Page 1038…
Hi all!
Look! I did a sound effect!
🙂
Hope you enjoyed yesterday’s page. Today’s page…I like…and I still am looking at it going “hmm…I COULD tweak it some more”.
Maybe it’ll hit me before the book comes out next year. We’ll see.
As promised….new vote incentive.
Hope you like.
I mentioned yesterday that it seems only 3% of the readers are voting.
Just very odd. But expected. After 4 years of this…this is why I don’t have a permanent link up.
I’ve had a very prominent vote button at the top right (where the jukebox is currently). I’ve updated new vote incentives daily. I’ve tried all that.
But still…only a small percentage vote.
Granted…with the amount of traffic we get…it still keeps us in the top 20. But I wonder if there’s something I’m doing wrong. Or if it’s just the nature of my readers.
I remember when I (for half a day) put the blog up FIRST. Then you had to click on a thumbnail to get to the page.
WOO! What a STINK some of you made about THAT…ha ha.
But a lot of you said you simply don’t WANT to read the blog. And I can respect that.
Just know that next week. When I stop putting the vote incentives and link to TWC up. It’s not because I don’t like you.
It’s not because I’m too lazy to. It’s simply because it’s one more bit of clutter on the site that’s not really doing much for the traffic or fanbase.
I hope that makes sense. And I hope you all understand.
I’m happy to try these things from time to time.
I LOVE the input. You all should know that by now.
But some things work. Some don’t.
Unfortunately this darn voting thing just doesn’t work for little ol’ me.
And I’m OK with that. I hope you guys are too.
Have a wonderful day. And see you all tomorrow.
Scott
Well, I asked if Nick could flame 2 times in a short period. I guess this answers that question.
Apparently, Orion’s lessons didn’t include enough about tactics. Ah, well. Burn and learn.. . . I mean live and learn!
I voted, I encourage others to do so. I offer my wit, wisdom and spare time because I love the creations you make.
To put it bluntly, people are sheep.
Sorry for the rudeness, but when you hint, there will be people who won’t get it. When you ask, there will be people who hate you for the mere act of it. When you offer things as a promise you will get ingrates who rail against you for making them hostages to your demands.
These will be the vocal minority.
The majority are simply looking to click, enjoy and leave. No payment, no buying, no fandom.
If you truly want to hit the heights of the list with your full readership… Put the finale to this battle exclusively as a voter reward. If you want to be nicer (and a bit more of a salesman) offer it as a preview. Next week’s ending … TODAY!!
Hope it helps.
Dude, that FWOOOOOSH needs to be way bigger! 😉
I always vote when I remember… I remember when I see a vote button, it’s posted in the blog, one of the first few comments remind me or for some bizarre reason in the middle of the day I go ‘hey vote for Scott’. That last one happens rarely though. So, unless it’s listed somewhere, chances are slim of getting votes.
I vote whenever I remember…
normally people tend to vote more when you put a link to the voting system right under the comic.
then put in something saying: today’s vote incentive is a sketch comic between Felicity and Kiwi.
then people will be all like: zomg must see voootee….
Wow, nice wallpaper, even better than yesterdays. Though I’m gonna have to come back in an hour to vote since I voted not too long ago 😛
Yeah, methinks we need some actual combat training, heavy on the physics of swinging a sword in flight where the other combatant can fly as well.
I’m like Kann and Tintzone. I also vote when I remember, which is always when I see the button. ^^; I click it and happily vote, even if I’ve seen the incentive already.
And I care about what you say. I.. Tend to care about what everyone else has to say too.
Hm, I don’t know.. Crazeyal has a point. But really up to whatever you’re comfortable with.
Well, that’s all from me. Take care everyone! ^^
I’ve added the vote link to my bookmarks so I never foret to vote at least once a day 🙂
So I think you should follow what the top scorers on TWC do – because some of them only post 1/2 times a week and get more votes than you, not because the comic is superior necessarily, but because their tactics are good. I only vote when I see your button, and only very occasionally try to scroll through the list to find you to vote on TWC when there isn’t one. I like the way the Meek does it, have something like Tintzone said, then I’d vote daily! And ignore the haters, I think you’ll notice a positive difference in vote numbers. 🙂
Ouch, someone rolled a 3.
