My 8 months of blogging

As December draws to a close it is time to reflect on my initial foray into the world of blogging.  This year I have the pleasure of publishing my last blog post for 2011 from the "summer office" at Riversdale Beach, Wairarapa.

Content

One of the golden rules of blogging is that you need to focus your content on a niche and stay on topic.  I came across a good article a while ago in which the author observed that:

'[i]f you publish on many different topics, you're less likely to attract a loyal audience of high-value users. Busy people might visit a blog to read an entry about a topic that interests them. They're unlikely to return, however, if their target topic appears only sporadically among a massive range of postings on other topics. The only people who read everything are those with too much time on their hands (a low-value demographic).'

My niche, if you can call it that, involves patent law developments in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific.  This year I assumed the role of Vice-Chair, International and Foreign Law Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA).  Part of my role involves monitoring statutes, rules, regulations and judicial decisions of countries outside the United States relating to intellectual property generally.  So I do tend to write about other countries too.

I tend to stick to patent law in the fields of telecommunications, computing, networking technology, e-commerce, and business methods.  That's what I know about from my day job.  I try to publish reasonably regularly at a manageable rate.  About 3 posts a week.

I don't strictly stay on topic.  As a break from intellectual property law I tend to write about life in rural New Zealand.  I've often wondered whether I should split the blog into two.  However, I think I will keep it as one blog for now.  Feedback indicates that my target audience looking for intellectual property enjoy the variety.  

The American Bar Association has listed my blog in the ABA Journal blawg directory.  You can check the listing here.  This indicates to me that the occasional post off-topic doesn't seem to matter too much as long as the target topic is clear.

Where are the readers?

Who are these readers looking at my blog?  Where do they come from?  Over the last 8 months the top ten countries, in decreasing order, are:

1. United States
2. New Zealand
3. United Kingdom
4. Ukraine
5. Australia
6. Canada
7. Germany
8. China
9. India
10. Israel

What are my readers looking at?

The top ten posts, in decreasing order, are set out below.  Not all are about intellectual property.  One is actually about chickens.

1. KOHA: All's well that ends well
2. Coppereye – the unpatentable database
3. Cybersource Corporation v Retail Decisions – a beautiful mind
4. Stealthy work
5. Patents on the tellie
6. New IP legislation for Samoa
7. Halliburton Energy hits pay dirt
8. NZ Patent Office closed again
9. Guest post: How the KOHA trade mark dispute could've been avoided
10. Ultramercial – another look at patentable subject matter

What's next?

Good question.  There seems to be plenty to write about.  I plan to do more of the same in 2012.