Why I was away from Indiblogger?
For about a year I was away from Indiblogger. I run four blogs out of which one is registered here. Kaaranam Ketkade is targeted towards senior citizens and contents are highly specific catering to the interests of that age group --> 55+.
When a post is made I try to promote my blog by drawing attention to my post via Facebbok, Twitter, G+, Indiblog (indiwine submission) and as a forward in a Yahoo discussion group for senior citizens. The Yahoo group is also restricted to older persons with 700 members. As the blog post gets exposed in the discussion group, hardly anyone visits the blog per se. I find that I spend more time bringing a post to the attention of potential readers than in making fresh contributions (posts).
In addition to being a blogger I moderate four discussion groups - all connected with the elderly. And am busy with a host of many other things which I shall not elaborate here.
I found that promtion of my blog via Indiblog is not yielding results because:
Indibloggers community depends on "mutual appreciation" route. Most bloggers blog for blogging sake - to gain visibility. Most are prepared to write on any commercial product / service when a sponsored contest is announced. Facebook like gathering "likes" (voting) is a craze in itself.
But then why did I come back after ten months? I saw a special sub category 60+ when a contest was announced!!
One way bloggers (of the same group / sub category) can help each other is to providing links to each other in their blogs.
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Reason: Typo noticed
Vyasamoorthy, you are somewhat right. There are many bloggers over here who play "mutual appreciation" game. However, not everyone is like that. It's just like a normal society wherein there are good bloggers as well as not-so-good bloggers. If we generalize these things, there will be no fun left in blogging. I have a personal blog and I think I do get decent amount of traffic looking at the age of my blog. And believe me, I don't believe in the concept of mutual admiration society nor do I just like a blog or promote a post because that author did for me.
One of the reasons you are not getting traffic would be your niche area. I wonder how many of the bloggers would be interested in reading about the problems related to 55+. It's not that the issue is a minor one, the point is just about being interested. I personally used to volunteer for a local old-age home. I used to go there every Sunday but then I started getting depressed. Looking at abandoned people day in and day out is not easy, at least for me. Hence, I don't read blogs about it. Although I do read news related to them because it doesn't pay to behave like an ostrich when there's an issue. Moreover, the people who are impacted by these issues don't know how to use computer, let alone access your blog. For example, my mom would be interested in your blog but she doesn't know how to use computer. Also, even if I open the blog for her to read, she wouldn't understand it because she doesn't know English.
I hope you are getting what I am trying to say here.
BTW, I didn't understand the reason of this thread. Please enlighten me.
Thanks. Well reasoned out. I agree. I am aware of problems of blogging in niche area. Visiting Old Age Homes is good service. If you develop compassion for the elderly deression may vanish.Don't take their problems in. Just do whatever you can and be done with it.
Reason for my post: Are there some hidden facilities of Indiblogger that I aam missing in promoting my blog?
Thanks. Please inculcate this attitude among your friends and advice "oldies" to stick to this attitude.
Have you any suggestion for me to get better dividends from Indiblogger. That's what I looking for.
Vyasmoorthy, I understand what you are talking about. The visibility for niche sites is depressingly low compared to Tech, beauty or business blogs. I have been trying hard so i should know. Regarding your niche, I think Indian audience your age may be interested in what you have to say but there are language and reach barriers because not everyone is tech-savvy. do see (and follow) senior bloggers around the world and I think interacting with them or reaching out to them might be a better bet for you than searching for the audience that is not willing to learn computers (my dad and mum incuded).I do not agree about your perspective on sponsored posts or link/like exchange but the blogging world does work on mutual support. I have received tremendous amount of support from a few US bloggers who were willing to let me in when I was getting started. Indian audience and blogging scene is entirely a different story. I think the problem can be confusing standards - we have been taught to be nice but we are expected to win at all costs in this competitive field; result is mish-mash of bloggers. Some just want to blog as a hobby, some want money, some want fame, some want to build friendships and some everything. Glad that you are back (I'm a month old on Indiblogger too and I'm finding it difficult to adjus) Sorry about not being able to help you out with publicizing
I hope everything works out for you.
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