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One of the downsides that I didn’t consider when deciding to make the switch from Blogger to WordPress was the negative effect that this would have on the traffic I receive. I still monitor the visitor stats generated by both blogs and have watched the numbers steadily fall from my Blogspot.com blog as they have risen on my WordPress blog. Oddly enough, my Blogspot.com blog still receives about 50 returning visitors every day. I’m not sure if those people are just really confused or very nostalgic. ^_^
I’ve recently begun to contact other blog authors gracious enough to link to my site that I still use my old address. (Those of you who don’t list e-mail addresses or provide contact forms make this endeavor especially hard, by the way!) I also spent a couple of hours updating all of my previous posts to ensure that none link to my old site. I am hesitant to remove the content from my Blogspot.com blog altogether since that site does still generate traffic for this one, even if it’s no longer updated. I also recognize that there are still direct links out there to individual articles and would rather not disappoint the people who follow them. These links are also why I’ve decided against adding a meta refresh to the header of my old blog.
 |
| Oh no! Not again. |
What this boils down to is an overall reduction of the “Reputation” that Resto4Life has built up within the blogosphere. I tried to make my switch a vocal one at the time, but there’s just no way to ensure that the “credit” afforded to my old blog be transferred to the new one. To give you an idea, my Technorati rating (a measure of how often linked you are) for my Blogspot.com blog is 54, while this site is currently rated 36. You may say, “bah, why do you care?” It may seem vain, but if blog authors didn’t care about building and maintaining a healthy level of readership, most of us probably wouldn’t be writing. And so I watch my stats and examine my incoming links, tweaking things that I hope will help. It feels a bit like nursing a potted plant. Those haven’t typically lasted more than a few days in my house, however…
In a general effort to continue improving, I’d like to take this opportunity to solicit some feedback from visitors. I’m curious about what you enjoy reading most here at Resto4Life and if there’s anything that you would like to see more of. I’ll try to take any suggestions you have under advisement, though I can make no promises regarding gnome pr0n (that’s a whole different blog altogether). For ideas, here are a few of the topics that I try to include (feel free to add your own if you think I missed any):
- Analysis
While these posts don’t always contain math, graphs, and spreadsheets, they would include any post that examines a particular caveat of our class in some detail, be it a talent, spell, or Druid-specific item. - Class/Spec News
While I don’t cover every change to the Druid class (I try to leave the Feral and Balance changes to their respective moguls, for instance), I do try to mention anything of note that I find for healing Druids. This is fun for me since I often read about these changes in places where it’s unlikely to find intelligent discourse regarding the changes. By posting them here, I get to hear your impressions. - Community Spotlight
This includes any Druid-related items created by someone else that I want to share with you. This includes new Druid blogs I as I find them in addition to things like PvP videos and Featured Artwork. - Blog-Related Posts
This generally includes new tools or features I’ve stumbled upon (or created) and think other authors might enjoy. This includes posts like this one. - Player vs. Player
I’m certainly not a great PvP player, but I do enjoy it (sometimes … with a lot of tequila, lime, and salt). Moreso, I enjoy writing about it. Do you like reading about it? - Macros and UI Stuff
Even if you tell me you hate this sort of thing, I’m not sure I could give it up. I’d probably still write these articles and tuck them away in a dark, cobweb-filled corner. I love the UI in World of Warcraft and think everyone can benefit from tweaking their interface to suit their playstyle. - Personal Interest Stories
I’ve hesitated to write too much about Phaelia or my in-game experiences, both because I wasn’t sure if that would be well-received and I’m not sure if they would be particularly interesting. On the other hand, I know that some blogs thrive on sharing intimate details of their gaming. Is this something you sometimes like to read about? - Mailbag Question and Answer
Readers often send in great questions whose answers beg to be shared. These are generally short posts that don’t require any math (thankfully) that I enjoy putting together.
If you would like to give me your opinion on your favorite types of topics, please feel free to comment below. Or if you’d like your opinion to remain a secret, feel free to use the Contact form.
