Attracting viewers to your web site

[The_Traveler]

Like most photographers or, in the larger case, most artists, I like people to see my work. In the overwhelming flood of photography oriented websites out there, pictures just aren't enough. Pictures don't stick up above the crowd and, unless one is very good and prolific, it isn't enough to bring people back.
So I write articles on a blog. Rather than short bits that are usually rather thin in content, I tend to write longer pieces; these longer pieces take both a fair amount of work and a good amount of actual real life thought so I don't publish too often.
Surprisingly enough these articles get a good many readers but very few comments.
I just pulled down the top reads from 2013; here they are in descending order (the absolute number is a bit irrelevant since some were posted at the beginning of 2013 and some at the very end.)
In 2014 I wrote virtually exclusively reviews of local art shows and those totals are artificially high so I left them out.

The first one in the following list got just over 2800 views and the last, just above 1100.

How to improve your photography: your own twelve step program
**Adventures on the Road in Northern Laos
Shooting in P mode & Why photographers defend their methods
11 Tips for Beginning Photographers - How to Start Taking Pictures
Getting to a Final Image - some words on editing photos for a new photographer
**Adventures on the Road in Northern Laos - the third and last part
**Esther, Sitting By the Road
My opinions about Photographing the Homeless and Using Hipstagram-like Filters; negative
What is Street Photography? - and what it isn't
Art Photography - a few roses, a lot of thorns
Aligning the head, the eye and the heart - the spirit of street photography
Semiotics of Images - why some images are more comfortable than others -Part 2
**Adventures on the Road in Northern Laos Part 2
The Meaning of 'meaning'

** travel

Ignoring the travel pieces, it seems that the title is a crucial element in attracting people; the title must respond to a common question in photography or at least have important words in the title that will show up in search engines. New photographers, or even beginning photographers, seem to be attracted to articles that tell them how to climb the learning curve.
(IME, Multi-part articles don't do as well, losing about a third of readers from first to second and then to third.)
I don't go crazy with keywords for seo but I do enter as many of the really relevant ones I can think of. I'm not trying to lure people in for the clicks but to get people to actually think of me as having something useful to say.
The articles are not dense text; I use a lot of paragraph breaks and insert images as often as needed.
Although clicking on a picture will bring them back to a gallery, it is, or it should be, clear that the articles are about the text and not about luring people to look at images with useless text.This is intended to be a blog of idea rather than a blog to show off my latest pictures.
The secondary result of writing these pieces is that I have been forced to actually read and then think a lot about photography - and my own in particular - so I ended up having a much more intricate stance on photography than I had before.
Whenever I think of a topic, I start a draft article so I always have a few in early stage and that keeps me going when immediate ideas dry up.
My rules for writing my own blog posts:

• Be succinct while actually delivering ideas and rationale; talk about what, how and, most important, why;
  
• Be reality based, be about how I do things in the real world. Whenever I've read books or articles about art, when the topic veers off into conceptual issues, I lose track of what the hell the author means - and thus I lose interest. Perhaps I'm not smart enough for the conceptual stuff, and;
• Don't try to evangelize. I write about is what works for me - if you do it differently, OK. Except for surgeons, there is no body of people more invested in the 'rightness' of their own technique than photographers - and any insinuation that there is some way better than the way they do something is guaranteed to get resistance.

The crucial point is that, if you are going to write a log, have something to say. Readers will quickly identify an empty vanity effort and not bother to return and, when you have nothing to say, it becomes damn hard to find new ways to say it.

 

[Microbois]

I've been writing a blog for the last 4-5 years in a different field than photography, and your findings are pretty much in line with what I've noticed myself over the years. I don't want to rain on your parade, but some of your hits are generated by search engines too, so the figure of real people reading your articles is usually a little lower.

If you want to draw more attention, you almost always have to write articles with a high potential of going viral, or make a Ken Rockwell of yourself. Both options you may not want to get into, with good reasons.