Only three of the comics I read are in the top 1,200 TWC listings. I have never understood the TWC listings, it seems like a directory that nobody ever uses in the guise of a popularity contest. Usually incentives will only make me click on them if they are pertinent to the story, like the letters back and forth, though even then I often skip over it simply because the TWC link button is a trashy piece of flotsam on the page, it screams, “I am nothing, skim past me.”
My biggest suggestion, make the vote button a TWC/Dreamland Chronicles banner button from hell, 150x750px right at the top of the news column. That will kill the vast number of failed hits from people that simply skim past it.
I think it’s a matter of placement. I mean, I only have been reading this comic for about a month (and this is my first comment), but I usually vote if a) there is an incentive that piques my interest (with a description or non-revealing thumbnail of the incentive) and b) it’s right below the comic page or on a page after the current/latest page in the archive (like Phoenix Requiem).
Same here… Got all my comics in a bookmark group. I open the entire group in tabs and go through them… The bookmark immediately under the Dreamland one is the TWC voting gateway for Dreamland…
Out of 21 comics it is the only one that gets a daily vote from me…
Vote right now, my minions, or Alex will burn to a crisp!
Please don’t stop doing voting incentives! I love these wallpapers so far and I’ve been trying to vote when I view your comic. Anyway you could put the link in the right side bar beside the comic?
That way it would be easy to spot. I love this comic so much! Thank you for all your great work!
Then we will need a miracle to save him! That, or a holocaust cloak.
Do my eyes deceive me, or is that Gravatar a guest-art shot of Red Mage?
Cool!
😉
More like a 1; he fumbled and dropped the sword!
😯
Welcome, new-ish fellow Dreamer!
I’m thinking NOW might be the right time for Alex to wake up. And (worst case scenario) get rushed to a Burn Unit by Dan & Nicole …
(I don’t really see it going that far, but it would be kinda cool to see him wake up and get technological medical attention before returning to Dreamland … )
LOVE the new vote incentive, again! I’m gonna have to start rotating the wallpaper on my netbook regularly …
@Month : maybe we just need to hope that the magical armour is also fire-resistant … 😆
But the sword falling off his hands is a huge malus 🙂
Toasty or crunchy, that’s the question. ^^ Guess the armor will do the trick, still it should teach Alex something. Maybe a little sunburn? XD
Toasty or crunchy, that’s the question. ^^ Guess the armor will do the trick, still it should teach Alex something. Maybe a little sunburn? XD
sorry for the double post, browser went hiccup, fell free to erase.
Yeah, it is, some friends and I assigned each other the characters and I was most like red mage, its sort of stuck, and I like this and the other avatar of him I’ve done up.
aww, nick. you’re doing it wrong. you don’t fry your food while it’s still IN the can, you know? and the can opener is flying away, too… 😛
lol poor Alex. though i cant say i didnt expect, just wish alex was more prepared for it. and i thought about voting really scott, but my lazy little mind doesnt understand the full point of it. other than to show your comic is full of epic win. so i guess i could attempt to start voting alittle more if it means that much to you
Just curious….why did you change the perspective from panel 3 to panel 4? I think I can see how Nic is puffing up his chest to draw in breath for the flame in the next panel, but I thought the exhalation should have occurred in the same direction. That is, Alex would have been flying towards the left side of my monitor (as my icons run and hide). Also, maybe some sort of sound effect or make it a little more evident that panel three is when he’s getting ready to have an AlexBQ. Just a thought. Have a good one!
-SK
Great week so far …. sorry the vote thing doesn’t work much … but as for me. I go from NO VOTING to ALWAYS VOTING when the link is there … just wished more people did … or that I would be smart enough to vote everyday on my own … lol
Long time reader, first time commenter. I read the blogs, but I forget to vote unless there’s a big ol’ vote button in front of my face. I forget to vote on a lot of the comics I read simply because I either can’t find the vote button or I skim over it looking at other goodies. The ones that I remember often have it in a designated spot, right where you can see it. It doesn’t move. It’s always right in front of my face. And I always remember to vote. =P
Scott, i only vote when I know the voting link, and as I review the page I do not see any voting link as you described by the jukebox. i never look over there, or at anything above the comic page, but I do see the nav buttons and blog below the comic. If I don’t know or can’t the link then I can’t vote.
