Blogging Stuff:

Recently, I have been reading posts on several blogs about things slowing down in their visitor and commenting departments.  They have great blogs with great content and many established followers, but were getting a little worried.  I thought, oh, heck, everything will be fine, why are you guys worrying?  Then I began to notice it too, even though my blog is not as big as theirs are. 

I still am getting around 250 hits a day by my little hit-counter on the sidebar, and more on my Google stats.  There is such a discrepancy between the two that I don't really know which one to believe, but it is easier to keep track with the sidebar one, along with the box that shows where my visitors come from.  After analyzing that, it seems that half of my hits come from Google search engines in the cities of Mountain View, California, Atlanta, Georgia, and Council Bluffs, Iowa.  Following that, there are lots of people finding me due to SEO (search engine optimization) because they are looking for the letter "r", Tyler Matthews, Billy the Experimenter, or the movie "Heidi".  Some people Google the name of somebody that they haven't seen for a long time and find an obituary with some pictures of their funeral service.  Those do leave me nice thank you comments, so I am going to keep doing that, because I consider it a valuable service.  Other people are looking for specific locations, such as Mirror Pond in Bend, Oregon or are led to other articles that I have written about places we have visited.  

After that, come my blog friends, family and personal friends who actually know me and are my return visitors.  Thank goodness, because you guys are the ones who are actually checking on what I am up to.  You are also the ones who leave me comments. 

Speaking of comments, it seems as if I'm not getting that many anymore.  I try to leave comments when I visit somebody's blog and visit their blog if they visit mine first.  It is getting to be more of a pain in the butt to leave comments these days though.  The new word verification letters are hard to read and on some mornings they make me dizzy, but I keep trying until I get it right.  There are new formats on some blogs and I can't even figure out how to leave a comment.  If I am lucky, somebody has gotten there before me and I can "reply" to theirs. 

The most irritating new glitch comes when I try to leave a comment on somebody using WordPress (but not all of the WP blogs, just some).  This is what happens.  I write my comment (and now I copy it).  Then I go to fill out the box, using my blog email, which is "oregongiftsofcomfortandjoy@hotmail.com" and the form automatically fills in my blog name and my blog address.  Then, it kicks back a message that says something like "You have a blog under this name and address on WordPress.  Sign out, sign in under that name and then return to leave your comment."  Well, sorry WordPress, but I am not minding you!  I began that blog years ago, but I never use it.  So, I have figured out how to start over, paste my message that I copied the first time around, and then fill in my personal email address so that I can leave my measly little comment.  What a hassle!  Why does WordPress care where I am writing from anyway?  It just seems a little bit controlling. 

Then, some people are switching over to Google+ and link their cool posts up to the same meme that I am using.  I am also signed up to Google+, so this one isn't as hard to figure out, but there is no room for comments.  I have to go out of the post, click on the picture that goes with the post, go to their Google+ page, and then send them a message, once again with my personal email.  Dang.

On my blog, I don't use word verification, though your comments do await moderation just in case I am getting spammed or somebody writes something awful that I would just as soon delete.  Still, I wonder if people are just not hassling with comments these days? 

For a long time, I have been signed up with Bend Blogs.  Every time I posted, my post link would go to their aggregate page along with others from our area.  That was really neat, and I joined their FB page also, so that when I posted the link would show up there.  Well, I had to cancel that the other day, because it seems that somebody on there was waiting for me to post, never left me a message or anything, and was then re-posting some of my stuff on Pinterest.  I can't find it on Pinterest, so I'm not sure if they were sharing photos, or what.  If it is recent stuff, then my photos are signed with my name, but if not then I won't get credit for my work as it gets passed around. 

I think that Pinterest is really neat, even though I haven't taken the time to fill out my page.  When I do, I think that I will use it to share my own photography.  Still, I am beginning to wonder if it is drawing blog readers away from blogs.  Does anybody know anything about this?  It seems so much easier and faster to touch base with people on Pinterest, I think, than it is to visit, read and comment on blogs. 

So, anyway, as I was analyzing things, I found that I have been in, not exactly a rut, but was not doing the same variety of posts that I used to.  We haven't been anywhere for awhile, so my photo taking has slowed way down.  I found a neat little article that talks about what to do if your blog is waning, and I added a new background like it suggested because that was easy.  I'm not really losing interest in my blog, and I sure hope that you guys aren't either.  Here is the link to that article, if you want to check it out:  Are You Losing Interest in Blogging?

Are you having any issues with blogging, commenting or other things?  If so, I'd sure like to hear about them.  

Take care, and have a great week!

~ Kathy M.

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.