A Blog About Making Culture
beyond power laws
February 13, 2003
There's been an awful lot of talk about power laws and weblogs recently, complete with charts and graphs, and, if I'm not mistaken, some sort of calculus is involved.
Well, that's all well and good. But really the question that motivates everyone to read and write about such things is, "How can my site (and therefore, I) become more popular?" Though many have masked it with lots of "inverse distribution of multivariate indices" blah blah blah, that's the heart of this thing. Well, I think I can shed some light on this, given the fact that I get more weblog traffic than you do.
Oh, wait. I'm not supposed to mention that. It's mostly true, though. There are about six billion humans and only a couple of dozen weblogs that get more traffic than me. So it's a pretty safe bet that your weblog isn't as popular as mine. Nothing personal, mind you, just an observation.
So why is that true? Well, basically, it's because I'm smarter than you, I work harder than you, and I'm more attractive than you are. (BlogSpot and LiveJournal users, I'm looking at you...) I put my heart and soul into making sure that entries are posted on my site as frequently as twice a week. In between those little meaningless posts, I document my aimless web surfing by throwing links up willy-nilly on my sidebar there. And what have you been doing? Working? Having sex? Well, it's that lack of dedication to your weblog that causes you to have to labor in my shadow.
Sure, sure, you could credit the fact that I had the dumb luck to stumble into this weblog thing pretty early, or that I go through insincere and transparent publicity stunts like picking fights and pissing people off. But the real trick to rising to the top of this meaningless heap is sexiness. Plain old sexiness.
The problem with owning up to the dirty little secret that, well, people read my site is that it pisses off people who actually care about such things. I know it's hard to believe, but there are people who really truly care how many people read their weblog. That's why they carefully study the charts and graphs that go around. I'm not trying to be ungrateful, mind you, my weblog has brought me many great things. But I'd say it's mostly because I don't particularly assign it any value. Those of you who've read regularly over the past few months might have noticed that updates are much less frequent, but that I somehow don't say "no updates for a while, I'm busy shining my shoes".
This is because I pay for the hosting on this site. It's a temple to my ego, and I know that. That's not to say that I'm not curious about network effects and the collective value of weblogs as a medium. But the joke is that even the most popular weblogs' traffic is dwarfed by, say, a random MSN story on Fred Durst. Not polite to say, but it's true.
I talk to Jeff Jarvis sometimes about his incessant "Vlog" cheerleading, and though I admire his enthusiasm, I marvel at his excitement level because the entire population of people who read, write, and care about weblogs is probably dwarfed by the readership for one issue of Entertainment Weekly, the magazine he created. Granted, everything has to start small and there's nowhere to go but up, but some perspective is probably in order.
The conclusion? Well, if you're interested in having a very popular weblog, try these tips:
- Consider having started your site in 1998 or 1999
- Know a whole lot of people and consider becoming real-life friends with people who have popular sites or are involved in the media
- Get on TV and in newspapers as frequently as possible to promote your site, because those really help drive traffic
- Make sure to insist that you are smart and attractive if you can't actually demonstrate those traits through your site
- BlogSpot? Just say no. LiveJournal? Well, you're clearly not worried about traffic anyway.
- If all else fails, try to make sure you're already a celebrity. That's a sure-fire way to drive site traffic. Great webloggers like Moby, Prince, and Wil Wheaton have found this invaluable.
Well, that's all the advice I have from what I've learned so far. Good luck!
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Great post there. I do website design and people are always talking about more traffic. Personally I think the trick is to find targeted traffic, not just X amounts of people.
Now I just have to wait to become famous…….. ;-)
Choire
Mmm. I’ve been waiting for you to weigh in on this. Deliciously put, and thanks for the lack of math.
jkottke
And purple helps too. A precise, mathematical purple.
Tim
Prince has a weblog? Obviously, celebrity is not always a guarantee for website traffic. Unless your favorite color is purple and you like paisley.
Now all I have to do is fake a bunch of weblog entries that go back to 1998….
John W
You joke. My plan (which has been marginally successful in that I now have many more readers than I did before) was to identify my weaknesses. For instance, I am a poor writer with a sense of humor that does not translate well to the written word. Beyond this fact, I don’t really have opinions on most issues, due to apathy or reluctance to make a moral stand.