First I’d like to say that voting does work. It is how I found your wonderful comic.
Here is what I think is not working with the voting. The incentive should be an original and compelling piece of art separate from the current story arc. If you look at two other comics that are always way up in the voting, Two Kinds and The Phoenix Requiem, you will note a few things in common. The incentives are works of art with content from their respective world/universe but are only tangentially related to the current story if at all. Yours (the ones I’ve seen) tend to be enlarged views of a recent cell from the comic (like the current incentive). While nice this doesn’t have the same draw as an original work of new material.
Something else that both of the others do is update the incentive regularly but not daily. They both update about twice a month. Some time more often, some times less, but you look forward to that update you know is coming.
Lastly they both tease the incentive by only showing a very small cropped portion of the incentive on their main page. This gets you thinking ‘what is that? I don’t know but it looks cool.’ You kind of do that when you blog about an incentive, but I’m not sure it is quite the same.
That’s just some thoughts. Dreamland is one of my top three favorite comics.
Well, Scott, I love your comic. The only reason I don’t vote is because I hate registering for crap and in the past, websites like top web comics want your e-mail etc………. I could be wrong. I should just click and see if it’s the same lol! brb…
Wow o.o; That’s a wicked awesome wallpaper.
Okay, so: LESSON LEARNED! Lol on TWC I only have to verify that I’m not a computer by clicking a button that describes what’s in the picture. I don’t have to divulge my e-mail 🙂 I’ll be a voter for you in the future, Scott
…and a wheelbarrow.
🙂
Thank you all.
Consensus so far….
1) Bigger banner
2) More original incentives
Gotcha.
Also…glad you liked today’s page. Thank you all for reading.
Whaaaa! Love the page today! Keep up the good work!
I vote when I remember, but I have a question, and perhaps you have answered this. What is the value for you in the votes? Is it to drive more traffic? Does it impact ad sales rates?
Oh, and Alex needs to make sure he picks up a copy of “Dragon Fighting for Dummies” next time he hits the book store.:)
I second Greg on this one – I read the two webcomics he mentioned, and what he says about the incentives is indeed true. It takes a considerable amount of time, but perhaps you could post some additional concept art, character shots, or other similar things that won’t take too much time to put up. Oh, I also forget to vote if the button isn’t very prevalent – I don’t have a whole ton of time when I get online, so if something isn’t shouting at me I usually forget to do it…
Those are some sweet reflections on Alex’s armor in the first panel! ^_^
Nic: “Just the way I like ’em! Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy in the middle!”
THE END.
(Roll credits.)
Scott, I really don’t read what’s always there, and I think that almost everybody doesn’t do it. Sidebar is advertising place, a banner at the top of page too. My eyes ignore them. So I rarely see the voting button, (to be frankly, I don’t remember if I saw it someday) not because I don’t want to vote, but because I’ve never thought that sidebar would have some useful. It’s not your site that causes it, we are so overexposed to sidebars full of junk that we don’t look at sidebars anymore.
I’ve always voted when I see the button among you texts, like today. It’s where it should be, even in a PS at end of text.
Well, I usually don’t vote here on my daily run through the comics I read. I tend to read the last comic, vote for it and then go down the list there voting.
Yeah, that was a critical fumble, or a critical hit by Nico, if you please. Either case, Reflex save by Alex = FAIL.
i think that if you put a rather obvious but not obnoxious voting banner somewhere at the very top of the page where we’re all gonna see it right away, or -right- after the comic, you’d get more votes.
i honestly just forget to vote when i come to this page. it’s not that i don’t want to, or that i even really care about the incentive, though it is a fun bonus when it’s something slightly related but off-topic… like concept art, or your characters out of their world or their world with other characters. cause we -care- about your characters and your world, but we already get their story here. plus raphael makes an excellent point; i don’t look at a sidebar either because that’s where advertising always goes.
also alex is such a BA in the first panel
I’ve been noodling with voting incentives in my head for a while. One of the cons is that you’re sending readers away from the site (click-click), and as a publisher, you’re driving traffic to someone else. But of course, there’s bragging rights and more exposure, especially being in the top 20. If you want people to vote, maybe put the voting button above/below the comment input field (it’s what I do). Otherwise, you could forget the whole TWC thing and have original incentives go to your Facebook Fan Page, which may have a greater potential than TWC in the long run.
