Sophie (Chanko) Dare

1. Analytics

As you can see in @consistentbenny's insightful article, blog analytics are incredibly useful tools for creators. They allow us to see what's working & what's not, when people visit or click on our content, and how many total views a page has gotten. I left my less-than-stellar WordPress site in the dust once I jumped into creating on Coil, but one thing that I immediately missed was the handy-dandy bar graph on my WordPress dashboard, showing me each day's numbers and traffic to my blog posts.

My main issue with having absolutely no traffic analytics is not being able to see how much of a reach my posts really have. The only way I have a clue about how well my post is doing is the number of upvotes, but I'm sure there are plenty of people who read without upvoting, as well as plenty of people who read but can't upvote because they don't have a paid subscription!

I realize the paid model is there to foster a dedicated community, but I have lots of people I know who want to read and support my content just the same. Just because they don't pay Coil doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to see how many of them paid me a visit on my page!

When I type my name into Google, my Coil blog is the third result from the top. This page has got pretty strong SEO for myself, so I would be very curious to know how much traffic I really pull to my site.

2. Suggested/For You Page

This one's a little more complicated, but I think this feature could work wonders. Obviously, we already have feeds for who we're following and what's climbing the trending board, as well as featured posts at the top, and all of those options are great places to start whenever I log in, ready to read. But wouldn't it be nice if you read Riley's post about the new song she's writing, and below it, you got suggestions to check out my review of a pop song that just got released, or one of Nick's posts about his local guitar gigs?

Tik Tok, the social media of choice for Gen Z and younger millennials, has got this personalized feed down to a science- I can tell how incredibly responsive it is, tailoring my feed to videos similar to the last couple I've liked or shared.

It's a great way to keep users scrolling through the platform longer and interacting with more content, because they're being shown what they want to see.

3. Better Search Function

I don't think I have to explain this one too much; a search bar with only six available options can't always give you what you're looking for. A search page that could ping any keywords or subjects in any article across Coil could give new users an easier way to find creators who are blogging about subjects that they are interested in.

4. Mobile App!

This is a big one, and let me be clear – I've never developed an app before, or coded anything in my life, so I have no idea how much work goes into developing an app. But I know that I can't wait for the day that I can tell everyone to download the Coil app to read my blog on! An app will open up the world of Coil to so many new users when it's easily accessible from anywhere, right on your phone.

I do have a few ideas as to what would make Coil Mobile the best app out there... maybe I should dip my toes into web design sometime soon. But until then...

...Thanks for reading, and thanks for being a subscriber!