I’ve been away...but now I’m back...a forty eight hour pass from my kids...unfortunately I had to attend a funeral in Auckland to get the pass...but it was worth it.
Sometimes life gets so hectic around here, stepping away feels like heaven....
Jumping back into the fray... It’s Blog day Thursday.
A few posts ago I said that I’d talk about stat counters...
A Stat Counter is a little link that counts how many of your web/blog page loads are being looked at by other computers.
Fifi Colston is right... they are addictive. If you have stat counter (a nice little free service) you set up a little account and check it regularly and find out that all sorts of people around the country and around the world have stumbled over your musings. There is lots of information you can find out that will help you especially if you are using your web site to sell anything.
For instance key words... the stat counter website will tell you what key words were used to find your web/blog.
In terms of marketing this is invaluable. People looking for Ruth Paul, children’s books, the tomorrow code and Melinda Szymanik have all found my blog. I hope they enjoyed it.
I’d like to say Hi to all the people from the States that have popped in, and Dubai, as well as the many from New Zealand.
The other little piece of info that is invaluable is how your readers have found you through other web/blogs. Readers of Fifi, Melinda and Tim have come on over to see what I’m saying (with any luck it’s as interesting as what they post.)
Commenting on other blogs and web sites is great for getting your blog/web site noticed. There is a group of US kids lit bloggers (who attended the blogosphere conference earlier this year) who are having a 21 day challenge....comment on five blogs a day for 21 days and look at the traffic that results from your efforts.
I won’t be joining them at the moment I’m still trying to get on top of the mountain of laundry waiting for me after my forty eight hour pass.(writing... what’s that???)
All though I did get my space fix in yesterday with three presentations of my solar system/ nebula/galaxy, power point slideshow at school yesterday. It went down a treat and I hope I have inspired some eight year olds to think about getting out there and doing some exploration in space.
maureen
pic is the sombrero galaxy...voted the best picture the hubble space telescope has ever taken...Isn't it amazing!
4 comments:
I wrote an article for the Kiwiwrite4kidz newsletter on this very topic about two weeks ago. Every time you connect with a blog, people can follow where you've been and where you're going. As a writer, having people know your name and who you are can make a big difference to the success of your books. A stat counter can help direct your internet use to better effect; to raise your profile. Of course the flipside is that statistics don't always tell us what we want to hear :)
cheers
Melinda
HI Melinda,
Thanks for your comment.I figure if enough of us talk about blogging and commenting it may just lift the profile of children's writers here in NZ and goodness knows it would be nice if the NZ public knew about the rest of us very good writers.
I was having a think the other day and trying to count up NZ writers that have their own website or blog.
there is us three with blogs...maria with a book review blog...lorraine, brian, anyone else?...maybe we could explore a 2k8 style of thing for NZ...more stuff for the conference.
I like the idea of reaching a wider audience too though. I get visitors from the US, and Oz and a couple even from UK, Canada, Tonga and Korea. NZ has an odd habit of becoming more interested in their own writers when overseas countries take an interest. I'd prefer this to not be necessary but if blogging achieves this for me I won't complain. There are so many potential benefits its hard to know where to begin and I'm surprised more people aren't trying it.
cheers
Melinda
completely agree with you...
m
Post a Comment