And, of course, Fezzik’s strength, Inigo’s steel, and the brains of the man in black …
😉
Please, please, please! don’t abandon TWC in favor of Facebook! There are still a few of us dinosaurs out here that don’t do FB …
(But you could do both … )
😉
Ive voted in the past and more than once and everytime i vote for some reason i dont get the incentives. Doesnt matter what computer i use. For some reason computers just dont like me and dont work right when i really need them to. For example, when i had to share a computer with my boyfriend hed use the computer all day nothing would go wrong, id get on later and click to use the net and the computer would crash for no reason, had to reformat it one time.
You don’t have to sign up to TWC to vote. I never signed up, I vote daily, and to vote, all I do is click a picture that matches the character on the page to prove I’m not spam bot. But I do agree with your hesitance. I had to abandon by old main e-mail address because I was getting bombarded with spam.
I just bought a laptop so I could vote for Dreamland during the week, hope it helps.
I like the fwoosh, perfect imho. And Alex musta slept through the lesson on dropping his sword. hope he can grab it, call it with his will or it wakes up and fights alongside him. I prefer #3 btw, in case you’re undecided, heh.
And if you’re reading this, vote here http://www.topwebcomics.com/vote/4274/default.aspx daily!
I don’t believe in voting for webcomic rankings. Most of the “Top Website” internet lists I’ve ever been to have been a waste of my time. They fail me as a discovery resource because the rankings are not an indication of quality but instead an indication of how much the fanbase can be temporarily manipulated by the author. I’ve *tried* to use a vote-based listing as a means of discovering new webcomics, but every comic I find through such a resource lacks professionalism and doesn’t have the magic to be worth bookmarking.
Instead, I have 12 webcomics bookmarked that I discovered through other means, usually from links plugged by other webcomic authors. I only had to discover these comics once to stay with them forever because their quality drew me in, and Dreamland Chronicles is such a comic. It’s worth re-emphasizing: not a single one of my 12 bookmarked webcomics were discovered through a vote-based ranking site, and none of the comics I previously discovered through such a site ever retained my readership enough to be worth bookmarking.
Now when you state disappointment that only 3% of your visitors actually vote, don’t ask yourself how you can change the behavior of the other 97%. That’s a futile endeavor doomed to end in failure. Instead, ask yourself if you should be giving that 97% what they want and forget the vote ranking altogether. You don’t need it to be successful, and it’s a distraction from the true legacy you’re developing here. And to me, it just seems pointless and silly to invest so much time and energy trying to achieve a temporary ranking in a 3rd-party website many readers hold no loyalty for. I’d much rather see that time and energy invested in partnerships and co-operative projects with other comic authors YOU would recommend us to.
Heh. Its nice to know that those around me are as geeky as I. But i shall leave off posting another line because i get the feeling that we could go on for pages 😛
I think the best idea (In my opinion and what would work best for me) Is to have the vote link right at the top of each blog. Truth be told, i usually don’t see the link, and if i don’t see it, i usually don’t even think about it. But every time i do see it, i vote. And i think that the people who do not read the blog would probably usually not vote, so it would be targeting the right group of us readers. In other words, the way you have it right now is great.
I found this comic through the ranking system pages. And it is free advertising. I think anything that could draw even one more reader would be a good thing (especially for the new reader).
It would be a heck of a scroll down for those who don’t read the comments and who are not posting
Heh. I think i better apologize right now. I seem to be filling this comments section with my inane chatter. I think my post surgery pills have gotten me a bit…hyper 😛
Nothing is free. That ranking comes at the cost of Scott taking time to develop voting incentives. It costs readers’ time and bandwidth to vote and load the extra website they weren’t really interested in. And too strong a focus on requesting votes could even alienate some current readers.
It’s cool that you managed to successfully find this comic that way. But that doesn’t exclude the possibility that you could have discovered this comic through another, more cost-effective route. I believe cooperative social networking greatly trumps competitive social networking in this niche market. Work with other comic authors to share readership between each other and increase visibility rather than taxing your current readership on a daily basis to win a contest few people are actually watching. I think Scott’s right: “this darn voting thing just doesn’t work,” and I predict he’ll find great relief to put it behind him and focus his efforts in more rewarding endeavors.
tis not the size of the Fwoosh but how it is used…
(stolen and adapted from Richard over at LFG)
Why wasn’t that listed among our assets in the first place?
