I just wanted to put some thoughts out.
Last year on this date I put out a few ideas on Switching from Warhammer 8th edition to Kings of War 2nd edition. I wanted to take a look at it, and share just a little with you, my readers.
Why? Because that single post generates (and that is current tense, not past) 11% of the traffic to my meager little blog by itself. To share some numbers, when I looked this morning, I have managed to get 89,175 page views for my blog since I started it on February 15th, 2015. Of those, that single post is responsible for 9,820 of them. The next biggest was last month, and has about 1/4 of that (2,526 (the initial pre-release pictures of the new Empire of Dust)).
I find that when I can get new pictures out (especially before Mantic releases them) than I get a lot of views because people - well gamers - are always wanting the next new thing.
I decided to just take a look at my old post - and of course the very first thing I see is a typo on the second line that has been there for a year (a missing closing ')'). (I like to use parenthesis because I often have side thoughts (and side thoughts to my side thoughts) that I set aside with them). (My son often points out typos to me after I put up a new post - which often means I'm scrambling to correct them from my phone because I'm not near my computer (yes, these are written ahead of time (or on my lunch hour) and scheduled))
This post has almost no pictures. A quick graphic I made up and a shot of one of my dwarf units. So it wasn't shiny new pictures.
I did put in some tables to help people translate from one game to the other. Looking at one of those I see that some of the names of the new armies have changed, and of course Uncharted Empires came out in November, so those new armies are not longer in an upcoming supplement. Time to update.
One thing I've noticed is that I have to share any of my posts heavily on facebook (I try to only do it to relevant groups - so I don't share posts on Deadzone to Kings of War groups, and the (ok rare) non-Mantic post does not go to Mantic groups) for people to actually read my new posts. I'm satisfied when a single posts gets more than 100 views, and happy when it hits over 200. Without sharing, a post gets less than 40. (So I honestly don't expect many people to read this one, because it isn't one that I'll be spamming around facebook (that will be tonight's regularly scheduled post) :-) ).
"So what?" you think? Well the W->KoW post is still getting hundreds of views every week, and is quite often still the most viewed page on my site for any given period of time. New pictures may beat it for a little while, then it climbs back on top. And beyond when I initially posted it, I have not been promoting it.
I have linked to it a few times - people would specifically ask how to convert so I'd give them the link. I've also seen other people link to it (that always gives me a little warm feeling in my heart). Word of mouth and people sharing it are what keeps it going.
The environment has changed. AoS, The 9th Age have both come out to fill the void, alongside of Kings of War, that Warhammer Fantasy Battles left behind last summer when Games Workshop blew up the old world and discontinued the game. They have also since discontinued their entire Tomb Kings line - and Mantic is releasing the Empire of Dust for all those who wanted a dry, dusty undead force. The wounds that many players feel from the death of WFB are not healed, but they aren't fresh either. Most players have now moved on - either from the hobby entirely, away from large scale fantasy gaming, or to one of the alternatives. It surprises me that there are still so many people who are looking to convert a year later.
I have found that I tend to be on the outside with many of my opinions. I used to ask the question "Is it just me or do others think <some thought>". Well I stopped doing that because the answer was always, inevitably, yes, it was just me. When I find a blog post about Kings of War that I find interesting, I add that blog to my RSS feed so I'll see any new posts they put up. With the low readership without me spamming new posts to facebook - yeah that is just me.
Anyway, I didn't do anything when I hit my first anniversary. (yes, I have added and backdated a lot of old posts from other sources - with the idea being that eventually all the stuff I have written about Kings of War will be in one place. It is a slow, tedious and boring process, and no one else seems to actually care (a lot of which I can count the number of views on one hand)). But reflection is good at times.
It is hard to say why I write this. Yes, the fame and glory are all well and good (in my head at least). It isn't for the money. Let's just say that I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon (so far I've accumulated a whopping $22.82 in add revenue from the blog (realizing that Google won't cut a check for less than $100 - so maybe in a couple more years I might actually get a check). Part of me just wants some sort of outlet for my thoughts, and to share. I figure with my kids all moved out of the house I need to generate another source of stress (What am I going to write about now - and going to posting twice a week (at least) makes that even worse).
So I can't say why one post is so popular. As a whole this seems to be growing, if slowly. A few people seem to enjoy my ramblings on games, so I don't plan on stopping.
Because it is all fun and games . . .
Last year on this date I put out a few ideas on Switching from Warhammer 8th edition to Kings of War 2nd edition. I wanted to take a look at it, and share just a little with you, my readers.
Why? Because that single post generates (and that is current tense, not past) 11% of the traffic to my meager little blog by itself. To share some numbers, when I looked this morning, I have managed to get 89,175 page views for my blog since I started it on February 15th, 2015. Of those, that single post is responsible for 9,820 of them. The next biggest was last month, and has about 1/4 of that (2,526 (the initial pre-release pictures of the new Empire of Dust)).
I find that when I can get new pictures out (especially before Mantic releases them) than I get a lot of views because people - well gamers - are always wanting the next new thing.
