Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Today marks a milestone in my RSS subscribers. I just crossed 10,000 people reading me (or at least getting my feed in their reader) on a given day. I’m flattered and excited at the same time. No matter where you are on your journey with making media, if part of your goal is to reach more people and have more conversations, then you DO watch your numbers. You might not talk about it, but you do. They day TechCrunch crossed 1 million RSS subscribers, a bunch of us knew before Mike Arrington posted about it. We watch those things.

I mentioned crossing into the Technorati Top 100 last week (or the week before; I’m losing track of days). That’s another one of those milestones that I was pleased by, but also mostly silently counting. A year ago, at the first Blog World Expo, I went to the Technorati booth, where they were handing out stickers for your blog rank. I was 3,274. So, it took me a full year of blogging my head off and getting mentions from other bloggers (that’s how Technorati decides rank) to move up.

I’ve been complaining for days that Compete.com hasn’t updated their stats for month-ending September. Of course I watch, and so do lots of people who want to know if their message is gaining wings.

Do the Numbers Matter?

Not in and of themselves, or not directly. I’m not making any more money today then when I had 3,000 readers or was ranked 4,598 in Technorati. Nothing directly changes when the numbers go up.

I guess if I had paid advertising all over my site, it would be good. Lots more impressions or whatever, but that’s not how I chose to roll.

What happens instead is this: I think the numbers are social proof. I think that they act the same way seeing people in a cafe makes you feel that the cafe is a decent place to eat. If no one was in there, no one would “go first” and start it off. I think that by reaching these accomplishments (is that what they are? I’m still not sure how to talk about them), it just means that you’re in good company (you, not me).

But, I’m happy about them. I’m proud. I’m glad that you’re all part of the game. Your comments, contributions, riffs, and expansion on my themes makes it all worth doing.

It STINKS when you don’t get comments or when you feel like you’re putting your heart out there and no one’s really picking it up. If you follow my twitter stream, I love pointing out people doing great work, because I want them to get attention, and I want their amazing ideas to be found, too.

So, in the end, thank you everyone. Thanks for coming here all the time.

Something more useful to you coming up later. I have work to do on the New Marketing Summit, and then I’ll get back to filling your heads.

Last chance to tell me if you want to come. Drop me a line: cbrogan at crosstechmedia dot com.

Photo credit, Robbie1

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http://rickmahn.com Rick Mahn

Good job Chris. Score one for the big guy. ;)
http://webnomena.com/ Keren Dagan

@Chris “it’s opportunities to get even closer to better situations” a great way to put it. The good news here is that it doesn’t take long before you start seeing the seeds of those opportunities. It is not easy though. The key is not to get frustrated by not seeing quick progress on the explicit front. Congratulation!
http://webnomena.com/ Keren Dagan

@Chris “it’s opportunities to get even closer to better situations” a great way to put it. The good news here is that it doesn’t take long before you start seeing the seeds of those opportunities. It is not easy though. The key is not to get frustrated by not seeing quick progress on the explicit front. Congratulation!
http://levite.wordpress.com jon

i was skimming the comments and misread milestone as millstone. That’s partially true, too.

10,000 subscribers is as large a pool as many trade magazines have. With 30 posts a month, you are giving away more information with one (mostly) author, than most of those magazines. Many of them end up being free because advertisers cover the cost.

So you as writer, with us as crowdsource, with you as the underwriter (and the firm of KV&H), are contributing a trade publication worth of thinking.

That is significant.
http://levite.wordpress.com jon

i was skimming the comments and misread milestone as millstone. That’s partially true, too.

10,000 subscribers is as large a pool as many trade magazines have. With 30 posts a month, you are giving away more information with one (mostly) author, than most of those magazines. Many of them end up being free because advertisers cover the cost.

So you as writer, with us as crowdsource, with you as the underwriter (and the firm of KV&H), are contributing a trade publication worth of thinking.

That is significant.
http://www.peripheralvisionary.com Alan Edgett

Chris–as important as 10K readers, is *whether* they read or skim..personally I follow a lot of blogs, but usually find myself reading yours. Also, it is one of the few places I’ve jumped in to comment. Keep it up, you do us all a great service!
ACEdge
http://www.peripheralvisionary.com Alan Edgett

Chris–as important as 10K readers, is *whether* they read or skim..personally I follow a lot of blogs, but usually find myself reading yours. Also, it is one of the few places I’ve jumped in to comment. Keep it up, you do us all a great service!
ACEdge
http://chrisbrogan.com chrisbrogan

@Alan – That matters more than I can put into words.

@jon – you have ways of making me think so much better than I do on my own. A gem.
http://chrisbrogan.com chrisbrogan

@Alan – That matters more than I can put into words.

