The two biggest generators of traffic to my blog have been posts here at the forum, and guest posts at the Chant Cafe. And you're already doing that...
My other traffic sources have been: -guest posts at other blogs. I know PrayTell and GSGP are of a bit different philosophy, but if you can figure out some topics that would appeal to them, they might post it, or link to you. -comments. I've written direct responses to posts on other blogs, and then posted about it in the comments. That's actually how I first got Jeffrey Tucker to notice me, back before the Cafe, when he was posting at NLM.
I had to start somewhere. This piece in 2010 was my first direct response to one of JT's at NLM, and I left notice of it in the combox there (now vanished). The comments on my post show that it is what got both yourself (melo Charl.) and Don Roy onto my readership.
When I had a blog, I made sure that I had content, content, content. At least 3 updates a week. People (if they're like me) will happen upon a blog, read and enjoy it, but if we check back once and see the same thing as last time, we're not coming back.
One way for easy content is to have regular posting on the same topic. I would post, usually on Friday, the music for the coming weekend. Then, invariably on Monday, I would reflect on the music, what went well, what didn't, anything interesting at Mass. Jerry Galipeau has had, for years now, "New Translation Thursday", in which he would share his thoughts, worries, etc. about RM3. It helps motivate one to write more.
It seems to me that you are already at least somewhat well known in the Catholic Music blagosphere, especially in the more traddie-leaning places like here, the Cafe, and NLM.
I would suggest, then, that the strongest need for growth in readership/attention for you would be non-trad music and lit blogs (PT, GSGP) and Catholic blogs of general (not music/liturgy) interest.
I daresay my own "crossover" work is an example of how to get traditional-minded ideas into airtime with the less-traditional audiences. (Although, you likely have less "in-common" with that crowd than I do.)
But the real need (and I'm not sure how you go about this) is getting general-interest Catholic audiences to notice and engage with all things musical and liturgical. I hope it would not be presumptuous to suppose that both Jeffrey Tucker and Fr. Christopher Smith (among others) could provide some advice and potentially some doorways in that direction.
RSS is a data format that summarizes the content of a series of web items into a single file with a fixed web address (URL).
An RSS feed can represent the multiple posts in a blog, or the multiple audio files in a podcast, for example. It may represent all the posts, or just the most recent ones (e.g., the last 50 items).
What's it good for?
With RSS, a user can bring together multiple blogs in a single reader-program, called an "aggregator". Such a program lets the user enter the RSS address for each blog, and it tells the user which sites have updates.
Some smartphones come with the Google Reader app built in, for example. If you sign up at the Google Reader website, and enter the RSS feed URLs you want to follow, you can monitor a collection of blogs and/or podcasts, either with the smartphone app or at the Reader website.
How is an RSS feed made for a blog?
Most blog software tools or podcasting tools come with a built-in capability to generate an RSS file.
Since the various "blogs" at ccwatershed are structured as multiple topic categories with one single "blog", there is only one feed.
Can it be made even better?
Yes, RSS feeds are more convenient for readers if they contain the full text of the blog article. This allows the aggregator app to display the article directly instead of requiring the user to click a link and open a browser for each article.
this is bizarre to ask, but ... can somebody take a screen shot of the CCW "RSS feed" in action? I'd love to see it! Sorry I still don't understand it!
The list of blogs on the left shows me which ones have new material and which ones don't: the blogs/podcasts with new items are highlighted in bold type.
And when I'm dealing with a particular blog, I can see the list of blog entries, skip some, and read others, without clicking to view them all. The posts I've already read are in plain type, and the new items are in bold type.
This is especially convenient on phones: to have the device go and connect to the various websites, pull in the RSS feed files, and show me which sites have updates. All that happens automatically when I launch the app.
If you visit the blog, you have to type the address into your browser and go there.
That's fine for one or two blogs, but if you would like to follow 15 blogs, that becomes more tedious. Instead, you can put each blog's feed into a feed reader, and view all of the recent articles from each one by going to one site. That way, every morning (or whatever), you go to the feed reader and boom: every new article since last time you logged on appears for you to read.
For example, I have Fr. Z, Southern Orders, NLM, Badger Catholic, Standing on my Head, Rorate Caeli, PrayTell (yes, I feel like I should follow the happenings there), Te Deum, Chonak's blog, my parish blog, my blog (I do a fair amount of delay posting, so it's nice to see what's actually going up when), Chant Cafe, Eye of the Tiber, and my web server health report all coming into one location via RSS feeds where I can read the new articles from each, and it will keep track of which ones I've looked at already. I don't frequently do this, but I could also easily look through them on my phone.
It's really quite convenient once you get it going.
Ben, you pie-eyed prodigy, owning up to bookmarking PrayTell puts you in the company of a gentleman and a scoundrel. You, me and Tucker. Wait, something's wrong with that, hmmm. Oh, and we also add the Fourth Mouseketeer, MJO, "Paul Erudite" (meant to be pronounced as the protaganist of DUNE.
Ben's really in his 30's writing code for a major high-tech firm. He just uses that picture from when he was a kid. (actually, that's what you get when you exempt your child from the idiot-based school system! voila - instant adult!)
I live about 240 miles from Ben and have never met him, yet. But, even from this great distance, I can almost hear him hard at work in the vineyard of sacred music and liturgy.
Ben, I stopped reading the PrayTell blog a long time ago, mainly because I got tired of being censored by the moderator. They claim to only delete what is "nasty or off-topic or egregiously uninformed" [sic]. However, this rule only applies to "conservative" commentors. For instance, comments encouraging people to "hock a loogie" at Pope Benedict's picture are still there, despite pleas over a period of years that they be censored.
Jenny, don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of PT, I just have it in my reader to occasionally skim the articles and keep my finger on the pulse of what's happening over there...
That's an interesting website you link to though...
@marajoy, to my knowledge the blog creator is not listed, but I do agree with the statements made about censorship. And I find the treatment of Pope Benedict reprehensible.
Folks, thank you for all these comments and suggestions.
I am not a moderator, and I know forum discussions tend to go off on "tangents," but if we could more or less keep to the subject of Views from the Choir Loft that would be fantastic. Thanks!
Jeff, is there any chance your web guy could enhance the RSS feed as I suggested to include the full text of postings? It really would make the feed much more user-friendly. Feel free to have him contact me if it would help.
Hello, Chonak. We have no web master since 2010. We are looking to hire one part time. We are looking for a person who knows PYTHON/DJANGO. That is a requirement. Perhaps somebody here knows somebody? THanks!
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