What my Top 10 blog post says about Blog reading culture

I have been blogging consistently for a little over 8 years, and I have written all kinds of post. I decided to analyse my most popular posts, and see what was unique about them.

1.TGIFridays Experience and 100th Post Giveaway

This is my highest viewed post, with a traffic of…, which is not surprising. From the day I put up this post in 2011, it has been skyrocketing in views. I knew nothing about blog traffics when I wrote about my experience at TGIFridays. I definitely was not looking for views 5 years later. But this tells us that when you write about a popular world-class brand, you are sure to keep gathering views for years and years to come

2. One more Blog Post

You would thing my second highest viewed post has nothing special in its title, but the word “blog post” is a very key word in the SEO world. Then add a good content underneath, you become king. This post is less than 2 years old, yet it made the second spot in my top 10. Lesson, SEO works

3. I want to burst some bloggers' bubbles

This post has two things going on for it when it comes to traffic. Firstly, it reeks of gossip (it is actually a blogville community gossip), and secondly, it has the keyword “blogger”. It seems anything that has the words, blog, blog post, bloggers, how to blog, etc. is always a winner every time.

4. Wordpressers speak back: Nigerian Blogger users are ignorant, backward, etc

I wrote this post during the wordpress vs blogger fracas, which honestly I caused, albeit unintentionally. It turned out to be a very friendly war between wordpressers and bloggers, when the community was still strong. This post made it for two reasons, it is a warzone post, it has the word Nigerian bloggers, and it makes use of a condemning statement about a country, which is not the goal of the post.

5. "I have decided to stop attending church!"

Anything about church condemnation, pastor criticism, how a popular televangelist molested people, sells. These kinds of gossip posts attracts traffic like mad. This post was publicised on all my platfoms, and many people saw me as church girl, also being a teen’s teacher in church. So imagine me going public with my intention to stop attending church. It’s either people wanted to know why or they just wanted to join me in stoning the church, lol.

6. The “It is well” generation.

I don’t think the title made this one popular at all. Firstly, it was publicised on all my platforms, which really doesn’t matter because many other posts were publicised on my platforms too. But this particular post had many keyword in the content itself.  When you read it, you would see controversial words like Femi Otedola,  Farouk Lawan , 170 million Nigerians, Shunemite woman, Horatio Gates Spafford, Chibok Girls, Boko Haram, Elisha, etc. I might be wrong though.  Maybe the word “It is well” is a keyword. All I can say is that it is one of my most popular posts

7. How I hustled to graduate from University
Again… gossip sells. It is of the opinions that I did really well in university, so when a post title begins to claim the reverse, people want to know (things about your personal life they shouldn’t ordinarily know). Just do a post about how you slept with 5 men in 2 months, and see what happens, lol.

8. How I see Nigerian Blogsville (2) – The two clans... not cliques

This holds the same point as number 4. Exactly the same points

9. Almighty's Formula by Atilola Moronfolu

The keyword made this post great. Almighty Formula is a very popular topic in mathematics that can solve any quadratic equation other methods can’t solve. When people google it, they are sometimes led to my post, which talks about another type of Almighty Formula

10. Close Shaves Series – part 4 : The AUR Story

At first glance, there’s nothing unique about this post. But I remember that when I was publicising it on my platforms, the caption was “how I opened my legs for a man”. Just like number 5 post, many people know I don’t believe and engage in premarital sex, and here I am, opening my legs for a man? What is happening here? Again, gossip! (people want to know what they shouldn’t ordinarily know).

So the summary of what I have learnt from my Top 10 posts when it comes reading culture, and this is something you can use if you are interested in growing your blog traffic
1. Writing about big brands attracts traffic
2. All that SEO and Keyword life, they work big time
3. People love gossip. People want to know what they shouldn’t ordinarily know, and if you can keep feeding their desires, they’ll keep coming back for more.

Lastly, let me add that I don’t write for traffic. I’m more about content. If the content is right, people will eventually come. I do not strategically position myself to increase traffic by inputing keywords, spreading gossips, etc. I just write, and I just want people to read. I implore you all to read these top 10 posts, I can assure you that you will enjoy them.

