Let’s be a little honest here. We all publicly blog to get even an iota of attention. It might not be our main reason, but I think there’s a little desire to be seen or heard since we aren’t doing this in a private journal. I’m sure I just angered some people with that, but again I’ll say that it might not be our main reason.
My goal with this blog was to promote my books. Then it developed the goals to make friends, get feedback, and play around with poetry for a time. This is my realm where I can speak and, hopefully, be listened to. God knows, it isn’t the house I live in. So I won’t deny that I feel blue if I make a post that gets no reaction. It was fine at the beginning since I knew people weren’t finding me yet. I hadn’t mastered tags or figured out how to add pictures and videos. With the help of other bloggers and experimenting, I evolved and brought in followers. That did reveal a big reason I do this is for attention since my career kind of depends on being seen and heard.
One thing that has changed, and I’ve seen people make lengthy posts on, are the stats behind the blog. Most of us have had moments where we analyzed what was popular and what failed in order to adapt our blogs. Did the post on fictional sex positions get more likes than the one on why a person prefers paper to cloth napkins? Why did so many people get into debates over the rising price of fig newtons? If I have over 100 views then why are the likes sucking? So many stats to pay attention to that it could make your head spin or, as I’ve seen, make you simply quit blogging. Yeah. I’ve seen people flat out quit WordPress or butcher their blog to follow a ‘path to success’ that ends up failing.
I’ve taken another approach that I’m hoping to hold onto as I reduce my time here. It’s rather simple:
FIND THE POSITIVE STAT!
Just find something that you’re doing right and take solace in it because one thing I’ve learned is that things always change. At first, I was obsessed with views. Then it was likes and then comments and then reblogs and then followers and then the countries I was seen in and then it went back to views. The thing is that I was always jumping at the ‘weak’ point and ignoring the high points. People were still visiting and occasionally reacting to what I did. I tried several times to give people what they wanted, but there were times that I still got no attention from those that made the request. That makes me think many people are quick to suggest something, but won’t follow up on paying attention when they get it. Makes sense since we’re all busy around here and there are only so many hours in the day.
Currently, I have no idea when I last checked my blog stats. I still frown if I make a post and get no comments, but that’s because I like getting feedback and having discussions/debates. I’ve come to accept that I won’t always get what I want just like with the sales stuff. Everything has low points and you just have to push through them. Staring at the numbers tends to only make things worse.
Legends of Windemere 
wise words and an excellent post.
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Thanks. 🙂
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Focusing on the stats can be disappointing. I agree. I keep focusing on the positive that change all the time and some how they all come together in the end.
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Really the best method. Have to stay positive.
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I agree with you Charles, we all blog because we have something we want to be read… and whether that is simply a sharing among friends, promoting something or any one of a host of other reasons, doesn’t matter. We wouldn’t press publish if we didn’t hope for readers.
New to blogging the stats fascinated me and I drew an number of conclusions from them, not all of the accurate… and none of which were going to help me learn the ropes. I left the stats alone and wrote what I felt I needed or wanted to write. My target audience was simple.. people.
No one has to read any of our work… they read because they choose to. Some posts will work for some people, others won’t…Some days I feel like being silly and Ani takes care of that. Others I have a serious point to make. I think we have to write as if we are in conversation with friends and accept that the footballer will yawn if we talk about baking. Unless we bring cookies.
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Very well said and I think many have gone through the same things. Those stats can really grip you at the beginning. Though I can’t figure out the new page. 😀
Cookies make everything better.
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I haven’t looked at the new page above once… just long enough to see there was an option not to!
I make a mean cookie 🙂
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There’s an option not to? I have to find that.
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Yep 🙂
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HI Charles, I agree with you in a lot of ways. I write what I feel and I hope that people enjoy what I have to say. I don’t worry about stats or how to improve views. That being said, it boggles my mind, too, how a post could get a zillion views and only a few likes. Maybe people are busy or maybe they just forget. I try to just focus on the positive. One of the ways I have found to increase my blog readership is to join Triberr. It’s amazing and really easy. 🙂 Happy New Year, Charles!
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Happy New Year!
I wondered about the many views and few likes a few times. All I can figure is that people read the post and never hit the like button. Either they forget or they never think about it. Also, I think views count non-blogging guests too and they don’t usually hit like.
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Your stats are good though. And it’s important that you have core readers.
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A solid core is definitely very important. Thanks. 🙂
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I read all your posts on my email, as I’m subscribed to your blog. Whenever I want to make a comment, I visit that post (like now). Also, I occasionally forward your posts to friends, if I see something that may be of interest to them. My point is that I’m sure you have tons more people reading you than the stats alone suggest. 🙂
May 2015 bring you nothing but success and joy 🙂
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Oh, I’m sure the stats skew low. I never thought about forwarding posts to people though. Interesting way of sharing information.
Why only May 2015? What about the rest of the year? 😛
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Lol – Simple: May’s Electra’s birthday. She makes all my wishes come true. 😉
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Very cool. 🙂
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great thought for the day! Much more positive of an outlook. I’ve come to the conclusion that at this point, I’m not doing enough, but when I do have time I love the interaction…..it’s getting the interaction that is a bit harder. Like you, the views to likes or comments were completely different and it depressed me for a while. So now I just keep muddling through, realizing that once I get my footing again it might get better but if now…..oh well right?
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Slipped footing seems to be a common problem. I’ve noticed that it’s hard to get a blog revved up again after being away. I think the best way to do that is to interact on other blogs as if you’re just starting out.
