Readership Growth: How much is good?

Reinder · Post by **Reinder** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 11:55 am

Like [AOD], I'm not experiencing any growth whatsoever, at least not in pageviews on my own site. I can't measure my audience at Modern Tales currently, which annoys me no end.
There's a bit of a reason for the lack of growth in my case, though. When I moved the archives to Modern Tales two years ago, I put my promotion on hold for a while to see how the effects of the move would pan out on their own. After about a year, I had a good idea: no effect in audience size either way. However, I was then in the middle of a looooong storyline, and there didn't seem much point in promoting it to non-Modern Tales subscribers because they'd be dropped in the middle of a story whose archives were behind a subscription wall. The problem of promoting a comic in those conditions is solvable, but doing other comics-related work seemed to be a better use of my time. So promotion has remained on hold for two years. I will do a bit of a promotional push for the next and final chapter of my long storyline though.

What really puzzles me about my statistics is the seeming elasticity of the home page visitor numbers. Whenever I get linked to by a large site, I get dozens of referrals a day from it, but the visitor total remains the same! Isn't that weird? It doesn't matter if the site is comics-related or not - even completely unrelated sites will send me visitors that then don't affect the total. It's as if for each new visitor linked from one of those sites, someone somewhere else thinks "nah, I can't be bothered to check Rogues of Clwyd-Rhan today".

Pockybot · Post by **Pockybot** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 3:59 pm

mcDuffies wrote:
Joel Fagin wrote:Well, since it's come up, I agree. Still, coming from someone who has a comic that appeals to a mere 250 people on the web - and believe me, that's the entire potential fanbase - I must add that there's nothing wrong with a niche comic.
Not if you're ready for that. Somehow I feel Pockey has higher ambitions.

Here's an interesting question: how many popular comics linked you?

You don't want to know how high my ambitions are...it is still my dream to have one of the top ten webcomics online someday. Til then I'm just happy to have anyone who digs my art or strange sense of humor. By next year I do want to have unquestionably one of the best looking webcomics online.

Popular comics that have linked to me on their front page, without paid advertising? PvP, Machall, Little Gamers, VG Cats, KungFool, Chugworth,
Spells and Whistles, and a few others I cant recall at the moment.

Bekka wrote: Now, the 1000 guys who read your strip every day are those who get it, and who are exactly on your same wavelength when it comes to sense of humour. I'm sure that if you went more mainstream and either wrote a script that can be followed by most people, or had a writer do it, you'd get 20x the hits, but you probably wouldn't have the same type of loving following that you do now. So it's a choice between quality or quantity of readers

You make a very excellent point...I mean I have it in me to write really well. I've doen a lot of really well written existential philosophical pieces, articles on modern life, reviews, poetry, and lots of gaming reviews. Which leads me to realize that perhaps my comic is more just stream of conscious journalizing or catharcism than I had previously thought. I plan on going pretty much 'action/story serial' in january(ala monica furious, starcrossd, etc) which some people might not like...but Im aching to get this epic action story out.

anyways, back to what ya said, at the end of the day...while the numbers might disappoint me, the feedback and the small legion of 3am cadets that get it all really make me smile.

I wish there was a way bigger audiences could appreciate strange random humor. I mean freakin white ninja has a bigger audience than me, and I think thats done with ms paint or somethin. Penny Arcade is able to do some pretty offbeat and random comics, but its only every now and then.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 2:53 am

reinder wrote: I can't measure my audience at Modern Tales currently, which annoys me no end.

Word.

Dr.Otto · Post by **Dr.Otto** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 10:54 am

---I gave up. I'm still only at around 2000-2500 dailies after 5 years, and I can't drive myself crazy over the next 30 years trying to figure out to get more people to read.

Theamazingsquad · Post by **Theamazingsquad** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 3:09 am

Listen to this. I'm a new artist, my strip has been going for about 3 months now. I've got a bravenet hit counter thats currently registering at about 200, but my keenspace webalizer says I've been getting an average of 300- 400 hits per month. Not only that, but a few days ago, I apparently got about 400 in one day! Not that I'm complaining, but I havn't had much publicity- so could that be correct?

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 3:57 am

If you're talking about hits, then yeah, I think it could be possible. As far as I understand (don't take this as gospel...) a hit is recorded each time an object is requested from your site. That includes images, files and stuff. So if you have 10 different things on your page, then it'd only take 40 visitors or pageviews to reach the 400 hits...

If you're talking unique visitors, then bugger me...

Alschroeder · Post by **Alschroeder** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 5:09 am

pockybot wrote:If I've learned one thing in the last year of doing PockyBot...it's that it truly, *truly* is not numbers that matter...but the fanatics who do read your comic.
<snip>

Don't let numbers get ya down folks...I spent close to $200 in advertising, spent COUNTLESS energy promoting my site online...but never was truly able to break that 1000 readers a day thing. But thats ok. They are the best approx. 1000-2000 readers I could ever ask for.

