Always outnumbered. Generally overdresssed.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Mixed signals



Scamp seems to be able to command blog traffic at a rate of one visitor per minute with a single benevolent puff. It feels strange, because previously no-one was reading this blog and now my wares have been spread before every bone-idle creative with an internet connection like so many broken plastic action figures at a car-boot sale.

Anyway, hello everyone.

With the help of my sitemeter I’ve been indulging my inner planner and done some research into my (or rather, Scamp’s) demographic.

I can discern two types of visitor.

The vast majority seem to come on and, presumably put off by the French subhead and impenetrable body copy, instantly click off somewhere else, having spent less than one second reading. Not all of these people are art directors, some of them are probably just stupid. And in fairness, given the content of the last post, you might be forgiven for think that this is some kind of unappetising childhood reminiscence blog, which it partly is, and I make no apologies for that.

Although the idea of people taking a cursory look at my thoughts in the hope of gaining a momentary release from the tedium of their working lives, and deciding that in fact, no, they’re too boring for even a second’s consideration and they’d rather go back to looking for people they’ve shagged on Facebook, is rather bleak, I take heart in the fact that there is another group.

These people seem to be prepared to read unattractively presented copy for upwards of five minutes, sometimes as long as ten or even fifteen minutes. If you’re still reading I suspect you are one of these people. And you know what? I like you. You’re someone who knows that the pursuit of deeper insight requires application. For you, the internet is a place to exchange ideas, not just somewhere to hunt for prurient cheap thrills and soft porn, you're not interested in nasty accidents or even what happens when a bird hits an aeroplane. I like you. You remind me of me.

PS: Yes the photo looks like a still from a documentary called "How the world looks to foxes". That is the look I was going for.

7 comments:

Mike Laurie said...

i think you are actually a planner

Unknown said...

i stayed. i like what you say. will read more. bateries wearing. out. must. reach...

william said...

Mike: I can assure I am not. But I don't necessarily hate them.

Anonymous said...

fuck me, you're definately a copywriter the art direction on this site is shite

william said...

Definitely. Definitely.

Scamp said...

A 0 second visit doesn't necessarily mean they stayed 0 seconds. If a visitor doesn't click on anything else - like comments or links - before leaving, then the visit counts as 0 seconds. I think.

william said...

Ah right. Yeah. That's why I'm not a planner you see, not thorough, and too keen to leap to conclusions based on my own opinions of myself, rather than hard evidence.