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As you may have discovered in the last week or so, I am a bit stats-nerdy. I LOVE them. I have no idea what most of them signify, but I have a great spreadsheet that tracks whatever numbers I could collect about my social media presence, my books and other aspects of my “author platform” back to August of 2013, when I started blogging (and had almost no idea what an Author Platform even was).
Glad to have numbers in my handy-dandy spreadsheet, just for comparison purposes if nothing else. I blog about them about once/year, mostly for myself, I think!
Today I posted about my blog, its posts and stats. Tomorrow I post about my ebooks, ranks, and sales’ stats. See what you think.
I believe ANY book sales are a positive thing because I am so new and mostly unknown, but I have to admit I felt a bit of a shock when I first realized how LOW my sales numbers were but now MUCH even one sale affects the rankings, especially on Amazon. It’s all a racket.
Happy New Year!
Best to you and all your followers, readers, likers and friends, Charles!
Sally
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The Amazon rankings are tricky. Most of my books have gone hot out of the gate, which means slow downs have a harsher hit at the beginning. Rate of sales seems to be a major factor. For example, my 2nd book gets more from a single sale than my newest one because it’s had more slow periods.
I have to admit that I’m always curious how other indie authors stay so high in the rankings for so long.
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They sold their souls to the Devil. For sure.
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Makes sense. Sadly, I’m Jewish so I don’t have that option. 😛
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I know! Right? Buddhist AND Jewish: NO Options!
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I just checked mine when the review came in. Most of my most popular posts came from last year, but are being viewed still this year. Places I talked about relative to my book (public places). and THE most popular post, (next to the one about Gravatars) about the nudist resort. I don’t know if I’ll write more about it. My most frequently searched phrase is Mason-Dixon line. I think it’s because it has a hard to find map on it. Students probably google it.
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Interesting how that search term is the big one. Maybe I never noticed how often you use it.
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I didn’t. It’s only on one post with the map. Guess it’s just something people are looking for.
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Probably. Where is it?
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People frequently comment about black people not being served in public places in America during that time. I think they are younger people who can’t fathom that sort of segregation.
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Actually thought that line would be lower. Like bisecting Virginia. I have to agree that I have trouble wrapping my head around such segregation since I’ve never seen it. Grew up among people of different groups, so it gets baffling.
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Very wise to look for the positives. I figured out a while back that even though some lengthy blogs get comments and following it’s the quick hit consistency that seems to make a difference. I still do under 600 words and hope my readers appreciate getting to the substance quickly. Good post.
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I make big posts that I’m sure turns some people away. The truth is that I write and never pay attention to word count until the last paragraph.
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Charles, I totally understand! It’s discouraging to take time on a post you think people will enjoy or benefit from and get no feedback. It’s easy to fall into the “stats trap.” Just remember the days when you do get good feedback I guess. I try to avoid the stats, but my sister is a stats guru, so it’s hard.
Best of luck in the new year!
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I’m trying to take on the mentality that a post with no reaction simply means a day with fewer distractions from writing. I don’t touch the stats these days, but more because I get caught up in the Amazon ones.
Enjoy the new year!
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Haha! I know I’m going to get absorbed in those Amazon stats no matter how many times I promise myself I won’t. I don’t think you can help it:)
Happy New Year!
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It really comes down to the ‘I can just check once . . . twice . . . I can spend a day hitting refresh . . . where did my week go?’ 😛
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Haha!
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Yeah, sometimes I wonder where those likes are too, especially when there are a lot of views! This makes a lot of sense though. I can’t always be worrying about stats – just want to put my info out there and hope someone reads it! If it was meant to be private I would not have a WordPress account. About mastering those tags- You should do a post on that. I’m still confused! LOL!
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I still haven’t really mastered the tags. All I do is think of topics that connect to the subject matter. I figure the shorter the tag, the easier it is for people to find.
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I’m fairly horrible with my blog and blogging in general. Two of my blogging goals, 2015, will be to focus on a theme and do an entry on that three times a week – maybe a poem and a personal entry two days, next is to interact a little more. My posts are short – I’ll try some longer posts. I don’t worry about stats. Blogging helps me flex my creative muscle.
Enjoy your New Year’s Eve and see you next year!
Ellespeth
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Honestly, I wouldn’t worry too much about the size. Short seems to work better, but it’s however you feel it should be. Good luck on your goals. Like the idea of a theme to help.
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Great post as always Mr. Charles. I left the blogosphere myself months ago. A slowdown is a good thing, and stop staring at those stats! Happy new year.
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I thought something was missing. Think you’ll ever come back?
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“Find the positive stat.” Great advice. Happy 2015. 🙂
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Happy 2015!
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Way to keep it positive, Charles. I know it’s useful being able to see your stats in real time, but they can also be a buzzkill if you’re enjoying your blog and nobody comments or likes it.
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Yeah. Also any sudden lag on the stats can drive a person nuts. I remember a few times that happened and I thought the entire blog/book/whatever was about to burn to the ground.
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The stat I’ve focused most on is the ratio of Views to Visitors. One day I might get 30 views from 10 visitors meaning that on average each visitor viewed 3 of my posts. A long time ago I heard this was the stat to aim for: not just to get visitors to your posts, but to get them to read more than the one post. Or view the one post. The thing is, unless someone leaves a comment, you don’t know if people are actually reading. Occasionally, a reader will “Like” several of my posts in a row and the notifications show up too fast for the reader to be actually reading each one. There’s so many nuances (or uncertainties) in these stats that I take them all with a grain of salt. Of course, I also work with data so I know data can be used to lie or fudge. Sometimes there’s truth in data, more times there’s “truthiness” in data 😉
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I should start looking at that stat. I never know if it counts people reading things in their email or what.
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