Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Gifts to your Readers

Goodbye Blogroll Buddies
Recently (in the past few months), Mal (Mal's Mulblings), Grant (Discombobulatingrant), Muse (private blog), Amber (Absolutely no exaggeration or sarcasm Here) and Monica (My lovely and charming life), have either declared that they are on a hiatus or they have been on one. Furthermore, Ddot (The Palace) has not been blogging. And they were all very good reads, and more importantly, they were virtual friends.

When I wrote about traffic last week, I mentioned cleaning up hyperlinks that were no longer active. I appreciate when people have two blogging lists – one for active bloggers, and one for occasional bloggers. Well, I have taken the plunge and removed bloggers who no longer add posts from my blogroll; this was a painful experience. The most painful was removing Ddot, the self-described king of the bloggers or the blogosphere, or whatever. Oh, but I felt compelled to at least link to them in this post (I will look every once in a while). Ddot was my first link, so removing him was tough. Too bad I don't keep alcohol in my top desk drawer.

These bloggers probably really did, more than anything else, force me to start Battle of the Blogs. I really did not want to do it (because I really thought it was going to fail). And I have really lost a lot of blogging buddies. I understand them not wanting to continue to blog. I won't list the reasons – that would be the opposite of what I want to do – I want to encourage those to write and possibly share their writing with others. I really think this helps, in some small way, make our world a better place.

Giving Gifts to Your Blogroll
I have had posts in the past that have been clever, and also have given back to those who read my posts. Once, I had a post where I gave "virtual Christmas presents" to some of my frequent commenters. The post went over really well, as I knew a bit about them from their blogs and made the gifts personal. I also made a post for Academy Awards, and which of my blogger buddies would win which award (again, being bother personal and hopefully funny). It may have all started with a post about assumptions I make about the people who frequently comment on my blog.

I have not done a similar post in some time, for two reasons: (1) these posts take a lot of work, and (2) I have a much smaller audience now. For those of you who have a loyal following, this is a way of giving back to your most frequent commenters. Granted, it does not have appeal outside of your group, unless of course, you incorporate a bit of humor into the post.

This suggestion will not drive traffic, but may help ensure that your readers stay loyal to your blog. I sometimes wonder if I cared more for doing stuff like this, if I would have more loyal readers. Whether we like it or not, when we blog, we become connected. In a world where real connections seem to be disappearing, perhaps this is a good thing. Perhaps it is driving us not being connected. This, my virtual friends, is a discussion for another time. Me, I just want a Diet Dr. Pepper.

18 comments:

Prata said...

Well Leesa, I feel connected to you. Even if you know, it's in that sadistic, sad, and really kind of disturbing stalker way.

Oh, wait, that's a completely different person. Ahem. What I meant was, I feel connected to you in that I enjoy reading what you write and then commenting about it even if I disagree. I try not to be so "precise" anymore becaue I don't want to offend other people, but I don't think I've ever offended you. ^_^

I spent the night with the object of my affection last night and the night before last. Yes, this means I actually slept rather than sitting up all night as is usual.

Stacy The Peanut Queen said...

I hate taking people off my blog roll too...and there's so many blogs I can't access anymore while I'm at work (where I do most of my blogging from) that sometimes I can't read them for a month or more. I hate that.

Leesa said...

prata: I think you are thinking of another Leesa! But, yeah, I feel connected to your twisted soul, too.

stacy: yeah, but when people leave, I really need to take them off.

Deb said...

Hmm. I take people off my blogroll for the same reasons. If they are inactive, there is no need to trek back there in my opinion. See, the blogroll is for ‘me’, because sometimes I’m on different computers and I don’t have my “favorites” on there. So it’s strictly a personal thing- blogs and websites that I frequently go to.

Now I will be honest here and say that if the content of the blogger isn’t entertaining me or at least a bit interesting, I take them off my blogroll after I notice I haven’t been there in a while. Of course I check to see if they changed anything…but most of the time, they didn’t. I also like to rotate my list of bloggers as well. I had one blogger ask, “I noticed you took me off your blogroll, did I do something wrong?” It’s amazing how many people will notice if you do in fact, take them off.

Oh, by the way – Romey is back blogging! I think you remember him, right? I’m always entertained with his life.

And you my dear, are one of my most daily reads! You’re on my blogroll for life girl! But if you start talking about knitting and scrapbooking, you’re GONE! (ha)

Deb said...

P.S. Just because I don't comment sometimes doesn't mean I don't read you daily. I just don't have anything good or witty to say. Not that I ever do! ;\

Prata said...

And here I thought ~Deb always had somethin' wiltty and entertaining to say. I know because I goad her into being witty and or entertaining by rattling her case with my cattle prod. I mean err...good sense of humor. =-/

;)

Southern (in)Sanity said...

I recently had to "clean out" my blogroll too. It was very disappointing because a couple of my favorites hadn't been updated in weeks.

But, it saves some time when I go through and check each one daily. No sense checking those that are never updated.

Kat Campbell said...

I agree with you leesa, I think blogging is an important part of our society now too. I have my virtual neighborhood and my real neighborhood, friends in each that have become important to me and I to them. Links stay on my blog for at least one of two reasons: they are such interesting reads that even if they never acknowledge my presence I don't care, or they drop in with a comment from time to time.

Leesa said...

~deb: you are a daily read of mine as well. I moved you up to Ddot's spot (blogger I am most likely to sleep with).

prata: I think ~deb is partial to cattle prods.

rwa: I always hope that they will start up again, but you know, they rarely do.

kat: I visit far more sites than I comment on. But it part of my daily routine now.

Daisy said...

I really get disappointed when people who's blogs that I read regularly decide to stop blogging. One blogger that inspired me to start my own blog decided to stop blogging because someone at her work found out about her blog and was giving her a real hard time about it. How sad.

Pittchick said...

I have actually met two blogging buddies so far and it's really neat to get to know someone over the internet and then meet them in real life.
I even sent some blogging buddies real gifts, but then I don't want to leave anyone out, so I may stop doing that.

Leesa said...

gerbera daisy: you know, I think everybody should do whatever it takes to please me, but I can't get anyone to buy into this. I hate when good bloggers leave.

pittchick: it is weird when reality and virtual lives collide.

Anonymous said...

Wow I even feel weird about you removing people from your blogroll???!!! What the heck is that about! -- I mean the part where I feel weird about your blogroll, not the part where you remove them --

They are inactive. Mine may be (or already is) soon...at least for a bit I imagine. I went from laid off...to new job in less than two weeks...new job is awesome, but right now I happen to be on the team with mandatory overtime...figures! So...I just work, do the kid stuff for the kid I have, eat, sleep!

Jay said...

Oooh, I have felt the same sadness when removing someone from the blogroll.

QUASAR9 said...

Hi Leesa,
I see the Battle of the blogs at your place is turning your blog into a sort of Battle Star Galactica.
Great Assortment, Great fun!

Leesa said...

VX: you are a funny lady! But you are still on my blogroll, even if you do slack while pulling in all of that overtime.

jay: yeah, it is hard.

quasar9: you mean, hard to follow? I could never follow Battle Star Galactica. Or was that Star Trek: the one after Next Generation.

Cain said...

From now on, I'm only going to comment, when you write the words, "Diet Dr. Pepper."

(just kidding.)

Have a great day!

xx,cain.

Irish Church Lady :) said...

I use Bloglines to know when my usual reads have put up a new post. You can set up folders too, to group your daily reads from your weekly reads from your once in a whiles. I even have a group called "I See Dead People". I put the expired bloggers in that folder so that if they start posting again I will know.