Inglorious Blogging: Intention Versus Reality

People blog for a lot of reasons, I suppose. Some people just need free therapy – a place to dump out all the random thoughts in their head. Some people blog to hone their writing skills. Some are narcissists who think the world needs to hear what they have to say (I don’t know anybody like that). Others have an actual valuable point of view worth sharing on a specific topic area of expertise.

Whatever the intention of our published rants, the traffic you see coming to your blog isn’t always what you intended. For example: I blog daily (no, there’s no medication you can take for that) and like to mix it up between pop culture references and more intellectual points of view. Like most bloggers, I will obsessively check my blog stats to see how many people are viewing my blog, where they come from and what referral sources, including search terms got people there.

Of late, I have to thank an apparent global obsession (especially in Eastern Europe) with Vin Diesel for the bulk of my traffic – and a ridiculous jump in traffic for that matter. Especially now that I have been approved for Ads and stand to make tens of dollars a month I suppose I should be thrilled. But I still can’t help wishing that the blogs tackling more of the social issues would be the ones that get the most interest. I am, however, not in control of what people care about.

Let me illustrate. Here are some examples of search terms that have led to my blog in the last month:

Vin Diesel (over 1,200 and counting)
Vin Diesel shirt off
Vin Diesel abs
Vin Diesel with hair
Michael Vick narcissist
image of a dog smiling
Bruce Willis glasses
high school reunion hookup
narcissistic flirts
i was meant to collect monkey Ikea
was queen Victoria narcissistic?
kick your boss in the balls cartoons
one piece snow suit for women
what can I buy for 6.25 yuan in China

Granted, there are also a lot of legitimate anthropological or topical search terms that are affirming, albeit way outpaced by a rabid interest in “Vinny Gas”, as I like to call him.

I was sent a link to the youtube video below, which inspired today’s rant. I would like to thank the “Communicatrix” for her inspiration and a good laugh about the realities of our blogging world and what you get when you put your stuff out there. Enjoy!