I decided to just take a look at my old post - and of course the very first thing I see is a typo on the second line that has been there for a year (a missing closing ')'). (I like to use parenthesis because I often have side thoughts (and side thoughts to my side thoughts) that I set aside with them). (My son often points out typos to me after I put up a new post - which often means I'm scrambling to correct them from my phone because I'm not near my computer (yes, these are written ahead of time (or on my lunch hour) and scheduled))
This post has almost no pictures. A quick graphic I made up and a shot of one of my dwarf units. So it wasn't shiny new pictures.
I did put in some tables to help people translate from one game to the other. Looking at one of those I see that some of the names of the new armies have changed, and of course Uncharted Empires came out in November, so those new armies are not longer in an upcoming supplement. Time to update.
One thing I've noticed is that I have to share any of my posts heavily on facebook (I try to only do it to relevant groups - so I don't share posts on Deadzone to Kings of War groups, and the (ok rare) non-Mantic post does not go to Mantic groups) for people to actually read my new posts. I'm satisfied when a single posts gets more than 100 views, and happy when it hits over 200. Without sharing, a post gets less than 40. (So I honestly don't expect many people to read this one, because it isn't one that I'll be spamming around facebook (that will be tonight's regularly scheduled post) :-) ).
"So what?" you think? Well the W->KoW post is still getting hundreds of views every week, and is quite often still the most viewed page on my site for any given period of time. New pictures may beat it for a little while, then it climbs back on top. And beyond when I initially posted it, I have not been promoting it.
I have linked to it a few times - people would specifically ask how to convert so I'd give them the link. I've also seen other people link to it (that always gives me a little warm feeling in my heart). Word of mouth and people sharing it are what keeps it going.
The environment has changed. AoS, The 9th Age have both come out to fill the void, alongside of Kings of War, that Warhammer Fantasy Battles left behind last summer when Games Workshop blew up the old world and discontinued the game. They have also since discontinued their entire Tomb Kings line - and Mantic is releasing the Empire of Dust for all those who wanted a dry, dusty undead force. The wounds that many players feel from the death of WFB are not healed, but they aren't fresh either. Most players have now moved on - either from the hobby entirely, away from large scale fantasy gaming, or to one of the alternatives. It surprises me that there are still so many people who are looking to convert a year later.
I have found that I tend to be on the outside with many of my opinions. I used to ask the question "Is it just me or do others think <some thought>". Well I stopped doing that because the answer was always, inevitably, yes, it was just me. When I find a blog post about Kings of War that I find interesting, I add that blog to my RSS feed so I'll see any new posts they put up. With the low readership without me spamming new posts to facebook - yeah that is just me.
Anyway, I didn't do anything when I hit my first anniversary. (yes, I have added and backdated a lot of old posts from other sources - with the idea being that eventually all the stuff I have written about Kings of War will be in one place. It is a slow, tedious and boring process, and no one else seems to actually care (a lot of which I can count the number of views on one hand)). But reflection is good at times.
It is hard to say why I write this. Yes, the fame and glory are all well and good (in my head at least). It isn't for the money. Let's just say that I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon (so far I've accumulated a whopping $22.82 in add revenue from the blog (realizing that Google won't cut a check for less than $100 - so maybe in a couple more years I might actually get a check). Part of me just wants some sort of outlet for my thoughts, and to share. I figure with my kids all moved out of the house I need to generate another source of stress (What am I going to write about now - and going to posting twice a week (at least) makes that even worse).
So I can't say why one post is so popular. As a whole this seems to be growing, if slowly. A few people seem to enjoy my ramblings on games, so I don't plan on stopping.
Because it is all fun and games . . .
I think blogs may have had their time in the sun, to some extent. In the past when they were booming, a lot of traffic passed between the different blogs using the "following" mechanic. But when AoS hit, it exploded the Warhammer blogging scene. It's possible the KoW blog scene has just not reached the point that the Warhammer scene was, and will grow over time. Or it's possible that it's a sign of the times and the growth of KoW will occur in other mediums and blogs will be left behind.
ReplyDeleteThat being the case, without a strong network of blogs to ensure traffic flow, it's inevitable that things like links on Facebook are needed in order to ensure people actually find your posts. As I say, sign of the times.
Hey, at least you have made $22.82... The one time I looked into adding an ad on my blog, Google said I didn't meet whatever their criteria were. I make nothing!
Certain posts always seem to go bonkers. They get hits, which lifts them in Google's preferences, which gets them more hits... At least the stats Blogger tracks let you have a look at what people were searching for when they found you. It's cute (and sometimes utterly baffling).
I enjoy your blog posts alot but since I get them served directly in my inbox I rarely visit the blog itself. Unsure if that statswise screws you out on a visit for each post
ReplyDeleteMy club in south east London (U.K.) are still very much actively playing 8th edition whfb (not everyone over the pond has embraced AoS) but it has got to the stage where a number of us are starting to try different systems and this is probably an example of why your post is still getting large hits as I think we will be heading the kow route rather than 9th if only due to the backing of an active company (and the fact that the writers are those who I grew up with when I got into GW).
ReplyDelete