Just recently, I have been feeling down because I haven’t received any comments lately for my coverage of Spring Anime compared to last year. I know I haven’t been commenting on other blogs since I have been busy lately and have been addressing that. Even with that, I still haven’t received any responses or any likes at all since Monday, which might be an indication that my writing needs improvement.
I know that other bloggers are in this slump and I’m not the only one. However, I want your feedback so there will be more interaction instead of complaining about it. I still want to blog as I still have a lot of ideas I want to write about, but I have lost motivation to write posts as I feel that nobody seems to care about what I’m writing. Because of that, I want to use this opportunity to see what I need to improve on content wise such as my writing quality in the comments below. Also, if you have any ideas on what ideas I should write for editorials or what improvements I need to make for episodic posts to make them interesting. (Image Source)
I think one thing that can create the desire to start a discussion is asking questions throughout a post. I haven’t tried it myself but I’ve seen it work for some.
The problem with episodic posts is that it’s difficult to create questions compared to editorials, which an opinion can be made easier. Still, I’m surprised that the most popular airing shows did not receive any likes or comments.
I honestly don’t think you should say things like you only comment on other blogs because you want comments yourself (twitter:Still the lack of comments even after I made comments on other blogs.) even if that’s not your intention, it does give off that message that you only comment others for a set purpose and not because you really have something to say to their post. I’m sure you wouldn’t want others to only comment on you because they want you to comment on them, right?
I feel that sometimes, lack of comments may even be that people may not be interested in the show itself. Sometimes, more people decide to watch certain shows. You should focus more on seeing what posts you DO get more comments of and see if you can produce similar types. Sometimes, leaving some days in between posts can give each post more time to be seen.
Of course I don’t mean that (I overreacted as I’m still suffering from the effects of an overactive Thyroid.), but the problem I seem to notice that I have gotten comments in earlier years without commenting on other people’s posts. It seems that this year, it has been getting increasingly difficult to get any type of discussion outside editorials as it’s easy to generate discussion as people will have different opinions towards an issue. Reviews, maybe as they are subjective, but I haven’t gotten many comments there either.
But still, if people don’t have anything to comment on, there is an option to like the post which gives an indication that they like the post. However, not many seems to use that feature since I activate it via Jetpack, which shows the people who likes it along with anonymous likes. But, I would prefer likes over comments if the comment if the comment in mind don’t have a purpose.
As for commenting on other blogs, it doesn’t necessarily gives you comments, but it generates traffic as you can add a url to your blog and readers will take notice, especially blogs who have commentluv enabled, which allows someone to add a link to their recent posts.
From what I’ve seen, you seem to get more comments on your editorial posts than your anime episode reviews. People like to discuss the topics of editorial posts because they’re unique and open to a lot of insight. For episode posts, unless you do something really special with the review or have a very charismatic writing style, there’s just so many of them that people get tired of commenting. If fifty blogs are giving their thoughts on episode 2 of Suisei no Gargantia all around the same time, people will just pick a few to read and comment on, mostly from the very popular blogs.
Personally, I think motivation for blogging should come from within you first and others secondary. You should blog because you like to write and get your thoughts out there even if few people read them. I know a few bloggers who have been blogging for years but hardly get even one comment on a post…but they keep on going because they enjoy writing what they want to write regardless if anyone reads it or not. So if getting comments is the main thing that keeps you motivated to blog, then maybe you can try writing more of the kind of posts people like (editorials) or take a break from blogging for a while and come back at a later time with fresh ideas and perspectives.
I still like to write, but I see the issue of episodic reviews as everyone is now doing them since access to anime is a lot easier. Maybe I need to take a different approach to it, probably doing audio reviews on podcast form and invite people to engage in the discussion and only write ones that aren’t getting much coverage. But I admit, some people are doing this as an alternative as audio reviews are easier and fun to get across compared to writings. But besides from that, Editorials, series/game reviews and podcasts seem to get more attention now compared to episodic posts in the past. But basically, I’m probably shifting away from separate episodic into a weekly digest or podcast from as those take less time to make.
I think people have different things that motivate them. From the past four years, I have been blogging on a constant basis with no real beaks. But probably I do need a short break and probably get one when I go on vacation and blog infrequently. But still, I do get a lot of ideas for editorial by lurking around Anime Forums, looking at videos and other blog posts. While I need to gather ideas for an editorial, they are overall easier to write interesting wise as there are more creativity that goes into it compared to episodic reviews. I probably mentioned this in my episodic vs editorial blog post.
Maybe this will seem a bit harsh. I’m pretty sure begging for comments doesn’t help the cause. I really don’t read anime blogs much anymore, because they tend to be childish, laced with poor grammar, and full of things like, “Oh wow, she’s so kawaii (or cute).”
So, here’s the harsh part, your blog reminds me of all of those things. Now, I’m old, and, like to think, a bit wiser. So the harshness is to get your attention. Do I have it? I think I probably do.
Criticism is useless unless it’s constructive. So, I’ll give you my likely crappy advice, because when I blogged way back when people couldn’t even spell anime, I had many of the same issues with lack of comments that you do. I attributed my issues due to feeling like everything I said had been said before. So, I kind of faded away. I restarted a bunch of times, and at a certain point, I stopped caring about comments. My sageless advice here; don’t write for the community, write for yourself. The community drives statistics and traffic, but they mean nothing. As you found out, and blame, your traffic drop was coming from something having to do with google image results changes. So can you really count that traffic as real people anyway?
I’ve chatted with you multiple times about grammar, etc. For me, being unable to read something because it’s poorly worded, and obviously not checked, makes me focus on the mistakes more than the content. I’m sure others are more forgiving on this aspect than me.
