of biting the proverbial bullet
Timbaland, Keri Hilson & D.O.E. - The Way I Are-- Octavio Paz
"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things."
-- Winston Churchill
"He has a right to criticise, who has a heart to help."
-- Abraham Lincoln
Deleted pets and handbag pages Revamped exit a bit - I'll check all the links are still up to date when I find the time to do it...
I've been pondering the infinite, mighty wisdom of the interwebs lately. I came across a few sites with the same topic in mind:
Top 10 content mistakes by Sara; Common Mistakes Among Web-Designers by Trisha; And, finally, How To Love Your Visitors by Skye.The quotes I picked for today can easily be applied to blogs - a new, modern form of self-expression, that with it comes the willingness to learn from one's mistakes and develop new or improved ideas. You have to realise the flaws in what you're doing in order to get rid of them and produce better.
I discovered that I was guilty of a couple of major faux pas that I found on these blog entries, so I took a good look at pink-robots.com and took a few, written notes. Seriously, I sat down with a bit of paper and wrote down the mistakes I was making. I figured it was time to swallow my pride and take this as (indirect) constructive criticism.
Being that this is a personal site, it may seem obsolete to pay attention to one's viewers - after all, what personal blog editor gives a shit what anyone else thinks!? It's my life, right?
I visit personal blogs not because I want to sit back and laugh at how narcissistic these people are for expecting someone else to be vaguely interested in how their day was.
Personal websites are there to help you make friends with like-minded people, to participate in a rapid-growing online community, to bring the traditional diary into the twenty-first century, and to find out what makes people tick, all over the world - raising our awareness of the world at large, and encouraging us to investigate not only the differences, but the similarities that human beings have in their lifestyles. Personally, the latter is exactly why I enjoy reading blogs written by others - and why I think they enjoy reading mine. I don't think those are reasons one can explain by self-absorption alone.
And that's precisely why I'm looking to improve pink-robots.com: because I want other people to view the place. I visit most of the people who comment on my blog entries, because I view every individual who comes to take a look as a potential online companion. I've made many dear friends over the world wide web, and a large proportion of those are thanks to my website, and thanks to other people's. If I didn't know these people existed, I wouldn't have bothered finding them and trying to talk to them.
So, I've taken some initial steps in the "right" direction already - you'll notice I deleted some of my pages. Why? Well, I don't need a page for my pets. I have catster, which has made this a bit redundant. After reading sara's article, I also conceded that I can't realistically imagine anyone visiting and immediately questioning, "What does she keep in her handbag?" I doubt that the inherent excitement and intrigue of tampons, dextrose pills and cellphones is enough to grab the attention of the majority of my visitors.
And I'm planning to make some changes (and new additions!) to make this a tad more user-friendly. Granted, I already have a visitors' section, which is larger than the list of things about myself, but I need to have a good ol' think. What do people really want to know about me?
Don't think that a few mere blog entries is going to make me drop everything and start again. There are a couple of things these people have mentioned as being "bad" for gaining visitors, but I have no intention of getting rid of them. I quite like having my favourites displayed, for example. I'm stupid enough to often forget.
But you, as my visitors, could really help - what do you honestly think? Please be constructive (meaning none of this "ur site sux lol!" bollocks), but honest. If this is your first time here, what did you instantly find interesting? What did you click on first? If you come back regularly, what keeps you coming back? How could I change the content of my blog entries so they're a bit more fun to read? Or do you like things just the way they are?
I think I've said enough (holy long entry, Batman!) Whatever you think (maybe you feel there's some things you can change about your own online space - tell me about that, too!) I'll find any of your input helpful. Let's hope you come back to see how I improve over time.
| Update by Sali @ 20:22, Tue. September 25 2007 |
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