Discussions
Do you use "Recent Visitors" widget? Why or why not?
Posted by ishansharma001 • 11/04/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: recent visitors, widgets
Do you use "Recent Visitors" widget of any community? Why or why not?
Why should others use it or not use it?
Best answers get featured on bloggingwithsuccess.net So do not forget to leave your blog address!
User Comments
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personally i do not, because i am trying to maintain what i would call a "clean", crisp, empty(ish) look on my blog, which i think suits the content.. but i might do in the future..-
I also do not use it. Because its no use to visitors!
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Yes, simplistic look is good for your blog! This widget can also increase load times!
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I use the BC Widget for my blog. Its located down at the bottom in my footer to avoid clutter.
The reason for people to have those recent visitor widgets is that it acts as a kind of reinforcement on how popular or how much authority a site has. Kind of like the same idea as showing off your feed subscriber count. People are more likely to subscribe to your feed if you have a large subscriber count, as compared to if you only have say 10 or so showing.
The same with the BC Widget, if people from BC stop through your site frequently, people will see the times being fairly short (ie last visited 20 minutes ago). If that's the case then the time stamps are good. If you're blog isn't visited by BC members often, then you should change it to the image only one without the time stamps. That way it shows you have visitors, but doesn't say how long it was since the last visit.
I wonder if that made sense?-
Spot on Xight
You have a beautiful blog template, I would have used that one, if I hadn't been stubborn and wrote my own without any prior experience in web dev.
I'm surprised you haven't got a feedburner counter on your site, you must have loads of subscribers as you've been blogging for over a year, plus you have an awesome blog. -
Xight
Your answer will be definitely featured!
What is your Blog URL? -
@ ishansharma011 moneyne.ws
@ SolReka Thanks =) I took a break for about 4-5 months few months back in April so my subscriber/visitor stats went down to nothing, so I'm building it back up. Once its over a steady 100 I think I'll post it. Right now its only hovering around 70-90 subscribers. Pretty large swings for some reason.
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I used it at first (BC recent visitor widget) but took it out.
I agree with wastedlola, it clutters up one's site, When I see there are no visitors to the blog. Don't ask me why, it's some strange mentalist thing, but when I see a blog which has had few visitors, I generally have a quick read then leave. I'm sure I'm not alone in my actions.
I guess visual appearance is critical when drawing readers into your blog. First impressions and all that, then of course content follows a close second.
Widgets are informative though, as they show the frequency of visitors, but the feedburner stats are usually a better indication of a blogs success in mho.
And finally, less widgets = more ad space ;-) -
Quite honestly I don't know what the point of it is. Most visitors that come through are mainly passing by, so promoting them is not really that important. I rarely click to see who they are, so that's not the reason. I guess I just keep it up there as it is kind of "an industry standard".-
"Quite honestly I don't know what the point of it is" lol
I hear your pain, you're not to blame, it is a shame.
I cannot begin to tell how much your words ring out to me. I think what's the point blogging approx three times a week. :-) It's blooming hard work at times. -
Infact, most people keep it as "Industry Standard". I have noticed blogs with recent visitors visiting 2-3 Days before and still they hace this widget!
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Yes I do (the BC one)! And I like it!
*ducks* -
I have a BC visitor widget on every page of my blog. I like the visitor widget, because it reminds me to visit other blogs, plus I think they look really nice.
It is about the only thing I have left on my pages, everything else has been banned to the links page, because no matter how I tried to arrange them, it looked cluttered and messy. And just couldn't get it to work with my blogs aesthetic value.-
How does it remind to visit other's blogs? Could you please clarify?
Your reason is interesting. If you clarify a bit, I think I can feature your answer. -
With a glance, I see return visitors/commenters and new visitors.
All I have to do is click on their avatar, and it takes me right to the profile here on BC, and I can click on their blog address to go and read and leave a comment if I have something to say.
I find it really handy to also thank someone quickly for a comment too! -
Interesting! I never thought this way! You will defenitely be featured.
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Used it at first, then removed it. Started 86ing all the extra sidebar stuff that wasn't absolutely necessary - and that one got tossed. I did like seeing all the little avatars there though, when I had it. -
Interesting answers so far! I will write post in next 3/4 days!