That being said, I think a lot of this situation can be explained by the vast amount of information, blogs, opinions, discussion forums, social medias, and technical info that can be found on the Internet without much effort. Another more disconcerting truth is the fact that people have no patience to read and appreciate a good in-depth article that takes the time to go from A to Z. Trust me, I've been writing full time for magazines and newspapers for the last 10 years, and my articles have got shorter and shorter every year. Surprisingly, we have never been so educated than say 50 years ago, but people now can't put in the effort, or their interest is so superficial.

 

[The_Traveler]

Not wanting to be a Ken Rockwell and I don't know anything that would go viral.
I'm happy just to keep putzing along until I run out of things to write about.
I resist writing too short things because I can't get stuff across in too short a time.

I don't want to rain on your parade, but some of your hits are generated by search engines too, so the figure of real people reading your articles is usually a little lower.

But of course you did, a little, or you wouldn't have mentioned it at all.
But I recognize, and don't mind, the tiny streak of schadenfreude that runs through even the best of us.
What do you write about?

 

[bribrius]

I think the problem with blogs is anyone can write one. The vast majority probably don't get many hits unless they develop a friend fan club or are somewhat a known entity to start with. Shocking material helps. Credentials helps.
I have zero knowledge of your background lew, so don't consider this geared toward you and take from it what you will.
The blogs i have read, were promoted on other sites. Since i generally avoid them the last was on the breakdown of detoilet with first hand witness accounts and lots of photos (i like photos obviously). Generally i tend to avoid them because most are closer to the day to day life of someones facebook, exceptionally dull and uneducating. Not to mention i have no personal interest myself in their day to day life or ambition to read a online diary of it..
Short of that kind of thing, it seems credentials help. And here is where i haven't a clue of your background. But generally people like to read something they feel came from someone who knows something about what they are writing about.
Are they a known photographer? How many times published? where and for what? Have they been formally recognized in the field they are discussing? Do they have formal education on the subject? Are they a teacher or professor, some sort on the subject? How any years experience might they have?

These are all things that matter. Because anyone can write a blog. Posting work on top of that, is the exclamation point perhaps to all of the above.
I do not know your background, have reviewed your blog only briefly. Street photography seems the focus partly. Have you been published? Have you been formally recognized? Have you taught, as some on this site for example are giving seminars or bringing groups out?
These are all things that lend to credibility. And short of the shock or building a popularity list with blog promotion i think might be important for you to list (assuming you haven't and i missed it).
They give people a reason to come read it, and separate you from "just another blog".
You also are competing with regularly, well known writers on the subject from more formalized sources. so i wouldn't expect too much. Your hit count sounds pretty good to me, for the media outlet you are using. Take it from whence this came (grain of salt) if you can get anything from it of use.

 

[Microbois]

I resist writing too short things because I can't get stuff across in too short a time.

Trust me, I'm a writer since 10 years, and I write just as many words necessary to explain what needs to be said on technical subjects (woodworking projects and woodworking tools), but the "Internet experts" at one of the magazine told me my articles were way too long for the average attention span of a typical internet user. Most of my articles were under 500 words!

I'm no longer writing for this magazine, as I just can't take that BS anymore, and elected to start my own specialized website where I have no bondaries. But just as the "experts" have noticed, it is indeed true that short articles get more hits. Fortunately, there are a few exceptions to that rule, but it tends to be in my tool review section where I write all I need without any compromise. The most popular reviews are those of tools breaking new ground and are on the cutting edge of technology. The game changers in fact. The regular stuff doesn't get much attention, nor my general "timeless" articles on various general subjects.

I would suggest you to write articles between 250 and 500 words that just gloss over your subjects, and if you feel like providing much more details, then write companion articles where you just cover all ground. It will be up to the reader to dig for more, or just get enough with the minimum.

This is a new world, and there's no way the younger generation think like us, the ol' geezers.

 

[bribrius]

I resist writing too short things because I can't get stuff across in too short a time.

