Tag: blogging

Missing

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I decided to take the weekend off from blogging and all in all, it went quite well, aside from the monumental guilt I felt for not blogging. I know that when I don’t blog, I lose readers, but equally, I’m aware that when I blog badly, I also lose readers.
It’s at times like this that I have to remember why I am blogging here.

Posts which get the most feedback are those which tweak people’s metaphorical nipples: those being the political ones, the environmental ones or the ones taking the p… mickey out of the Cape Times letters page. Sadly, recently the local political scene has been hugely depressing, the local environMENTALists quiet (aside from occasional petty and pointless stunts) and the Cape Times letters page unusually sane.

It’s no wonder it’s been so quiet here.

It was much louder this time last year…

Brings a tear to the eye…

On this blog

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A regular reader mentioned today that he checks this blog 6 times a day for updates. He went on to say that he can remember a time when I used to write once a day “but then something happened and it slowed down”.
And he’s right, of course.
Not on the checking the blog thing – that’s just silly – that’s what the RSS feed is for.

But things have slowed down and life has changed. After the excitement of the 2009 election and the 2010 World Cup, things have become much more settled in SA. And added to that, while there’s always the local newspapers to write about (letters pages especially), I’m so busy lately that I can hardly even afford the time to annoy local cartoonists with my entirely justified personal opinions on the latest political issues. Although that’s not so much the writing the actual post as much as always getting the last word in in the comments.

Or “replying” as I like to call it.

Still, at least I’ve never thought of taking a summer break, as some bloggers do. But maybe that’s just because it’s not summer.

Sometimes, I find myself wandering through the internet, looking for inspiration or something to plagiarise. But I’m beginning to get the idea that the internet has shrunk and I’ve seen all the good bits already. I could always fall back on quota photos, but that was really only acceptable during the “post a day” era. Although I’ve done unacceptable things before.

Maybe it’s time to relive those days. Not the unacceptable ones, but maybe it is time to head back to a post a day. I’ll consider it, because after all, those heady times were rather taxing, but the regular reader seemed to enjoy them.

But even he is going to be disappointed 5 times a day.

Twelve sorts of hectic

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Damnit. This is going to be one of those annoying admin posts, isn’t it?
Well, yes. Sadly it is.

Unlike some of the local bloggers, for me, work is definitely not a sideline. I enjoy my job and I like making a difference. But sometimes, work goes super crazy and leaves no time for anything else. This is one of those times.
While I’m hugely grateful to whoever decided that we could have a four day weekend (I guess that would actually be Pontius Pilate, although I suspect that there may have been political interference in his big decision), it does seem to be the case that the work of five days work has to now be fitted into four. Bear in mind that last week was also shortened by Human Rights Day and next week is prefaced by Easter Monday (or Family Day as it is known here) and you can understand that there’s suddenly a lot of work that needs to be fitted into not very much time.

Since I am still not allowed to bring anything other than clerical work home after that time that our son (then 8 months old) was found chewing a vial of MDR-TB in the playroom, and still annoyed by the fact that bacteria consistantly fail to observe public holidays, I’ve been a bit snowed under – hence the recent epidemic of quota photos etc. And for that, I apologise.
If blogging were my full time occupation, I fear that I would be teetering on the edge of the precipice of unemployment, with my manager’s boot all too ready to apply the required nudge to my arse. Fortunately, that’s not the case, but the downside of that is that you don’t get the high quality writing you have come to expect and love from 6000 miles…

Not being religious, I am still holding onto the forlorn hope that this weekend will not come with too many committments and time will therefore be available for Quality Blog Postings, the production thereof. However, with two small kids to entertain and bugs that will certainly need attending to at some point, maybe you shouldn’t hold your breath.

Doing it every day

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I’vebeen at it every day for almost a year now. Unlike Tiger Woods’ missus, my wife knows all about my addiction and she’s been very supportive. But then again, my blog doesn’t send me late night SMSs about how it’s missing me.
Obviously, it would if it could – it’s just that I haven’t found a plugin that allows it to do that.

Yet.

Jim Connolly (from Jim’s Marketing Blog) (your premier destination for marketing tips and ideas for small and medium sized businesses – by Jim Connolly) knows why it is. He did an experiment for a whole two weeks…

Usually, my blogging schedule is erratic; often just a handful of posts in a month.  However, as regular readers will have noticed, I have been updating this blog with fresh posts every day, for the past 2 weeks. Why?

