Like so many other bloggers out there, I’ve been desperately searching for ways to increase the number of people who come to my blog every day. My numbers are fine – even fantastic by some standards – but they’re still not quite to the point where I’d like them to be. I’ve been SlashDot’d for goodness sake, my numbers sould be up in the stratosphere! And yet they’re not… I got close to the stratosphere last year, the numbers were up in the thousands. But then I went on that trip to Utah, couldn’t blog for a while, and the numbers disappeared.

    I need to figure out some way to recapture them. Anyone got any ideas? I’ve been checking out some other fairly popular blogs, and honestly, I don’t understand how most of them are so freakishly famous. I get a few of them, some of them make perfect sense. But others? Eh, not so much. But it seems most people have some sort of gag that helps push them. I’d say a lot of these blogs fit a typical blogging archetype. Here’s what I’ve observed so far:

    Got a Kid? Flaunt It! – It seems that lots of bloggers use constant cutesy stories and photos of their kids to pull in visitors. It works wonders for them, it should work for me too, right? Only problem is, I don’t have a kid. Maybe I could adopt a pretend baby…

    Be an Extremist & Rant – Personally, I hate this option, I loathe it. I can’t stand political blogs of any persuasion where the blogger stands on their soapbox purely to sling insults and wisecracks at those who subscribe to the opposite extreme. It never fails, these blogs are just full of cheap-shots aimed at large groups of people because they had the unbelievable nerve to have a differing opinion. They keep uneven scorecards on who’s been naughty, but they always fail to notice the nice. Everyone on their side is always correct, and everyone on the other is always wrong. Apparently we live in the age of The Hissy-Fit Bandwagon – hop on and you too can give yourself an ulcer by puffing out your chest and dishing out rash generalizations! To me it just smacks of nothing but pride and self-righteousness, so I don’t care how popular it would make me, I’m not going to start throwing mud. Besides, I’m too moderate to raise a big stink, and who needs the stress?

    Gossip, Gossip, Gossip – I could start dishing the dirt a la Walter Winchell, but first I’d have to have some inside dirt on something. I don’t life in LA, so Hollywood’s out. I don’t have obnoxious neighbors, so I can’t spy on them then write mean blogs about them. I do live in Washington, DC, but all the politicos I know are completely free of any scandals or wrong-doings, so there goes my Capital Insider Dish blog. I guess, if I really wanted to, I could turn this into a Stuck In My Bedroom soap opera and start making stuff up about how one teddy bear is totally in love with the other, but won’t admit it. And oooh, don’t even get me started on how nasty my mini-fridge is to its lampshade neighbor – Fridgie is totally freezing him out! Okay, nope, that idea stinks…

    The Geek Brigade – The old mainstay in blogging is to talk shop with the geeks, but I’m so far behind the times on geekdom that I’d be laughed out of town. I was never in web development for the thrill of programming, I just liked making pretty stuff. (Yes, I’m very familiar with the groans generated by that statement, but it’s the truth.) I know lots of geeks, I understand their language, but that doesn’t mean I have anything worthwhile to add.

    Be a FanGirl – Perhaps if I went ga-ga for a certain TV show or a celebrity I could become a famous FanGirl and get lots and lots of perks from the object of my affection. (Of course, that might prove handy… maybe I could meet Jack, Sayid, and Sawyer! Speaking of Sawyer, check this out! Hehehe, this kills me!) I could spend hours obsessing over something, write lots and lots of content about it, squeal with delight any time spoilers are tossed my way. Eeeeeee! (See? I got that squealing thing down pat.) But nah, I’ve done pseudo-fan-type stuff before and I’m burned out.

    So what’s a blogger to do? What would Jung do? I write because I love to write, because blogging is nothing more than a catharsis for me. It’s a way to feel like I’m part of the world while I’m stuck in bed. I’ve never fit in a pigeonhole category before, why should I try now? I am who I am. Maybe that isn’t marketable because I’m not constantly showing off my cute kid, screaming at someone for being different, gossiping about anyone, talking about CSS, or fainting whenever Joss Whedon winks in my general direction. Be that as it may, I like my blog, the trick will be finding a way to get other people to like it too, without selling out to a category.

    Anyone got any ideas? Seen any blog archetypes lately? Share ’em, I could use the company. 🙂