Yipes! He dropped the sword! Alex, GET THE SWORD!!
Scott, being in the top 20 is pretty significant. I mean, if I remember correctly, that’s how I found Dreamland Chronicles in the first place…
http://4thwall.240gl.org/viewtopic.php?t=187
give me a reason why i should vote. smacks of a popularity contest and i don’t do those. while there’s no problem with having a link or being involved in it, i personally don’t care. don’t get me wrong, i love this comic – it’s one of two i read daily and i’m more than willing to buy merchandise when i reach a point where i have money to spend on something besides necessities. but money supports the site and the author…voting? not so much.
yes, it might expand readership somewhat – but the people who are likely to read it off a top webcomics page are also likely to have other favorite comics they’d druther spend their money on. give me a good reason how voting actually helps and i’ll be more inclined to remember to do it. otherwise? i don’t see the point. ya’ll already know the comic is popular.
Good advice.
Thank you.
This is why I haven’t had a vote button or incentives in years permanently on my site.
Let the majority rule.
But since the 3% are the vocal ones who I interact with the most…it does affect me.
I want the ones who are the most interested (rather than the 97% of the readers who are more “casual readers”) to have what they want.
Trying to find that right balance to make all happy I guess.
Good points.
Thanks.
The wings on the vote incentive are just to DIE FOR, Scott!
I try and vote as much as I can! It’s just when I don’t see a vote button, I often forget to vote, but I totally understand that it clutters up the site. By the way, LOVE THE PICTURE! It’s awesomely huge! And I really like the lighting too!
Oye! Those sound effects were so realistic that I dropped my oatmeal in my lap. Maybe next time you could spend less money on the grip. Hollywood isn’t ready for you yet Scott. 😉
Isn’t that Elven armor supposed to be resistant to the elements? I’d almost bet on its being fireproof, and the only part of him in danger being that little slot open on his face.
Re: voting: here’s a suggestion. Put a permanent link to the voting page on one of the navigation bars on EVERY page, including all archive pages (i.e. make it a part of the site’s navigational elements). I’m sorry to admit it, but I tend to be rather lazy when it comes to voting, and if I have to hunt for the vote link each time, chances are I won’t vote. When I read a new page, I like to go back a few pages and get the full context of the story, and as far as I can tell, the archive pages don’t have a voting link (or if they did, it’s not prominent enough for me to find it easily). It would help a lot if you can find the voting link anytime, anywhere on the site. The unfortunate fact is that people are just lazy, so if you want them to vote, you should make it as easy and as convenient as possible (i.e. don’t expect them to take the effort to hunt for it or even remember that they can vote; put it in a conspicuous place where they can see it no matter which page they’re looking at). I don’t mean to make a big flashy banner begging for votes; just that it should be very easy to find, and if possible, without the need even to scroll the page.
Just my $0.02.
Also, re: cluttering the page, IMHO you already have links to twitter and facebook; I don’t see why the voting button shouldn’t be included among them. It’s just one more button, and it does deserve a visible place on each page.
Who cares about voting anyway. Unless the author needs the support, or unless we, as a fanbase, need to make a point (like making it the #1 webcomic) voting is redundant. I mean COME ON! If the 3% voted consistently evetry day, then this comic would have been #1. Would that mean that it is the best comic out there? No, it would mean that there is an organized fanbase that wants to make it #1.
What I say is, voting is not that important. Buying the books is (Printed books are way better than e-books). Now, to find a way to order one of those all the way to Greece…
I don’t mind voting, I especially would do it if there was an incentive but I mostly agree with Chocobochicken.
Auugghh! The sword! Get the sword!
Great page as always – Alex did kind of fail there 😀
Just reiterating what others said the TWC thing needs to be at the top of each page or I’ll forget – depending in how much time I have, I might read the blog or I might not, but i do normally scroll down to the first few sentances. i almost never look on the side bar. Also perhaps you could have a message and TWC in a first, permanent blog page and then the general blog after that. When I read requiem.seraph-inn.com which is top of the TWC list I am always reminded to vote as it is quite honestly the first thing I see (although I’d be more inclined to vote for you than for that comic)
But then again as other people have said – is the proportion of readers you get through TWC that large – at the moment you’re 6th…won’t that get you the support you need? But then again, I guess having a visible vote button draws in those of us who are happy to vote but often forget etc. and those who don’t want to vote don’t have to – I guess you’d be giving people more of an option if you made the TWC tag more visible.
