Has anyone here ever made it over 10,000 hits in one day?

If you have, how did you do that?

There was a time last year when I regularly got 3 times that :)

Advertising helps ;)
Plus having work that people want to look through etc...


-But it's easy to get addicted to hits and caught up with it. I am a reformed hit addict. At one stage, if I wasn't getting over 2000 hits an hour I thought there was something wrong with the day :(

Heh, I'm lucky if I get to 600. Have made it past the 1000 mark though, but the closest I've come to that since then is 850.

Maybe I need to head over to the advertising discussion board and find out which places are best

I'm also a reformed hit addict, i used to check the damn stats page 5 times a day -_- Now i'm clean to every 2 days lol!

I got 17,650 when i was featured and it slowly dripped down over a month, but if i go on update sprees it shoots up.


Just get your comic out there for people to see JillyFoo, have something in your comic that's special and unique that people will stay for :)

reformed REFORMED hit addict here. i used to check it all the time. then i went on vacation, and at first it just wasnt available, but when it was, i hadnt posted in such a long time i knew it was bad new so i said screw it. but then i posted again and i looked and now im looking again. AW GIMME ANOTHER HIT! UUUGGGHHHH!!!

ozoneocean
Advertising helps ;)
Plus having work that people want to look through etc...

It has nothing to do with the fact that the only thing you can see of the character on your banner is her tits.

I don't think that'd work for JillyFoo. At least, I hope it wouldn't.

I got over 5,000 on the first couple days of my feature from people working their way through the archives, but now it's settled down to about 500 a day as all those people have caught up. As far as I know there's really no way to build up your audience quickly. For the most part it depends on the content of your ads and whatnot. As Custard said in a rather honest way, sex sells.

lol!

If we want to talk about advertising, there's a forum for that. :)
But just a small thing: Sex sells to an extent. Everything has limits though, and the appeal of "sexiness" is limited I'm afraid. The people who want that are quick to jump in and have a look, but they're about 25% to 30% of what I'd gather. -A big chunk, but not the biggest. (I know that from making banners deliberately sexier and then unsexy and seeing how that increases/decreases viewers)
WOMEN on banners in general are appealing, don't have to be sexy at all, as long as they're female. Then there's just a plain good looking banner, nice text that's understandable etc.

Guns and stuff are also good to get people in... Maybe swords and knives too? lol!

-But as I and Skull found out; it's not good for you to obsess about those things. I don't even look at my stats at all these days, maybe once a month at most.

lba
I got over 5,000 on the first couple days of my feature from people working their way through the archives, but now it's settled down to about 500 a day as all those people have caught up. As far as I know there's really no way to build up your audience quickly. For the most part it depends on the content of your ads and whatnot. As Custard said in a rather honest way, sex sells.

I've noticed that whenever someone new faves the comic, the hits go up quite a bit. This is probably because of the whole going through the archives thing that was mentioned. So really, what you need is about ten or eleven people to read through your archives once or twice and then you'll get to that mark (Well, I have over 150 pages in my archives, so I don't know how well that would work for some of you guys)

Oh Oh I don't obsess over how many hits I get.... just where I get them from! :D lol

I wonder if the 10K thing is something people that have their own domain site get. Probably not so.

I am a reformed hit addict.

The most I ever got was 3,410. These days I average a hundred or so hits a day here on the Duck, and similar numbers on my own site. Clearly my comic is so good that only those with very refined palettes can appreciate it!

(As Spinal Tap would say, i am being very selective about my audience)

I had a dream I got 10,000 hits once. (Seriously!)
The most I've gotten was 2,990, but these days I usually get somewhere between 300 and 600 a day. But that's okay; as long as I know that people are reading and enjoying the comic, then I'm happy.

Wyrden got 2,970 on the first day of the feature, 10,000 hits in day? I don't see it ever getting that.

It is nice to dream though.

I'm currently reformed from my own hit addition.

I used to get real pissed if I didn't break 500+ everyday... now I'm happy that I get pageviews. :)

The highest I broke was 4,000. Just lucky advertising that day.

I don't even have a comic yet.

I haven't updated in months, but still somehow get over 10,000 hits a day. I am not quite sure what's going on there. (I am not trying to brag, I am genuinely baffled.)

