Marketing Myself - 2:25 p.m. 2003-02-16

This is all very interesting: this Diaryland concept. I have an account on Diary-X (and may still keep it there for ranting that I want to keep to myself), and they have no such thing as banners. You have a discreet little list that comes up when someone has updated their journal, and I think that the attraction is mainly in the names of the journals. At least that's what attracted me.

What journals did I read (and still read)? I am a big fan of TheMuseWithin - she is horsey and starting college, just as I was at her age. I also love BeerMary, who now has her own domain. She is probably more my age, and has some really funny things to say and comment on. Both of them have killer layouts.

Here, on Diaryland, there are more options. Especially for "self-promotion," which I find intriguing. I found an interesting article which talks about Diaryland and it's founder, called Dear Diary. The article raises some interesting points.

Why have an "online diary"? Aren't diaries supposed to be private in the first place? My husband is still a little perplexed (and perhaps concerned). After all, there is a fine line between sharing your own personal thoughts, and encroaching on the privacy of others. I am aware of that. Just because I am some middle-aged, exhibitionist, "Real World" wannabe who is trying to attract others to read my journal doesn't give me the right to divulge personal things that might hurt my circle of family and friends. Hence, also, the other journal - to be used for "brain drain" and blowing off steam about the other people in my life.

So, my first foray into the Diaryland world of self promotion has been the creation and posting of banners that are supposedly run on the Diaryland website. I say "supposedly" because the likeliness of my being on a page where my banner is run (sitting there in my evening gown with a bottle of champagne and a couple of intimate friends - eyes focused on the screen and fingers jabbing at the "refresh" button) is almost non-existent. I know. I've TRIED.

So, how do I know? Well, since my greedy little self signed up to be a GOLD member (stop it with the jokes!), I have a certain amount of banner runs before I have to purchase them. So, off to Adobe Photoshop I go, to design my first banner - really just a tweaked version of my title. Here it is:



Well, when I looked at my banner statistics page, it looked like this:

total hits: 500 clicks so far: 6 clickthrough percentages: 1.2%
Second Banner run:
TH:500 CSF: 8 CTP: 1.6

There was a lovely explanation of these stats on the page, but basically, I decided- especially after looking at some of the elaborate Flash encoded banners of other members (and simultaneously wondering "WHY? WHY? Why can't I see mine?)- that I needed to snazz it up a bit.

So here is banner #2:



I am really proud of it, even though my husband said it was a little difficult to read the subtitle. This time, I accidentally ordered TWO runs at the same time (It was late at night...). It is almost finished running, but so far, I have gotten double the amount of clickthroughs, and even a guestbook signing!!!! Hooray!

The comment in my guestbook made reference to *eye shielding* upon perusing my sight... What does one expect from tiedyefor? Pastels and bunnies?

Did I mention that I still need to go buy groceries? See, I do have a life!

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