| SoulGeek Webcomics |
Posted by Ben in Some Other Things on August 25th 2008 @ 11:43pm GMT
This post is two parts Webcomic Writer, one part Webcomics Guru.
I've had a couple of emails asking me why I haven't added Vote buttons for BuzzComix or Top WebComics to the site. They were on the old site, after all. Why aren't they here? The answer is quite mind-bogglingly simple: Nobody looks at top webcomic listing sites except for other webcomic artists. It's an incredibly incestuous form of marketing that doesn't really draw in any real readers. Not to say that other webcomic peoples aren't real, of course, but when your entire fanbase is made up of people who are busy working on their own webcomic you have to wonder how many people are actually reading your comic.
Let me put it this way: very few television actors actually watch television. Very few writers get a chance to sit down and read a good book. And, with a few notable exceptions, not many web cartoonists have the time in the morning or afternoon to sit and scroll through all of their favourite webcomics. It's just the nature of the beast.
In short, webcomic listing sites are far too nichey to really work as a promotion tool. It's sites like Digg and StumbleUpon that ultimately make the bigger difference - webcomic listing sites simply don't reach out to a varied enough audience.
I've had a couple of emails asking me why I haven't added Vote buttons for BuzzComix or Top WebComics to the site. They were on the old site, after all. Why aren't they here? The answer is quite mind-bogglingly simple: Nobody looks at top webcomic listing sites except for other webcomic artists. It's an incredibly incestuous form of marketing that doesn't really draw in any real readers. Not to say that other webcomic peoples aren't real, of course, but when your entire fanbase is made up of people who are busy working on their own webcomic you have to wonder how many people are actually reading your comic.
Let me put it this way: very few television actors actually watch television. Very few writers get a chance to sit down and read a good book. And, with a few notable exceptions, not many web cartoonists have the time in the morning or afternoon to sit and scroll through all of their favourite webcomics. It's just the nature of the beast.
In short, webcomic listing sites are far too nichey to really work as a promotion tool. It's sites like Digg and StumbleUpon that ultimately make the bigger difference - webcomic listing sites simply don't reach out to a varied enough audience.
7 Comments
Posted by James on August 26th 2008 @ 2:53am GMT
They generate new readers. I'm certainly not a webcomic author, but I use them occasionally when I'm bored and want something new to read. Posted by Ben on August 26th 2008 @ 6:28am GMT
I agree that they generate new readers, James, I'm just not sure they generate any really noteworthy figures. It's also incredibly easy to game the system and earn a higher rating on the site. Vote Groups, anyone? Posted by Jonah on August 29th 2008 @ 6:08am GMT
I stopped using those years ago for exactly the reasons you were listing. The popularity contest aspects annoyed me, as did any comic with boobs in the banner was automatically at the top, even when it had nothing to do with the comic. Posted by Shazzbaa on October 22nd 2008 @ 1:06am GMT
Something to keep in mind, though, is that you don't just want new *visitors* -- though those are always nice -- you want to get new *readers*. The webcomics community is a rather good-sized audience which is quite clearly interested in sticking around for the long haul -- while things like Digg and StumbleUpon may get you seen by more people, how many of those people stay to read the whole thing? How many of those people come back later?Saying that top webcomic listings are too much of a niche strikes me like saying that you don't want to sell your video game at a video game store, because only video game players come in. While it's all well and good to want to capture non-gamers and get them interested, if there's a place with an audience primed to accept your product, I don't see any disadvantage to advertising there.
And people looking for new comics to read *do* go to webcomic listings.
I've been stumbled a couple of times. It got me loads of unique visitors, loads more than being on Topwebcomics or Buzzcomix ever did. But then when I look at the pageviews I'm getting from these places, I see that, while everyone from SU seems to just be visiting the one page that got stumbled, TWC and BCX both have a greater number of pageviews than visits -- suggesting that people have at least clicked around the site.
Of course, that may just be my experience, but I still don't see any disadvantage to webcomic listings. The more places you're seen, the better.
Posted by Sam Medina on February 4th 2011 @ 5:20pm GMT
I've wondered about this too, though I have seen a consistent increase in traffic after listing on belfry... about 20% of my traffic comes from there, with another big chunk from Twitter. Not much from SU or Digg yet, but here's hoping 
Posted by Tony McGurk on June 16th 2011 @ 11:39pm GMT
I just signed up for Comic Basement as my 1st listing site & wondered the same thing too as there always seems to be the same comics at the top of the list which would make it hard for a raw amateur like myself to get even slightly noticed. I prefer to get regular readers rather than just one of's 
I've contended on webcomic forums this very thing, and that we need to reach outside our little community to find readers that become fans because they like the comic, not because we're art buddies. I think that's the beginning of building a real fan base.
Nothing wrong with other cartoonists reading you, but we've got to find ways that reach outside our nichey places, as you say. SU has brought me some decent traffic on some days. I'm not sure how many stick, but at least it's the right kind of person - someone looking for something new.