Achieving One Million Hits on My Second Life Blog!

 Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.

Albert Einstein

         

          Be forewarned – This story is a brag!

          Yes, it’s about me!

          Why shouldn’t it be?  After all, it’s my blog!  (Significant Other’s eyes rolls while asking why should this be any different from any of my other brags, er, stories.)  

          What’s the big deal?

          Well, I’ll tell you!  (Significant Other threatens to leave the room if I don’t get to the point.)

          My blog went over the one million hits mark at about midnight SLT on Sunday, April 24, 2016!  (Significant Other wouldn’t let me stay up to see it happen and insisted that I go to bed.  No, Significant Other isn’t my mother.) 

          In just over five years of blogging about Second Life (SL), I’ve managed to hit this goal.  Yes, some have done it quicker, but most don’t get anywhere near this mark at all!  

          How’d I do this?

          You mean besides writing over three hundred blog posts?  

          First, my blog of choice here is Google’s Blogger.  While I’ve since moved onto WordPress in Real Life (RL), Blogger is a very safe way to start blogging, is free, and is plugged into the Google family of products.  

          I did have some false starts along the way.

          CNN iReports unceremoniously dumped their SL community onto the street not long after I’d started there and I had to scramble to find a replacement.  That’s where Blogger came in.  (I’ll bet CNN iReports wishes they had this traffic going to their site!)

          I initially posted inworld distributing links to my weekly stories via notecards until I discovered social media.  

I started using Facebook to reach out to other SL residents until I got dumped by them in one of their purges. (No hard feelings, my offer to interview Mark Zuckerberg still stands!  And, even in the world of Facebook, a million hits is a big number which I bet they’d rather have than their competitors.)    

          Eventually, I started using Twitter and that’s when my traffic started to really pick up.  Adding Google+ helped.  Using Hootsuite, a social media account manager, allowed me to automate.  Twitter’s recent change in their timeline algorithm has set me back some but I’m working on some new ideas.  Keep an eye out for new social media channels and content!

          It hasn’t been easy!  (Not to complain!)

          I’ve posted weekly with only one exception over the last five years.  (Significant Other has been great about letting me build this posting routine into our lives.)  Thinking up new story ideas and researching them is harder than writing the stories.  

          But, I feel good about my progress!  (Significant Other says, “Enough already!”)

          There have been many other SL bogs that posted a few stories and then went dark.  (Sadly, some of these had excellent content.) Some post only once a year.  Others post regularly but get no traffic because they don’t do any promotion.  

          I’ve survived!

          A few observations about SL blogging after one million hits.

          First, this is only anecdotal, but SL social media activity seems to have been declining as if late.  I’m unsure if this has to do with less posting by writers or social media’s move away from organic growth to paid ads.  

          Next, many SL bloggers seem to be either posting less or stopping altogether.  I’m not sure why.  Could interest in SL be fading?  

          Finally, the next big thing in SL is sorely needed to revive interest in blogging and social media about this very important virtual world.  

          Now, I’d like to thank all who of you who made my achievement possible!

          I’m sure it was more than my three loyal readers doing this!  (You know who you are and not to worry!  I won’t out you!)  

          And, no, I didn’t hit this goal by reading my own posts!  (Sheesh, not even Significant Other accused me of that!)  

          I’d like to thank L’il Sis and her posse at First UCC for being the first to congratulate me in public for hitting this goal!  

          Then, to all those inworld who let me tell their stories to you, my readers! 

          I’m in your debt and will always cherish our time together!   

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives!  

          My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here. 

          Open roads and kind fires!