Trust me, I'm a writer since 10 years, and I write just as many words necessary to explain what needs to be said on technical subjects (woodworking projects and woodworking tools), but the "Internet experts" at one of the magazine told me my articles were way too long for the average attention span of a typical internet user. Most of my articles were under 500 words!

I'm no longer writing for this magazine, as I just can't take that BS anymore, and elected to start my own specialized website where I have no bondaries. But just as the "experts" have noticed, it is indeed true that short articles get more hits. Fortunately, there are a few exceptions to that rule, but it tends to be in my tool review section where I write all I need without any compromise. The most popular reviews are those of tools breaking new ground and are on the cutting edge of technology. The game changers in fact. The regular stuff doesn't get much attention, nor my general "timeless" articles on various general subjects.

I would suggest you to write articles between 250 and 500 words that just gloss over your subjects, and if you feel like providing much more details, then write companion articles where you just cover all ground. It will be up to the reader to dig for more, or just get enough with the minimum.

This is a new world, and there's no way the younger generation think like us, the ol' geezers.

video provides hands on visual and audible learning and has gone viral. Because of the extra stimuli in teaching the brain video seems to be somewhat out doing print. While people add photos to print, accompanying video slices would much help. Just as on people reverted to learning with books on tape in the eighties to ninety's to avoid print allowing audible learning while multitasking. Totally another factor though. Just a thought. Many of the lectures i have tended to be more geared to over print, of course are audio. Can close my eyes and just listen. While i dont mind reading, if my eyes are open i would prefer the video aspect especially if i just want to learn the material and get through it quickly with the highest comprehension possible. .

 

[Gary A.]

I don't write, I just post images. I've been averaging more than 100,000 hits per month.

 

[bribrius]

I don't write, I just post images. I've been averaging more than 100,000 hits per month.

on what site?

 

[Gary A.]

My Smugmug website. It's in my signature.

 

[Vtec44]

It's a bit more on my site since I want to look at where the people are coming from, using what keywords, how they go through my sites, how long do they stay for, how many pages do they look at, etc. IMHO, fresh and helpful content for specific topics will help you.

Here's a print out of my Google analytics comparison from the same time period last year. I posted this in a Facebook group regarding the same subject.

 

[Microbois]

video provides hands on visual and audible learning and has gone viral. Because of the extra stimuli in teaching the brain video seems to be somewhat out doing print. While people add photos to print, accompanying video slices would much help. Just as on people reverted to learning with books on tape in the eighties to ninety's to avoid print allowing audible learning while multitasking. Totally another factor though. Just a thought. Many of the lectures i have tended to be more geared to over print, of course are audio. Can close my eyes and just listen. While i dont mind reading, if my eyes are open i would prefer the video aspect especially if i just want to learn the material and get through it quickly with the highest comprehension possible. .

You have a point.

Most people, if not everyone, will much prefer seeing a great video demonstrating a topic, than reading the same on a white page. Can't blame them for that. Problem is, for content producers like us, it's a way more work to edit an entertaining video than just write a good article. On the other hand, I'm wondering if we have not become too lazy where we just can't make the effort to read an article of 500 words.

 

[Didereaux]

Like most photographers or, in the larger case, most artists, I like people to see my work. In the overwhelming flood of photography oriented websites out there, pictures just aren't enough. Pictures don't stick up above the crowd and, unless one is very good and prolific, it isn't enough to bring people back.
So I write articles on a blog. Rather than short bits that are usually rather thin in content, I tend to write longer pieces; these longer pieces take both a fair amount of work and a good amount of actual real life thought so I don't publish too often.
Surprisingly enough these articles get a good many readers but very few comments.
I just pulled down the top reads from 2013; here they are in descending order (the absolute number is a bit irrelevant since some were posted at the beginning of 2013 and some at the very end.)
In 2014 I wrote virtually exclusively reviews of local art shows and those totals are artificially high so I left them out.

The first one in the following list got just over 2800 views and the last, just above 1100.

