Blog Boggled: This Is Only A Test

       Testing.... 1, 2.3.....testing.  Can you hear me in the back?   Before a speaker or someone who is relying on a microphone begins whatever it is they are going to deliver to an audience, they usually will do a sound check to make sure that they will be heard when they deliver their presentation.  Blogging does not allow any sound check and we never really know who is going to show up to our blog presentations.  And without comments or tracking it's hard to tell if anybody did show up.

        I'm not especially scientifically minded, but I am intrigued by things like consumer surveys and the effectiveness of advertising.  I also like to see the lists like best selling books, top grossing movies, music charts, or anything that gives the results of how well received something was by its intended audience. That's probably why I am so fascinated by how effectively a blog is delivered to an intended audience, how it is received by the readers, how well it is followed and commented upon, and how it sustains life or eventually dies.  Blog Development and Marketing is what I suppose one would call it if it were a college course.

         Some of my posts have been strictly experimental, but hopefully not in anyway detrimental to the content of the material--I always try to post something substantive.  For example, after seeing many posts on other blogs about contests or free give aways, I thought I'd start with a similar come on to entice readers to look at my post last Thursday.  It was a tease--I wasn't really giving anything away--I just wanted to see if I could draw any more readers to the site with this approach.  Google Analytics, my hit tracker that I have installed on my site, said no, the hits went down from the previous day.  There were some excellent comments, but not more than average.  What does it all mean?  You tell me.  Maybe nothing much, but it was my experiment for the day and I thought the post was still reasonably informative.

          So I'll probably keep playing with this, but hopefully not at the cost of quality of content.  It's like when I was a kid:  If I got a toy that really fascinated me and I wondered how it worked, I would frequently take it apart, usually with a hammer, and see what was inside.  Hopefully I won't be as destructive with this blog, but I'm curious.  I am trying to learn something.  If any of you are doing the same thing, I'd like to swap some ideas, so I hope you will leave your comments if you have something to share.

          Tamara Heiner posted some good information on her blog, Chasing Dreams, the other day.  You may want to check it out and when you're there, leave a comment and let her know that I linked you there.
And while you're here at Tossing It Out please leave me a comment.  Anything will do.  I killed "capcha" like Tamara recommended--let me know if it worked okay.  Have you learned anything useful from Google Analytics or whatever tracking device or hit counter that you use?   This post has been shorter than most of mine:  Is that better?  Should it be even shorter?