November 21, 2003

Revolution - Beyond Instalanche

You have new blog, Comrade? Is very nice blog. Maybe you want to share it with world. You want to make your own Revolution, da?

Instalanche

Maybe you think way to start your Revolution is to email The Czar, InstaPlutocrat himself, with "Hey, Glenn, I have good new blog. Please feature in next post." Ha! Comrade, do you think bolshoi capitalist like InstaPlutocrat has time for your proletarian words? He is busy, very busy, reading many, many blogs. Maybe you try anyway.

Kevin of Wizbangblog wrote excellent piece on how to get an Instalanche. Or how best to try.

Maybe you get Instalanche. Suppose, since YOUR blog is most perceptive document since this, that InstaPlutocrat links to it. You get your Instalanche. Then what? Khorosho, you send pants to dry cleaner. Good.

What next? Will you impale yourself on temporary spike in your Site Meter?

Comrades

Nyet. As great Revolutionary Ringo Starr sang "You gotta pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues, And you know it don't come easy." You must work to build Revolution. Seek out intelligentsia. Exchange Blogrolls. Comment on posts. Trackback to posts.

Kevin (in excellent post) called this "minor league" approach. :) Kevin is bolshoi Capitalist too, da?

Find "comrades." (No, not in hackneyed, satiric sense of Commissar, in real sense.) A network of blogger/readers. Blogrolling? That only first step. Many have 100, 200 blogs on Blogroll; not all of them are comrades. "Comrades" are bloggers, maybe of roughly same size, who read your blog, maybe comment now and then, mention/link to your blog in posts, and maybe exchange emails.

These bloggers are comrades, regardless of size. Maybe you think that tomorrow, Glenn, Atrios, Eugene, Kevin, etc. will begin featuring your blog regularly. Think again. They already have THEIR comrades.

One very important point. "Comradeship" runs both ways. Do you support your comrades' Revolution? You better, or you soon be on barricade, all by yourself, except for Google traffic from combined keywords "ladybug cum baseball pundit."

You want quality comrades. Remember, visitors to your site will follow links. Where do you send them? Good place or boring place? Requires some thought, da? Commissar does not mean to reject a comrade's request. Suppose you get email from Comrade, "Hey I wrote interesting post." He wants you to link to it. Here's rule: You link to it. When you get 80,000 hits per day, then you start picking and choosing. So, you must balance fraternal comradeship with need to send visitors to good places. Thus, good idea to select interesting comrades from start.

Mr. Nice Guy

Dean called it "decency." Maybe it is sensitivity, consideration, or thoughtfulness. Respect other bloggers. Think through implications. Is not Sputnik science.

One small example: Comments and Trackbacks. Venomous Kate, a medium-sized and growing blogger, tires of Commenters who only want free exposure for their URL's on her blog. Too cranky? Think again. Look at bolshoi bloggers like Glenn. Does he say, "Be considerate with Comments. Add something to discussion, beyond shameless self-promotion." No. He simply does not have Comments nor Trackback. Why not, comrades? Too much bardak.

On other hand, look at little bloggers like Commissar. Any Comment or TraktorBack welcome, like warm sunny day in Moscow in March.

Use some discretion. Some thought about Comments. Something like this: Little Bloggers -- green light. Medium bloggers -- yellowlight. Big bloggers -- red light (tools not enabled). Whatever you do, does it add to them, or just to you?

Decency, respect, and comradeship apply to all aspects of blogging, not just Comments. This kind of thing goes long way.






You want many comrades, referrers from different places. Like this:

1 http://hippercritical.typepad.com/
2 http://tcp.dramatools.net/
3 http://realpolitik.us/
4 http://merdeinfrance.blogspot.com/
5 http://www.imao.us/cgi-bin/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=1111
6 http://site-essential.com/blogroll.shtml
7 http://www.doctor-horsefeathers.com/
8 http://www.allahpundit.com
9 http://www.acepilots.com/
10 http://www.allahpundit.com/
11 unknown
12 unknown
13 http://www.mahablog.com/index.html


Posted by Commissar at November 21, 2003 10:31 AM
Confessions

Good advice, Commissar. Politburo will be pleased at your efforts to build cells.

"Will you impale yourself on temporary spike in your Site Meter?"

Awesome.

Extracted from: Comrade Sophorist at November 21, 2003 11:53 AM

I haven't gotten a link from the Instapundit in over six months. But my traffic continues to increase on a monthly basis.

People need to get over Insta-Envy and concentrate on what really matters, if they want to build traffic. As you have obviously discovered.

Congratulations on the migration to Movable Type, by the way. I'll bet you're already glad you did it.

Extracted from: Dean Esmay at November 21, 2003 12:13 PM

Some minor league baseball teams outdraw a few major league teams. What's their secret? An excellent connection to their fans, and making the act of coming to a game an enjoyable experience. They build their fan base slowly and since players come and go they focus on their customer.

There's no reason blogs can't work that way too...

