Blogging Networks or Blogging Notworks how blogging success seems to have changed?

I've been blogging since 2010 and I remember back in the day that I saw SO many people who started a blog and then never got more than a few posts done. I charged myself with the task of blogging every other day for a year. If it got too much I could take a break but thanks to scheduling most of my posts in advance it's been quite a run, three years on [I know it's just started getting patchy ;) ]. In the beginning though any increase in traffic was great news and I think I've reached a place now that I never dreamed of. I think I've learned a thing or two and as other folk start down this path I thought I'd share an observation should you be wanting to take your blog to the next level.

Back in those days if you wanted to get noticed it was blogging networks and blog rolls that you had to be on and if there was only one blog roll to be on it was Ron's of From the Warp. Now Ron has been on hiatus from blogging for the last 16 months [come back Ron, we miss you!] but to this date, outside of google searches, From the Warp has referred more people to my blog than any other source, the main reason I still have the FTW blogger group logo on the right hand side [the other being it's very cool]. You can see I'm also a member of Tale of Painters Blog Network and the UK Bloggers Group, I even used to have the BoLS banner up there too. In truth though I'm not sure if any of these 'memberships' brings new readers or followers to the blog, certainly not based on the statistics my blogger dashboard tells me. This isn't a dig at them, it's not their fault, viewers can't be forced to follow up links I just think people are creatures of habit, they go to a location and do their thing, if they link to something else it must be pretty special or pushed in such a way to be worth following. However, no man is an island and so it's important to be part of the community so I will still continue to promote those groups I've committed to on my blog.

What I do find is that if you want folk to come to your blog then you really have to do the leg work yourself. Blog rolls work a little better, certainly Faeit212 is the place to be and Natfka openly wants new blogs to go on the roll. I think his blog has massive readership and quite a potential audience but equally the blog roll is large so your place within it when you post will rapidly be taken by someone else's post. Anyone who gets on his BlogExchange will see a massive surge of hits but once that post is 'yesterday's newspaper' there's no guarantee you'll retain those readers. So if you haven't applied to be included yet I'd consider when you want to be added, probably not in the infancy of your blog 

There are a number of other blogs that when my blog has been mentioned I've had a surge in visitors - www.fritz40k.com was one, www.3plusplus.net  was another. Recently someone posted a link to my Tyranid Aegis Defence Line in a comment on a BoLS news story - I got over 2,000 page views in one day!

However, a lot of my views come from forums where I'm actively sharing the work I've done, most often a short precis of the larger blog post. That way folk can either take what's offered or come to the blog to find out more and hopefully experience everything else on offer. Equally Facebook Groups and Google+ are a great way to access 1000s of people already interested in the hobby.

What I'm trying to get at is that there are options available to grow your blog but my evidence would suggest it is no substitute for hitting the streets and promoting it yourself. There are definitely sites that if you can get featured on will greatly increase your traffic but the double edged sword is that 'with greater traffic comes greater responsibility' with more followers your obligation for decent and more importantly regular content is increased. If you want to take it to the next level then you have to make sure you're delivering a 'next level' blog.

One other downside to 'keeping score' is it becomes obsessive [like I need any more of that!]. Constantly checking hits, trying to predict how you will do this month compared to last - it can get a bit much. For instance in December I managed to break the 20,000 barrier, not bad when a lot of folks were spending time with family instead of trawling the interwebs. In January I eclipsed all the freebies and Capillary Tower content from December with a 25% increase in page views! I've also noticed that weekend posts often get less traffic than a weekday post. Never assume your audience has loads of free time at the weekend, if they do they're probably out enjoying themselves, they're not you, they're not a geek with a blog who sits there watching their stat counter. ;) So if you're ever deciding which blog post to cut, I'd recommend Saturday or Sunday's!

I'm not saying blog networks are a waste, far from it, you should be part of them, but I think they're less successful than they used to be in introducing people to your blog. From my experience there's really no substitute for hawking your blog yourself. There we have it, a little peak behind the curtain at 40kaddict Towers, maybe some advice that can help with your own efforts. Just a reminder too there's still an open invitation to anyone with a blog to be featured in my own 'Support your local blogger'. I'm not a network but those that have been featured have seen a few extra hits. So feel free to leave a link in the comments section, perhaps a link to an image, maybe a description and I'll put some of them up and see if it helps.