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All these things can be done in 5 mans though. Riverwishs...
The fact that your Resto4life logo still links to http://resto4life.blogspot.com might have something to do with the visitor-count as well. I find myself clicking on it occasionally when I forgot about it and then click on the resto4life.com link again to get back…
If you mean the logo on this site, it has linked to http://www.resto4life.com since almost the very beginning (a visitor pointed it out to me pretty early on). But that’s a good idea to update the one on the Blogspot blog to also point this way (if that’s what you mean)!
I’m also still seeing the logo http://www.resto4life.com/ point towards your old site. Checked to make sure it wash’t cached, and sure enough … still links to blogspot.
My favorite articules personally are the UI and macro sections, the analysis, and druid news. Of course i love every articule here =). I find that while i love the personal interest stories to be very interesting to see the blog author and what is going on wether in game for them or in real life to be able to get a better feel for the blogger and are very enjoyable sections, i find that some bloggers tend to focus a little TOO much on themselves and never focus on the class itself. What i’m trying to say is that i love resto4life and have been reading ever since i switched mains for my guild for healing (and still loving it). Unfortunately i started reading resto4life a few weeks before you switched hosts so i can’t really comment much on blogspot.
I allso concur with others that it indeed still links you back to blogspot.
My druid is Level 1, so I don’t come here for myself. Well, that’s not entirely true: Our small guild has a resto druid and a boomkin, so I come here to learn more about how to work with them in groups, both with my hunter and my priest.
Also, the resto parts help me learn more about the zen of healing–so that’s good.
But mainly, I come here because it’s a fun place to spend a few moments.
(BTW, please note the change of my blog address (yes, I’m feeling your pain, Phae!) to http://kestrelsaerie.us)
Ahhh, I see the source of the culpritness.
You have 2 versions of your logo, one located at:
http://www.resto4life.com/images/resto4lifelogo.swf
That one links to http://www.resto4life.com/
However, there’s also one that’s triggered by an embed tag in your code, which shows http://loni.2-shoes.com/images/resto4life/restologo.swf
I see this exact logo in my Firefox browser, and it links to http://resto4life.blogspot.com/
@Zackoria: Thank you for the feedback! I will take that under advisement. I’m happy to know that some enjoy the macros and UI stuff as much as I do. =) And I’m especially glad that you enjoy the “balance” of articles that I’ve been doing lately.
@Kwast: Wow, thank you for spotting that. I copied the code over from my old blog, and I guess that I only changed one of the URLs, not realizing I would need to change both. You saved me a major headache of trying to figure out what was wrong. =)
Okay, firstly, I wish heartily I had a thing that would keep me logged in across all these blogs I comment on. It’s a pain to retype all that every time I want to comment, and half the time it keeps me from commenting because it takes longer to sign in than to comment.
Secondly, your anti-spam word, if not custom, was hilariously appropriate. Rejuv indeed.
Thirdly, thank you for the email, I fixed you. =] I was actually deliberately not fixing - three of the blogs I watch have swapped around in the past couple weeks, some of them repeatedly, and I figured it was easier to wait till ya’ll were done with yer do-se-do’ing and whatnot.
And then I forgot. But read that other paragraph, that was a much better reason!!
Also the third, love your comment icon on your blog. <3
I like most of the things you post - especially the community spotlight, the mailbag, the class news and tips. I think I’d like to read more about your in-game stuff too, assuming they were full-fledged stories and not just the raiding and loot progress of your guild.
=]
Phaelia,
1. I love reading about UI and Macro stuff, because even though I rarely tamper with mine, a lot of my guildies and friends love some of the things you share. One day I’m going to spend some time redo’ing my UI so it suits my needs, just like you mentioned, and I’ll certainly be refuring back to some of your posts.
2. Also, I think maybe a little less artwork would be nice.. I love art, don’t get me wrong, but it feels too much like it’s just a way to slack off, Filler posts.
3. I always do my best to read and try to follow your math, on Analysis-type posts, it’s fun and nice to be able to see actual calculations ever once and a while instead of plain opinions!
