The 7 Types Of Visitors
By Bryan Clark on Aug 31, 2007 in Uncategorized
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Every blog has seven distinct types of readers. There are many variations and cross-breeds but odds are that each of you falls into one or more of these categories. I bet if you think back to comments you’ve received in the past, you’ll be able to classify nine out of ten commentators into one of these categories. These are in order from worst to best. I hope that you wont spend too much time trying to please the negative types. Which category or categories do you fall into?
1. The Hater - These people are bottom feeders. They strive on knocking others down because it makes them feel like they are better than you. I get these readers regularly and it seems that they are absolutely dying to make you think you can’t do it. Usually when these readers comment, it is anonymous. They are cowards, and confrontation with haters should be avoided at all costs… you’ll never win until you just shut up and prove them wrong. Haters are usually loyal readers though, they come back every day to see if you are one step closer to failure.
2. The Fair-Weather Reader - These are the readers that will seem super loyal… until you take a day off. They’ll read every post for three weeks straight and then disappear out of the blue as soon as you throw out a “filler” post. These readers don’t understand that we aren’t machines and can’t possibly create mind-blowing content EVERYDAY. I admit that Saturdays are my weakest posting days. I try to link to others, or post a video, or something relevant that doesn’t take a whole lot of work. Most of you know that Saturdays are slow traffic days, so why not take the day off and go light on the post? Your loyal readers will forgive you for it.
3. The Opinionated - These people always have something to say. If I say that I love the color red, they’ll be the first to tell me that green is better. If I change my mind to green, they will give me a hundred reasons why blue is the best color choice. Not quite as bad as the hater, but they are usually negative forces that should be avoided. Nothing is wrong with an opinion… but is your opinion really different than mine EVERY time - or do you just want to argue?
4. The Scanner - These readers are like parasites. They quickly scan your content without actually taking the time to read an entire post, and then they comment… often proving that they didn’t read the post. These comments frustrate me to no end. I take an hour or more writing a post and you can’t give me enough respect to read it before asking a question that I’ve already answered in the middle of the article?
5. The Lurker - The lurker is the person that reads every post, yet never comments. I don’t know how they do it, I always have something to say. These aren’t bad readers, but they don’t contribute much to the community aspect either. Everyone has them, and the best you can do is hope that you provide useful information that they keep coming back to. Lurkers usually link to a lot of your posts, but you’ll never really learn who they are.
6. The Contributor - These are must-haves for any community. They always have something insightful to say, and they aren’t scared to share a helpful opinion. Wonderful readers that really only comment when they feel they have something to add to the conversation. They would be diamonds if they commented regularly, even if it was just to encourage the author.
7. The Diamond - These are the readers that you would bend over backwards to keep. They have nothing but positive things to say, they comment regularly, and they are extremely loyal. If they see someone else post a negative comment about you, they are the first to jump in and throw down. Love my diamonds! This is the category that most of you fall into. I love the community that I’m creating, you are all so wonderful!
Popularity: 10% [?]
53 Comment(s)
By RT Cunningham on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
Heh, I have some of all of them. The lurker one isn’t quite accurate, though it used to be. Most lurkers are RSS readers and won’t comment because they’re not actually at your blog. Unless, of course, they’re compelled to visit your blog proper and comment.
I’m a lurker and I admit it. I’ll usually link to an article before I comment on it and I usually link without commenting. Reading 500+ blogs a day in my feed reader doesn’t make commenting an easy task. It’s too bad that feed readers don’t come with commenting yet. I emphasize the word YET.
By mahdi yusuf on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
haha, great post i think that all bloggers at one point or another are all types of readers! i understand your frustration!
By GnomeyNewt on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
I am a total lurker on your blog. I think lurkers can head in either direction, so it is good to keep us lurkers around.
I have to say that I don’t want only Diamonds on my blog commenting. I want them all and need them all in order to keep me on my toes and to continue to improve my blog. I can’t please them all, but I can sure try. :c) Plus I like the opinionated, they keep stuff interesting - you got admit that.
By Michael on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
You need all of these for a healthy blog. It would be easy to blog if you had no one but diamonds or contributors but you need some others to stir up the mix a bit.
By Bryan on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
I agree completely. Makes me appreciate the diamonds even more!
By James - Visualized.Feel.Abundance on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
Any blog that is good enough probably will attract every type of readers. And that makes the blog interesting to read with all those various comments.
Cheers
James
By Emma on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
Nice post Bryan. I’ve noticed from my blog, and the others I’ve visited, this weekend, the theme is comments.
Which is a great topic. Comments are one of the main advantages of blogs.
Oh, and I hope I’m a diamond.
Emma
By Mad Reader on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
You missed one type of visitor…
How about the visitor that comes to your site because you sent them an email message with all of your subscribers email address in the “To” and “CC” field of the message.
