Yeah, that might be shocking title but it’s something I’ve been thinking about quite a few times. The reason for this question popping up is of course the statistics. A couple of years ago I was getting almost a quarter of a million views each year, thousands each day. But those statistics have been dropping at a steady rate and it was also the reason I’m not updating as regularly as I used to. There are still people commenting once in a while, but these are mostly people who’ve been reading my posts for ages. Not a lot of new bloggers drop by and it’s a shame to see as it isn’t very motivating to keep going. I’m wondering what your thoughts on this are, is blogging dying?
I believe so unless you are providing something very unique. There are a lot of movie review blogs; why is yours worth someone’s time to read over another persons?
The reality is I still get some updates from a few movie review blogs, but for the most part I do not read them. The same applies for video reviews.
For a blog to be successful now if you are not a known quantity, you really have to be something special and/or original.
Yeah, that’s always a good question to ask yourself while you are blogging and which I try to keep asking.
I’ve stopped following quite a few bloggers because like you say I simply didn’t read much of it anymore. There are a couple of exceptions though!
I think this is a really interesting question. I’ve been doing it for several years, and like you, I’ve noticed weird fluctuations in numbers of visitors. The one interesting thing I have noticed is how many of the bloggers from way back have folded their sites. It’s really a bummer. There just aren’t as many long-time movie bloggers.
Yeah, we are the hardcore movie bloggers that just won’t give up. Only the strong survive or something like that 😉 But it is a shame a lot of bloggers I loved reading have quit. I still enjoy reading your reviews, even though it might sometimes take me a while to get to them…still have an email subscription 🙂
I still read your reviews. I think if you put in the time and consistently comment on other blogs it’s still possible to maintain a readership, but I know you have a family so obviously that’s a higher priority. The stats I barely pay attention to, so I can’t really add anything on that.
Happy to hear that Chris even though I might not blog with the same consistency anymore.
I guess I’m not surprised that there’s turnover of longtime bloggers. Creative outlets often end up taking a backseat to corporate and family life as people age.
But if there are less bloggers then my question would be where are the NEW creative people going? Is it all podcasts and twitter and youtube now?
@NeverTooEarlyMP: Good question. I think you’re right other sites are pulling people away from blogging and blog reading. It’s tough these days to get people to visit personal blogs when there’s so much noise. Letterboxd is a way to connect with other movie buffs and has the benefit of the users are all on the same site.
Never having had hundreds of readers, it may not be noticeable to me. I keep writing because I enjoy it and I love my own stuff [Yeah, that is a bit narcissistic.]. When I do get a comment it is nice, but there appear to be a lot of lookie loos and not a lot of conversation. I read a lot myself, but post only when there is a direct question or an interesting subject. Some of the people I read irritate me, but some (like Keith) are just well written and enjoyable. I come to your site occasionally, but unless I have something to add to your comments, I don’t really post. To me, a post demands a response, otherwise it like leaving your partner in a conversation hanging, and I don’t want to take up someones time unless I care and think they do also.
Of course the most important reason for doing it is because you like it. Glad to see you occasionally read my stuff 🙂
Same here. Between October ’15 and now I’ve slowly been getting fewer hits, but it’s really taken a dive since the new year. My guess is that other (bigger) sites have been focusing more on SEO and enticing the search engines in, or WordPress (and blogs in general) just are no longer competing with YouTube.
Yeah, it could be various factors…but it’s sad to see the decline of numbers.