Webcomic of Hamelin

[Schwarzlicht]

HELLo tHERE.
I'm Schwarzlicht, the epythome of n00bness, coming here for the first time with the most n00bish of the questions: How do I lure the innocents (or not) to my upcoming comic?
Not that I'm planning to promote it until I've got at least 10 pages finished, but, it would be nice to know.

[Shishio]

Advertise.

Post on forums and include a link/banner in your signature, but don't spam.

[NakedElf]

Personally, I wouldn't go about *seriously* trying to promote your comic (or any comic) until you have a pretty decent archive built up. (More than ten. More like 50.) It's always a little disheartening to click on someone's webcomic advert and find, mm, maybe 12 comics... not enough for me to really get a grasp of what's going on or if I'll like the comic long-term.

Of course, it varies--your comic may be so super-awesome I'd bookmark it anyway.

However, there are plenty of minor things you can do to attract readers, which will be decently effective over the long-run and not so dependent on you already having a large archive (that is to say, I wouldn't recommend paying *money* to advertise until you have a pretty decent sized comic, but it never hurts to start attracting people to your site.)

The thing that's worked best for me is Google searches. Pick a couple of keywords (Hamelin seems like an obvious choice,) and configure your site so that these words appear prominently. For example, I get lots of hits from people looking for "Naked Elf", because that's in the comic's title and in the html title of every page on the site. It's also in the code for some of the images ( title="" and alt="") I probably get 90% of my visitors from Google searches, so don't underestimate the power of Google.

Of course, you want to make sure your comic actually has something to do with the words you pick--if I were getting a lot of people looking for furry comics, well, they'd be disappointed.

The second thing you can do, quite obviously, is register your site with webcomic listing communities. In my experience, it isn't worth your while to bother with every listing you can find--and the ones which depend heavily on folks 'voting' for your comic won't do you a lick of good if you can't convince enough people to vote for you. However, sites like <a href="http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/">The Webcomic List</a> and <a href="http://www.belfry.com/comics/">The Belfry</a> have been good to me.

If you have any friends who read comics, you can always ask them where/how they find new ones.

The third thing I would recommend (although this takes more work) is to hang out in places where people interested in comics are likely to be (like right here.) My signature when I post on Deviant Art links to my comic, my signature here links to my comic, and my LJ profile links to my comic.

That's all pretty easy, passive stuff you'll want to be doing from about comic 10 (I noticed when I signed up with the webcomic listing services that I got an immediate spike in visits, which tapered off fairly quickly--so even though those are a long-term plan, I'd recommend having at least some archive built up before your visitors show. By contrast, having your keywords coded into your html is just good sense, period, and you should do that from the very beginning.)


As for more 'intense' comic-pimpage.... there's the obvious 'buy an ad' route. There's the 'make a Comic Genesis pog', there's get to know other webcomic authors and see if they'll swap banners with you (though in my experience no one ever looked at my links page), and of course try to get your friends to pimp you in their blogs/journals/comics/wherever. (It helps if you're starting something new and awesome, like a new storyline.) Oh, and do some fanart for other folks.

Obviously there are other good ideas out there, that's just what comes to the top of my head. I've not really tried any of the more active adverting, so I'm not as familiar with it. Good luck.

[RPin]

I have the old opinion that if your comic is good, people will find it. Eventually you can speed up the process with ads and plugs on forums, but that should be your first priority right now.

[Black Sparrow]

I have the old opinion that if your comic is good, people will find it. Eventually you can speed up the process with ads and plugs on forums, but that should be your first priority right now.

What RPin said. For the moment, focus on spiffifying your webpage and building up your archives. Then, you can start signing up for toplists and sending fanart to your favorite comics to get the word out.

[That guy]

BE TALENTED. If you're good, people will mention you and send more readers your way.

BE CONSISTENT. Even if you're not the BEST, if people know they can count on you updating every (X days per week) they will keep coming back. Consistency is a rare gem in comics (plus more updates means you will improve faster.)

BE SOCIAL. Talk here on CG- and be sure to link to yourself (in the profile section). Better yet, make a banner. You can also take part in JAMS and forum sketch threads, etc. That gives folks more opportunities to check out what you have to offer and even get to like you.

BE GENEROUS. Offer other comics fan art. Answer fan-art requests in the forums and just send them to your favorite comics. Show people you like their comics and they will often post and link back to you. This is also a good way to develope friends and webcomic connections. Don't be greedy though, do it because you like their work, not JUST for the hits. (Bigger comics are much less likely to post your work and smaller comics will appreciate it more)

BE AD SAVVY. Finally, if you have the $$ to do it, you can put ads up in a variety of places. The Webcomic List, for instance, has a $15-per-month offer. Make a good preview ad and it can draw a lot of hits.

[BoShek]

As another n00b, I'm trying to build up an archive and being consistent and doing the "soft sell" where I chill in forums linking to myself. I tend to kill threads, which does not help. I have a newsbox, which is my biggest source of indirect visits and my pog is awaiting approval. Once I have part 1, (25 or so pages) in the can the hard sell begins in the pitching forum or something like that.

If it works, I'll get back to you! ~_~

[Geekblather]

Also- and again- once you're a little more established, you can see about joining a collective. My comic is also a part of a collective of teen comics, and that's both a source of new hits, and probably some returning ones too. Definitely a good way to get actual new readers, because you're affiliating with a group where you'll probably all share readers.

