What does it mean to have pageviews?

I know, I know, there are hundreds of these things on the topic of pageviews and why they don't matter, but what matters more than simply being told “it doesn't matter so stop caring” is some personal experience to go along with it. And besides, so long as there is even one person on dA looking jealously at someone else's pageview count, there aren't enough of these articles.

So, firstly, what is a pageview? Basic question, I know, but just go with it. A pageview means that someone somewhere clicked onto your front page. Not to a specific picture, mind you, just to your front page. If you check your stats, you'll see “pageviews” and “views” in different categories. Views are someone looking at your art or a journal entry or at something somewhere on your account, while a pageview is specific to your front page.

Now, me, I'm primarily a fanartist. We're accused of getting pageviews and general popularity a lot quicker and with a lot less talent than people who draw characters of their own design, and honestly, that's fair. It takes a lot more work to put a character over on people when it exists only in that picture, than trying to put a picture of Kim Possible over on people. But what you scorned original artists need to keep in mind is that pageview jealousy exists within the fanart community as well. Those of us who average a small number of pageviews a day can always look to artists like DarkDP and Levelord, who average in the range of 400+ views per day, and be overwhelmed with a feeling of inferiority and jealousy. Well, I'm a friend of Levelord, and I've spoken to him on this subject. He has no idea why so many people look at his art. Not a clue. Sure, he's good, but if someone else posted work of the exact same quality, chances are it wouldn't be nearly as popular. Why? Who knows.

So why do certain artists get an insane number of pageviews while other artists of equal or even superior talent go completely unnoticed? Sometimes, like Levelord, such mysteries flow through magic rivers that course throughout the universe. But for most cases, keep the following in mind:

Look at their Stats</u>
One thing I'm always amazed at is that most people seem to value pageviews over favorites and comments. This seems odd to me, because if you get 1,000 pageviews in a week but only 34 s out of it, that means that at least 966 people came to your page and didn't like what they saw. I say “at least” because 966 is assuming that each came from a different person. Maybe one guy is responsible for all of them. 999 people therefore didn't like you.

Now obviously that's a bit of an exaggeration, as people without dA accounts may have loved the work. But nevertheless, if there seems to be a huge gap between the pageviews per day and the number of s per day or per deviation, something is amiss. Where are these pageviews coming from? I'll get to that in a bit. But for now, just keep this in mind. And another thing: average comments and average s are very misleading. I know several people who have one pageview with almost 1000 s, four or five with 50-100, and then about 70 with five or less. The average comes to 70-80 s per deviation, but is that really indicative of anything? As for comments, keep in mind that the creator of the work replying to someone's comment counts as another comment for the deviation. And if the original commenter replies to that reply, boom, another comment. The two can have a huge conversation and bump that comment counter to the triple digits, when in actuality, only five or six different people actually cared enough to comment. An extreme case, I know, but this is something you need to keep in mind. The bare stats are very misleading.

Is this an art website or Facebook?</u>
Often times, especially with the really popular artists, you see them hyping their work that is not related to dA. Maybe they have Youtube videos or stories on fanfiction.net or their own website where they do commissions or post art too naughty for the dA moderators to allow. As well, they post huge journals detailing what they're doing in school, or how they “found a dollar but then tried to use it in a vending machine and the machine ate the dollar so that's like karma or something”, or how “Obama is an idiot and all you sheeple who like him can kiss my various expletives!”. See what I'm getting at? They use their profile page as Facebook. To tie into my earlier points, they get into massive comment wars and the like. This makes pageviews skyrocket, but what does it have to do with that person's talent as an artist? Not a thing.

Now obviously, being personable and making friends on dA is great and can result in people loving your work, but I find that rather hollow. While I love my fans and I love the fact that they love my work, I don't want all my s to come from a circle of friends. This isn't high school, this is an art site. While I can't thank my fans enough for enjoying my work as they do, what's far more satisfying is to have unknown people come to your site – people who will likely never return after this visit – love what they see and a bunch of stuff. Maybe they even you right there. That's a result of people liking your work based purely on your artistic talent alone, not because they like you as a person. This is a cold view, I know, but isn't that much more satisfying? To have your art ed based purely on its artistic merit and not the fact that you're the proverbial captain of dA's football team?

Check their Activity</u>
This ties into the above. Check to see how many people that artist is watching. Check how many favorites he has. If he's watching some 700 people and ing just about every single picture of a given genre, there's where those pageviews are coming from. Now, obviously, dA is a community, and if you ignore everyone here you can mostly expect the same treatment. But a person with an insane amount of watches, who adds everything possible to his s no matter the quality of the work, he is obviously trying to get pageviews through the Facebook approach. This method works, so if you want quick views, go ahead. But as I said above, isn't it much more satisfying for people to love your work based purely on the quality of the work alone? Make friends, don't get me wrong, but just keep this in mind. There's a difference between watching deviants and ing works that you really admire and trying to achieve a cheap fame by being Mr. Popularity.

What else do they do online?</u>
Again tying in to what I've said above. You have no idea what else that person does online. He could spend his whole life online, being a member of dozens of forums and art communities, plastering his work in every possible corner of the web. Maybe he owns a website as popular as Youtube and a link to his page is on there. Do you really think Michael Krahulik, the artist of Penny Arcade, would have so many pageviews, :+favs:, and es if he wasn't affiliated with that webcomic? Of course not. Now, depending on what else the artist does online, these may be well-deserved pageviews or these may be cheap grabs at popularity. Michael obviously deserves it. A guy who spams his page on 4chan does not. See what I'm getting at? Often times when it comes to pageviews, it isn't how good you are, it's who you know. Don't be jealous of cheap pageviews. To be ed because your artistic talent is fantastic is much more satisfying, and YOU are the better artist.

Do they do Fanart?</u>
Like I said above, people tend to be a lot more receptive towards fanart than original art. The characters are already established, people are already fans of them, etc. There's nothing wrong with drawing fanart, of course, but just keep this in mind. You can't really compare the artistic merit of a great oil canvas portrait with a great digital work of Danny Phantom. They're great for different reasons. The reason the Danny Phantom picture might get more views may be because it's fanart and thus already popular, coupled with the subject matter of the oil canvas perhaps being a niche market. You can't really compare popularity on pageviews and s alone when the fanbase for the two works are of vastly different sizes. The problem, of course, is that total fanbase is immeasurable.

The point of all this is that pageviews just don't matter. They can come because of cheap grabs at popularity, because of artists using their front page as Facebook, or because pageviews apparently flew in on the Wings of Imagination. If you're the type that keeps to yourself, who posts art and that's it, goodbye for a week, of course you will have less pageviews. But if you're that type, take remember that every single comment and you get, you received purely on the basis that you are a talented artist and that someone out there loved your work. This isn't to say that you shouldn't make friends or try to return the favors and look at the work of people who were kind enough to look at yours, but there's a difference between helping others succeed, and being that guy who watches 700 people and makes frivolous comments on every single picture on dA. That'll get your pageviews, but they'll be cheap and essentially worthless. Quality over quantity, people. I'll take 10 pageviews with five of them resulting in s over 100 giving me those same five. I come here to post art and share creative expression, not to turn my page into Facebook. And if you do the same, you may have less views, but they're worth so much more.