Lately, I’ve been putting a lot more effort into updating my website. Between ArtFight, blogging more regularly, writing informative articles, and staying active on social media… I’ve been doing a lot. Way more than usual.
And the results? Basically worse than when I posted 2 times a week.
It’s a really weird and disheartening phenomenon. You’d think that working harder, being consistent, and creating good content would lead to better reach or engagement: more visitors, more views, more interaction. But for some reason, it often feels like the opposite happens. Sometimes it seems like quick or spontaneous perform better. When I plan something carefully, it barely gets noticed.
And it’s not just my blog.
On my Backyard Cats YouTube channel, I’ve made videos that are entertaining, cute, well-edited, and have thoughtful titles, tags, and descriptions. The result? Crickets. Meanwhile, one of the videos I uploaded on a whim (a 59 second video of Ricky in the bathroom sink) “blew up” to over 7k views. It is 3 years old and still my most viewed video to date.
Social media is just as confusing. I’m now posting almost daily on Twitter, but interactions? No one new. (I do want to mention that I am extremely grateful for the people that do regularly give me a like on my posts.)
Either way, the struggle of getting my message out there – my art, my cats, my blog, ME – is really hard and quite honestly, exhausting sometimes.
For years on end now, I’ve been wondering how it is possible to end up feeling so alone in a literal OCEAN of people on the internet.
I Hate Needing to Please the Algorithm
The hard truth is that platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, etc., don’t reward effort. They reward engagement patterns. Clickbait, engagement bait, ragebait, shock value. “Look at me being witty.” There is no room for creativity, quality, consistency.
Unless you’re already established.
Or, I dunno, you get lucky.
I know that so many artists and creators feel invisible. I see the complaints, the struggles. I leave a like or a comment, knowing that it won’t change the algorithm’s mind.
Managing Multiple Platforms is Annoying
Right now, I’m posting my art on ArtFight, Twitter, Ko-fi, DeviantArt and of course my own website. I want to go back to Instagram, but I stopped posting there a long time ago. All these platforms work with their own hashtags and tricks for being seen – it isn’t just a matter of copy and paste. Well, ideally it isn’t – because on every platform, you want to increase your chances of being seen.
It’s hard to keep going back to each site and pushing content out into the void when nothing seems to come back. Not even a little spark. Not even a blip. Just… silence.
Sometimes it feels like no one’s seeing anything. Which is wild, because the internet is supposed to be this massive, connected space full of people, and yet I can’t seem to reach any of them.
So What Now?
I’m not quitting. I never will. Every day, I will continue to work on my art, my blog, everything I enjoy doing online.
At the end of the day there is one thing that I know for sure. If i ever ”make” it – whether the algorithm ever decides to give me a lucky break or not – it’ll all be on ME and my years worth of efforts of putting myself out there.
It’s gonna happen. I’m not done yet. Just needed to write down these thoughts for a moment. :-) Thank you for reading.
You are talented Never give up
Thank you so much for your kind words! ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