[Adamiani]

Personally, I wouldn't go about *seriously* trying to promote your comic (or any comic) until you have a pretty decent archive built up. (More than ten. More like 50.) It's always a little disheartening to click on someone's webcomic advert and find, mm, maybe 12 comics... not enough for me to really get a grasp of what's going on or if I'll like the comic long-term.

It's so frustrating setting out. I have 6 comics up (2 in the can)-- I've sunk maybe 50 hours into it, give or take (made longer, I'm sure, due to figuring out what the hell I'm doing). I'm on a 3/week schedule, which is at the outer limit of what I can realistically maintain-- so 50 comics is just under four months worth. I've had 6 people look at my stuff total, no comments. It's disheartening to think about continuing at that rate of readership until November before even trying to push it.

That you are absolutely, unequivocally right just makes it all the more annoying.

[VinnieD]

Every time I attempt a hard sell the site goes down, without fail. During which time no matter how brief someone will post "the site is down" and completely kill the thread in spite of all attempts on my part to say it's fixed.

[Adamiani]

Every time I attempt a hard sell the site goes down, without fail. During which time no matter how brief someone will post "the site is down" and completely kill the thread in spite of all attempts on my part to say it's fixed.

Oh, so YOU'RE the reason the server isn't updating now?

[Dutch!]

Don't worry about the small numbers of people looking at the site. You've got a banner under your posts, you post every now and then people will wander along to check it out. If you're in it for the readers, join your local newspaper, it's unlikely to happen here.

Enjoy what you're doing, and take pleasure in the few readers you gain, and the even fewer who give you a bell every now and then. And then, once you get past all that stuff about nobody reading, or nobody commenting, etc... do it for the sake of your characters.

The readers might not come, but if you're doing it clearly because you enjoy the time you invest in it, those readers you have will appreciate it all the more.

[Geekblather]

It's so frustrating setting out. I have 6 comics up (2 in the can)-- I've sunk maybe 50 hours into it, give or take (made longer, I'm sure, due to figuring out what the hell I'm doing). I'm on a 3/week schedule, which is at the outer limit of what I can realistically maintain-- so 50 comics is just under four months worth. I've had 6 people look at my stuff total, no comments. It's disheartening to think about continuing at that rate of readership until November before even trying to push it.

That you are absolutely, unequivocally right just makes it all the more annoying.

There's nothing saying you *can't* promote your comic before you have a big archive, it just makes it easier for people to get into the story the more you have up there. And- if you keep a steady update schedule that 50 strip mark comes around a lot faster than you might think.

[Montyandwoolley]

I'd wait till you have 20 comics to start, it might seem like a lot but they have stated you do 20 in the comic pitching area for a reason. - I'm at around 19 drawn now (with two drawn and waiting to go up in the following weeks) but i'm going to wait for 20 before i actually write a proper thread about it! If you wait for the 20 comic barrier you will have ironed out any obvious kinks in your comic and the content will probably flow a lot better. (mine changed from blacks and whites to full colour for instance).

Theres obviously no hard rule to say you have to, it just gives readers a little more content if they like your comic and it lets you get better grips with what you are producing! (obviously all imo).

[NakedElf]

It's so frustrating setting out. I have 6 comics up (2 in the can)-- I've sunk maybe 50 hours into it, give or take (made longer, I'm sure, due to figuring out what the hell I'm doing). I'm on a 3/week schedule, which is at the outer limit of what I can realistically maintain-- so 50 comics is just under four months worth. I've had 6 people look at my stuff total, no comments. It's disheartening to think about continuing at that rate of readership until November before even trying to push it.

That you are absolutely, unequivocally right just makes it all the more annoying. :)

Oh yeah, I know that feeling. At the beginning I was only updating once a week, so it took a bloody long time to get *anywhere*, and the only people who read it were my friends :P. I don't remember what my stats were in the beginning--I wasn't keeping track, but when I started keeping track, they weren't pretty.

I think three a week is kind of a 'sweet spot' in webcomics--it gives your readers enough content that they'll visit your site several times a week, without totally killing you like 5 a week. Obviously nothing is absolute, of course... but it's a good amount.

Those four months will probably go by faster than you expect--and by the end of them, you may find yourself wanting to emphasize / advertise different things about your comic than you would have now. Plus, that gives you time to put together some really nice promotional/advertising stuff. (Like I should talk, with my crappy banner. I'll make a new one, I swear! Just as soon as I have time...) Also, just from a numerical perspective, the longer your comic is, the more hits you're likely to get, because there's more pages for folks to read. ^_^

BE CONSISTENT. Even if you're not the BEST, if people know they can count on you updating every (X days per week) they will keep coming back. Consistency is a rare gem in comics (plus more updates means you will improve faster.)

So very true. If I'm sort-of interested in a comic, but I see a lot of missed updates, I'm a less likely to come back, because it looks like the author isn't very dedicated and who wants to start caring about the characters and then have the author flake out and disappear?

The worst is when you see a bunch of 'no comic today, comic later!' signs in the archives. *sigh* At least delete them from the archives once they're irrelevant, rather than preserving evidence of bad updating for every new reader to see!

[Redtech]

I haven't even made Meiosis "official" past the 50 strip mark. (Need to fill a hooge-hiatus gap! ) As I'm still "hunting bugs." But making yourself Known by association through message boards and art compos etc is a nice thing. Especially as attractive art styles will easily bring in readers.

Got friends? Got TALENTED friends? Got talented relatives? Try cross-linking! Just be selective if your brother does adult-fetish art.

At the end of the day, the real motivation should be "for the fun of it" rather than guaranteed sucess.