watch the videos, because they point out the absurdity of this cult. It’s actually very entertaining, not because of the subject matter, which is somewhat grim, but because this guy makes them look like fools.
He realizes that he will not affect the thinking of this cult’s leaders, but he shows how petty and self-destructive they are. Even though these people all but destroyed his family, he doesn’t let it get him down. It’s really something to see. Yet, a very serious message is delivered. He has more followers than there are members of this cult, because people external to the situation feel good for watching these videos.
I’m not suggesting that you try to make fun of the terrible things happening, but I think that finding the success stories, when people stand up to bad things would be heartwarming and refreshing to a lot of people. Jesus was executed like a common criminal, but he conquered the world.
Come to think of it, I don’t know anybody who isn’t swamped by too much junk email. It’d be too bad if that just smothered all the content.
There is a definite downside to the Information Age. I truly miss not having a bit of peace and quiet.
There may be a big tech element, but I wouldn’t discount the idea that there are so many more demands upon everyone’s attention, over the last few years. The number of emails I receive increases steadily. My bank, my medical insurance, my car insurance, my retirement fund; all of these send numerous unwelcome emails, wanting my time and attention. This leaves less time and attention for things I actually want to give attention to, such as your blog.
Beyond that, there are events occurring that cause a lot of anxiety and concern, and these compete for time and attention. For example, events currently happening in Israel are quite distressing to me. The European war, greater worldwide hostility, etc. All of this erodes our abilities to process information.
All I can say for sure is that as of Jan. 2 of this year, I’ve had a serious fall-off in my viewer numbers; and other Christian bloggers say the same. Of course there’s way too much nooze out there for me to cover. Too much even for me just to read. And yes, we have more email than we can process. Many readers can say the same.
I just can’t shake the suspicion that somehow the search engines have been fiddled with–to our disadvantage.
Sure, why not. I don’t know if this is a Christmas hymn, but how about “Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones.”
I’ll try to post it for you tomorrow.