Extracted from: Kevin at November 21, 2003 01:31 PM

To paraphrase Kate ... do it 'cause ya like it, or don't do it. But, of course if what ya like about it is the adoration of fans, ya gotta work 'em for the applause! ;)

Extracted from: Tiger at November 21, 2003 03:22 PM

Even a durak like myself can see the wisdom in the words you speak. Tonight, we raise the Vodka for you, good Commissar.

Extracted from: King of Fools at November 21, 2003 04:39 PM

I get the odd InstaMention once in a blue moon, but what I really like is the longterm increase in traffic and overall recognition. The only way to get that from InstaPundit is to be InstaMentioned every day, and that's more commitment to this blogging habit than I care to give.

What Tiger says Kate says, is the answer. I say, "Have fun." And on those days when having fun means not blogging, well...

I've always managed to survive those days off so far.

<knocks on wood> Ow. Why do I always get a headache when I do that?

Extracted from: McGehee at November 21, 2003 05:32 PM

I've also found it helps to occasionally posts pictures of your boobs, to keep them coming back.

...

No, not really.

...

Well, not REALLY really.

Extracted from: Dana at November 21, 2003 05:58 PM

Excellent post - very good advice, and well presented. Don't want to impale oneself, no no (though as I've never encountered the Instalanche first hand, I'll have to make do with what I get). But I do believe that bloggins should be, above all, fun.

Extracted from: BIll Wallo at November 21, 2003 11:23 PM

Almost two years, nary an Instalanche. My traffic is only affected at the times I stop posting for a few days.

This is a great post.

Extracted from: Matt at November 21, 2003 11:53 PM

Very nice post: oddly enough, it encouraged me /not/ to seek out the fabled Instalanche for my latest effort. All for the best: gotta let the chi flow for a bit longer first...

Extracted from: Moe Lane at November 22, 2003 10:53 PM

Nice post. But I wonder if this is a part of your great scheme of world revolution? How should I react to your following comment on my post (10/27/03), NEW BLOG LINKS? "We will bury you! Especially with the new, MT-powered blog (new Ural too)." *grin* ;)

All the Best,
Martin Lindeskog.
Gothenburg, Sweden.

Extracted from: Martin Lindeskog at November 22, 2003 11:54 PM

Another thing to consider is your "religious status". If you fancy yourself a Christian, or even worse a Conservative Christian Fundamentalist Scumbag (like yours truly), you won't be winning any popularity contests in the blogosphere anytime soon. Funny thing is, very few people link to me, and if they do they scramble to get my site off their blogrolls once they find out how evil I am, yet I still manage about 120 visits a day, which seems to be pretty respectable blogwise.

I suspect lots of bloggers are just simply afraid of their love for me. :-D

Extracted from: Mac Swift at November 23, 2003 12:02 AM

I will have to try this. I'm tired of getting traffic by facing bogus lawsuit.

Extracted from: Justene at November 23, 2003 12:04 AM

Da, Commissar, good post indeed. You and I work in similar ways. I find that the Instalanches don't usually result in comments and debate; the two I've had brought boatloads of readers who quickly move on to something else. (Not that the Instalanches can't help, but Glenn can only link to so many blogs in a day.) I've already found that comments and Trackbacks are the best way to build some blogbuzz AND some personal connections.

One more piece of advice to new bloggers: Trackbacks are really nothing much more than advertising, so if you use a Trackback ping, be kind and link back in your post to the blog you've pinged. I had to be reminded of this early on, and I haven't forgotten since.

Extracted from: Captain, er, Corporal Ed at November 23, 2003 02:29 AM

Comrade Commissar, if I may make one more suggestion. If you send story or post to another blogger, ask yourself if it appropriate story for that blogger.

For example, if you send me link to blog that says all U.S. servicemen are evil and deserve to die, I will not link to you. After all, if you read my blog, you will know I am veteran.

However, if you send me link to story you wrote about the Japanese citizens that were kidnapped by North Korea, you can bet that not only will I post it, but if really good, I will forward link to editor of a Japanese web site that publicises the issue.

Those are two extreme examples, but I hope I got point across. I hope I not offend Commissar by mentioning North Korea.

Extracted from: Tom the Friendly Ghost at November 23, 2003 02:48 AM

Agreed. My recent instalanche increased traffic for the day but visitors didn't stick around for much longer than that.

Extracted from: eTALKINGHEAD at November 23, 2003 08:30 PM

Thanks for giving me many laughs while helping me to fire up the new blog.

Blessings,
Joe Perez - The Soulful Blogger

Extracted from: Joe Perez at November 25, 2003 08:32 PM

Ingenious combination of valid information with hilarious satire. Is this a test of loyal comrade intelligence or a means of concealing sensitive information from the lumpen proletariat?

--Puzzled in Palmyra

Extracted from: David at November 28, 2003 08:00 AM

I came up with the word "Instalanche." Honest! Oh wait, that's shameless self-promotion. Let's see... Nope, that's all I got.

Extracted from: Jim Treacher at November 30, 2003 12:41 PM