Star Wars - Off topic I know but I amused myself and wanted to share...

Apparently that picture of the new Star Wars 7 cast was missing another member who'd been caught up in traffic, here's the picture they took later on when he turned up and started to make friends.

Strike from the shadows

My new distraction! Oh well, it's for a reason at least. I'm hoping to go to Blog Wars 7 and you have to take a Special Character. Last time I took the Doom, obviously, and this time I can't, obviously. So I could take the Swarmlord, in fact I SHOULD take the Swarmlord, considering I have all the bits magnetized and painted [although my metal Tyrant needs some remedial work]. However, I just got this Lictor and so I could take Deathleaper and a Dakkafex instead, which sounds like more fun if more work in the wrong direction. Alternatively I could even use the Carnifex as Old One Eye, seeing as I have magnetized Scytals and Crushing Claws...

But I am actually painting, I did some of my metallics and my Heavy Support unit has their bases done. I've even started the bases on the 10 Dark Vengeance Tactical marines not to mention the Venomthrope is ready for the first set of Chitin highlights! At least the Genestealers have hardly been touched. 

BUT, I have zero motivation to photograph them even if I know I'll regret it and it's going to hit the blog as you can already tell what with no blog post for a few days. So I'll try and find a way to fit it in but please don't fret if it goes quiet for a bit, no need to check if my milk is still on the front step, I'm not being eaten by the cat.

...and the post-Thrones malaise hits

I don't know what's happened but my momentum has seriously stalled practically as soon as I wrote my 'what's on my pallette' post. I've tried to do more nids, much to my own disgust, in an attempt to kickstart my motivation. I've done little bits but it's all the metallics on the Dark Angels that I can't bring myself to start, so I went bug. The problems continued as you can see on my Venomthrope - the blue paint just won't stick to the Red Oxide Primer!

So you can see I tried to create some sort of 'key' for it to stick to, using a product I already know adds a fine texture - Seraphim Sepia - hence all the powder smudges where it's gone all chalky. Nothing like being able to guarantee a failure of product and therefore use it to your advantage instead of it ruining your model. I've since added some more blue on top and it's 90% covered now, whether that's to do with the Sepia I don't know but the problems haven't helped me progress.

I also went completely off-piste and started my Carnifex, it's been magnetized but I still need to resolve what to do in his spare limb sockets. I've done the Felshborer Hives as twin linked Devourers and they're polarized so I can use them on the Great Maw too. But when you use them you still have those spare sockets.

I'm doing some Mawloc Claws for feeble combat weapons and may do an alternative of Venom Cannon sacks but need to model the right hand sack as they're all lefties, or 'sinister' as they're officially known in our house!

I also had a game with PeteB and took what I thought was a really 'dirty' list - two Punisher Vengeance Weapon Batteries, Flyrant, 2 Tervigons, 60 Termagants a Mawloc, Hive Guard and Biovore. I even proxied my spare Tyrant as a Dakkafex to see what would happen.

PeteB's Wraithguard/Lord and WraithSeer [Avatar proxy] heavy list seemed like it was outmatched against all my Monstrous Creatures.

I got hammered though, the mawloc mishapped [and died] when it failed to take down even one of his three War Walkers when they outflanked. Much of my dice rolling was appalling, though PeteB was equally stuck with turns of little significance. Ultimately though his force was just more durable with plenty of FnP being passed amongst his Wraithguard. The Dakkafex met an thoroughly ignominious end, charging a Wraithlord and getting killed before it could even try and hit it!

It was a good game but another reminder that the Tyranid Codex is a fickle beast. It can work but even what I would consider a 'dirty' list can roll over and die at a moments notice. PeteB was equally shocked, particularly with 'prowess' of the Dakkafex!

So it was a bit of an anti-climax and its a reminder that despite the effort put into painiting there's no guarantee the figures will perform. Once you add in the very slow progress, the array of hurdles that are obstructing the slow progress it's taken most of my momentum away. The knock on effect is I've not much 'progress' content for the blog and that's making me less inspired to write, which is a shame as I've had a number of new followers join and I really do owe it to you all to keep standards up.