By doing this, you are exposing all of them to spam.
Also you need to include a way from them to “unsubscribe” from promotion email. Read up on the Can-Spam act.
I’m sorry, but you are going to have problems reaching that goal of yours if you don’t get smarter with your email marketing.
Please don’t expose our email addresses anymore.
By Bryan on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
You are definitely a diamond Emma!
By Pradeep Kumar on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
I agree with michael, a healthy blog needs everyone of them
By Matt on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
I wish that I could have some traffic to my blog in order to have these different types of visitors, but I agree totally.
You need every kind of visitor on your blog to keep it balanced. Diamonds are great, but its nice to have a devil’s advocate once and a while.
By Angela on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
I think I switch off between the lurker and scanner. I’ve been getting lots of scanners on my site lately.
By maiylah on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
i must admit, sometimes I am a lurker … lol.
By Deathsweep on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
To me any reader is good, as long as I get a true comment and not just a remark out of the blue because each post means something signifigant to me. Lurkers will eventially comment but it’s sometimes frustrating to see traffic and no comments by comparison.
By Joe Fier on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
I agree with you and most everyone here that those Lurkers are everywhere. It’s beyond frustrating to know they aren’t contributing to the conversation… and possibly enlightening us with some of their “Lurkerness”. Maybe this post will force some of those types to come out and utilize this handy comment box!
By Lynne on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
I believe right now I have mostly lurkers. My site is so new and I am a new blogger so I expect this. I get so excited when I have a comment though! I do get concerned though that if visitors are only lurking or scanning, am I not writing interesting enough posts. Something for me to consider and improve upon.
By David on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
Haha, this is a great post. I was wondering if there are more types of visitors.
By Matt Wolfe on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
I guess I’m somewhere between a scanner and a contributer… I scan my rss reader every morning for titles that interest me and then I star them to read later. Then I read and comment on all the ones that interest me…
By MandoV on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
Lurker *poof*
By Bryan on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
LOL
By shaun on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
haha the lurker, i might consider myself one of those but I try to comment as much as possible.
By cooliojones on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
This blog SUCKS! Sometimes I read it but stopped for a while when you got sick. Also I would prefer if you changed the running man to blue. I usually don’t even post a comment, and sorry if it seems like I haven’t read what you wrote (even though it might have been filled with useful information), but I think I really want to comment more and be a good friend to you!
The ‘Seven Stages of Visitorism’ by cooliojones.
By Sly from Slyvisions.com on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
Those are very nice types of visitors. I have never actually thought about that and it’s surely something that is very nice to read.
Anyway, I agree with Michael that you need all three for a healthy and successful blog. The Haters are as good as the Diamonds!
Sly from Slyvisions.com
By anton lefevre on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
you left out a few other blog readers
8. the splonker
this is the guy who splonks all the time, that is as he reads he mutters “splonk, splonk, splonk”. I hate this guy.
9. the angry brutnuk
this is the reader who is a brutnuk but real angry about it. who needs a guy like this
10. the self righteous voldurooker
it’s bad enough having a voldurooker as a reader, but when you get a self righteous one, you’re in real trouble
11. the whistling bejangodongle
cover your ears, this guy is lethal once he starts whistling
12. the whistling bejangodongle’s girlfriend
as above but female, if you know what I mean
13. the guy who swims like Venezuela
quit blogging if this guy shows up. He’s dripping wet and swears loudly in Spanish.
By Bryan on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
Coolio - LOL… congrats for the monologue on how to be all 7 types at once!
Anton - How could I forget these guys?
By Linda on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
Okay, okay, I admit to being a bit of a lurker lately but only because I’ve been reading everything through Google Reader and haven’t felt like I had anything to add to the conversation! The other problem I run into is that I read so many different blogs (and some of them run up to 15 posts a day!), that time is a major factor for me. Working a full-time job plus trying to take care of everyday life sometimes doesn’t give me the time to comment on every blog I read. I wish I could stay home and get paid to read blogs but I can’t and darned if the teenager that lives with me doesn’t want to eat on a regular basis!
I shall try to de-lurk more often - I promise!
By Bryan on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
Linda - You can lurk all you want! I’m glad you stopped in to say hello though. How have you been doing?
By Bryan on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
By the way… for all of you that actually read comments… Today this blog has hit 2,000 pageviews and 1,198 unique visitors, and it’s only 5pm central!
-Milestone-
By Davy on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
Impressive numbers, Bryan.. keep on keeping on!
By mercutiom on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
I find that I’m a different reader for each blog or RSS feed I subscribe to. On some communities, like this one, I tend to be a lurker (and I prefer observer for its less creepy connotations.) But on some communities I’m a Diamond, commenting and discussing issues on several items. I’d like to think that I’m not a Hater to anyone, but I guess you’d have to ask others about that.
