Notice how brief the previous post about the Fitbit was? I was out-of-town and experimenting with remote posting using the WordPress IOS application for my new iPhone. I’m not what you call an “early adaptor.”
It’s clear the IOS app doesn’t give you nearly all the functionality of WordPress on a desktop. Continue reading
It’s fascinating to know that a WordPress blog can be viewed by people all over this wide world. My blog is in fact visited by people from many faraway places. Maybe they should call it WorldPress. I wonder if that URL is available?
Most days, my readers are mostly from the U.S. and Canada, followed by a few in the U.K. and/or Australia. Oddly, most days the blog gets a view or three from the Cayman Islands. Why do you suppose my poor blog is on the radar in the Caymans?
Yesterday and today have not been ordinary days. Fewer than half my visitors have been in the U.S. The most popular post on my blog these past two days has been “Russian Toilets,” and readers are visiting from many different countries, especially in Europe. My only explanation is that the impending Winter Olympics in Sochi are generating a feeding frenzy for anything and everything about Russia and Sochi.
If you’re not a WordPress blogger, you may wonder how I know the location of my readers. On my blog’s stats dashboard, WordPress provides an array of information about the source of readers, including a world map noting the number of visitors from each country. If you’re concerned about privacy, be assured that the map doesn’t identify readers by name, only by country. If you’re interested in totals, then I must honestly say the numbers are modest. Some blogs register traffic in the thousands regularly. My blog rarely breaks into triple digits in a single day, but does hit triple digits every week.
For those with a greater interest in readership gossip, yesterday I had visitors from the U.S. and Canada, plus visitors from nearly every small country in Europe, plus the U.K., Germany and Poland. But none from France or Spain. I can only guess that people in France and Spain prefer to read blogs in their own language, while most others throughout Europe know English and use it when they wish.
Also yesterday, something unusual — seven visits from Trinidad and Tobago! But not one from the Caymans. And oddly, not a single visit from any continent other than North America and Europe.
Today, the interest in Russian Toilets, or whatever, expanded to include five visitors from Ukraine, plus two each from Russia, Australia, and the Caymans. And one visitor from Hong Kong! Still not a single visitor yesterday or today from South America or Africa, though I have had a few from those continents in the past.
Blog readers of the world: Unburden yourselves! Please comment at will. What would you like to read about? I take requests.
— John Hayden
Has anything in the blogosphere ever created as much angst and envy as “Freshly Pressed?”
Folks, we’ve got to stop obsessing about Freshly Pressed. Consider the following from WordPress.com News:
WordPress.com bloggers published 39,705,625 posts in January . . . “and we featured 190 of them on Freshly Pressed.”
Think of it. McDonald’s hamburgers, billions sold! Blog posts, millions and millions! Freshly Pressed, 190 in January. Continue reading
Ahem! We break into our regularly scheduled posts (Michael Connelly was supposed to be up next) to deliver big news.
In case you haven’t noticed, “Work In Progress” is making improvements to serve you better in the New Year.
First, we’ve reinstated our longtime favorite theme, Twenty Ten. It’s one of WordPress’s most handsome themes. The decision to change themes was based as much on advertising potential as on aesthetics. Work In Progress is proud to be among the blogs participating in beta testing of the new WordAds program. Since Twenty Ten is among the 55 themes optimized for WordAds, it was a logical choice.
Contests are all the rage in the blogosphere. WordPress positively encourages contests! And now (drumroll please . . .) the grand prize for possibly the most sensational competition of all goes to a contest offered by My Destination. It’s a contest designed especially for bloggers (of whom there are millions worldwide). Video bloggers will especially love it. I predict the contest will also attract a zillion entries (give or take a billion, but who’s counting?) from people who simply love to travel. The ingenious part is, you can even base your entry on your own home town, humble though it may be. As a public service, I’m reblogging the story here. If nothing else this contest is going to generate a wealth of free publicity for travel destinations, many that you’ve never heard of or thought about. Enjoy the fun. — John
Philosophy of the Web 101. I think everyone who’s interested in where the Web is and where it’s going, or in the evolution of social media, and the rise of mobile media, will want to hear this 20-minute conversation between Om Malek and Matt Mullenweg. Is the age of the laptop coming to an end? Here comes the touch-screen future. What comes after that? We’ll think about it next year. — John
Readership of my blogs has always been mostly in America, with a few readers from other parts of the world, especially Europe. Lately, readership has gone international. Since WordPress started tracking hits with a nifty worldwide map, I’ve noticed a significant increase in readers from all corners of the globe, with the possible exception of Africa.
A significant development in the world of blogging! WordPress is beta testing a new advertising feature called WordAds. You may have noticed test ads both here on “Work In Progress” and on my other blog, “Ocean City Blog” AKA “Maryland On My Mind.”
The ads are usually sophisticated videos and can be seen at the bottom of the most recent post on my home page, and also at the bottom of specific posts you click on to read. If you have feedback to offer on the new adds, please leave a comment. As with Internet advertising in general, a blog or Web site needs a LOT of traffic to make more than coffee money through advertising, and that’s only if you buy your coffee someplace cheaper than Starbucks.
— John Hayden
Related articles
- Rare Blue Lobster Found In Ocean City (baltimore.cbslocal.com)
- Life’s A Holiday At The Beach (marylandonmymind.com)
Last November WordPress.com announced the launch of our WordAds program, whereby WordPress.com sites can partner and share revenues on ads sold and managed by WordPress.com. Since its beta launch, WordAds has grown to over ten thousand sites. WordAds has been a success because bloggers can focus on content and building their audiences while handing off the time-consuming role of advertising optimization to the WordAds team.
Today, we’re launching a new homepage for the WordAds program: WordAds.co. Here, you will find our application page as well as FAQs and a discussion forum. Moreover, most WordPress.com sites can now launch WordAds on their site within days of application.
To celebrate the successful launch of WordAds, we sat down to interview one of the program’s first sites at MyNintendoNews.com. Not every WordAds site has the visitor volume to earn significant revenue, but sites that work to develop their audience can now earn good…
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Is this a great time to be a writer, or what?
The title to this repost from David Gaughran’s blog tells exactly what the post is about, and the body of the post gives all the details about direct selling. No need for further comment from me. But I do have a question.
QUESTION: WordPress.com from the beginning has been almost fanatically opposed to advertising by bloggers. (Sorry WordPress, that’s my ONLY criticism of WordPress.com, which is by far the best blogging platform for me.) I believe WordPress.com has probably always made an exception for selling one’s own handmade goods (I might be wrong about that), and I guess handmade goods might include one’s own handwritten books. My question, David, is how is WordPress.com responding to this sudden surge in blogging by Ebook authors? Was WordPress.com OK with your recent sale of 99-cent books? I gather that you and many others are Amazon affiliates, and possibly affiliates of other booksellers as well. Do you think WordPress.com might crack down on this?
BTW, I tried switching my blog over to WordPress.org a few years ago, to gain more freedom, but found the technical hassle not worth the benefit. These days, WordPress will handle all the technical details of the switch for a fee, so it’s much easier now if you want to pay the fee.
— John Hayden
Living Simply And Still On The Grid 