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I have not yet started the post. Keep on answering!
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Strangely enough I like seeing the Blogcatalog widget on other peoples sites - I have sometimes clicked on an avatar and found an interesting blog that way, and as someone else already pointed out, you can use it as a quick way of visiting a familiar face if you see one. But it looks far too fussy for my site and increased load times, so I think I ditched mine almost instantly. Now I just have the button in my sidebar.-
Which button? I mean is it your "Rank" or "Featured on BC"?
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@ishansharma001
All the different BC buttons are found on this page
www.blogcatalog.com/account/buttons
All the widgets are found on this page
www.blogcatalog.com/account/widget
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If you make friends on here, and aren't subscribed to their blogs, seeing their avatars in the widget does remind me to go pay a visit every now and again.
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not yet.but it's a good thought
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OK,I will complete post tomorrow and publish next Tuesday. More answers are always welcomed!
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I spend a lot of time in this forum, and like to see who's following me around and actually reading my blogs. I've got the widget to keep a lot of little faces, and every once in a while I go through the entire list and visit them too -
I like using the BC Recent Visitors widget and the My Neighbors too. It shows me who is visiting, and when I have the time, it prompts me to click the BC avatars and return the visits. Clicking the BC avatar brings me to their BC profile page and I click again to get to their blog. The result is that they get stats that count towards their BC page rank, as well as, my hit on their blog. I'm currently doing some work on my site but after it's complete I may also use the BC Search widget.
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I used it but have stopped as I seem to get more visitors from other sites than BC. -
I like the BC widget and I use a feedjit widget too.
I like seeing the BC members who pop in from time to time, and the feedjit one tells me a lot of info about who is coming to my site, how they got there, and how they left.-
What is its use to visitors?
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The BC widget I think has more uses for the blog owner, and BC
But it does give some face time to visitors. -
Provided the blog owner clicks the BC avatar and arrives on a BC profile page and then clicks again to get to the visitor's blog, the benefit to the reader, who is a BC member, is that they get stats that count towards their BC page rank, as well as, the hit on their blog.
Some readers have clicked the BC avatars or clicked the Blog Catalog link at the bottom of the widget and then looked around BC and decided to become BC members. -
I just like to look and see who's visited. That's enough benefit for me
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The primary the criteria that we should all have for placing a widget on our blog, or for that matter for posting a link into a post or in our Blogroll, is that it has resource value for our readers. If it doesn't provide any resource value for our readers then choosing to have it is a personal vanity choice that simply adds "tat" to the blog.
tat = distracting sidebar clutter that serves no purpose to the readers of the blog -
@Anok
But doesn't Google Analytics do everything and more than feedjit widget without taking up space in sidebar? -
@TT - I write my blog for me, primarily, though. I have things on my side bar that I find interesting, but may be of no use to my readers, and other things that are simply an expression of myself.
@ishan, Probably, but it's not as fun. I also like looking at these types of widgets on other people's blogs too, I'm guessing I'm not the only one who is weird like that
Then again, my blog has:
No adsense
No advertisements
A small plain header
And only those two widgets, plus one GIF. (For interactive sidebar stuff, anyway).
I have a fairly uncluttered blog, and offer RSS and email subscriptions for those who wish to read my blog with no clutter at all. -
@Anok
OK, everyone has personal preferences. I do not use this widget mostly to be "professional" with www.bloggingwithsuccess.net . But that's again my problem! -
Nah. my blog is purely opinion.
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I have the blogcatalog widget. Not only does it support BC but it also shows that I am an active participant in a social community. -
I don't, just out of personal preference. I'd like my blog to look as professional and focused as possible. So I try to cut down on the sidebar clutter.-
Hmm.. I agree!
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@ishansharma001
Why do you have a mybloglog widget in the sidebar of your Blog of an Unorthodox Loyalist blog? Will you please explain how it serves readers, aside from those who are already mybloglog members?
You also have an entrecard widget in the sidebar of Blog of an Unorthodox Loyalist. Will you please explain how it serves readers, aside from those who are already entrecard members? -
@timethief
I added the widget around 2 months ago when someone recommended it to me. Then, about 1 month ago I decided to pause the blog due to www.bloggingwithsuccess.net . I decided to devote more time there. I have not written much on the blog you mentioned for past 2 weeks.
