After all, I know that this is true:
It's just that those really popular ones are the ones people are actually reading, right? Therefore:
And of course, this means that I'm reading more than my fair share of popular blogs too.
So it seems to me that the world is full of people who are quitting their jobs and being paid to renovate old houses with the profits from advertising bespoke designer rugs. Or being begged to try out fantastic baby equipment (for free) or staying at hotels in Venice (for free) or meeting up with other fabulous people (for free) and just generally having a ton of fun (for free), funded by sponsors and ad people. And while I'm sure it's lovely to live like that, if I'm honest it doesn't make me aspire to buy whatever they are advertising, it just makes me feel jealous and left out. Because it just makes me feel like this.
Even though I know I know the top graph is true, it's the bottom one that sticks. Being normal makes me feel way, way way below average. Because of the statistics, people. Because of the statistics. As if we didn't already have enough reasons to hate statistics.
Oh, and just in case any advertisers feel sorry for me and want to give me some free stuff, I would like to let you all know that I would be very happy to test drive a) some really nice wine b) a trampoline and c) a bigger yard to put the trampoline in. (Oh, and I should probably also say d) a cure for my son's chicken pox. But if I could just have one, I'd probably go for the trampoline).
Ha Ha!!! I have thought this exact same thing so many times....excellent graphing by the way! Really, that deserves a trampoline all by itself!
ReplyDeleteAh yes, further proof that the internet is middle school all over again. My brain knows it is ridiculous, that the stats counter stuff is just a way to distract me from things that actually matter, still I look. And then I tell myself that I'm elite, not unpopular!
ReplyDeleteTrampoline and wine. Both. Together. Loads of fun.
ReplyDeleteIf I had unlimited wealth, I would have both a trampoline and wine being shipped to you PRONTO. Because in my world, you ARE popular!
ReplyDeleteSo Totally True! Loved this - and it helps to know that there are others thinking the same thing that I am!
ReplyDeleteHahaha! Love the graphs. I really hope you get some wine, and a trampoline, and a bigger place to put the trampoline, and a cure for chicken pox. Or at the very least some really really good wine.
ReplyDeleteYes! I have felt this exact same way so many times! PS: hope Blue feels better soon!
ReplyDeleteHaha, so true! On the other hand, I've quit visiting some of the "popular" blogs because all the ads make the page load too slowly. I'm too impatient and I get too frustrated waiting, waiting, waiting.
ReplyDeleteHope all are well and healthy in your house soon. Until then, have a glass of that good wine.
I know mine isn't one of the "popular blogs" but every time someone de-lurks to comment I get FREAKED OUT that someone *I don't personally know* is reading about me, like, why would you want to do that??? and why would you??? and then I am all like, well, it *is* a blog after all, and I uh, put it out there so someone sometime is bound to read it I suppose.
ReplyDeleteI guess I am caught in this paradox of yeah, no one reads me but if and when someone does I am all uncomfortable that they do so I am happy to be sort of under the radar.
And you thought you had issues?
I have felt the same way ever since that Rage Against the Mini Van woman got free back to school clothes from TEA. I would definitely send you a trampoline and wine in gratitude for your blog (if I had any money whatsoever).
ReplyDeleteYou forgot:
ReplyDeletePeople I comment on for ICLW: 90%
People who leave comments on my blog: 10%
Also:
People who have never been to school or college and whip up nifty little patchwork bags while the baby (with whom they are doing Elimination Communication) is solving the Rubik's cube and sell them for $100 each: 1%
People who have to go to work or who would love to go to work if only they could find a job: 99%
As someone who lucked into paid blogging, I have developed even more of an inferiority complex than when I was just writing for myself and whoever happened to pop by my own site. Where I am currently paid to write, the other bloggers have personal sites with way higher traffic than my little blog will ever get, plus they have many other accomplishments to put in their bios. All of their bios read something like, "Jan founded the women's online community ImAwesome.com and has styled rooms for Dwell Magazine, Cottage Living, and Martha Stewart. In her spare time, she raises five active boys and makes homemade gingerbread every week." Whereas mine reads something like, "Mary has a tiny personal blog and two children whose fingernails she never remembers to clip." So I just try not to look anymore.