I wanted to measure for myself, just what the value to a blogger is, of updating their blog every day with new posts.  I assumed (rightly as it turned out) that 2 weeks would be a long enough period, for me to get some worthwhile data for you.  The results have been VERY interesting!

Yes, with just two weeks of effort, Jim rightly predicted that he would have some worthwhile data. Sure, he doesn’t post any statistical methodologies or calculations, but he’s Jim Connolly (from Jim’s Marketing Blog), so you just know he’s right.

Jim saw that his RSS subscriber numbers rose by 400% (from 1 to 5, I’m guessing), the number of comments increased by 300% (1 to 4?), overall traffic was up by 30% and pageviews were up “massively”. Jim says:

Daily blogging has improved literally every metric I have measured – not just those mentioned in this brief post.  It’s also improved areas that are far harder to measure, like making the blog a lot more ‘alive’ and vivid.  These things are harder to plot on a chart than RSS subscribers or traffic.

Posting every day made a marketing blog “alive”? Wow. The power.
So it’s all good, right?

Wrong.

Jim Connolly (from Jim’s Marketing Blog) is hardcore.

I see zero point in posting dross occasionally, just so that I don’t miss a day!  That material will live on the Internet forever, with my name attached to it. My 4 year old son will see it when he’s older – I don’t want him thinking his daddy writes pedestrian, generic bullshit occasionally, because I’m a slave to some self-imposed, daily blogging schedule.

Fortunately, regular readers of 6000 miles… will know that I never write pedestrian, generic bullshit occasionally.

*ahem* Moving on…

Jim Connolly (from Jim’s Marketing Blog) now has a dilemma. He knows that daily blogging is good for his blog, but he’s scared about what his kid will think about the whole thing in a few years time. (I have no such worries as I am not going to allow Alex to learn how to read.)
Bring forth the insipidly bubbling pot of compromise:

I’ve decided to aim for blogging here on a more regular basis than before, but only when I have something I believe is worth sharing with you.  If that’s daily, then fine. If not, then I assure you, you will be missing nothing worth reading.

However, having browsed through a few of Jim Connolly (from Jim’s Marketing Blog)’s posts since that announcement, I am sad to report that it seems he has slipped back into his pedestrian, generic bullshit habits again.

Someone should tell his son.

Last ditch

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With VIP guests arriving in Cape Town from all over the world for the FIFA World Cup draw on Friday, my parents are also popping in for 7 days “on their way” back from Australia to the UK. The it’s “on their way” excuse kind of works if you are flexible and fold the map to make Australia look closer to Africa with Perth and Durban merging to form one megatropolis called Purban or Derth or something. Last time they were anywhere near a World Cup event, back in France ’98, my Mum was mistaken for Prince Charles at Boulogne and there were huge issues with her Visa card being in the wrong name. Since Prince Charles is (as far as I am aware) wholly unconnected with the goings on at the CTICC on Friday, I have high hopes that they will have an uneventful stay, credit card wise.

I’ve worked damn hard today preparing the house and garden for our visitors. After all, it’s not every day the heir to the monarchy of Great Britain comes to stay with you. Wait – I’ve got that wrong again, haven’t I? Anyway, lawns were cut, flowers were planted, some painting was done and then I went out to a birthday party and drank 6 Peronis.  I know. You’re amazed I can even type straight, aren’t you? So am I, although currently of course I only have my perception of what this looks like. It could actually be complete gibberish. I may well look at this in the cold light of morning and wonder what I was thinking. Actually, that often happens, if I’m honest.

Once again, I’m making excuses for not blogging earlier. Experience has taught me that you get less readers to posts that you write late at night under the influence of Italian beer brewed in Johannesburg (one of the lesser known outposts of the Roman Empire) and that some of them don’t even read to the end of the third paragraph. Thanks if you’ve got this far – I really won’t keep you much longer. The reason I’m blogging at all is to keep up my almighty task of a post a day, which began on January 31st and was originally  just going to be for the (short) month of February. That I have kept it going on in various guises for a mighty 302 days so far has cost me readers, my sanity, several hundred hours of sleep and virutally all that remained of my reputation. That I still feel it necessary to come and document my feelings just before midnight and just after 6 Peronis smacks of OCD.

That you’re still reading  probably means that you have completely finished the rest of the internet and now only have a choice between So You Think You Can Dance and this. Incidentally, though I’m not a big fan, SYTYCD is actually pretty entertaining after a couple of litres of beer.