Website : Readership : Now lower than ever!
posted 2010.08.01 at 04:08
I know regular updates matter quite a bit, but damn. Averaging thirty hits a day for ATC and eighteen or so for DCR, with almost all of DCR's traffic coming from google image search.
Anayltics numbers don't go back to The Beginning - back then I used Webalizer - but they do go back far enough to see a definite dip.
That's what happens when you don't advertise, don't interact with the community, and don't update. Or so I've been told. Updates are the only thing I really have to go on, and there haven't been many of those over the past couple of years - moreso over the past couple of months, if you want to count the Rewriting Rampage as updating. Which, if the numbers are anything to go by, nobody did.
Not really sure what to do about that, really - marketing has never been one of the legs this thing stands on. I'd like the site to be in better shape, but I've been using that as an excuse for years. I'd like to be updating regularly again, but my workload presently prohibits that... which, as a starting point, is something I can eventually fix.
I'd also like to get to a point where I can write outside of a bar or coffee shop. That will probably take longer.
Or, perhaps, it'll happen concurrently.
Maybe it'll all happen concurrently.
Things usually do.
13 Comments
OMG SOMEBODY ACTUALLY USES THE FEED. O_O
Cool! :)
I still come by when you Update the RSS - I'm waiting for a day which I'm bedridden then I'll re-read from the beginning again.
Keep it all going - its a great webcomic.
I am totally going to have to look into some means of RSS analytics, as it's clear that at least two readers benefit from it!
Well, I must be one of the thirty that pops by daily not via RSS. ATC is still #2 in my webcomics bookmarks. :)
Three. Really, updates are *everything* as far as my webcomic reading goes ... on the other hand, I *did* count the great rewrite as updates. Keep pushing out content. Partial content, even, possibly.
Opik Oort - Got 'em organized alphabetically or by age? :)
theorbtwo - Most of the stuff I'm reading these days seems to update irregularly (and my reading these days is also irregular, so I'm browsing archives of regularly-updating comics a lot more than I was this time last year). At this point the closest thing to "partial updates" would be the poking and prodding the Universe section is in dire need of. Maybe I should plug that section into the feed so the RSSers see some glimmer of life!
I really love the comic, it satisfies a deeply seated urge to consume science-fiction literature, and I got to say that it is one of the coolest comics on the web, just because of how much EFFORT goes into each and every frame, there is just so much detail, it's amazing. I don't see how more people don't read.
Fallen Leaf - Thanks for the complements. :) This thing's one heck of a timesink, and it's good to know that the effort shows! As for readership.... Oi! If only I knew where to start! :)
Lemme throw a rock and complain about feed weirdness. (First off, stick a <meta/> tag in your <head> to make it show up as a fancy-pancy icon in modern browser bars.)
I'm a new subscriber to the feed, and when I first tried to view it, it forced me to download it (I'm in Google Chrome, but this should be a server setting). Check your MIME reference settings.
Why isn't it named .xml/.rss?
The CMS came with an .rdf writeout, so any "uh... what?" ought to be directed at Six Apart. :) It seems to be valid and I've never had any issues with it in Firefox or Safari - both of which recognize the presence of a feed. I CAN confirm the Chrome wonkiness, though.... and Safari seems to have its own (incorrect) ideas about what to do with the feed.
Curses!
this site is awesome visually, and the quality of the comic art and story logic it top notch. Piecing everything together seems almost ARG-like quality, I had to read through the archive two or three times before I felt I could really understand everything that was going on, as the meatier story elements are often hidden in the technical details and jargon that, in most I.P.s is rarely taken advantage of (reminds me a little of Myst). As for increased readership, maybe some free stuff like a face book page (the effectiveness of a deviant art page showing off extra art and resources would be debatable [and might give away more than you would be willing to], but @ 30 pagehits every one helps)? AMC has enough complexity for a dedicated readership to mull over, and would probably appeal to a lot of the people who are interested in the aforementioned ARGs and such, but there are very few ways to find out about this site right now, I don't even remember how I found it originally, but I wouldn't be sure I could do it over again without the name. Getting links on a couple quality comics (or sites that appeal to the same sort of people, specialty vendors, cg graphics and art, etc.) would help. I know this one is a lot harder (as in hard sci-fi) than anything else out there, but that's often the way to get the most consistent fans.... ...an links out page to favorite sites tends to promote this. You really need to offer a couple banners too(at least one in the two standard sizes). Of course, if you're content w/ current viewing rates none of this applies... still, it's a shame that people who would genuinely enjoy this have no way of finding out about it, quality webcomics are so far and few between.
I do have banners, in the Support section - though they could certainly use a revamp. Likewise, I do need to reach out to the rest of the webcomics community at some point. I still get a bit of traffic from a couple of sites I did fanart for years ago, and that may be a solid way to increase readership in the future. I do like to think of the internal consistency and In Media Res complexity as strong selling points - and fortunately, the story is a LOT closer to having a clear picture than it has at any point since production started. One more chapter of DCR should do it - until that point, I'm honestly more focused on production than outreach, though I'm not above dabbling at some point this winter!
Still reading, although it's only by RSS.
Some guy | August 1, 2010 12:05 PM | Reply