Why your attitude towards Books and Reading is the way it is

Are you someone who hates reading, are you someone who cannot seem to finish any book you pick up, are you someone who loves reading only a certain genre of books, are you someone who can read any book you see, or are you someone who would not rest until you finish that book you’ve picked up?

I’m sure you know what category you fall into, by now. Knowing what drives you will help you understand why your attitude towards reading is the way it is.

1. Some people read for enjoyment. For these people, reading a book is like buying a drink and popcorn, and watching a movie at the cinema. They want to get lost in the book, and enjoy it. So if the book is too boring for them, or too disturbing for their liking, they drop it like it’s hot, and move on to the next prospect.

2. Some people read for relaxation. Maybe they have a stressful life, and the little time they have to rest, they just want to read a book to calm their nerves. If the book is too mentally tasking with its plots and twists that one has to go back to page 90 to understand what page 360 means, or if the book is full of complex English words and sentences that one has to check the dictionary every single second, they will not finish the book. Let's just say if the movie, Inception, was a book, they would never finish it. It is just too much for them. This is because the book is causing them to work, which is what they have been doing all day, and are trying to avoid by picking up a book in the first place.

Source

3. Some people read to escape reality. These people believe that life sucks, is bitter, too hard, etc. These kind of people don’t like to read books that portray reality, they won’t read a horror novel, novel about child abuse or human trafficking, etc. because they have the real world to remind them of these tragic events. They love fantasy books, happily ever after romance, mills and boons, and anything that can provide the succour the real word cannot. They detest books with sad endings, and the ones who fall under the category of readers who read the last three pages of a book first to find out the end, even before starting the book.

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4. Some people read to improve their knowledge of English. These kinds love to read literary fiction most. If the book is too simple and basic,  and its an adult book but seems kids book, or if it is not intellectually stimulating, and there's nothing for them to read or challenge their current knowledge of English, they will drop it.

5. Some people read for curiosity, and to learn something new. These are the kinds that will read every book in the world if they had life long enough to do that. If your book is boring, they will endure it. If it’s mentally tasking, they will sigh and put in the work to keep reading. 99% of the time, these kinds of people will make sure they finish any book they pick up. They just want to learn something… anything. It’s the satisfaction of knowing they have conquered yet one more book that drives them.

What category do you belong to? I belong to the last, unfortunately for me. Knowing the one you belong to will help you understand why your attitude towards reading is the way it is. And if you are not satisfied with your attitude, at least, now you know why, so you can always change it to another. Since you are now aware, the knowledge can even help you in selecting the books you choose to start reading.

P.S: I am looking to partner with Events Planners on a business idea we have. If you are an Events Planner and interested, or you know anyone that might be interested, please let the person contact me on 07061141501 or hattylolla@yahoo.com. Thanks

How Movie Adaptations defrauds its viewers

I am an avid book reader and a movie watcher.  After immersing myself into both worlds, I have come to understand that a movie adaptation has never ever done justice to the book it was adapted from. Not Harry Potter, not Curious Case of Benjamin Button, not Lord of The Rings or The Hobbit, not Silence of the lambs or Hannibal, not any Chronicles of Narnia, not Les Miserables, not any book.

Source

While reading Les Miserable, and for the first book in the first volume (it is divided into volumes, books and chapters), I was wondering if I had the wrong book, as I had done myself the injustice of watching the movie first, even though I got the book before I got the movie. A whole lot was cut off from the book when it was made into the movie. If you are curious and are interested in getting the complete story, not just 30% of what you think is the story, please, get the book and read. No matter how good the movie had been, it is just not it when compared to the book. All I can say is we were defrauded.

Les Miserables, using it as an example, is literary fiction, not commercial fiction. Commercial fictions are plot driven books, while literary fictions are character driven books. This means if you adapt literary fiction to movies, and you cut what makes the character out, you have cut off about 80% of the book. I understand the fact that Les Miserables is a very voluminous book, and they would not be able to adapt every single part into the movie, but the injustice done in this case was massive. Imagine a bishop who had a whole Book with several chapters dedicated to him in the book having just two scenes in the movie. Marius's grandfather and father nko? Nothing!

