My interest in blogging and my blog varies. Sometimes I wake up and before I have done anything else I check my stats eagerly to see how I am doing. I then spend the rest of the day either elated or dejected, depending on the numbers. More often I don’t give it a second thought and just get on with the rest of my life allowing whatever happens online to take its course.
I have been particularly interested in it lately, and have been probing the stats to learn more about how the whole thing works. It turns out that I really have three blogs going on. The largest segment, about 30% of my visitors, are attracted because I score highly for the search term methylisothiazolinone. These are mainly people who suffer a sensitivity to it and who are looking for information. I do my best to provide it. These people are not especially interested in cosmetics or personal care products. They don’t stick around for long, don’t comment very often and generally don’t interact with the site at all. I have created a newsletter for them to subscribe to, but compared to the number of visits the total number who do so is pretty tiny.
Secondly I have people who are involved in or would like to become involved in the business. I include beauty bloggers in this category. These people make the majority of comments, often post links to my posts elsewhere on the net and very often make contact and even arrange to meet in person from time to time. This has been a great help to my career and indeed has been very enjoyable.
Lastly, there are the people for whom I set the blog up and who I still imagine as my core audience. These are ordinary members of the public who for some reason or another are particularly interested in the cosmetics world and want to find out more. It turns out that these people are nowhere near as numerous as I had fondly supposed. I still regard these folks as the ones I want to appeal to. I have been misled by quite healthy traffic figures into imagining that I was doing quite well. But when you subtract the other categories, they probably only make up about 25% of my visitors.
So the question is, what kind of posts will appeal to these people? If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them. Add your comment now!
As a member of the third group, I like your posts about product composition and insights you can give into the commercial concerns behind the product lifecycle.
This is me too. 🙂
Hello Colin, I also enjoy your posts about what goes into products, what actually works v what is hype. My favourite posts are when you try stuff out yourself and add personal insights to the science. Your blog is one of the few that I always read straight away when I see there is a new post, so you are doing something right!
Didn’t mean to be Anonymous there!
I belong to the first group, sensitivity to methylisothiazolinoe. You have provided a valuable service to this group. When first diagnosed the ubiquitous present of methylisothiazolinoe in cleaning products as well as cosmetics and personal care products is overwhelming. Though labeling is better, an individual trying to cope typically walks blindly through the supermarket. For someone like me who aspirated methylisothiazolinoe into my lungs from shampoo and was seriously health challenged, your blog and advice has been very helpful.
I suspect the reason this group does not participate as much as other groups flows from the power of the information you provide upfront. An allergy/sensitivity to methylisothiazolinoe is actually very possible to manage with simple awareness, which your lists and columns provide.
1. Work with a local store to stock methylisothiazolinoe free items (of course internet purchase also makes this workable). Even in a small town like where I live, 30,000 people, that is approximately 1500 potential customers.
2. Wear gloves when in a methylisothiazolinoe rich environment like a hospital. Tell your doctor of your allergy when they want to shake your hand, as all of my doctors do.
3. Use cloth grocery bags to wipe antiseptic cleaner from the handle of the grocery cart. The bags will be free of the product by the time you are ready to check out.
You fill a valuable role for this part of your community. But once they understand, they can pretty much manage on their own.
I am the ordinary ‘Joe Blogs’, excuse the pun! I read your posts regularly and watch your channel. Often I refer to you when scare stories appear in the press about various chemicals in personal care products and cosmetics. You are my voice of reason, so more along these lines please. I also have reactions to some products so I like your shampoo and skincare trials.
