Friday, August 12, 2011

It's that awards time of year again...

It's summer time, with the Conference season approaching, and a blogger's mind turns to thoughts of... well, 'glory' isn't really the right word, so we'll try 'recognition'. Yes, it is that point in the cycle where people are called upon to decide upon the best blogs and vote in the Total Politics Blog Awards.

You can vote here, if you're interested...
There are those who blatantly solicit votes - we know who you are - and those who think that the whole thing is slightly absurd. I fall somewhere between the two, perfectly happy to receive your votes, but long enough in the tooth to know that, for the most part, the ranking of a particular blog depends on whether or not, at the point when votes are being cast, the author has managed to attract some attention.

For the really successful bloggers, the building of a readership base over months and perhaps years will ensure a good showing. As for the rest of us, a relatively small number of votes one way or the other may make the difference between a top thirty position and a less exalted ranking.

In 2007, I reached the giddy heights of fourteenth best Liberal Democrat blog. Now it may have been a coincidence that, as voting opened, I wrote a piece about an emerging Conservative stance on divorce and the family in which I performed the equivalent of open heart surgery on my first marriage and its (with hindsight) inevitable demise. Whilst it wasn't intended to be a 'look at me' piece, and I stand by every word I wrote then, it certainly did impact on the votes my little blog gleaned.

The next year? I was gone, outside of the top fifty. My blogging hadn't changed much, either in style or volume, but there wasn't the same spark. I was back in 2009 though, and hung on in the mid-thirties again last year.

So. we'll wait and see how it goes this year. And if you want to recognise this blog by voting for it, thank you very much. I promise not to let it go to my head...

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