CHANGING FOCUS WHEN YOU GET WHAT YOU WANTED

The idea of changing focus comes up when you don’t want what you asked for.

All bloggers want more traffic, to reach more markets, to find new readers who stick around.

I did. I still do, but with a changing focus. I’m not so crazy about this particular dream come true.

But the results? I’m still amazed, but not for the right reasons.

For one day I carried the world on this blog. The top image shows how much of the world. I’ve never seen anything like it on boomerpdx and I’ve been checking analytics for years.

One one day I had the whole wide world’s attention.

This is how it graphed out:

The moon-shot take off created a straight line on the left that’s usually an up and down thing based on traffic.

A traffic spike throws all other days in the shade.

This is the bar graph of the same day:

Nearly six thousand visitors instead of the glad-to-have sixty.

What was going on that day? Nothing. Exactly nothing. At least nothing out of the ordinary.

I wrote. I posted. That was the day before. Then this the next day, which had nothing to do with the topic I posted on.

America Showed Up For Boomerpdx

How many of these United States came in for a look?

All of them. From coast to coast, sea to shining sea, they came.

Town after town, city after city, they came.

What Happened To Changing Focus

This was the post that drew the biggest traffic surge in the blog’s history. It’s short and sweet and to the point.

About that point? There was a discussion over on Reddit about the statue of David’s crotch, or the status of his gear, or something. ‘The front page of the internet’ stopped by my place and shook things up.

It was exciting, thrilling even. It felt like the few minutes on twitter regarding a big red broom that drew thousands.

The moment of recognition came with changing focus. Traffic is good, just don’t scratch the surface. If you do, you’ll find a sobering truth.

The Underside Of Online Traffic

Pulling a large chunk of traffic that doesn’t engage, doesn’t contribute, doesn’t join up, is clickbait.

They stop here, there, wherever a random thought drives them. Just like you and me. And it’s fun, until you get into content production.

As a content producer I look forward to engaging readers. Maybe too much, like the person you say hello to, who then speed talks their entire life history. Maybe not that much, which leads to this editorial:

We hear questions online about social change, specifically about how morons developed the idea that their soundly condemned options matter.

If you love the dynamic of Fox News and it’s spinoffs, and voice opinions aired there, you’ve got a problem. If no one else has told you, listen up: You’ve got a big fucking problem.

As part of an audience conditioned to spew misguided bullshit based on misguided bullshit you’ve heard on television, consider the source.

Television news used to carry names like Walter Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley, Roger Mudd, Dan Rather, Barbara Walters. Boomers watched news as kids and let it sink in. The newsmen looked like our dads.

Boomers got older and more uncertain, as old people do, and started doubting the future. Some ratings wizard found a way to tie uncertainty and doubt into show business disguised in a news format.

Shit talking hosts puking out stories showing the sad white man being left behind in the ever modernizing world found a waiting audience willing to parrot the same lines.

Changing Focus In A ‘Gotcha’ World

Based on reading traffic biographies, my traffic surge of visitors were looking for something to validate information they already had opinions on. Anything different isn’t worth their time.

Here today, gone tomorrow. Gone forever until another weird up-tick. And it could happen at any time.

The most visited post here is NEW NAKED GYM GUY BOUNDARIES UPDATE, 2020. It’s always on the most read list. It fits in with the David statue post.

Topping the list today is TIGARD POLICE EVENT: HOW NOT TO GET SHOT, pt2.

Final take: When slow jerk-wads feel empowered by manipulating bitch-assed men who praise them for their non-educational drive, what happens?

Dropout Nation starts changing focus from being lovable losers who could have been somebody, to storming the Capitol on Jan. 6. They move from the excuse of hunting and fishing to buying more guns to strap on and parade some open carry freedom.

Fat boys in camouflage and beards playing army in the woods to be better men are not normal.

But they’ve been falsely normalized. After they do stupid shit like Michigan, they celebrate their big day.

They’d be better off celebrating by writing a blog and the empty calories of clickbait traffic.

Let’s work on changing focus together.

Follow me for more pertinent advice. After all, I’ve got the numbers. Lol