Finally. your focus on how cute things are, and your episodic reviews of only stuff in your comfort zone, makes your blog very one note and looks like you’re pandering to the waifu fags.
Now, this doesn’t just apply to your blog only, I pretty much have the same problem with all anime blogs. Yumeka touched on this above, write more editorials, and refocus on something different. Dig deeper into your shows and look for themes that are worth talking about. A great example would be Haganai. Haganai has a heavy focus on fanservice and a shit-ton of anime tropes. Dig a little deeper and you can see Yozora has a great fear of losing her childhood friend, Sena is a girl with a smoking body and that’s all people see in her, Rika is well… I think you get the point. There’s fun in the cutesy elements of the show, but dig a little deeper, and you have talking points that blogs that focus on waifus don’t have. It ups your maturity level and you can have good discussions about the show instead of hoping for a bunch of comments that end up being, “Yeah, me too!”
So if you focus on, say, a weekly editorial about a subject that you think is interesting about an anime you’re watching, you might not get a ton of more readers, but your discussion level might be at a more satisfying level.
The only other thing that I think would be nice is if you would blog about something that’s more outside of your anime comfort zone. Maybe pick a show that’s in the space opera genre, something that’s heavy mecha, or something else you don’t usually watch. You could make that a weekly series like, “Shows I didn’t expect to ever watch,” or something like that. Maybe pick a classic show that’s not entirely out of your wheelhouse, but isn’t really talked about anymore.
I’m sorry if I was a bit harsh, and I’m sorry for the blog post length comment, but I hope my thoughts/crappy advice are at least not worthless to you.
p.s.: Meta posts about the blogosphere and stuff like that can go die in a fire. It’s useless stuff that’s been said a million times before. If you have to ask in a post, “What do you like/think?” ask yourself if you really need to pander to the community, or if you want a unique voice.
As for my writing, I admit that writing is never my strongest skill since my education was messed up during my childhood because of my race. Even so, there’s room for improvement/ However, I think you made a point the problem with the blogosphere and covering stuff in the comfort zone. It’s true that more people tend to watch it since it’s something that people tend to enjoy something that they are use to as some people are afraid to watch something different. However, I am watching a show that has Mecha this season (Suisei no Gargantia) and I admit that it’s not bad at all. Watching different shows take some time getting used to, but eventually it will become the comfortable zone.
On the issue of commenting on something cute is, I admit that I have done those things which isn’t really all that productive. Because of this, I think it will better served in a audio podcast or left for a full review. But as a whole, I’m thinking of revising of how episodic posts are done by leaving casual impresssions out (and also picture captions) and focus on analysis or what I thought about the episode. If I can’t think of good things to focus on besides casual impressions, I’ll just leave it in a weekly impressions post or podcast.
Lastly, I think editiorials about the fandom has a lot of limitations since it sounds like the same thing over and over again. While those type of posts are easy, but they get a bit repetitive. I probably do less of these in the future. But overall, I do understand how you feel since you have witnessed a lot of the stuff that goes around the blogosphre and have a lot of experience with it.
But aside from that, I applgoize for being harsh towards you in my last comment. I still suffering from Hyperthyroid, which caused me to become a bit irritable. I don’t know when it will come into control as one of my relatives had this condition.
Mostly, everyone has covered all the bases of what I was thinking, so I will keep it short. As aforementioned by Yumeka, editorials are more enjoyable, since are unique and also, expresses some of your concerns and opinions. Anyone can do episodic reviews (Well, not me. I suck at them, so I stopped), since the content is already present – you just have write something up. However, only a few people can be creative enough to come up with unique editorials and something meaningful to express. You seem to shine in this area. That being said, uniqueness is sometimes all it comes down to, so it is just a matter of finding what works for you and applying it . Easier said than done . I rarely read episodics anymore (on a few occasions), since 1.) I just do not have the time and 2.) Probably far behind on watching whatever it is. Besides that, I just don’t keep track of who is writing them, but since so many do, it is hard to find bloggers that go outside the norm. I appreciate that.
Other than that, comments and traffic have never been motivations of mine more than just expressing my opinion. While it is a self-serving and egoistical thing to say, if I am not enjoying what I am doing just for some feedback, it is not worth my time or the effort. I do what I want, when I want, because I like it and not necessarily for an audience. It would be nice, but it does not keep me going or up at night.
Going back in my early years of blogging, I have posted quite a lot and didn’t care too much about comments and hits back then. They are something extra, but my main motivation is of course sharing my thoughts about the hobby. I have a good amount of ideas to write about and execute, so I still motivated.
But at the end of the day, I’m not going to give up over silly things like comments and traffic for obvious reasons…
My solution for my Spring 2013 Picks hardly getting any comments, talk about other stuff. I know episodics are the easy way out but they’re working just fine for me so…why stop? Besides, when writing episodics I only look for opinions rather than ask questions. Actually, I do sometimes ask questions. I dunno, I may have a pattern when writing episodics but I do not notice it.
Anyway, keep on bloggin’ dood. You’re doing fine. Times like this happen to everyone. My one advice is keep on blogging, never give up and continue looking for the posts that work for you.
While I think my blogging strategy needs some changing, especially when my Master’s degree will take away a bit more time from blogging, I think Anime Blogs aren’t as popular as its used to. In the 2010 to 2012, the blogosphere was really active. Nowadays, I think we see about 20-40 new posts a day from different Anime Blogs. Maybe other blogs are becoming more popular than others? Or maybe people are taking discussion of Anime more on social networks like Twitter? Who knows, but I shouldn’t worry to much about the silly stuff like comments and statistics and just enjoy it.