Comments on: The Merger – One Year Later

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:22:29 +0000

Wow. I didn’t realize that you’ve canned the idea for the mailing list. I think mailing lists are a tricky subject. Sure, you could put something out on a regular basis, but how do you know if it’s what the readers want to read? I’ve always battled that in my planning.

Getting repeat visitors is hard and I think most blogs get the same type of hits that you talk about – people that you already know who come back from time to time. I think I’ve been successful with Joe’s Journal and JerseySmarts.com for a few reasons. First, I have a base of friends who constantly check the blog for new entries. These include my roommates, former college classmates, friends from my online adventures, etc. Second, my family checks in on what I’m writing about as a way for them to keep up with me. My brothers, Mom, and cousin all read what I write on a regular basis as does my uncle. And third, there is so much content built up in my database (over 1,600 posts, almost 1,800 comments) that my blog does well with the search engines.

But I absolutely relate on the idea of feeling pressured into daily updates. I’m also going to relax my personal standards for daily updates, though I will continue to use the ability to schedule future updates as a way to try to get some daily content on the blog.

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:55:38 +0000

The auto posts are nice. I use them generally for my “photo/video of the day” type of posts. At the same time, I sometimes feel that I have fallen into a trap where I feel pressured to update almost daily. I think I am slowly going to take a step back and not be so worried if my blog goes un-updated. Even though my blog does decent SEO wise, I am finding more and more that only a small core group of people (of who I already know) are likely to bookmark and check back from time to time. I wish it were different, but even my fiance never reads my blog… maybe once every other month. I am no longer going to attempt my mailing list.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:40:49 +0000

Thanks for the kind words, Martin. Sometimes I think about bringing highlights of yellow into the JerseySmarts.com design, but then I just tell myself to keep everything with the shades of gray and green.

I’m amazed that I managed to get this many entries posted in a single year!

By: Martin Hawrysko

Martin Hawrysko — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:35:15 +0000

While I do miss the yellow and overall personalization behind Joe’s Journal, it is the overall content that makes this blog great, whether yellow or green.