Sigh…sorry long post and mainly repeating what other people have said – I’ll stick to reading next time 😀
Quite honestly, I forget to vote. And the tiny little button doesn’t remind me, my eyes just gloss right over it. But when you tell us to vote I do!
To be perfectly honest….”I” don’t vote!
Ha ha
So don’t feel bad you guys who don’t vote.
I don’t do it either.
Again. This is for those that WANT to vote. I’m trying to figure out how to make all happy, I guess.
Alex! You forgot a important rule about fighting dragons! You just don’t RUN face on towards them! You obviously never read a dragonology book or any other dragon books. 🙂
What I’ve seen other artists do is in the link, they have a small part of the incentive up for preview. This makes the viewers curious and they’ll be more likely to click and vote just to see the rest of the incentive since they’ve had a taste. I don’t know if anyone’s suggested this, but it’s something I’ve noticed. =)
lol all i can say is pwnt!
Richard – A neverending source of wisdom 😀
INCONCIEVABLE!
I didn’t know Ol’ Nic liked twinkies 😛
Heres a suggestion, put the vote link under the dropdown menu under the links in the navigation bar. Its a link to vote for the comic, so its valid to put it there, it takes it off the actual webpage so that solves the clutter problem and people have access to it wherever they are. Problem solved. 🙂
Geeeeeez… Alex, c’mon! Dodge that fire! Dodge!
I’m proud to be in the 3% (Seriously? Wow…) of those who vote. Why do I vote, you ask? Because I genuinely believe in and enjoy The Dreamland Chronicles. If I didn’t, I likely wouldn’t bother. As a reminder to myself, as part of the comics I click on daily (that list has shrunk a lot recently…) I have a bookmark leading directly to the voting site. Pretty easy and straightforward.
Old question… Missed the original page when Alex cuts loose towards Nic. What was the dialogue before Alex “Now?” and Orion “Now.” that Scott was asking input for?
I’ll admit it. I usually don’t vote because I’m lazy. Usually the only time I do vote for this webcomic or any others is when there is an incentive. Generally just a regular sketch will get me curios enough to vote. Todays incentive was probably the best incentives I’ve ever seen. It is currently my background. Great work and Thanks!
It was something along the lines of Orion telling Alex “I believe that is your cue, son.” Before, Alex didn’t initiate the dialogue as he is shown doing now. Now, it shows that he senses the cue and responds for affirmation that it is the right one this time.
I agree with the additional incentives. It seems that every time Scott puts up a new one, his ratings rise. Personally, I figure that what with all the work Scott does and my taking advantage of it to read his strip, the least I can do is vote. So I do, even on weekends; it doesn’t matter if there’s a new incentive or not. Once you get into a pattern, it’s easier to keep it up.
Two ideas. First, stick a permanent link to the voting page somewhere visible. I vote every time I see the TWC banner, but I never dig up the vote link on my own (sorry). Also- big risky idea here- if pages were available one day in advance as incentives, I imagine votership would rise sharply. This wouldn’t require any extra art-work-time, just a bit of daily incentive-update-work-time. My recommendation is to not concern yourself with votes- we all already know that you have the best webcomic on the Internet.
i knew your comic already for months before i started voting at all. people who dont care much for banners/adds/etc dont see the button really and whats its good for.i know one comic where u get to “next week’s update” via vote – surely a foul trick but effective^^
A little piece of wisdom on the voting thing: putting the vote button on the site permanently costs you no ongoing time or effort, whereas incentives are a lot of work for a fairly small amount of benefit historically. The button won’t put you up to #1 on that site, but it will help a little. It requires no additional work, so why not just put the button up and leave it there?
As to the button location, I agree that placing it on the right isn’t very helpful because there is a lot of clutter and banner ads and other junk there. Place it somewhere under the comic and above the blog, like maybe right below that archive button. That way people will read the comic and their eyes will naturally be drawn to the button after finishing the strip, while they are still thinking, “that was awesome.”