I think the best way to get a lot of hits is to have a huge archive. Every time someone goes through my archive, that's 130 or so hits. I'm suspecting there's 75 people who just read my archives every day. And only those 75.

In it's heyday, Lesbian Pirates was pulling down 30,000 a day easily. I think the record was 42,000. That day was when I advertised my other comic heavily, and some of that rubbed off on LPFOS. (The comic I actually advertised for got around 200,000 a day for a week, then settled at 30,000 for the past few months.)

So here's some actual advice:
Advertising helps, but you need to make sure your comic is always the best it can be. Think of it this way- every comic is a first impression to whatever new reader comes by on that day. Don't take shortcuts. Every page has to be interesting enough to make people want to read the archives based on that one page. If you're lazy one day and put up stick figures, just for one day because you're very tired, then you have a front page with stick figures on it. Any new readers will find it, most will think, "It isn't worth going through the archives for stick figures," and close the window. You're better off not posting a page than posting something that isn't the best you can do.

Which leads to point number two: Post on a schedule! I know I just said not to post unless it's really good, so this rule is a little more flexible, but not by a lot. Lesbian Pirates updated like clockwork, Monday-Wednesday-Friday without fail. People knew when to expect updates, so they showed up.
With my other comic, I changed schedules, went on a hiatus, came back with sporadic updates, and readership went down. I got back on a religiously strict MWF schedule, readership improved.
If you have to go on a hiatus, find some way to let your readers know when you're coming back, or they never will. Either have them sign up for a mailing list, or RSS, or a blog. I let anyone friend my livejournal , which puts news and updates right in their friends page.

Going back to advertising, place your ads wisely. Project Wonderful lets you see how many hits you're getting from the sites you're advertising on. If it isn't getting hits, or very few for your money, take down the ad. Save your money for where you need it.
What genre is your comic? Advertise on those sites. Mine is lesbian romance with sci-fi, pirates, and humor. I place ads on sites with gay content, romance, humor. I haven't actually advertised for LPFOS yet, but I intend to find those sci-fi, pirate (and ninja), and humorous comics and advertise on those.


Ok. I've typed enough for now. If you have any questions, feel free to PQ me.

I gotta say I wouldn't want anyone to think that that's all it takes though.

I follow those rules as religiously as possible myself and building an audience is still a bit of an uphill battle. I have a large archive, I try to consistently put out the best humor and artwork I can, and asking any of my readers, I have yet to miss a day. I've been late by a few hours, but never missed an update. I also target the living crap out of my ads by navigating through each site I plan on advertising through. When it comes to growing an audience the old saying "money makes wealth" comes to mind. It's a lot easier to keep getting more people once you've already got a sizable crowd to spread the word and act as a resource. I'm not disagreeing with what you've said, but that's all just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

But that's probably getting too much into ad discussion to go any further. I just don't want people getting all starry-eyed and expecting it to be really easy, then getting slapped across the face with the reality.

Ive only gotten about...just over 200 once...God knows how that happend...

Woah, 10.000! not even close. The top was I think around 3000 for being featured.

I'd be worried if I get 10k hits in one day.

Though I've seen my hits spike (to maybe 1200 hits a day) when I tried advertising on thewebcomiclist.com, webcomicz.com as well as posting it in the forums of a few political websites I visit.

kyupol
I'd be worried if I get 10k hits in one day.

Though I've seen my hits spike (to maybe 1200 hits a day) when I tried advertising on thewebcomiclist.com, webcomicz.com as well as posting it in the forums of a few political websites I visit.

That happened to me too. Insanity Complex got about 300 hits when I put the link to it in my sig in the Least I Could Do forums.

That's something else I would encourage people to do. Go to a comic sort of like yours and post in their forums, and put your link in your sig. That way, you can advertise your comic to your target audience for free, and help out the owner of the forum by increasing their population

My comic is fairly new, so I don't even come close, but this thread has been quite insightful!

I go back and forth being a hit addict (at my own low low level)... but I have noticed that the best way to get a large number of hits is getting new readers because, yeah, they hit the archives.

