From the Parapet Turns Five

On 11/09/22 this blog turned five. It’s apt time for reflection. In the past five years, I have written 173 posts averaging 579 words each.

My ‘top posts’ surpsingly have not changed since 2019; even the order is the same!

1. The Caliphate of Cordoba
2. Clairvius Narcisse and the Zombies of Haiti
3. The Moor’s Last Sigh
4. The Historical Babylon
5. Green Eyed Devils

Best posts (in my opinion):

• Fuegians
• Uttermost Part of the World
• Cartoon History of the Universe
• Magic and Religion
• The Epic of Gilgamesh

From the Parapet is a labour of love, hence my  disregard for search engine optimisation or advertising. Regular viewers will notice my pace has slowed. With the demands of every day life being greater than when I started, one post (even a short one) per week is no longer tenable. I’m sure other bloggers will understand.

I’ve also ‘gone off’ politics so to speak. Not that I don’t care – but there are plenty better writers offering news and insights in the political sphere, and frankly I am no longer as invested. There has been much happening – COVID 19 and the war in Ukraine for to name two, but I’ve found infatuation with political and social issues a draining, and often divisive affair. I also discussed the ‘Evergreen issue’ back in 2018 and the fact political posts get less hits.

If I do write about current events, it will likely be something which is not recieving sufficient mainstream coverage – such as the womens’ protests in Iran or Azerbaijan’s recent invasion of Armenia. For now I’ll keep reading, but let others write.

Problems:

• Typos in published posts. Spellchecking, reading aloud and routine checks help.
• Link rot. This one is frustrating. Google images are sometimes deleted, leaving only  thumbnails where there were once visuals. Solution? Including less images to begin with, and routine checks for now.

What else could I change?

• The blog’s name. I like ‘From the Parapet’, but it’s not unique. Even googling the  name will not render results until the second page. A name not found elsewhere might prove a better fit, or at least be easier to find.
• Focus. A broad sweep keeps me coming back, but as other bloggers will tell you a niche is crucial. It’s worth considering.

From hereon, I will also ‘like’ posts that are over two year’s old, all correct and free from rotten links.

See Also:

• From the Parapet Turns One
• From the Parapet Turns Two

From the Parapet Turns Two

A year ago I hoped would still be blogging now and here we are. Time flies. From the Parapet is now two and in that time I have written 86 posts averaging at 600 words – 52,010 in total.  Followers and views have increased at a slow, but somewhat steady pace.

Some highlights:

• being cited by Rationalwiki
• getting two posts to #4 on google
• finishing National Novel Writing Month (not strictly blog-related, but announcing it helped)

My most viewed posts are similar to last year’s:

1. The Caliphate of Cordoba
2. Green Eyed Devils
3. The Moor’s Last Sigh
4. The Laotian Civil War
5. The Historical Context of Cheddar Man

Laos and Cheddar Man have replaced Babylon and Haitian zombies.  What does the list have in common? They are not my best but they are evergreen (5/5), over a year old (5/5), historical (4/5) and about Spain (2/5). Most importantly, they rank high on Google, my main referrer.

In September 2018 my monthly views doubled. From there they plateaued. They jumped in March 2019, then fell in June when Google rejigged its search algorithms.  Since then, my posts have slowly returned to their places on Google.

I love writing, but a blog gobbles up time. I don’t know how people can post every day. Nevertheless, to watch your blog slowly build is satisfying. I find curating small pieces weekly more effective and gratifying than spewing out rambling drafts. I believe my writing has improved, if only because earlier posts make me cringe. As such, I will rewrite one from 2017 to gauge how my style has changed.

July’s experiment was sticking to one topic: the Eurasian steppe. I could do this again; sometimes I try but then a news item steals my attention, and the next post is something completely different.  Other topics, like ancient migrations or hunter-gatherer societies, have sprawled across the year. I might do a month on Greater Iran, or little known cultures before the year’s end, but we’ll see.

There are over 75 million WordPress blogs. Saturated is an understatement. How can you make yours stand out?  I try to write the blog I would want to read. Anything else would be inauthentic.

