An incomplete idiot's guide to getting viewers to your blog

Note: I have no clue what the character is saying, i just thought she was cute.

Yes, this is a serious post. Is there anything that indicates that it is not other than the fact that it’s written by me?

As you know, T.H.A.T anime blog has just hit 100k in 4.5 months, which to many people consider to be quite an achievement. For myself, I think it is logical to say that I expected it slightly, but definitely not at such a fast rate by any chance. However, it is this entry in the ab forums that got me thinking. The great amount of new bloggers in animeblogger.net and the great dropout rate among animeblogger.net bloggers (around 50%) made me curious too. What makes and breaks an anime blog? What makes the difference between a blog that gets 1200 visitors per day and one that simply gets 50 visitors per day?

Anime blogging as a new person on the block is a tough job and I am sure that many new anime bloggers or any form of blogging who blogs online do want attention in some way or another. It is sad often that you check your own blog and realize that no one is reading what you write painfully. It is that kind of anguish that might hurt the newer bloggers. For older bloggers, they are not bothered with this issue but this guide is not for the oldbies. Back to what I was saying, two common ways of reflecting this interest of a blog is through comments and of course, viewership. This is less of a guide and more of my personal experience with the blog. Some things might work, some might not and I am not putting any guarantee to this.

Of course, shower me with tons of comments! Wahahahaha! Ok, I will be more serious.

In fact, this issue has been covered a few times, no less than TJ’s entry on it. It is a decent coverage of how to make your blog more popular, and I personally think it’s an excellent read. Do check it out because I will repeat some of the points that he had said but in my own perspective of things. I will not deny this but having an anime blog is easy. Having an anime blog with viewership is a tough and generally unrewarding job unless you are like Impz who is on permanent head damage. That implies that there is something inherently wrong with Impz who enjoys to write as much as he can as a form of de-stressing himself before he goes out to scream “I HATE YOU ELITE ANIME VIEWERS WHO WATCH RAWS!”

I generally placed the most important guidelines at the top and the more decorative at the bottom of the list.

Let me start it off with a checklist for the new blogger.

Saber realizes how troublesome it is to blog actively.

1. Blog actively

It is completely logical to do just that to get viewers. The people who will visit your blog again wants a good constant stream of information so that they know that if they visit the blog on that day, there will certainly have a new entry to read. Build anticipation for them to find something new whenever they go there. There must be that feeling of “So what will he/she write today” embalmed into the readers.

Will you visit a blog daily that updates once per day or a blog that visits once per week? The answer is self-apparent. The activeness can be reduced when you get a good amount of viewership and do take note of this because most people burned out by the 2nd to 3rd month while trying to keep this up, even though it ’s extremely essential. If you ask me, once or twice per day is a very good amount. Thrice per day is overkill, do something called scheduling.

2. Get into the correct communities

There is no use to blog actively, if you do not even have the audience to know whether you exist. Hence, it is vitally important for you to start off by going to a community where anime is very well covered. Blog aggregators such as Blogsuki, Ab.net’s personal antenna and Animenano are a great means for your blog to be exposed to the people who know about anime. Without a shadow of a doubt, people will slowly trickle in with time, as long as your write something. These various aggregators are great communities for any anime blogger, providing great expertise for your blog. Of course, special communities such as the wonderful 9rules is also a good way of indication that your blog is approved by the blogging community.

Rider went all dead after realizing how hard getting into communities and advertising is.

3. Advertising

This is a rather related topic in point number two. Many people believe this to be extremely shameless and even I have to admit that it is something problematic. However, for a new blogger, it is very necessary for your voice to be out. Try to post on anime forums that are extremely popular to increase your profile, comment on popular bloggers and request politely for linkage of your blog in the blogroll. It might not gather that much viewers, but you will be surprised at the amount of returning viewers. These viewers are generally people who will leave comments too.

4. Layout

This is what I deem to be important. It is of no need to be an excellent graphical designer, just get someone to do it for you. If you did not know already, all the designs in T.H.A.T anime blog is not done by me, but instead by Mr Admin, who is a really wonderful person who knows all about html. So, if you think that Impz is good at designing, you are so wrong. I am a complete tech idiot that will probably fail at starting this blog, much less any attempt to design stuff.

On your color combination in the blog, choose something pleasant and not bright pink or purple which will kill the eyes of all your viewers. If your aim is to torture as much people as possible, use crimson glossy red as background and bright yellow as font, it’s a sure winner. Use very sensitive and calm colors in your blog, in order to make them stay, instead of fiery colors that will agitate them. Color therapy and interpretation is pretty important.