I've actually been thinking about experimenting with Twitter and seeing if I can link the accounts so I can tweet some updates. I've mentioned before I need to learn the skill of 'micro-blogging', long posts are OK, but short and sweet are also useful, I just struggle keeping things brief. Twitter forces you to be brief and social media is something I need to get a firmer grasp of because I've applied fo a temporary promotion in my job which is less design [boo] but more customer engagement [yay]. I think we need to be more customer focused and embrace social media a bit more. The good thing is even with my limited experience I think I'm one of the 'sharper tools in the box' heading into this, but if anyone has experience of using Twitter and integrating it with their blogging,or building I'd be interested in any advice, both for 40kaddict and my wider experience.

Support your local blogger - thepaintingbunker.com

John at www.thepaintingbunker.com has an amazing blog. It's fit to bursting with top notch content, in particular his terrain and scenery is a whole other level. He lavishes the same attention to his battle boards as most people do to their armies. Combining Forgeworld, GW, his own resin casts, scratchbuilds and every shade of hobby related technique to create some awesome battle boards, just check this out:

His work in progress logs are so worth checking out as you can see the effort and skill involved to create these often unique buildings. The great things is you can see from the recent Horus Heresy Tournament he hosted that all the competitors brought fantastically painted armies to battle. There's no point bringing half-painted plastic when you're gaming on tables of this calibre.

So if you weren't already aware of the painting bunker get there now because it can entertain you far more than my review of it. Go, go like the wind!

Flufftastic - Hive Fleet Gorgon - Ferron Splinter Fleet - Hormagaunts

It was during the Tyranid assaults on the Tau forest world Sha'draig that it sought to evolve the Hormagaunt bio-form. Numerous time it would alter the beasts genetic make-up to counter the individual threats that the Tau threw at them. Carapace armour was improved to counter more powerful pulse rifles, lighter and more agile variants were spawned to weave through the tangled forest and then later on they were bio-adapted to hunt down Kroot. The downside to this constant evolution being they were right back to the beginning of weaker armour and the whole process had to begin again. It is not a decision the Hive Mind takes lightly when it mutates the genome of it's bio-forms but when it is the only solution to the problem it will adapt to overcome.

When Hive Fleet Gorgon was defeated and the three Hive Ships escaped to guarantee the experiences and bio-metric knowledge learned in fighting the Tau survived it was one of these ships that eventually arrived on Ferron Proxima. This splinter of Hive Fleet Gorgon continued to produce many Hormagaunts, blindly believing that their success on Sha'draig would also transfer to Ferron Proxima. Unfortunately the dry barren deserts were unsuitable for the Hormagaunt species. With little cover to take advantage of, quite often the Hormagaunts were destroyed before they could close with their enemy. It is believed that many Hormagaunts were then bio-retrofitted with with projectile shooting symbiotes. It was increasingly apparent that the Termagant variant of the gaunt family was far more adaptable and versatile within the Ferron environment.

But once again the bio-magi's studies and theories have been put forward that there may in fact be a vast sea of dormant Hormagaunts within the rapidly expanding Splinter fleet. Hormagaunts of a new nature that may yet be able to overcome the sparsely vegetated environments and survive the relentless defensive salvoes of those unfortunate creatures the Tyranids wish to devour. Only time will tell if these gaunts can be the next evolutionary step in overcoming the obstacles set before it.

Should these new Hormagaunts prove less than the challenge, no doubt the Hive will adapt once again and continue to spawn Termagants based on their past success in the new and varied battlefields of the 41st millennium.

'nids part 134 - Genestealers, more of them!

As I said in my 'what's on my palette' update I've been adding in soem extra Genestealers while painting. This Stealers kitbash was post-priming and basing so I needed to find a way to prime his arms without doing the base again.

So I got a sheet of A4 paper, cut a line halfway up and used a hole punch at the end.

This then allowed me to simply mask off the base from the rest of the model.

And primed without needing to paint the base again, simples!

Here's the rest of the Stealers.

In particular this fella, he came broken, just at the ankle so I liked the idea of still showing it rising from dormancy, like a Ymgarl stealer. It also added a little variety to the brood.

He's since had some sand added to the base and his back to show it falling off him as he bursts from the ground.

I've painted 5 stealers bonewhite so far, I'm trying to be careful so the red oxide primer can be sued for the fleshy bits but this process is slowing the base coat down and making it tedious so I'm only doing three models at a time to preserve my sanity. That way it also feels like I'm not devoting all my efforts to nids when it should be on Dark Angels.