Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Thursday, May 01, 2025
Mayday blog report
Blog views were way down in April, and I'll give a few possible reasons. More disappointing is that once again I've addressed very few of my goals for the weblog system, which is comprised of 9 commercial blogs, 28 personal ones, and a few very dead ones that I keep track of for the heck of it.
Why would there be so little traffic in April? Well the easiest thing to do is blame the tariffs. If economic uncertainty makes people cautious, and most blog traffic is driven by whimsical shopping impulse, or cruising to see what's out there, then it would make sense that it's like the pandemic, people are afraid and not especially adventurous. Not that they ever seem to be shopping on my sites anyway. But as a corrolary, maybe they worked more, or dealt with spiraling colleagues, and just didn't have time to cruise around on google. That was certainly true for me.
Sometimes I reflect on the adage that what is an economic disaster for some can be an opportunity for others, for example, that guy that made Elon Musk bumper stickers and got a couple hundred grand looking to sell them mostly to disillusioned Tesla users (he did). This indicates mostly that I'm in the wrong business. My sites are not only not leading people to my books, but also not leading people to the other ones like it, so that they could eventually land on the ones that do lead them to appropriate reading material. One more goal for the weblog system that could remain unfulfilled.
I have a promise to myself to post on twelve total; I did. I want to reform their templates; I haven't yet. I want to link the ESL ones together. These days I think often of my old ESL colleagues and students because they are living through a nightmare. One way I could show my solidarity is to contribute what I know to the public discussion.
Why would there be so little traffic in April? Well the easiest thing to do is blame the tariffs. If economic uncertainty makes people cautious, and most blog traffic is driven by whimsical shopping impulse, or cruising to see what's out there, then it would make sense that it's like the pandemic, people are afraid and not especially adventurous. Not that they ever seem to be shopping on my sites anyway. But as a corrolary, maybe they worked more, or dealt with spiraling colleagues, and just didn't have time to cruise around on google. That was certainly true for me.
Sometimes I reflect on the adage that what is an economic disaster for some can be an opportunity for others, for example, that guy that made Elon Musk bumper stickers and got a couple hundred grand looking to sell them mostly to disillusioned Tesla users (he did). This indicates mostly that I'm in the wrong business. My sites are not only not leading people to my books, but also not leading people to the other ones like it, so that they could eventually land on the ones that do lead them to appropriate reading material. One more goal for the weblog system that could remain unfulfilled.
I have a promise to myself to post on twelve total; I did. I want to reform their templates; I haven't yet. I want to link the ESL ones together. These days I think often of my old ESL colleagues and students because they are living through a nightmare. One way I could show my solidarity is to contribute what I know to the public discussion.