In a bite-size cookie, have a template that is easy on the eyes and of course, have a good navigation sidebar so that people who want to find anything on your blog do not need to do anything more than 1-2 clicks or spent 20 seconds or more finding it. Most people are impatient people when it comes to a new blog and they generally give you less than 30 seconds (if not less) to choose whether to read your entry or not. Hence, the layout is important, not only on your overall view, but how you organize your entry. Provide nice screenshots and good paragraphing between your writing. I certainly do not want to read a chunk of words without any separation or paragraphing.

I fully worship people who can do a good layout. They get all the love.

5. Your content: Quality of writing

Most people will put content as the first and most important thing. Me, on the other hand, think that content is important but not to the extent that you will suffer too much. Take it this way, you do not go to an anime blog in order to cultivate yourself on the 100 ways of correcting your grammar and excellent use of bombastic words. An anime blog is for enjoyment, which is why a decent command of English is more than enough. However, I am definitely not neglecting content by any chance. Content is very important, since it is the bread of your blog. If you start off your blog with hideous fanboy/fangirlish rants, I do not think that you will be very popular, pardon me saying. Fangirl entries, done in a tasteful manner, are of course different but since it is a matter of relativity, just take note of that. Hence, as long as you have a decent grasp of English, it’s generally good enough. It’s always good to add a dash of humor, a dash of sarcasm, a dash of insight. That brings me to my next point

6. Your content: Unique viewpoint

Also, very importantly, provide an unique viewpoint. Go check out the very popular anime bloggers. If they are already covering Kanon faster and of all grounds, does it make any sense for you to write the same old thing? I highly doubt so. I am not saying you cannot blog it but as a new blogger, you have to bring something different to it. Many of the bloggers that are popular generally blog with raws, providing a very fast and timely information that many mere mortals like us cannot. Hence, provide insightful thoughts rather than a summary. Provide parodies instead of boring 40 screenshots. Increase your exposure by bringing something that is not there. Like what TJ said, if you blog a series that no one does, you get 100% of the viewership. Blog Kanon, and you get 1%? You do the Maths yourself, even if the fanbase of Kanon is much higher. What can you add to the discussion of the series that you are blogging about? That should be the question you should ask yourself.

Saber just found a new scoop! That Shiroi is in fact all moe for the guys in FSN. Time to blog it!

7. Your content: Variety

This is not for everyone but I find it important to mention it. There are two kinds of bloggers. One is the niche blogger, who simply sticks to a certain format and genre in the way he/she blogs. Second is the wide reaching blogger, who crosses between episode summaries, commentaries, satire, comedy, parodies and social criticism. I personally believe that both are well and good, but the niche blogger will only get a small piece of the readership while the second will be exposed to many others. However, this argument also has a flaw because by providing anything under the sun, you might turn off less dedicated readers who are not keen on the other genres of writing you cover. However, I believe that by not “putting all your eggs in one basket”, you tend to attract new audience in faster than sticking to just one style. It is still a good start for new bloggers to write on summaries because they do appeal to the masses, but variety is always good for any form of business. Just ask the people in the business. Diversification is always key for survival and something to fall back on.

8. Your content: Timeliness
Always have various timeless entries for a slow day, like now when Japan has no anime up. Entries such as anime reviews, commentaries, satire and rants are often not time sensitive, so you can always postpone them to days when it’s more free. Moreover, such information is often interesting to the anime watcher, so you provide something interesting to them. Just look at Hinano, Memento and Random Curiousity for how they provide the most up to date news right when it happens with their summaries. Those are the most timely articles ever and that is why they are popular.

Call your blog desu.animeblogger.net is a sure way of letting people remember it.

9. Blog name/Post titles

At this point on, these are more cosmetic touches that are not really too important but just what I feel. The topic for this point is in my mind when I have my blog name. I want to have a blog name that is easy to remember, as people can associate my blog name when they try to surf it.

Person A: “Any good anime blogs?”

Person B:” Why not try T.H.A.T anime blog?”

Don’t you think my blog name is very easy to remember? For those on the move and did not bookmark my site, it is still extremely easy to remember. That is how you make others remember that your blog exist in this wired world. On the same vein of thought, have interesting and enticing post titles to get others to come to your blog.

10. Your heart

This sounds like the most cliche term but it is true. If you put your heart into writing something, it shows and will get people to read what you write. When the things you write cannot even move you or make you enjoy it, it is highly unlikely that anyone else is interested in what you are writing.

All in all, I hope that any new anime blogger or any blogger in general learns a bit more and do enjoy yourself when you write. That is the most important thing ever when you do a blog.

It’s to enjoy.