By Julie on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
Bryan, I think you are being too hard on the lurkers. I’m not sure lurkers is even the right word. People who read your blog but don’t comment provide an audience for both you and your commenters. They view, and possibly click on or purchase, your ads and affiliate program marketing. You mention that they link to you. They may also promote you in other ways - telling friends about your blog or mentioning you in forums, for instance. I think all of those things contribute to community. In addition, if everyone who reads your blog comments regularly, I think you run the risk of appearing to be a clique, or even becoming one, which will slow or halt the growth of readership. Long live the blog readers who don’t comment! If you don’t want them, they are welcome on any of my sites!
By Bryan on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
Julie - I suggest you read #5 (the section about lurkers) again. I didn’t say a single bad thing about them. I don’t mind people that just read, in fact I even said “the best you can do is hope that you provide useful information that they keep coming back to”.
Where was I being hard on them?
By GnomeyNewt on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
I think she may be referring to the “they don’t contribute much to the community aspect” line. I think she made a few good points that the community is not just focused at your blog but in other places where your visitors may hang out.
I know I am a #5-7 on the different blogs I visit daily. I can’t be 100% #7 on every blog I visit, I would like to. It is just not possible.
By Bryan on Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
I think you do a fantastic job of contributing GnomeyNewt!
By lalit nagrath on Sep 1, 2007 | Reply
i like to comment on blogs , but blog owners have put into effect all methods to drive the readers away from commenting , like annoying popups and captchas !
By Julie on Sep 1, 2007 | Reply
As GnomeyNewt said, I think “don’t contribute much to the community aspect” is slightly negative and an unfair categorization. The following statement “… Everyone has them, and the best you can do …” has a slightly negative tone as well. One might say “everyone has bad hair days and the best you can do is wear a hat,” but you aren’t likely to say “everyone has plenty of money and the best you can do is invest it wisely.”
By Bryan on Sep 1, 2007 | Reply
Julie - While I disagree that I was being negative, I apologize if that’s how it seems. It’s not how it was meant.
By Ivan Minic on Sep 1, 2007 | Reply
Very good and accurate list.
I especially like to talk to lurkers, I know few of them…
By Contamination on Sep 1, 2007 | Reply
At the very beginning I was a Hater. Now I am a contributor, and have been for a long time.
By Kyle on Sep 1, 2007 | Reply
Nice post, very creative. I think I’ve got them all, good luck with your goal.
By Sly from Slyvisions.com on Sep 1, 2007 | Reply
What would I be Bryan?
By Bryan on Sep 1, 2007 | Reply
Nothing but the best Sly! A diamond all the way
By Rubab on Sep 1, 2007 | Reply
Few other kind of readers also who are dragged to read your blogs..
By Sly from Slyvisions.com on Sep 1, 2007 | Reply
Thanks for the compliment! I really appreciate it.
By Sephyroth on Sep 2, 2007 | Reply
I’ve got mostly lurkers, and I don’t have a problem with that. In fact, I tend to be a lurker myself a lot of the time.
However, I do have a few diamonds; I think all of us do
Sephyroth
By titandegroot on Sep 2, 2007 | Reply
I agree with you. The whole purpose of a blog is to write what you think. I think it needs to have an opinion and style, and that should invoke a response. Great Blog!
By Tom on Sep 2, 2007 | Reply
Very good list. I must agree that every blog encounters one of these type of people. Like you said, you can usually tell by the people who want to just come here and comment.
By Larry on Sep 2, 2007 | Reply
I’m new to the blogosphere and naturally cautious… so I have been looking (Lurking) around a bit. Like mercutiom above I prefer Observer… sounds more complementary, though less catchy.
Fun post!
By jamy from Seaykopitiam.com on Sep 8, 2007 | Reply
I think we need all these types to make it a spicy blog.
By Joel on Sep 10, 2007 | Reply
Very good post, I completely agree with you Bryan.
I guess a blog is not a blog if these kind of readers do stop by.
Complaints is always a compliment because we bloggers can’t satisfy everybody, even if the post of the day is the best of the month a complainer reader will have something to say.
By Jalaj on Feb 4, 2008 | Reply
readers under “The Lurker” are mostly the ones who follow search engine result and close as soon as they got what they were searching for.
One of my most recent post is attracting 700+ hits each day mostly through search results and even after 12000+ views it still don’t have a single comment.
By The Unfinished Blog on Feb 14, 2008 | Reply
Bryan,
I liked how you created a great post, thanked your loyal readers and put several others in their rightful place, all at the same time. Great post!
Glenn
By Emz on Mar 19, 2008 | Reply
I’d like to think I’m a contributer