# 19 (2013) Hit Rates

Is it all about the hits or it is the content of your blog that makes it successful?

I finally reached my 6000 hits milestone this last week. I've been running this site for over a year now and I have friends who have been running blogs for far less time and have more hits than me. But is it the hits that count, the content or the quality of the content?

If you're looking for a blog to read do you look at their hit counter first or study the subject matter or do you search by tag words? I tend to struggle with blogs that are poorly spelt so even if the content is interesting I will probably be distracted enough by the way it is written to go elsewhere.

Whilst I am guilty of posting up 'Wooooo look how many hits I've got' style updates, it's more about generating interest in keenly felt subjects or just venting because if I don't I may well explode.  My particular subjects of interest are body image, economy, business and finance and general day to day well being.

Clearly people are reading my blog but I don't worry about how many or who because I know that what I post isn't for everyone but for the people that do read it, it is useful or amuses. Many of my posts are personal to me or local in nature and won't necessarily relate to many of my readers but I do try to touch on subjects that I think will have readership appeal. 

And of course I do check my statistics to see where the trends lie generally or in regards to individual posts. Even so, I have no idea if I have a readership following or if I am randomly collecting readers on a post by post basis. Google tells me I have only three followers but I know more are regularly dropping by.

Some of my fellow bloggers post on subjects that will naturally generate higher hit rates. Fashion, ethical subjects, feminism, naturism and sex are cases in point and I know that if I tag posts that relate to these subjects that the hit rates on these entries will receive more attention. To prove the point I will be tagging the aforementioned words in this one and comparing the results over the next few weeks.

As well as regular readers there are drifters, people who pass through using search words to find individual subjects that interest them. Feminism, sex and business being cases in point.

More than anything, this is where I post what is going on in my life. I know that people have huge concerns about privacy and not letting the world know all about 'you'. I'm not about to post up my address or other intensely personal information but I find this place incredibly useful to me.

I also try to take care that I am not overly posting on subjects that directly link to those around me in real life. Well, not usually anyway. But if something really needs saying, I will say it.

I have many pent up emotions and frustrations and find that they are often best communicated in type face. I never kept a diary, I couldn't see the point in writing only for myself. Once I've written about something I don't necessarily want to be reminded about it. But I love to write. It has always been one of my passions and it's one of the things I have kept up with throughout my life.

Besides which I can reach a lot more people and that can only be a good thing, right?

(source)

# 16 (2013) Figure Boosting The Feminist Way

If I ever feel like boosting my hit rating I just have to mention the word FEMINISM. Yes that's right - FEMINISM. Because there is no subject more guaranteed to get your audience riled than mentioning feminism.

My post about 'Slutwalk and why it bothers me' all the way back in September last year is still taking hits right on the jaw. It's one of the few posts I've actually got comments on and mostly from angry feminists (invariably anonymous - thanks Google). I've been called an Islamaphobe (seriously???), weird for not thinking myself a feminist and told to look up what feminism actually means - ummm equal rights yeah? I love how a MAN invented the name in 1837 though. I think it was also a man who invented the hoover wasn't it?

But are all women feminists at heart? Is it unavoidable given our modern age? And is it wrong for a feminist to laugh at sexist jokes that target women or fall for the advertising on a beauty product? Just how far do you take the feminism message and how much is too much?

I read an article in BITCH magazine (says it all right?) called Mad World: Who's Afraid of (Being) the Big Bad Feminist? I don't know why feminists were questioning why they were laughing at the Old Spice campaign. I mean - it's just a funny ad right?

My original post was about the Slutwalk protests and why I was concerned that girls who walk around wearing very little didn't see why it should make them a target for nutters (like there aren't many of those out there). And I reiterate again that, yes you should have the right to walk around wearing whatever you goddamn well like, but you can't. Because yay - mankind is shitty. It's got nothing to do with feminism, it is to do with basic animal instinct. It's called sex - whether it's procreational or recreational. And no matter how more advanced we think we are than the animal kingdom we are not that different at all. You think rape doesn't occur in nature? Oh think again dear reader....

My post back in September was further prompted by having some very lefty feminist 'friend' ram her bullshit down my throat when I had asked her politely to stop because I just wasn't interested. I'm sure plenty of other marginalised 17 year olds were. But not me. It could have been in the delivery though.

And then I heard about this the other week and once again I was thinking - well you can't be both surely? But perhaps you can, because my feminist 'friend' who insisted it was completely up to her whether or not she should shave and then took a brand new bic to herself so she could dance at a lap dancing club for money and men really got me miffed and more than a little angry. But was that her right as a feminist and if so why wasn't it hypocritical? And didn't I have a right to get angry about that after everything she had said to me? 

So that is what prompted my original post. And I was reminded that I should repost on the subject when Beyonce did a feminist / strip for publication the other day. I didn't really care but hey - hits.

I guess my problem is that I have never felt marginalised, threatened, devalued etc etc for being female. I have never put myself into a vulnerable position that wasn't self made. I guess that makes me lucky to be born in the Western World to a middle class family. Or maybe it just makes me savvy because when I look back, just occasionally I was damned near lucky not to have got myself into some tricky situations.

I'm happy to step aside and let all the feminists take on the mantle of protester. I also have plenty of friends who enjoy the role of 'traditional woman in the home'. Great for them. This doesn't make me angry but I sure as hell don't expect them to question why I never want children.

I think Asda did something  similar for Christmas 2012 (source)

I can't get fired up about something I am not fired up about. I've never protested, but I have ranted and raved in small doses. I don't actually mind the feminist message but don't scream and shout at me just because I go 'meh' and sometimes put my hands over my ears.

I'm not going to apologise but keep the comments coming because I want to get 6000 hits.

# 30 The Progressive Reader

I read some fascinating statistics on Friday about how although book sales in their traditional form have been struggling during the recession, that e-books are as strong if not stronger than ever.

Something like 1.33 million ebook readers were sold in the 6 weeks leading up to Christmas and something in the region of 500,000 ebooks were bought on Christmas Day alone - no doubt to populate all those gifted Kindle's fired up on the big day.

Kindle - books on the go - source

Like vinyl the hard copy book has slowly gone out of fashion to a degree, but reading hasn't and this is the good news. The format has changed that is all. The internet has been a godsend in many respects. Access to digitalised hard to find books online using sites such as GoogleBooks has made the internet revolution enormously useful to both readers and researchers. I have lost count of the number of obscure foreign or out of print books I have gained access to through Google that I would otherwise never have found.

Vinyl of course, is now coming back into fashion and there were those that never stopped using it. It will be the same for the hard copy book. So what I found particularly interesting about these statistics was the demographic group buying into this new way of reading. It isn't, as you might expect the younger, technologically savvy generation, but quite simply those who were already reading real books in the first place. It is thus that the technology is not encouraging a new generation to take up reading, but the former to read in a new way.

Progressive publishers are producing new works in multiple formats these days - hard copy, e- books, even audio books and it seems that if the book buying public are happy to embrace this new way of reading, then publishers shall have to bend to meet demand and remain in business.