ReplyDeleteI used to wonder how that 5% made it happen, and I've concluded that it really was just luck. Luck and connections (which, frankly, were lucky connections) and good timing (which was also lucky). Not to say that they don't work hard (those three months of writing a blog post every day for a site that was not my own just about killed me), but it really wasn't because they were so much better at blogging than anyone else. There are also a lot of downsides to being so hugely popular, or at least that's what I tell myself. I'd much rather have very limited ad revenue (I make five figures a year on site ads if you count the numbers that come after the decimal point!) than to deal with all the nastiness and judgment that is regularly directed at those who have more popular blogs. At least that's what I tell myself when yet another blogger I read gets to go on an all expenses paid trip to an exotic destination.
Here's my thought: My kids need to have chicken pox. Can we come over and be unpopular and under-read together? :)
ReplyDeleteI love your pie charts! Exactly how I feel.
ReplyDeleteYou always make my day when you bust out the cool visual aids.
ReplyDeleteI've always accepted that my blog is very-very "niche market", and that's okay. I still don't even want my husband to ever read it. But that doesn't stop me from having a sick fascination/envy of those very fancypants blogs where every 'snapshot' of various families lives/activities/meals/homes just looks so dang whimsically fabulous and quirkily-yet-perfectly composed. AND they're getting paid to do that??!
You have a gift at charts. I feel inferior. Also, I let myself get bogged down too. Tonight, for example, the stat counter on my blog said 350 people read my new post. Or at least, clicked to it. 1 of those people left a comment. Sometimes I think OMG I suck so much. I make titles that interest people and then they run away screaming because they hate my blog. And then I realize, I care too much. Also, I do not get free stuff. I get a husband who wonders why I am not helping with the laundry upstairs. And I wonder if at last I've written something that will get me reported to child protective services by someone who thinks they "care" but really want me in prison. It keeps a girl up at night. I kinda miss you. Sorry about the pox.
ReplyDeleteAdore the pie charts, so true, so true.
ReplyDeleteYour writing is most definitely trampoline-worthy. Publish that book, you'll see!!
ReplyDeletePS Hope Blue is better soon. Healthy vibes for Pink too.
Now I want to read all of your commenters' blogs. How long have you been blogging? I think the popular bloggers - the good ones - all blogged for nobody for a while before catching fire. And it ultimately comes down to intention - do you WANT your income to come from your blog? Why do you write? These are not questions for you, per se, but for the average blogger. Do we blog because we want to be popular or because we're trying to establish a career of it - or both? (or neither...) You're clearly one of the good ones, so if you want to generate income here, I'm sure you could make it happen.
ReplyDeleteEven after blogging for a couple years I had no idea until I joined a group of Missouri Bloggers this summer how many people made money off of their blogs and how they go about it. Then I checked out their blogs and the writing was AWFUL. I was truly stumped. I think I only read one blog regularly that is considered a "major" blog. One of my best friends irl has a "following" although she rarely blogs - but is a good writer. I became very jealous when she got to go on a wine and yoga retreat in Colorado this summer - Hello - she doesn't even really like Yoga.
ReplyDeleteYou have expressed my own inner blogging angst perfectly! With pie charts!!!
ReplyDeleteYes but I get more out of your blog than those others. That's the true irony.
ReplyDeleteI'm with a commenter up there (findingmagnolia I think?) my blog would just feel weird and different if I were doing it assuming anyone other than my mom was reading it. Either that, or that's what I tell myself to keep me warm at night. ;)
Either way, it's completely annoying when said paid bloggers then do their paid blog posts. Never read them.
Six years ago, I started up a blog and enjoyed it, it picked up speed, but then because of circumstances, I had to make the blog more private. This year, I started a second and a third blog. I have been shocked and dismayed at the HUGE difference in getting traffic and comments. It's kind of sad really.
ReplyDeleteI'm a new lurker and you had me fooled. I thought you were one of those popular bloggers. Your blog is so very good. My new favourite blog.I'd think you'd have a unique market for getting free things for twins!
ReplyDeleteI do not ever want to be a popular blogger b/c I would feel like too much of me was out floating around the world being misunderstood. One of my big fears in life is being misunderstood...which is why I hardly ever blog. I could turn around and argue with myself very easily about most anything...so how would I ever get my opinion on things down in writing, truly. For eternity. When it feels so fluid. BUT, my girls love their trampoline. And that's not really related. But I hope you get one. :)
ReplyDeleteI love your blog, btw. Make a pie chart for how many of us love your blog. And use green for me b/c I love green. ;)