Also, certain regular readers will disappear for a few weeks, and then suddenly show up (usually all at once!) and then catch up on the stuff they missed, causing a spike. So being good enough, or keeping their interest enough that they want to come back and find out what's been going on since they left, helps. With my comic, I try to have a few developing story lines going on at once too, so even when one thing gets resolved, there's still other stuff hanging...

yup.

Other than that. I just try to be personable.

My spikes have been around 1000. But I usually get 200 a day, which I think is very nice. When I started I was curious about my hits, but I don't pay attention anymore.

Oh, and I know my spikes were from a couple people looking through archives. When your comic gets long, it just takes one or two archive readers to make a hit spike. Having a comic running for a long time accumulating pages is a double-edged sword, though. People fear large archives, so they either pass on the comic entirely or (if you're lucky) start reading from the current page and avoid the archives altogether. (And if they can't follow the story, then they drop the comic.) Plus, in many cases (mine at least), the oldest pages are so hideous, they scare away potential archive readers.

Tips about advertising, update schedules, etc. are great, but you also have to consider audience. Some comics simply appeal to a wider audience -- or to a specific niche audience that is more numerous or more devoted.

lba
I gotta say I wouldn't want anyone to think that that's all it takes though.

I agree. I think one hard truth you have to learn when you're starting your own comic is that some will just never build a large, loyal, regularly returning fanbase no matter how good they are or how closely they follow all the promotion tips. And, just to rub salt in the wound, others with poor art, poor writing, sporadic updates, small archives and no promotion will inexplicably be catapaulted to the top of the rankings.

That's just life. Think of all the dreadful movies that break box office records or win Oscars while other, far better films languish in relative obscurity.

I'm not saying don't do the things recommended in this thread. You should - it's all good advice. But don't get disheartened if it doesn't work. Luck has a huge role to play so, first and foremost, make sure you're making your comic because it's what you want to do, irrespective of whether anyone else reads it. Then, if you are one of the lucky ones whose comic happens to hit the big time, that's just a bonus!

DAJB
others with poor art, poor writing, sporadic updates, small archives will inexplicably be catapaulted to the top of the rankings.

Yah fact of webcomic life ;) They usually have something unique about them

DAJB
and no promotion

It might not seem like it but these comics are getting a ton of underground promotion, most often free, and most often considered 'sneaky'.

Examples(i'm not attacking anybody i think they're brilliant really):
There's a fetish comic on DD that has been well-known to be advertised on porn forums, through viral and legitimate means. it has a very unique fetish- one i didn't even know about till' i saw the comic and drives the fans in hoards.

Another comic has a huge archive that runs on parody, hate and the funniest comments i've ever seen on a webcomic. it actually gets advertised for being a bad webcomic and people reading the comments (with people not realizing the parody.)

Another way is being advertised on the big hits non-DD comics. (not really 'sneaky' but still another way)

So all these comic have something unique and they're all advertised in some form or another. :)

No.

That's cool, though.

10000? Whoah, no, haha. I was only 9780 short of that number :P

I have noticed one thing though. On the days of update I get 2 to 5 times as much pageviews as on other days, with the exception of weekends, during which either sunday or saturday (but never on both) I get as much as I get on lesser update days. Occasional spikes (the 120-160 pageview days) usually happen whenever I hook up another person on the comic.

Kinda worried what the approaching hiatus (monday's the last page of first half fo the story, then I take a break to earn some money and stuff) will do to the pageviews, but will worry about that later.

I can tell you that at this point a group of people nagged me to have it printed once the story is over, even if the book will cost them 30$ (printing in color through lulu ain't cheap). I'll sell 10 copies for sure, haha. And perhaps few more, if I'll add a b&w/greyscale version for half the price.

World domination! Here I come!

khem, sorry :D

I think I broke that number after hitting F5 all day. I wont name names but I know someone in this thread just posted a link to their comic on 4chan which is actually about as impressive as me hitting F5, and on about the same level of honesty.

No. :(
I'm lucky if I get no more than 2 a page. Sometimes I get a big fat goose egg.

raven37

With HVH, I think I got about 100-200 a day. But I hope my new comic, Tengu Arm, will be successful, mostly because it features actual art, as opposed to the overly simplistic ms paint scribbles I used in Heaven vs Hell.