4. There are so many blogs out there that focus on person aspects like progess in raids, and their adventures, I don’t really think it’s something you need to focus on more than you do already.
5. PvP posts are great! I’m pretty new to it, and they help out a ton.
6. I like how you always keep a little of your personality in your posts ^_^
~Luarana,
Feathermoon
@Ego: The anti-spam words ARE custom-selected and I had a lot of fun thinking up Druid-related words to use.
I really wanted to avoid having to do that with the “post once, get approved, never have to wait for approval again” comments technique, but I was getting hundreds of spam a day that I still had to sift through to make sure I wasn’t missing any valid comments. Now it’s down to maybe 1-2 a day so a big improvement. Thank you for correcting my blog’s URL; that’s a good reason to have waited and isn’t something I considered. The fact that you enjoy my blog means a lot, especially since yours is one of my favorites.
@Luarana: I’m glad to hear more interest in UI and macros. I will have to work on something for one of those two categories in the next little while. I’ve been pretty comfortable with the state of my UI lately so haven’t really tried anything too sensational lately.
I can see how the “Featured Artwork” posts might seem like “fillter” posts, but really I’ve been trying to be diligent about selecting one piece a week (usually on a Monday) and having no more than one displayed on the front page at a time. The thing is that these are really quick posts to put together, and not having them wouldn’t spontaneously make me think of something new to write about (although, if that were the case, I’d drop them in a heartbeat!). However, I might consider to cutting back to one every two weeks rather than one every week. That would reduce their number to 10% rather than the 20% they’ve been in the past couple of months and that does seem more in line with what I would like to see!
Thank you both for your comments - very helpful!
Just going to rate your categories from 1 - 8 or however many there were..
1. Analysis - I don’t have time to do all the math for myself and usually don’t have time to read the 40 pages of theorycrafting over at ElitistJerks.com, but I DO have time to read your well-prepared and concise reports on various druidy things. Love this feature!
2. Class/Spec News - I often have already read the news (probably the same time you do!), but sometimes I miss things and even when I don’t, the comments here usually make good discussion.
3. Personal Stories - I’m one of those personal-blog people who blogs life details and enjoys reading those of others, mostly because it provides a kind of looking-glass and offers people a chance to comment and give good advice/criticism that we wouldn’t have thought of ourselves.
4. PvP stuff - I don’t PvP that much, but I like picking up the occasional tip here for when I do. Again, don’t have time to go read a bunch of pro-PvP stuff - but yours is concise and direct.
5. Macro/UI - Normally I’m up on macro/UI things that are beneficial to us, but sometimes again I don’t have time to keep up with them and then I come here and see a great addon review or macro idea and it makes life easier. Another great category.
6-7 - Tie for Mailbag/Blogger-to-blogger posts - I do blog but I’m normally too busy (read: lazy) to use all your fantastic ideas in my own blog. Hearing about them does get me inspired for a bit though.
And the mailbag is nice because it usually offers a place for good discussion to coalesce and I am a great fan of good discussion.
8 - Community - I do love the druid community and I think these are valuable to the other bloggers/artists out there. For me personally though, they don’t really draw me to the blog. Most likely that’s again because I don’t have enough time to go read them (wish I had my old office job where I just read forums and blogs all day!).
I think the blog is fabulous and eventually those Blogger-clicking-people will miss you enough to update their favorites. Keep up the great work.
Ada
@Adarel: Wow, thank you for the amazing summary of each item. It is definitely going to help me in future. =) And I’m so glad that you enjoy the blog. I just hope I can continue generating content that interests (most) everyone!
I love the site! I was reading your blogspot one as well, and followed you over here! I use a macro when casting Rebirth on anyone that says “%t is being brought back to life, thanks to resto4life.com!”, so I hope that helps a little too
Wonderful site; you’ve kept your personality in the posts and the design is outstanding. Lovely art <3
Thanks so much I enjoy reading all your posts! -Silmae, Arygos
@Silmae: Oh my. Thank you so much for all the compliments … and the site plug! =)