Couple of suggestions: crossovers are your FRIENDS. Not cameos. Full-fledged crossovers. There are quite a few comics set in virtual worlds, and there's no reason the Pockybot world can't intersect with another. Your fans will be exposed to them---and their fans will be exposed to YOURS.
And consider, as I've mentioned elsewhere, letting someone else do the writing, at least for a few weeks, which is your greatest weakness.---Al

William G · Post by **William G** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 6:48 am

pockybot talking about his links wrote: KungFool

Not trying to put you down, but I think that by this time next year, Hyung will have linked every site on the web. He's given me Kimchee lovin' about three times now. God love that magnificent bastard!

The only other "super popular" webtoonist to link me was Derek Kirk Kim. But the day Scott McCloud linked me, I was like a schoolgirl meeting Justin Timberlake: EEEEEEEEE! ....since his book "Reinventing Comics" was what got me into doing webcomics to begin with.

Dutch wrote:As far as I understand (don't take this as gospel...) a hit is recorded each time an object is requested from your site. That includes images, files and stuff. So if you have 10 different things on your page, then it'd only take 40 visitors or pageviews to reach the 400 hits...

This absolutely correct.

I remember when I got my site reports once and I read a line that said something like 40,000 hits and I was all like "I ROCK!" and then my host explained to me exactly what that meant and I did the math and I realized that I didn't really rock all that much.

RPin · Post by **RPin** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 6:59 am

William G wrote:The only other "super popular" webtoonist to link me was Derek Kirk Kim. But the day Scott McCloud linked me, I was like a schoolgirl meeting Justin Timberlake: EEEEEEEEE! ....since his book "Reinventing Comics" was what got me into doing webcomics to begin with.

I'm jealous of you, lucky bitch! One of my webcomic goals is to have D Double K, Vera Brosgol and Kazu Kibuishi knowing my webcomic exists (and possibly saying good things about it as a bonus).

Beyonder_alpha · Post by **Beyonder_alpha** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 7:17 am

RPin wrote: I'm jealous of you, lucky bitch! One of my webcomic goals is to have D Double K, Vera Brosgol and Kazu Kibuishi knowing my webcomic exists (and possibly saying good things about it as a bonus).

Mine is to have.... a sandwich... with butter.. hmmmmmmmm sandwich.

But bck to more serious stuff... hmm.. sandwich... anyway.. any readergrowth is good, stagnant intervals are also nothing to worry about.
If you need a goal to do your comic, then have one, but be prepared to either have difficulty to reach it or not reach it at all.
I just had days where i would get waaaaaaaaaay to many ideas and i felt like actually doing something with that stuff, so I started a webcomic.
So no goals, no expectations from me and best of all, no pressure

Passes dooby to mrBob and Rpin.

Mr.Bob · Post by **Mr.Bob** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 am

*splurges*

Warren · Post by **Warren** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:58 am

*purges*

William G · Post by **William G** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 11:07 am

RPin wrote:
William G wrote:The only other "super popular" webtoonist to link me was Derek Kirk Kim. But the day Scott McCloud linked me, I was like a schoolgirl meeting Justin Timberlake: EEEEEEEEE! ....since his book "Reinventing Comics" was what got me into doing webcomics to begin with.
I'm jealous of you, lucky bitch! One of my webcomic goals is to have D Double K, Vera Brosgol and Kazu Kibuishi knowing my webcomic exists (and possibly saying good things about it as a bonus).

Well, truth be told, DKK linked me for my Korean rants I used to have on my site, but he did add me to his permanent links list. I dunno if I made the switch to lowbright, but the last time I checked my referers about five months ago I was still getting the odd visit from his site.

But I'm going to assume they're all Derek visiting my site going "You do for me what Same Difference did for the world, Bill, you sexay comics monster..." until reality tells me otherwise.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 11:12 am

Being linked by my favourite comic that I started reading webcomics for in the first place, I have nothing to complain at.

RPin · Post by **RPin** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 11:43 am

William G wrote:I dunno if I made the switch to lowbright, but the last time I checked my referers about five months ago I was still getting the odd visit from his site.

If I'm not mistaken, this is still you, right? I guess you forgot to tell him you decided to hide your last name.

Mr.Bob · Post by **Mr.Bob** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 12:12 pm

I remember this guy... Ahhh...Same Difference was one of the first long length comics I read on the web.

Xmung · Post by **Xmung** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 3:38 pm

hey i remember that guy... or was it some other guy??

mcDuffies wrote:
reinder wrote: I can't measure my audience at Modern Tales currently, which annoys me no end.
Word.

i'll see your word and raise you a sentence.

William G · Post by **William G** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 7:51 pm

RPin wrote:
William G wrote:I dunno if I made the switch to lowbright, but the last time I checked my referers about five months ago I was still getting the odd visit from his site.
If I'm not mistaken, this is still you, right? I guess you forgot to tell him you decided to hide your last name.

Yeah, that's me.

And the last name no longer exists. William George is my legal name. I was going to tell him, but since he because so famous he took down his email addy from his site to get the freaks to stop bothering him, and I have no way of telling him.