The Non-Webcomic Reader Approach

[Rob]

The internet is hugemongous. There is more than enough audience to go around I think and with convention attendance booming so far this year it seems that the audience is only growing. Competing for eyeballs on the internet is like competing for sand grains on the beach. There are so many and just because you ;eft a footprint doesn't mean I can't walk on the same path.

I think the day Webcomics are competing for ratings is going to be a sad day indeed. And I'm not talking about those voting things for Topwebcomics like sites. That stuff is for fun for the most part. I'm talking about really competing... watching the other guys and trying to steal as much of their audience as possible. To be honest, considering it takes about ten seconds to read the average comic I cannot even see a real competition happening. But I do think it would be a bad thing.

I like to think of webcomics as an a la carte menu. People sample many different things and fill their plate with what they like. The trick is to get as many people to the buffet as possible; and then let the feeding frenzy begin.
 

[JGray]

Forgive me, but that seems like a particularly craven way of looking at your audience. That logic leads to other webcomic creators doing their best to keep readers away from you and all of us resenting any others of us. I'd rather have as much cross-promotion going on as possible, share as much of my audience with other creators as I can and trust that they'll stick with me as long as what I do isn't total crap.

I'll gladly cross-promote you, Gibson.

[Gibson]

This thread is actually reminding me that the links I have on PoY to other comics are horribly out of date...one or two of them no longer update, and others update so infrequently that it's almost shameful. I was going to wait until the redesign, but now I'm thinking I should throw something together quickly.

[Nuke]

Concerning cross-promotion: it kind of has its ups and downs. On one hand, if you've got a big comic with tons of ad revenue, it might help keep the 'supply' of links low and their value high. There aren't *too* many comics like this, though - sore thumbs, sinfest, and QC, I suppose, make enough money to actually care about this.

However, if you aren't horribly concerned about a potential difference in ad income, cross-promoting is the way to go. Cross-promotion, by getting the names of many comics out to many readers, is more likely to cause people to read the comics of the highest quality that interest them most. If you are confident in your comic, cross-promoting is the way to go. I've gotten only positive results so far from linking to and being linked from my peers in my news posts.

[klingers]

I haven't really ventured much into the realm of cross-promotion in many years. It's something I've been wanting to try.

As for "vote for me" webcomics lists, I haven't seen the point (for me) to be honest. I'd rather focus on organically growing my audience through a combination of fun content, a smidge of paid-for advertising, word of mouth and maybe a lucky break. We'll see

[Rob]

From what I've heard from other members the "vote for me stuff" actually works really well if you put the effort into it. 

[JGray]

Topwebcomcs.com has been one of my top referers. Its like advertising. Plus, it builds interest. If someone votes for your comic they're more likely to remember and return to it.

[Gibson]

I am WAY low on the TWC list and I get traffic from it all the time. I've been and I guess continue to be high on the WebcomicZ list and I get mad traffic from that. Lately, I've started tracking a lot from Belfry Comics too. People definitely look through those lists, so even if you don't really want to put in a lot of effort with them (I haven't yet) it's worth it to join them and throw the link on your page.