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Won't you take a lick?
This month was different than last. Over 125,000 views and there was much more activity as a whole on captions.
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While I'm not surprised that "Traffic Stopper" was popular, I was surprised at HOW popular it was. Such a simple caption in concept, but it seems to resonate with a lot of people. Perhaps it was the wonderful assets that were so predominately displayed!
I was also surprised with the popularity of "Playing The Game" and "Lost In Translation." Playing the Game was a rather colorful set-up and some darker tones in the story. It got a lot of response from people both here and on Rachel's Haven. Lost in Translation REALLY surprised me with the response it got. A lot of you enjoy Asian-themed captions and transformations.
"More Than A Crush" got a very vocal response from readers - the most comments out of any caption. The story for the caption itself was one of the lighter this month plus it had a discussion question attached in the post. Another quirk of this month: 4 of the 10 were Explicit. So tell me which were your favorites? What was it that drew you to them?
Discussion:
What elements initially draw you in to read a caption? What about the image/presentation sparks your interest? Does a caption maker's reputation play a role? Is it the model? Her hair?
Views are a blunt tool when it comes to measuring popularity. That's particularly so when comparing the hits for different captions. A view really only represents the interest level in the picture (and to a lesser extent the layout of the caption). It says nothing about what the reader thought of the caption after reading it, or even if they read it through.
ReplyDeleteYou do good work, Simone. You don't need anyone else to tell you that. Just take a look around the captioning world and see what's out there.
Amanda
There are a LOT of things that skew logistics when it comes to tracking interest/hits. Unless a reader does comment on a caption, I have no idea what worked for them. Obviously, I consider commentary more than simple hits because it's interaction. Still, it's fun to look at the numbers. My favorites rarely match up.
DeleteThank you for the commentary, Amanda.
Amanda,
DeleteI agree and disagree with your assessment. Page views ARE a blunt tool but I don't believe you can fully dismiss them as the waxing and waning interest in the picture. I've always thought of having two audiences for my caps... the first includes other cap makers and vocal viewers. This audience will comment about what they enjoyed in a caption and their voices are a treasured measuring tool. When a cap is good they are there to reinforce that belief. When a cap is only average, or worse yet bad, their silence can speak volumes. The other audience is the vast silent cap viewing public. For whatever reason they don't think of commenting as something of any value. They simply read what they enjoy and the only tool to measure their preferences are the page views.
Yes, some traffic can be attributed to mere interest in the photo, but I believe that most cap bloggers that have been active long enough can gauge what a normal viewing will be. Say, for instance, that a 'normal' cap gets around 2000 page views. Some get more, some get less, but the average is 2000. When a cap generates many more views (say around 3000), I don't believe it is simply a sexy image or interesting layout. That would mean that 1000 or so 'new' people were interested in seeing this cap. More likely is the possibility of people coming back to re-read the cap. Something in the cap (image, story, layout, design...) inspired people not only to enjoy the cap but to return and enjoy it again.
When I was capping on a regular basis I could see that difference. I had some truly awful caps that had great images as their backbone... but those caps rarely got a lot of page views. More often than not they didn't even reach the 'average' views. But when a particularly sexy image was used along with an interesting story the views invariably went higher and higher.
You are correct in saying that Simone does good work. But creativity is hard to achieve, let alone maintain, in a vacuum. Does Simone need to be told that she's good? No. She's good regardless of feedback. But does telling her that she's good inspire her to continue being good. Absolutely. I'd like to think that applies to most artists.
I'd have to say that the biggest element that draws me into a reading a caption is the reputation of the artist. While my interest in reading captions has waned lately, I still give the artists I love the benefit of the doubt and read their work. The TG aspect doesn't do much for me, but their design, image selection and prose will often make me smile anyway.
DeleteThe presentation next is a big thing. If I see an artist stretching their wings and doing something visually creative or different I'm more apt to read it... even if the story is going in a direction that doesn't hold my interest.
Presentation.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to think back and remember what made me notice your Caps, Kara's, Kaitlyn's, when I first started looking at them. It was presentation.
I like an artist that uses the elements to draw and move the eye from one portion of the Cap to another. I think that's what I love most about your Caps, along with the writing.
Yes, the model matters. I prefer certain types, and those types will draw my eye. I think that's why I (mostly) dislike celebrities, it takes me out of the mental fantasy and makes me think "Oh, famous star starring as...". I do break that rule sometimes, but I prefer generic for the most part.
I think presentation matters more to me than reputation. I do appreciate ANY artistic try which is why I will never comment negatively on any Cap. It's art to someone, even if it doesn't match my tastes.