@jon – you have ways of making me think so much better than I do on my own. A gem.
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http://www.business901.com Joseph T. Dager

Great job, I heard you were going to be on Duct Tape Marketing Podcast soon and John had already interviewed you. Did you know about the 100 then?

I am celebrating on a lesser stage but it is kind of fun keeping score.
http://www.business901.com/blog1/ Joe Dager

Great job, I heard you were going to be on Duct Tape Marketing Podcast soon and John had already interviewed you. Did you know about the 100 then?

I am celebrating on a lesser stage but it is kind of fun keeping score.
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http://nickyjameson.com Nicky

Congrats on your achievements. “Numbers” matter but it is important to keep in context and not focus on them (or lack thereof). They also take time to acquire, so I’m glad you mentioned how long it took you to reach your milestones.

For example, my newest blog, nickyjameson.com started last month doesn’t have many comments yet though vists are climbing – slowly. But i don’t expect it to at this point.

The reason I am not bothered is because I’ve been here before. It’s my second blog so I know what to expect. My first blog, where I blog on a niche area gets approx 11,000 hits/month, gets on average of 24 comments per post and, more importantly has a very strong community that, even though I blog once a week (down from 3 times a week) keeps growing. My biggest concern is that I’m so busy I’m not able to get over to my readers blogs as much and comment more there.

It’s got to a stage where I can’t answer every single comment now and yet I keep getting new readers. I have no advertising on, nor do I want it. I don’t even have pictures ;)

Considering I started blogging by accident I am happy with my results. But my point is this… it has taken hours of consistent blogging for over four years to build what I have now on my personal blog. I cared about comments yes.. but I care more about my subject matter and my readers who shared with me. My topic is also rather controversial which doesn’t hurt.

It takes time, it takes great content, patience and persistence, and incoming links from others linking to you. Reciprocity. And it also takes commenting on others blogs.

I know what it feels like to blog on and get little reaction but I tried to show some comment love on interesting posts on others’ blogs, especially if they commented on mine (I’d always follow the link). Again, reciprocity. So, though my comment count may be low, on nickyjameson.com my focus is really on providing stuff that my audience will enjoy reading, but saying what I want to say.
Hope that’s some encouragement to those who’d like more numbers. Don’t give up.
http://nickyjameson.com Nicky

Congrats on your achievements. “Numbers” matter but it is important to keep in context and not focus on them (or lack thereof). They also take time to acquire, so I’m glad you mentioned how long it took you to reach your milestones.

For example, my newest blog, nickyjameson.com started last month doesn’t have many comments yet though vists are climbing – slowly. But i don’t expect it to at this point.

The reason I am not bothered is because I’ve been here before. It’s my second blog so I know what to expect. My first blog, where I blog on a niche area gets approx 11,000 hits/month, gets on average of 24 comments per post and, more importantly has a very strong community that, even though I blog once a week (down from 3 times a week) keeps growing. My biggest concern is that I’m so busy I’m not able to get over to my readers blogs as much and comment more there.

It’s got to a stage where I can’t answer every single comment now and yet I keep getting new readers. I have no advertising on, nor do I want it. I don’t even have pictures ;)

Considering I started blogging by accident I am happy with my results. But my point is this… it has taken hours of consistent blogging for over four years to build what I have now on my personal blog. I cared about comments yes.. but I care more about my subject matter and my readers who shared with me. My topic is also rather controversial which doesn’t hurt.

It takes time, it takes great content, patience and persistence, and incoming links from others linking to you. Reciprocity. And it also takes commenting on others blogs.

I know what it feels like to blog on and get little reaction but I tried to show some comment love on interesting posts on others’ blogs, especially if they commented on mine (I’d always follow the link). Again, reciprocity. So, though my comment count may be low, on nickyjameson.com my focus is really on providing stuff that my audience will enjoy reading, but saying what I want to say.
Hope that’s some encouragement to those who’d like more numbers. Don’t give up.
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http://www.danomi.com Young Che

Congratz Chris. Keep putting out relevant content. You are a great resource for all of us who participate in this ongoing conversation through social media. Thanks
http://www.danomi.com Young Che

Congratz Chris. Keep putting out relevant content. You are a great resource for all of us who participate in this ongoing conversation through social media. Thanks
http://www.hushcolours.com José

Hi,

Your post focus a true social meaning and not social as getting a big number of visitors; of course that getting lots of visitors is also good.
I guess that blogs may reflect somewhat how people are relating nowadays and lets hope that bloggers may have some power to influence things in this world to make it a better place.

Take care,

José
http://www.hushcolours.com José

Hi,

Your post focus a true social meaning and not social as getting a big number of visitors; of course that getting lots of visitors is also good.
I guess that blogs may reflect somewhat how people are relating nowadays and lets hope that bloggers may have some power to influence things in this world to make it a better place.

Take care,

José
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Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Do the Numbers Matter?

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