Dear Colin
I belong to the third group, and interested to know what ingredients really work (compared to glycerin). I stumbled upon your blog by searching glycerin versus hyaluronic acid. Having learned that it is not proven that HA does better than glycerin, I have decided to venture into making my own stuff. And aside from some hick-ups (orange face as vitamin C oxidised overnight), I am well-chuffed with the results. I find your ingredient posts most helpful. For example, carbomer. I have now ordred a stash of it and will do some experimenting. Let’s see if I get my very own French beret going…. Xanthan Gum post was hilarious. Now when my serum comes out in blobs (too much gum?) I think of you and the lettuce 🙂
What I miss from the Web is some constructive advice from a qualified professional how to add those ingredients into formulation for hobbyists. TBB guys target either general public that needs to be educated on what to buy, or the aspiring professionals. Then there are self-taught formulators that share their “recipes”. There are a lot of all natural oil based material out there too, but when it comes to how to use cosmeceuticals in the formulations properly or about no-so-natural ingredients (and how to make substitutions for the suppliers recipes e.g. what Lubrizol offers on carbpol) it gets a bit tricky to find reliable information. A niche to address perhaps?
Always looking forward to your posts.
Natasha
Hi, I’m in the third group. I’d like to know what goes into products, how safe they are, pros and cons. I’d also like to know whether a £150 cream is actually better than a £10 cream for example, or are we just paying for status and marketing. Thanks, G.
I also am in the third group and enjoy your comments on specific products and trends. Many fashion magazines and run regular columns on what they call “breakthrough” products which supposedly are items that contain the latest scientific provem materials for skin care that I am often skeptical about. It would be wonderful to see your thoughts about those. And let me add how much I enjoy your writing style and humor! I often read articles I am not particularly interested in just to enjoy your commentary.
Hi,
I also belong to the group 3.
I enjoy reading posts about cosmetics ingredients and how they work and how bad all those bad reputation having ingredients really are. Also if all those extracts of excotic berries etc work.
To sum up i am just looking for information to be a better educated consumer.
I think… the best what we can do is write what we’ve interested about 🙂
I also am in the third group. I’ve been visiting your blog regularly for perhaps a year and a half, but (evidently typically) I’ve never commented before. I am most interested in your product reviews and “ingredient” posts. I appreciate the way you balance clarity and detail in your writing, and I wish that I had found your blog much earlier than I did. I find it both informative and enjoyable to read. I am not interested in formulating my own products, but I do want to be knowledgeable enough to make informed purchases. Your posts have provided me with a valuable reference source.
I wonder if there are not more people like myself (whom you have identified as your intended audience) who would love your site but simply have not run across it? I only found it because it was referenced by another blog. Search engines seem to assign blogs a low priority, even though they can be a wonderful source for ordinary people to access expert advice.
Thank you for your willingness to share your expertise!
I am also in your third group. My interest stems from trying to improve my choice of products to combat very dry and fragile skin caused by eczema and psoriasis. In particular, getting a more informed and scientific perspective than that of the many scaremongers, especially those that are proponents of ‘natural’ everything as a solution, when I know from my own experience that mineral oil based products can often be more helpful.
Anything more you have to say in this area would be of huge interest, especially what are the best alternatives to SLS. It certainly seems to cause problems for me, but I’m not sure if many/any of the marketed alternatives are preferable, or if I am better off just reducing the quantity and frequency of use as much as possible. Sure, aqueous cream and various oils work to wash with, but they aren’t very practical or pleasant for every purpose, e.g. hand washing.
Thank you for all the knowledge shared on the blog!
I’ve just discovered your blog this evening and, rather pleasingly, I fall into the third category. Hurrah!
And I’ve left a comment. Double hurrah!
I wear cosmetics most days – it’s a form of artistry and pleasure for me – and it’s important to make the most informed choices. I want to know precisely how products are formulated and which will be the most suitable given my particular allergies and concerns.
I wish that I’d discovered your blog sooner, Colin. I can tell that it is going to be a most helpful resource.
i’m also of the third group, Natasha J’s sub-group of that group..the ‘trying-to-be-makers’/learners..
i just absolutely appreciate all you do, & all you write, & everything you contribute, along w/Perry R., Amanda from Realize & Lab Muffin, i feel i’ve got my scientific bases covered..
Thank you, Colin, so much, for your special perspective..i hope you continue for years to come..
muchlove, suki