Poem Posting

(Picture Credit - MacMyth)

 
2.05 PM BST (roughly) - I'm typing this "live". Usually I type on "Word" and paste. Just before lunch I "wrote" a poem called "Spring" and posted it on "Hello Poetry". "VoicesNet", "Poemhunter" and on my Poetry Blogger Blog. Every new poem will be posted on all these 4 sites straight away from now on. Okay, I might be competing with myself, but hey...

Today, however, I did NOT have time to "Share" my URL addresses on Google Webmaster, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google Plus, Digg etc. I see now that my Views on all sites are rather disappointing. This shows the importance of "Promoting" your work through these and other Sharing platforms.

I will now do all that Sharing and see what happens. On HP I have usually "Trended" by now but have a paltry 31 Views (tho 5 "Likes"). Over and Out.

2.40 PM - Within minutes of me Sharing my URLs as above, my Views shot up. Interesting experiment. "Promotion" works. Nuff Said Fer Now. Out.

6PM Update - Well, promotion doesn't work that much! Here are the stats for my last 2 poems... On HP - Spring 70, "End Of" 385; VN - Spring 55, End Of 74; Blog - Spring 21, End Of 17.

The Poemhunter stats are more mysterious. My Poet's page says 106 Hits yesterday (no mention of today). On the "PH League Tables" I have 16 "Internet Providers", 4 today. The Member Page stats have 0 Views for End Of and a blank return for Spring.

So "Spring" has bombed on HP - that's very unusual. At 2.40 I recall the Views for HP and VN being identical at 51! Is this a common readership??? I know Poemhunter is quite highly ranked by Google, so that promoting might have worked there.

Interestingly Spring has done better than End Of here on Blogger. The plot thickens. Out.

13\4\16 Update - At 2 AM this morning "Spring" started Trending!!! It has now had 275 Views. Late yesterday my no. one fan Elizabeth Squires (NSW, Australia) Reposted it and again that did the trick! Trending of course adds to the Views considerably, but its getting it to trend that's the thing.

I call Elizabeth "Beth" on Facebook to avoid confusion with my cousin Jim's daughter Liz. Nuff Said. Out.

13\4 - 11.35 AM Update - "Spring" - HP 276, VN 70 (but 3 great comments), Poetry Blog Here 23, Poemhunter 0 Yesterday, 0 Today; 73 Total Hits (Down from 106), ISPs 15: 4 Yesterday, 1 Today.

Poemhunter has been a graveyard for years. Even their Forum has gone. But I keep "storing" my poems there. HP remains the best for me: I ignore all the politicking and trolling that goes on there. Nuff Said. Out.

14\4 - 10AM Update - "Spring" 376 Views on HP. Out.

15\4 - On HP: "Spring" 398, "End Of" 402.

18\4 -Spring 433, End Of 425!

28\4 - For the record: 298 poems on Poemhunter now - just about all the poems I've ever written. Oh and "Me, Paul Butters" has had 10.9K Views on HP now.

1\5 - Comparison - VN - End Of 94, Spring 116, Living the Dream 133, Death row 230, Some Men 106. HP - End Of 511, Spring 536, Living 327, DR 230, Some Men 228.

24\5 -  65 Views from 13 poems on "Poetfreak" com. lol. That's why I hardly bothered with them.

22\6 -  Have 312 poems on Poemhunter now: believe that's my complete collection.

24\6 - "Me, Paul Butters" has reached 11K Views on HP.

5\7 - Have had  87179 Views in Total on VN. The top poet Lee Emmett (female) has had over 4 million!

How Do I Successfully get an Audience for my Poetry? - My Quora Answer

(Picture Credit - G Salahuddin)

Getting an audience for your poetry. Well, here are some first thoughts. The easiest way is simply to Google some online poetry sites and post there. I happen to favour "Hello Poetry com", "VoicesNet" and "Poemhunter", but there are many more. Such sites are "communities" of poets who love to read and comment on the work of others. 

Poets also like to have THEIR stuff read etc. too, so it's very wise to read and "support" poems by your "colleagues". My most successful poem on Hello Poetry has so far had 10.8 K Views. On VoicesNet my top one has had 7,700+ Views.

By the way, I favour typing my poems on Word then copying and pasting onto the poetry site. That way, I keep a copy of my original for safekeeping.

I also happen to run a poetry blog through Google Blogger\Blogspot. It is quite easy to use. The tough thing though is that "Views" do not come so easily as you are operating in relative isolation. One of my poems did get about 7,000 Views however. You just have to soldier on with such a blog... I also use WordPress blogging site which is easy too.

When you post any poem on the internet it helps to "share" it with search engines and social media sites. I share mine with "Google Webmaster Tools", Bing, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Linkedin, Stumbleupon, Google Plus.... In fact most blogging and poetry sites offer links to countless sharing platforms like these.

So there you are. An introduction to getting your poems Viewed and commented on (and even discussed).

Paul Butters