My solution: create a weblog that requires almost no writing at all. And I’m going to be in some Dutch magazine later this month. So anyone can, in a way, have a successful weblog. And it’s based on LiveJournal.
Michael Doss
Anil, can I borrow your time machine?
Su
Anil, will you marry me?
pk
You’ll be pleased to know that when i brought your name up in conversation with an Extremely Popular Web Celebrity yesterday, his reaction was a snotty “Who, her?”
Congratulations. The popular hate you, which makes you incredibly popular. I’d be bitter about it, but I’m incredibly talented. It’s a tradeoff I have to live with.
Adam Greenfield
Oddly enough, you, I and Fabio seem to have come to similar conclusions regarding this lovely power-law stuff, roughly simultaneously.
I will admit that you’re funnier, tho’.
Anil
Extremely Popular Web Celebrity, you say? Impossible. I know all of them, and they’re all quite aware of my 100% manly status. I won’t believe you until we get a link to this person’s site.
James
What does traffic matter anyway, unless you’re really looking for people to donate (or rake in advertising dollar$)?
If I were concerned about being popular, I wouldn’t have gone into Engineering ;)
Tom Coates
Thanks Anil! I’ve followed the “Be a better weblog than those newbie losers” programme to the letter, and now I’m much more important than almost everyone else in Blogspace! Thanks!
Dan Hon
Thanks! Through a strict regime of starting my blog in 1999 and actually keeping at it, I’m glad to be able to distinguish myself from unwashed masses!
Sally
I found this post to be a sad display of your ego. Are you so insecure that you need to proclaim your popularity in such an annoying manner? Some people create blogs for themselves and their friends. Some people are humble enough to share their thoughts for the sake of sharing, not because they may land a gig on TV or at South by Southwest. Seriously, your ego is quite astonishing and truly disappointing.
Mike
I’m super l33t, I started a journal before you youngins called it a blog, way back in 96. then again I was lucky if I got 10 visitors a year. Wish I had archives of it….
dclay
I, on the other hand, found the post to be a magnificient display of your ego.
Age of your weblog certainly has something to do with the popularity but it takes some sort of spark to get the traffic. (sp-ark’ = n. Link from Kottke’s site).
Now, at this point Nick Denton, yourself, Meg Hourihan, Jason Kottke, et. al. have so many readers that they can spin off Web sites and break the “best if openned before 2000” rule. If I had made Gawker or Gizmodo (they would suck) and no one would ever find them. It’s all about who you know.
Occassionally you encounter a really well written or otherwise interesting site that slowly earns itself a reputation. I think Soundbitten is one of the best reads out there but hasn’t reached dashian status yet. If it does then it will show that good writing conquers all, if not, then we can be fairly certain success requires Anil’s good looks.
Aaron
What’s the big deal? I was web logging back in 1977. And I have proof.
kowgurl
Yeah, I like to think alot of bloggers do it for the same reasons they write a diary. Not to get recognition or popularity. Just to get the feeling that there are people out there nodding with recognition when they read your blog.
Anil
It makes me sad when people don’t get the joke.
:(
John
I have such an Ego that it grew an “r” and then a hump. Egor goes where I go as long as I feed it. It’s a trip.
pk
“I won’t believe you until we get a link to this person’s site.”
I never divulge my sources.
zach
Only sexy people have weblogs. Period. So why do I have one? I have no idea. I have no clue how many hits, visits, whatever, I’ve gotten. I use my website as an alternative to boredom and that’s mainly it. If you read it, fine. If you don’t, fine. I get most of my satisfaction from documenting my strange and unusual life, not from the people who visit it. Am I dick for saying that?
Lee
Don’t feel sad, Anil. Most of us got it and thought it was hilarious. :) You can’t help that some folks have no sense of humor.
Mrs. Kennedy
Will I get famous if I post a comment here?
Dashian? Congratulations! You have your own adjective!
Dave S.