How to improve your photography: your own twelve step program
**Adventures on the Road in Northern Laos
Shooting in P mode & Why photographers defend their methods
11 Tips for Beginning Photographers - How to Start Taking Pictures
Getting to a Final Image - some words on editing photos for a new photographer
**Adventures on the Road in Northern Laos - the third and last part
**Esther, Sitting By the Road
My opinions about Photographing the Homeless and Using Hipstagram-like Filters; negative
What is Street Photography? - and what it isn't
Art Photography - a few roses, a lot of thorns
Aligning the head, the eye and the heart - the spirit of street photography
Semiotics of Images - why some images are more comfortable than others -Part 2
**Adventures on the Road in Northern Laos Part 2
The Meaning of 'meaning'

.

Couldn't get the link to work for your articles, but this one did the trick.
Lew Lorton Photography Blog

The 'Esther' one was a quite nice read.

 

[bribrius]

Like most photographers or, in the larger case, most artists, I like people to see my work. In the overwhelming flood of photography oriented websites out there, pictures just aren't enough. Pictures don't stick up above the crowd and, unless one is very good and prolific, it isn't enough to bring people back.
So I write articles on a blog. Rather than short bits that are usually rather thin in content, I tend to write longer pieces; these longer pieces take both a fair amount of work and a good amount of actual real life thought so I don't publish too often.
Surprisingly enough these articles get a good many readers but very few comments.
I just pulled down the top reads from 2013; here they are in descending order (the absolute number is a bit irrelevant since some were posted at the beginning of 2013 and some at the very end.)
In 2014 I wrote virtually exclusively reviews of local art shows and those totals are artificially high so I left them out.

The first one in the following list got just over 2800 views and the last, just above 1100.

How to improve your photography: your own twelve step program
**Adventures on the Road in Northern Laos
Shooting in P mode & Why photographers defend their methods
11 Tips for Beginning Photographers - How to Start Taking Pictures
Getting to a Final Image - some words on editing photos for a new photographer
**Adventures on the Road in Northern Laos - the third and last part
**Esther, Sitting By the Road
My opinions about Photographing the Homeless and Using Hipstagram-like Filters; negative
What is Street Photography? - and what it isn't
Art Photography - a few roses, a lot of thorns
Aligning the head, the eye and the heart - the spirit of street photography
Semiotics of Images - why some images are more comfortable than others -Part 2
**Adventures on the Road in Northern Laos Part 2
The Meaning of 'meaning'

.

Couldn't get the link to work for your articles, but this one did the trick.
Lew Lorton Photography Blog

The 'Esther' one was a quite nice read.

all he has to do it tell everyone their work is vanilla and post some loud tacky pics and he will get a bunch more hits.

 

[The_Traveler]

I do this because I like to write also but, just like my photography, my writing is not at an exceptional level.
My photography, when it succeeds, inspires me to write; my writing is a way to preserve what I think and leads me to be more analytical about my own perceptions.
So I use one to buttress the other.
One of my sons writes routinely for an online magazine - and is much more perceptive and skilled than I. I like to think that some of his talent comes from me (although his mother has a PhD in Comp Lit, taught literature at university for years and was a publisher and published poet so some of his talent might come from her.)

 

[bribrius]

I do this because I like to write also but, just like my photography, my writing is not at an exceptional level.
My photography, when it succeeds, inspires me to write; my writing is a way to preserve what I think and leads me to be more analytical about my own perceptions.
So I use one to buttress the other.
One of my sons writes routinely for an online magazine - and is much more perceptive and skilled than I. I like to think that some of his talent comes from me (although his mother has a PhD in Comp Lit, taught literature at university for years and was a publisher and published poet so some of his talent might come from her.)

you aren't giving yourself ENOUGH credit now. Some of your photography is pretty damn good imo. Maybe not EXCEPTIONAL. But pretty DAMN good. I've already gone back to look at one of your posted shots twice today.