Personally I don’t like the whole “See the next comic update early when you vote!” type of incentive. It ruins the sense of instant gratification you get when you come in to check the comic next time and realize you’ve already seen it. When Devilbear was doing that I NEVER voted for it. Didn’t wanna spoil next week’s fun.
Blow-ups of great scenes from the comic into full-size wallpapers are good, as are original content. What really gets folks to vote though, aside from the faithful few, is some sort of teaser that hints at what the incentive pic is but doesn’t completely give it away. Make them wonder, make them curious, and they will click.
As for placement of the link, I think directly under the navigation buttons would be the best place to catch people’s attention. That way the reader has just finished the comic page for the day, sees the link and thinks “Yeah, why not? This page was really good. Scott deserves my vote.” A second link right above the Comment box might not be a bad idea either, for those folks to would delay voting to read all the comments first.
I didn’t realize that voting pushed you up in ranks at TWC. Not one artist who posts links for votes ever explained what it was (just begged for votes), so I never did it. After reading the comments here I finally know! I’ll vote more often in the future. 🙂
Dude, that was just beautiful. 😀
And that flame… that has to HURT! 😐
BTW, i voted once and again and again and again… although not much… maybe i need to get in the site with less hurry to, you know, appreciate it all. My bad. 😉 But you have an amazing thing going on so…
Why not put it in your favorites’ bar? Regardless of which browser you use (Chrome is my personal fave), unless you have the option checked to hide the favorites bar, it’s in plain sight and impossible to not have to navigate around with the mouse at times. This is how I disciplined myself into remembering to vote everyday. Now, I don’t even think about it. I click one link for Facebook, check Facebook. Next link, Gmail. Next link, Yahoo! mail. Next link, vote for Dreamland. Next link, view Dreamland Chronicles. That way, I never view the comic without having voted first. Just a thought….
or you can just save it to your favorites bar and then discipline yourself to vote because you love Scott and his work. 😀
or, you could save it into your favorite’s bar….
Again, I post that you could just save the site (like, from clicking on the voting link or button) into your favorites before you click on the “Vote for this comic” button.
That’s why I have a GMail AND a Yahoo! account. The Gmail is my main account that people actually use to email me (if they aren’t messaging me on Facebook, that is). Otherwise, my Yahoo! account is where my Amazon, Buy.com, HP shopping, and all other spam mail goes to. It’s the email address I put down for ANYTHING that requires an email address. 😉
I definitely like the original incentives idea. But, I know a number of us are loving actually being able to take some of these epic panels you’ve already drawn and turning them into desktop wallpaper. This morning, I woke up to Nicodemus crouching amongst the flames of the ruins he created. Nothing more cool for the morning- except for the pic from two days ago of Alex going for Nic’s throat. 😀
I disagree with this all together. The only reason I found this comic was because I was wanting some online comics to read, but wasn’t sure about the best way to find them. Looking for stuff that was…more family friendly and didn’t constantly poke fun at my faith was rough at best. So, I turned to places like TWC to find something. TWC was the first legit comics voting site that actually allowed me the opportunity to see what I was getting into without having to read the comic in order to do so. At the time I found TWC, Dreamland was in the top 20 (13th, I think). Seeing something in the top 20 that looked family friendly drew my interest IMMEDIATELY. Frankly, it’s the only comic (other than Phoenix Requiem, I admit Phoenix isn’t as family friendly as I’d like, but the author has kept it pretty tame thus far) that I read that’s even in the top 50.
In all honesty Scott, my concern is for you. This comic…well, it rocks, to be bluntly honest. It’s family friendly, it’s got a great storyline, and who can beat the “Toy Story only without animation” graphics?! I have two friends who are in Savannah, GA. One graduated from SCAD last year, the other is graduating from SCAD this May. I’ve seen their work, and in talking with them while they’ve been at school, I know how hard they’ve worked to get to where they’re at. So, I can only imagine at this point in your life, with Donna and the kids along for the ride with you, how hard you’ve worked to get where you guys are at- as a family. My hope is that such exposure will allow you to make more money from this so that you can more fully support your family without having to take so much time away from them in order to do so. So, 3% or not, I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that I really want to see you succeed and I think a better ranking on TWC or other places like it (that are actually legit sites) can help with that. Such exposure could help sales in the other areas of your website, too.