Also don’t forget the ever-popular posting of comments on sites far more popular than your own, complete with URL, in order to desperately attract the overflow from mentioned popular site.
owen
my personality prevents me from becoming popular. change too often and always attempt what others can’t. I will have to build a blog of my own - for my personality. but will it be as popular as anil? if the statistics prove right, I will have to reconsider the means to my end.
max
In 1998 I was alone and without woman; not at all popular, having only one testicle; and almost catching the Gay. Then I got a web log. And now I am a regular at the Playboy Mansion and at Bob Guccioni’s parties, and have more sex than every male bar Jason Kottke, John Styn and Ron Jeremy. Yes, I have more sex than even you, Anil. You only look sexy, while I’m out there having sex. I’m in the middle of an orgy right now as I type this. How many of your hits have converted into days and nights of great sex? Now if only someone would put up some maths and graphs of hits-sex ratio.
Thank you, my web log.
dori
i’m actually very smart and intelligent. promise. but you know what?
i have absolutely no idea who the hell wil wheaton is.
seriously.
Dan Hartung
If Anil’s methods seem extreme, you can always consider Dan’s Weblog Depromotion Program. It involves posting less and less as time goes by, on more and more minor subjects, and letting people drop you from their blogrolls without threat of retaliatory nuclear strikes, until you reach the exalted height of the 738th most popular weblog. Whoops! Down two more since I last checked. Also, ensure that you never appear on traffic rankers like the Blogger Ecosystem, which requires as few as 50 inbound links to be included. Whoops — now it’s 52. It gets easier and easier to not be included; you can’t miss!
thomas
I think it’s important for all to remember that although striving for a bigger audience is fine in and of itself, there can be only one kottke.
He could post about teletubbys for months on end and it would still shine above your detailed analysis on the space shuttles demise.
Karan
I think that I want to hereby claim the targeted audience who are looking to read journal/WeBLog entries by a plumpish middle aged mom. That’s mine. Nobody else can have it. Now where do I plant the flag?
Jason Wall
Gratuituos Self Promotion Well? What? It’s true… by virtue of being first those who attained large amounts of site traffic retain it because everyone links to them hoping for a linkback.
I’ll also admit that I care about how much traffic I get. I have reasons for wanting traffic, most of which involve monetary gain. grin I’ve discovered that unless you are initiated into the fold of the fabulously hit wealthy by being really good at what you do, or my blind chance, good content and a lot of commenting and IM’ing other sites will lead to more traffic.
Personally I don’t fint Anil to be all that sexy, but his link bar is unique. I’m just irritated I didn’t think of it first. walks off muttering
thomas
“Anil to be all that sexy, but his link bar is unique.”
Hey, kottke has that too, and added it only days after anil ;)
David
The further I read in these comments the happier I am that my “blog” is on hiatus. Does that make me like the burnouts that used to hang out by the side door of the school in their Iron Maiden t-shirts?
Jason Fried
Another great way to drive traffic to your weblog is to post your URL in the comments area right here on this site. That’s right, people, visit Signal vs. Noise today!
Dean Allen
Um, excuse me but there’s a war on…?
Broward Horne
I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned anything about von Thünen zones or Löschian demand cones yet.
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/thunen.htm http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/losch.htm
Vaughan
See, i read somewhere that a really, really pathetic way to increase traffic to one’s site is to visit another immensely popular site - preferably one that you’ve never read before but have only landed on because somebody you regularly read had linked it - and then say something witty, amusing and stylish in the comments, thereby forcing people to click on your name to link to your very own site. Today, D-list; tomorrow, well, B-list at least. Have you read my site, by the way?
God, my life is tragic and empty. I wish I was A-list. Then I could die happy. :-)
Steven Den Beste
Some of us want lots of traffic because it’s part of the Great Right Wing Conspiracy To Take Over The World! (Nyah-ha-ha!)
…or maybe it’s just egoboo…
Jason Wall
is doing this only because he likes the thought of driving traffic to his own site Its a minor quibble, and I betray my childishness in doing so, but kottke was like 3 months behind Anil in implementing his link log. 3 Months is an age in inet speeds…
sean
I blog, if anything, for email rather than ‘hits’.
Sometimes, I feel like Merv Griffin. And he was blogging before there was an internet.
Jann
I wonder if anyone got this far down?
Liz
You mean, besides me?
Robert Scoble
Jann and Liz, I’m here too!
Stephan
Prince has a blog?
Where?
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