blog thoughts

I’ve done little to promote this blog, because it’s here for my own benefit. I did add it to the usual blog communities as you can see to your right. –>

Other than that I informed a couple of people who are interested in the kind of things I yak about on this blog.

I’m not such an egoless creature, however, that I don’t watch the statistics. Over the three months this blog has been in existence the hits have been creeping up. I’m particularly amused by the search references that land people on my web site. For instance, someone got here via a search for “bohemian new york female vampire”. Sounds like a great idea for a story!

I am a smidgen curious about those who read this site, because I wonder how they alighted here. When I look at the list of nationalities who visit Splinister I am flabbergasted. For instance, what would entice a reader from the Seychelles, or Finland to read the random thoughts of an Irish woman about her creative life? (My other blog, which has been going for three and a half years, attracts an even more diverse crowd – I discovered a country I didn’t know existed because I found a reference to it in the stats for the site)

I suspect my articles page drives some of the random traffic to this site (actually let me check that, nope, the blog seems to be the main recurring attraction).

The reason I’m pondering this subject is that I got my first email today from someone who stumbled across this blog. Welcome, Tony Mulqueen, and I’m glad you enjoy what you read here.

Tony asked a pertinent question about cross-linking. As people would know from my other blog, I’m not one for lists of blogs. I made a departure from my rule for this journal, but as you can see from the column to the right, other than the industry lists, I only permanently link to people I consider friends. My definition of a friend in this context is that I’ve exchanged more than a handful of emails with them or have met them in person, and–most importantly–enjoy what they write.

So, Tony, if perhaps we get to know each other, and I starting reading your blog regularly, I might add you to the list. 🙂

If I should add anyone, it should be journalesque–not only is her blog interesting, well-written, and functional but she has a link to both of my blogs and has never asked for a reciprocal link. That’s class. And she calls herself a feminist without any worries about the inevitable hostility that attracts from some quarters. Now, that’s my idea of a blogger.

Personally, I never ask for reciprocal links. I’m not denigrating the practice, but I’ve never seen why I should link to someone just because they link to me. I appreciate that someone wants to link to my site, but since I’m not interested in driving up traffic, then it’s not a big concern. I understand this is important to others, and if they want to drop the link to my site because I won’t link back, that’s cool too. I don’t take these things personally.