I highly recommend this article, if only for the snazzy graph, and the moustache. Reading that, I had the same feeling of envy and wonder I had a couple years ago when that Peter Pan guy's site was so popular.
This is what the article says about how to improve your blog: 1. provide something unique; 2. provide something valuable; 3. be first; 4. do your research; and 5. learn to write very well.
Not just well, but very well. If you just write well, you're f*cked, in a nutshell.
What great and unique ideas, you say. Why didn't someone else think of that already, you ask. Why is your blog so popular, Mig, since you don't do any of that stuff, you also ask.
Because, I say, that guy doesn't know what he's talking about, while I do, obviously. Here is the secret formula:
Mig's top-secret formula i.e. How to Really have a Popular Blog:
I tried the pig shave thing. Didn't work.
I found that posting like a M*th*er*uc*er works best. What happens is that Google bot crawls you like a M*th*er*uc*er and then you can just count those as "hits." I mean, hits are hits, right?
Posted by: scott partee at March 29, 2004 02:41 PMShh, I'm trying to trick people into getting pig shaves.
Posted by: mig at March 29, 2004 02:47 PMWhat is a pig shave? all I can find is this gallery of hair styles.
http://www.pigshave.com/gal/ps_gal.html
Posted by: Anita Rowland at March 29, 2004 03:40 PMIntellectuals, eh? Any intellectuals reading my stuff are probably just killing time between dental appointments and pig shaves. Speaking of which, I'm getting the razor out tonight.
Posted by: eeksypeeksy at March 29, 2004 05:15 PMSpeaking of- could you change the settings at LIT- I'm there- all alone- not really having much to say.
And being there alone makes that much more obvious.
Posted by: sue at March 29, 2004 05:46 PMfixed the settings, sue. i'd been meaning to do that.
Posted by: mig at March 29, 2004 06:16 PMThat's a nice gallery, Anita. A pig shave is a very short haircut. Be careful with that razor, Eeksy. Wait, what are you shaving? Good luck and get well soon etc.
Posted by: mig at March 29, 2004 06:18 PMI dunno..I might try a pig shave, but I'm not giving up my moustache, that's for sure.
Posted by: peggy at March 30, 2004 02:58 PMI was beginning to think that the recipe for a Popular Blog was only a myth. Illusive. The Holy Grail of our own time.
The problem with my own search, I realize now, is that I'd begun looking from the bottom up. "I'm forgetting something" was easy enough to find, but with my thinning hair, "get a pig shave" would have eluded me for years.
Posted by: Keith at March 30, 2004 04:08 PMI have a beard, does that count?
Posted by: Brian at March 30, 2004 04:51 PMokay, i've been thinking about that other guy's list since you put this up, and i just can't stop being disturbed.
it reminds me of stuff i read in high school about "how to attract boys!" or something like that. it's just... wasn't the point of the internet "communities" in general and blogging in particular supposed to be that finally you didn't have to dale carnegie your way into a room of restricted options, but you could be yourself, web-swinging across the virtual world, and in doing so find like-minded souls?
well...so his thing was troubling, as were the recent "a list" themed postings at wonderchicken.
but you, deer mig, with your pig-shaven tortoise poetry contests, etc... you win!
Posted by: anne at March 31, 2004 12:22 PMi've only just started with the blog thing, and had no prior experience with making intynet whatsoever. so i trawled various how-to sites, looking for technical tips in luddite-friendly language. but i kept getting distracted by the how-to blog sites. i especially like the ones that explain about grammar and Being Yourself. i'm facinated. and wondering how i could go about Being Myself just a little bit more.
oh, btw, why is it so important to have lots of people visit your blog? surely it's not just a matter of being the Coolest Kid At School?
...oh, i really like reading your blog, mig. you must be the coolest kid at school. i read regularly, but never comment - feels a bit like i'm butting in on an eavesdropped conversation...
Posted by: dogpossum at April 1, 2004 05:02 AMi've only just started with the blog thing, and had no prior experience with making intynet whatsoever. so i trawled various how-to sites, looking for technical tips in luddite-friendly language. but i kept getting distracted by the how-to blog sites. i especially like the ones that explain about grammar and Being Yourself. i'm facinated. and wondering how i could go about Being Myself just a little bit more.
oh, btw, why is it so important to have lots of people visit your blog? surely it's not just a matter of being the Coolest Kid At School?
...oh, i really like reading your blog, mig. you must be the coolest kid at school. i read regularly, but never comment - feels a bit like i'm butting in on an eavesdropped conversation...
Posted by: dogpossum at April 1, 2004 05:03 AMof course, there is the person who would have read your blog without getting bug buttons....
:-)
Posted by: j-a at April 1, 2004 05:48 AM