A frequent lament I've heard in conservative circles is that we're not as good at using the Internet to promote our message as the Left is. Of course, that fear may be a bit overblown to begin. After all, 2007 saw some marked success in conservative blogs growing in readership while liberal ones stagnated according to Simon Owens of Bloggasm:
It has long been understood that the largest liberal blogs have generally produced more web traffic than the largest conservative blogs. But I have noticed a general trend over the past few months that I didn’t want to write about until the end of the year. After surveying the traffic stats of many major political blogs, I found that web traffic for several major liberal blogs either declined sharply or stayed the same while major conservative blogs saw a sharp increase in traffic.
For consistency, I only included blogs that used the Sitemeter web traffic measurer. For each blog, I added up the web visits (sometimes referred to as unique visitors, though this term can be misleading) of the first six months and the next six months. After tallying up these figures I compared them to see if the blog’s readership increased or decreased. With liberal blogs, I consistently saw decreases, some of which were quite sharp. For the conservative blogs, I saw a significant increase in the number of visits.
Now, it’s very difficult to make conclusions based on these findings. It could be that the liberal blogosphere is experiencing a Long Tail effect, meaning that readers of liberal blogs are spreading out over a larger range of websites. And though liberal blogs showed a sharp decline in web visits during 2007, this isn’t to say that their overall visits didn’t increase compared to 2006 — it’s hard to say, since Site Meter only tracks the previous 13 months.
Either way, it is certainly an interesting trend. Below you’ll see my findings, first with major liberal blogs and then major conservative blogs.
You can find more at Owens's site, including bar graphs from Sitemeter showing stats for major leftie and conservative blog sites.
(h/t Nogirlemen)
Owens is right that this trend must be taken with a grain of salt, and there can be any number of theories as to why 2007 seems to have been a better year growth-wise for some conservative blogs than liberal counterparts.
I'd argue that a Democratic Congress and the conservative pushback against its liberal shenanigans gave plenty of fodder to grassroots conservatives on the Web, and accordingly lots of great content for blogging. That seems to me a big factor in increased interest in conservative blogs, particularly as the liberal media often failed to cover stories embarrassing to the lefties in the Democratic Congress.
At any rate, 2008 should be an exciting year for the conservative blogosphere and I think I speak for all of us at NewsBusters when I say we are blessed to be a part of that and share our thoughts and analysis with you guys everyday.
—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters
















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Us conservatives was learned
January 4, 2008 - 13:10 ET by Chris NormanUs conservatives was learned on how to use these here computers. We do real good now.
Chris -- sure. My doggone
January 4, 2008 - 13:18 ET by Jack BauerChris -- sure. My doggone computator is a
Has 640 KB of of RAM, a massive 10 MB HDD and a gun rack mounted on the monitor.
I tricked mine out
January 4, 2008 - 13:22 ET by OldSailor88Deer antlers above the gun rack, and a can koozie mounted to the side of the tower. If I could put a lift on it, I would.
Ecce potestas casei!
old -- man, now you're just
January 4, 2008 - 13:43 ET by Jack Bauerold -- man, now you're just showing off!
Bet you still got ten of your own teeth.
LOL. Mine has a bed for my
January 4, 2008 - 13:25 ET by Chris NormanLOL. Mine has a bed for my dog, "Blue".
C'mon Blue -- time to go
January 4, 2008 - 13:39 ET by Jack BauerC'mon Blue -- time to go 'coon huntin'.
Forgot to mention yawl.
I insisted the Comptator fella fixed ma black and white monitor, soes the "black" bit wos put on a seperate monitor in the rest room.
Why my computer really
January 4, 2008 - 13:55 ET by taterWhy my computer really started working nice when we got that there electrical line hooked up to the house.
Do you realize how much it costs to run for office? More than any honest man could afford. -Montgomery Burns
"My doggone computator is
January 4, 2008 - 13:57 ET by NCConservative"My doggone computator is a...."
Don't mean to interrupt, but "computator" made me laugh out loud. In my office. By myself.
Nc -- yessiree bob! Member
January 4, 2008 - 14:05 ET by Jack BauerNc -- yessiree bob! Member of the tator family.
You got your po-tator. Your dick-tator.Your communic-tator... okay, run out of tator gags!
Tomater of course!
January 4, 2008 - 14:23 ET by NCConservativeTomater of course!
I would also offer up "conversator" as one who "conversates." The word is "converse" people! Sorry, pet peeve...
Yup
January 4, 2008 - 14:19 ET by OldSailor88Right up there with CEE-MENT POND!
Ecce potestas casei!
I can't find a DP sitemeter estimate
January 4, 2008 - 13:35 ET by sarcasmoBut I can't resist reposting my favorite Alexa-link... Chalk it up to residual Redstate-cruelty since their ban, which was apparently what caused their last minor traffic-bump in late October. :) NB's own traffic-bumps are a result of NB's occasional Drudge-links, I'm told.
JMR
Rally online with fans of Dr. Ron Paul. (All purpose anti-slander-link, sadly-needed these days...)
I think a lot of it has to
January 4, 2008 - 14:35 ET by BruzillaI think a lot of it has to do with access to the blog. Just try to post something pro-Republican on DU or a similar site. You get banned before the virtual ink is dried. Although NB has a lot of Republicans, I'm seeing a steady increase in the number of Democrats posting on here and other conservative forums. I would think it gets pretty tiresome posting to people who think like yourself, so I'm guessing that a lot of members with highly restricted Liberal blogs are making the move to conservative ones where they can have some civil debate.
Some possible reasons...
January 4, 2008 - 15:03 ET by c5thenConservatives are in my experience more independant than liberals. They don't need constant reassurance that their views are shares by others.
The older someone is, the more likely they are to be conservative (comes with wisdom I'm told). Older people are still in the early stages of computer-ization.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.