Anyway, I agree that it is not of much use to visitors. Instead, it is useful for blog owner. But 1 thing that MyBlogLog widget has is the option to join community of blog. That was one of the reasons of placing it. I also have Entrecard widget. I wanted to try the system of Entrecard.
For past month, I never got the time to concentrate on the blog and so I just left it as it was.
I am not a big fan of Recent Visitors widget but the thing as I said earlier is the "Community". BC widget is plain with only visitors shown but MBL also shows number of community members. Isn't that additional!
Anyway, Thanks again for your contribution to this discussion. Do I need to say that your suggestions will be featured in the post? But that hardly makes any difference as you already own very successful onecoolsite.wordpress.com/ -
@ishansharma001
Thanks for the reply about the mybloglog & entrecard widgets. I wondered about your choice because I use a different mybloglog widget in this blog thistimethisspace.com The reason I chose it is because it shows my activity so I thought that might be more useful to readers than the other style of widget like you have. I've had not feedback on it and I don't know if readers consult it or not.
I haven't tried entrecard and from what I read I don't feel strongly attracted to the program. It seems to create a high bounce rate it creates that doesn't translate into a faithful readership. Also it seems the only use the entrecard widget it may have to readers is to click and sign up.
Thanks for getting back to me and also for the shout.
Best wishes for successful blogging
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I use feedjit these days. I can see the blogcatalog links, search words readers use to find me on search engines. It helps me find my own articles in the listing of search engines. @weblogian recommended this, and it has become quite useful tool. I can see my articles appear on different search engines, which means readers can find me.
But when they come from stumble upon, it does not lead to the user. It is a downside because it would be nice to visit the reader too.
I will put back BC widget button because feedjit does not link back to the user profile on BC either. Like stumble,I cannot tell which BC member is reading. I read the bloggers that come by and visit, usually try to find something interesting to stumble. -
I use the BC widget on Midwest Moms because it gives my readers the opportunity to see who my friends are on BC and possibly have a look at their blogs. I also just started using an avatar widget from blogger instead of a feed subscription widget.
I know it seems silly to give readers an opportunity to navigate *away* from your page, but my strategy is three-fold.
1) I've listed "Favorite Posts" in my sidebar if people want to read more of my writing (that I like).
2) I have a Blogs Worth Reading blogroll with Blog titles and recent posts of my favorite blogs.
3) I have the avatar widgets.
I am an avid reader of other people's blogs. So, I appreciate the opportunity to find new material. As a blog-writer, I don't mind giving my readers a chance to explore a bit on their own. It might broaden their horizons -- I know that membership in BC has broadened mine. -
I used to but now I don't because it slows up the load time of my blog page.
If you want to see who is reading or passing by your blogs then go ahead and use those widgets (especially if you wanna see the faces of the people passing by).
But if you want fast loading pages I don't suggest using them because it slows up the load time.
earthlyexplorations.blogspot.com -
I use the BC visitor widget as I like to see who has visited my site and when. It's a nice quick visual method of who has visited and also I can see their avatars associated with that member. -
I like to see who is using my blog regularly, and if any new people from blogcatalog have looked at my blog recently. -
Not yet because if no one visited I don't want to be sad
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OK, Finally I am writing the post. So, if you have anything to say, say it within one hour before post is complete.
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I just started using it today. It gives me relevant information about the traffic I receive from BlogCatalog. For example, I can see that in average I get one visitor in 5 days, which is close to nothing. Also, it helps me detect scammers. I got a message from somebody that sounded like this: "I visited your blog, it's very nice, visit mine". But guess what the widget showed me? That he did not visit my blog at all... -
i am reducing the load time of my blog -
it's informative and I can aware of the people who had a visit to my blog...
Then I can make a visit back to their blog... -
I do, apart from anything else it lets me keep tabs on how useful BC is as a backlink source. It also gives a more personal touch, I can thank people who've visited personally rather than them being lost into a Google Analytics statistic.
theiratedog.blogspot.com -
I use it. I put it on the first day I opened my blog, when I didn't know what to put on or not to put on. But I like it. I enjoy seeing who has stopped by--and for no other reason.
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