So how to increase exposure? Some ideas:

• writing guest posts
• writing for an established website (eg. Ancient History.com)
• making YouTube videos (a bit of a departure, but could be fun.)

I have faith ‘From the Parapet’ will turn three. Until then there is no shortage of possible topics – see you in the new decade!

See Also:

• From the Parapet Turns One
• How Nanowrimo Went
• Rewriting ‘The Historical Babylon’
• Steppe People
  • The Tarim Mummies
  • The Xiongnu
  • Turkic Migrations
  • Crimean Tatars
• Greater Iran
  • Cyrus the Great
  • Mani of Babylonia
  • Peoples of Afghanistan
  • The Sassanian Empire

From the Parapet Turns One

I started this blog one year ago. This unfortunate date, I must add, was not by design but an unobserved coincidence – shame on me! I shan’t venture into cliché territory and say I’m honored or amazed at how far I’ve come, but I will settle on happily chuffed.

When it comes to creative projects, I rarely finish anything. A weekly blog however, provides enough gratification to keep me going, so for that I’m glad. One post a week is not a lofty goal, but it sure adds up over a year.

I don’t blog to make money. Sure, a little revenue would be nice, but if that were my aim, I would have given up long ago. For me, this blog serves as a way to write regularly and record topics of interest. Hence I avoid clickbait or a specific ‘niche’. Developing a skill takes work. 10,000 hours and all that. This blog ensures my writing is held accountable.

My audience isn’t big, but grows every month. I still use the free version of WordPress which, though not allowing in depth analytics or SEO, will tell you your number of readers and where from where in the world they come.

WordPress ‘likes’ are a bad gauge of interest. They only tell you what WordPress users like and most of my views come from Google, not the WordPress Reader. My most ‘liked’ post, for example – ‘2018 Blogging Goals’ – is not even in the top ten for most viewed. It’s only liked most because it’s about blogging – a topic WordPress users are interested in by default.

Most of my readers are from the United States, followed by the UK and Australia. I also get a fair smattering of views from around the world, as you can see from the map above. This month I’ve had 77 from Ecuador alone!

My most popular posts:

1. The Caliphate of Cordoba
2. Clairvius Narcisse and the Zombies of Haiti
3. The Moor’s Last Sigh
4. The Historical Babylon
5. Green Eyed Devils

Originally I assumed my political posts would be the most popular. My real life circles prefer such discussions to history, after all, and political commentary on WordPress and Youtube is thriving . For this blog it’s not the case. My history posts get far more hits.

Maybe the market is saturated; maybe my political views are too vanilla. Successful youtubers and bloggers present controversial and/or nuanced opinions – that’s what makes them interesting. Now I understand  regurgitating news reports without a clear bias lacks appeal. If people want a pseudo objective  take on current events, they will read the news.

Political posts aren’t evergreen, historical ones are. My post on the Battle for Idlib, for example, will only be relevant for a couple of weeks at most. After this the news report will be dated and irrelevant. Posts on the past, however, stay the same, and are far more likely to be searched on Google months later.

Blogging is a fulfilling hobby and I would urge anyone who is interested to give it a go. I’ve still got a lot to learn, but am happy with my progress so far. Hopefully I’ll still be posting one year from now!

See Also:

• My first post
• My 2018 Blogging Goals

Taking the Plunge

I’ve been wrestling with the blog idea for some time.

Psychologists say you retain 10% of what you read, but 90% of what you teach to others. Now, for the first time in my life, I’m no longer learning every day. What you learn in high school, or even university will likely be forgotten, or simply outdated, in ten years’ time. So why stop learning? The world isn’t going to wait.

Last month kicked me into action.  Maniacs with missiles, race hate, and an ever deepening political divide have become motifs on the TV screen. With our world order hurdling, the future will be determined by the actions of women and men today. I wanted my voice to be heard.

From the Parapet will discuss politics – I’m sure my personal views will become increasingly clear – but this is not a political blog. History and current events will be my focus: I intend to present the modern world through the lens of the past. That, or share any knowledge I feel like sharing.  If you’d prefer a specifically political blog, there are a thousand others out there.  If you are a looking for the biweekly musings of would-be erudite, you have come to the right place.

Next post will be up in a few days.