It’s not that your vote means that much to Scott (although each individual vote is a token of appreciation). The real deal is that as votes accumulate his banner gets placed higher on Topwebcomics, so more people notice/find his site, so he can charge more for ads and sell more merch and actually make a living doing this. So a vote is like a tiny payment to Scott. And it doesn’t cost anything to you but a couple of clicks…
And so many of his fans keep pushing him to put in a more prominent vote button because we want him to get rich doing this. 😉
Good points. I hadn’t really thought about those ‘hidden’ costs in that light. Scott, of course, isn’t asking people to vote if they don’t want to, so those voter costs are voluntary, but still there.
And it’s apparent that Scott doesn’t really care much about the voting thing. It’s mostly some vocal fans that push him to do more with the voting links. The vocal minority in this case being 3% of the readership. Wow! It really IS the squeeky wheel that gets the grease! So is that voting 3% which considers itself so helpful actually adding to Scott’s workload by asking for incentives and such? Perhaps some, but not the entire 3%, at least.
I don’t vote for incentives myself. And I don’t ask for any. But I do vote daily, because I know some people do go through the topwebcomics listing looking for new things, and I think this comic deserves every reader it can find. I have found some favorites that way myself. 🙂
lol yeah you can do that ^^
I don’t subscribe to that hippie crap! When it comes to a FWOOOSH bigger is definitely better.
😉
Well the armor is fireproof, but it doesn’t mean Alex is. So basically…fire gets into the slot and burns Alex to ashes within the suit…but the armor is fine, don’t worry.
Just a thought- one thing that works EXTREMELY well for voters is putting up the next page on TWC, but some people don’t like that. Also, putting up desktops or other limited edition stuff that could, say, only be gotten via voting (and once it’s retired, perhaps through donating, so if someone misses it they still have a chance to get it.)
But if you don’t have the button on the site at all… How can people vote…?
I have to admit, I’m really bad at voting. Whenever I see on a webcomic that they’ve updated an incentive, I vote, but otherwise I just forget.
Thanks. 🙂
Alpine, I agree with you as far as being a voter who doesn’t need a voter incentive to vote. I suggested it a while back only because I thought it would help out Scott to get a higher rating. Not going to lie, it is nice to get these wallpaper shots, though. And, to do it through a means that helps increase his ratings. Though, I suppose both of you are right in that there might be a way to do this through Facebook that would allow for such “once in a lifetime grabs” (like the recent desktop wallpapers) while increasing readership in a way that is much more cost effective. How that is though is beyond me.
Good idea, me thinks!!
note to self, charging head long towards a huge fire-breathing dragon makes for a lousy attack.
“A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head.”
– Rule 12 from Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates
😉
I manage a website as a business and my fav bar is already overflooded. I took each down to just the favicon and it already falls off the edge xD. I even moved things to folders on the toolbar and it’s just way too much 🙁
I vote!
: <
I'm sorry that you're disappointed with voting amount, Scott…I'll be bookmarking the vote button, too. Maybe now that people realize it, though, there'll be a flood of voting! READERS UNITE. WE MUST PROVE OUR LOYALTY. BUY STUFF, TOO. …I'm being serious, though.
The Nic image is absolutely stunning. Well worth voting for. Heck, if it was a poster or something, you could sell it. The colors, the contrast, the intensity…it's visually amazing, even if you totally ignore the fact that it comes from this awesome webcomic. It's a great enough picture to stand on its own.
Nicodemus is the poser usurper. He is not supposed to have a royal fwooosh.
i remember doing the same thing on tekken 3. i’d just spam the fireball button and i was almost invincible
yeah. it is.
i didn’t know you got more money when somebody clicked the ads. wen you sed so i clicked and still click the ads
The hell, Alex? You forget how to do that freaky purple shield thing you did in Astoria? (The capital, right?) That turned away the dragon-fire before. I thought he was supposed to be smarter after his training, not dumber than before.
You could take a lesson from Nicodemus on the voting thing and incinerate any reader who doesn’t vote… At least make that plan b.
“That word, I do not think it means what you think it means…”
Nastajia doesn’t look horrified enough. But yeah Alex, crash and burn!