Now did the movie script writer do anything bad by cutting important parts out? No. Was the script interesting? Yes. Was it good? Yes.

But the question here is, does it give the viewers the whole picture, does it tell the whole story? The answer is a big No. If you think because you watched a movie adaptation, you know the whole story, you would only be kidding yourself.

Why does Severus Snape hate Harry Potter so much, what is his origin? Why exactly did the bishop cover up for Jean Valjean, what legacy did he leave? All these things are not what you can get from the movies. You have to read the book to know the whole story, eat the real cake and not just get fed on the icing sugar these movie adaptations tend to feed us.

This is not just about Les Miserables, I'm just using it as a case study. This is about all books that have been turned into movies. I haven't read or watched Hunger Games, but I heard it is one of the most poorly adapted movies ever.

So what am I saying here? If you watch or want to watch a movie adaptation, and you love the story line, and you really want to get the whole picture, then please, read the original book. The book is always far more interesting than the movie, anyway, since it always has the whole story.

Don't let yourself get robbed

In other news, when I watched video the stage performance of the Les Miserables cast at the 2013 Oscars, I got goose bumps, and almost cried because I couldn't sing. I am so sad that Gavroche wasn't in the performance. Did you know that Gavroche is Eponine's brother? So, you see why you have to read the books? Anyway, wacth the video

Interesting: The BBC Booklist Tag

Happy new year everyone. It is a new year, so let us start start this new year on blogsville with something very interesting.  

This tag will make some people spread the wings in pride, like an eagle, while some would just cover their eyes in shame, lol. 

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people would have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. 

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Instructions: Copy and do a blog post on it. Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. Asterisks mean I've read the book over and over again.  Tag 25 (book loving) bloggers, and inform them on their blog about the tag.

[P.S: The first time I did this tag (In 2010), I had read 11 of them. If not for Harry Potter, I'd have almost fallen below BBC's standards then. But thank God, as for now, I have read 18. I try naa. At least, I am three times better than the BBC projection. Also note, watching the movies does not count ].

If I did not tag you, please, feel free to do it also, or just let us know how many you have read in the comment session

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien (this counts are three books, as it is a trilogy)

2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (also counts as three books, as it is a trilogy)

4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling

6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne

8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell

9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis

10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë

11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller

12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë

13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks

14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger

16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens

18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres

20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy

21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell

22. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone, JK Rowling

23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling

24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling

25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien

26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy

27. Middlemarch, George Eliot

28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving

29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck

30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson

32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez

33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett

34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens

35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl

36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson

37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute

38. Persuasion, Jane Austen

39. Dune, Frank Herbert

40. Emma, Jane Austen

41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery

42. Watership Down, Richard Adams

43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald

44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

46. Animal Farm, George Orwell*

47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy

49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian

50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher

51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett

52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck

53. The Stand, Stephen King

54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth

56. The BFG, Roald Dahl

57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome

58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell  

59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer

60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman

62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden

63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough

65. Mort, Terry Pratchett

66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton

67. The Magus, John Fowles

68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett

70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding

71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind

72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell

73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett

74. Matilda, Roald Dahl

75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding

76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt

77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins

78. Ulysses, James Joyce

79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens

80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson

81. The Twits, Roald Dahl

82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith

83. Holes, Louis Sachar

84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake

85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy

86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson

87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons

89. Magician, Raymond E Feist

90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac

91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo

92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel

93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett

94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

95. Katherine, Anya Seton

96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer

97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez

98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson

99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot

100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

Bloggers I Tag

1. Sugarspring

2. Aloted

3. Myne Whitman

4. Toinlicious

5. Salt

6. Unyime Ivy-King

7. Atoskin

8. Strong Self

9. Ms Tizzle

10. Angels Beauty

11. Morounfoluwa Lukina Akibo

12. Inyamu

13. Geebee

14. Luciano

15. Priscy

16. Ginger

17. Dayor

18. Abi Tobi

19. MsJB

20. Relentless Builder

21. Naijamum in London

22. Daughter of her King

23. Ibifiri

24. jhazmyn

25. a-9ja-great