chrisbrogan.com - Latest Comments in Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

José — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:21:18 -0000

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

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Young Che — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:10:20 -0000

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

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Nicky — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:21:04 -0000

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.

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Joseph T. Dager — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:28:54 -0000

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.

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

chrisbrogan — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:32:17 -0000

@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.

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Alan Edgett — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:36:24 -0000

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

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

jon — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:16:28 -0000

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.

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Keren Dagan — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:14:11 -0000

@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!

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Rick Mahn — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:01:51 -0000

Good job Chris. Score one for the big guy. ;)

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Virginia — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:30:20 -0000

The numbers themselves may not mean much, but as one who is new to this social media, simply knowing that many people have been impacted by your work does. we have just passed 90 followers on Twitter after just about 6 weeks, and I feel like that is huge. I am a big fan and devotee of you and a handful of others that inspire and inform. Your willingness to share what you know and spotlight others so they can become more well-known is the main reason you are so popular.Congratulations!

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

sawinkler — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:58:13 -0000

call it an accomplishment or something else, it's still a milestone, so congratulations. Your blog and otherwise ubiquitous virtual presence are guides to people like me who are starting to find their own way.

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

chrisbrogan — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:56:25 -0000

@Keren- you have, of course, made a vital point. The implicit is the heart and soul of things. It's not cash in pocket: it's opportunities to get even closer to better situations. And then, there's cash over there. : )

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:23:25 -0000

Let me join the chorus of "congratulations!"

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Keren Dagan — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:09:17 -0000

Two points:
Explicit value
1. I think that advertisers are somehow behind here.
Can they "see" how successful this blog is? Can they tell how supportive the community around it is?

Can a "big" sponsor find Chris's blog?

I'm not sure. I think that advertisers don't have the full picture.
In my opinion if advertisers sees ChrisBrogan.com blog's success measures they should bid using this stage for their message and pay for it, more than few cents a click.

Implicit values
2. Chris, you are having a great stage here reaching a lot of us through your blog. When your book is out there, I'm sure that it will be way easy to hear and find it. I heard and bought Gary Vaynerchuk's book only because of his vast web presence.

I think that blogging has a lot more implicit values that we don't always see now. The numbers only helps us to track if we are making general progress.

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Maggie McGary — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:56:04 -0000

It's funny how relative numbers can be; I'm up to averaging about 17 readers per day, but that's up from the zero readers I had for a long time, so I personally consider it a triumph. The cool thing about blogging is the way you can literally create something from nothing. I'm not a professional writer, consultant, marketer, author--yet in the eight months that I've been blogging, I've had comments from David Meerman Scott and Penelope Trunk, and my blog just got selected for inclusion on Alltop’s social media category. Not a bad deal for basically talking to myself about social media.

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

BloggerNewbie — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:51:00 -0000

Thanks for the post Chris. Very encouraging. Everytime I get a little discouraged, I read posts like this from the "big guys and gals" and it keeps me going. That and the fact that I LOVE blogging and I don't want to give up! :)

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Kimmie — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:06:25 -0000

I agree with what you said, I think anything worth doing takes time to cultivate it. I compare my blogs and one is apart of a large network so the traffic comes a lot easier where the other one, I have had to build it up. It's nice to know that if you keep plugging away and learning that you can get there! Thanks for the encouragement.

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Dan Thornton — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:27:35 -0000

Congrats - not only are rising numbers an encouragement that people are appreciating what you do, but some stat tracking is also good to see which articles etc appeal to people, and which ones might not be good enough in quality or appeal.

And by that, I don't mean you necessarily have to write to appeal to the lowest common denominator, but it can provide a prompt to see if there's a reason people aren't enjoying it or commenting on it - maybe there's not enough quality linking or resources included, or perhaps the end question isn't open enough etc.

It's easy to get seduced into constantly watching stats, but unless it's just for fun, or for a defined reason, it can be a bit dangerous....particularly when stats like Technorati can vary wildly at times!

Funnily enough, I've finally started getting a list together on my blog of all the free and paid-for stats and monitoring tools.

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Daniel Richard — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:27:28 -0000

Chris, I'm glad to be part of the 10k before it reached that number. :)

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

chrisbrogan — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:21:35 -0000

Know what's funny about the empty cafe thing? I'm writing this in an empty cafe. Know why it's empty? Because the new owner is a goof and has NO idea about community.

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Danny — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:49:19 -0000

My good lady wife always says "It's not the size but what you do with it" - not quite sure how to take that... ;-) But what I think she means is that while numbers are important, the quality of these numbers are more so.

In a nutshell, congrats Chris - you have the numbers because you deserve them for all your ongoing sharing with the community. So in that respect they're both important and quality-led. :)

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

joduba — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:28:23 -0000

Congratulations Chris,

Numbers matters, but I'm sorry I'm not one of your RSS readers.. lately I decided to read all my post via Twitter (well get notified when a new post came via twitter)...

So you have to add to your RSS readers the ones that follow you via twitter (like me)

Side note: When a full Cafe can attract visitors, but you need really good coffee and ambiance to keep them inside!!

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Robin Lubbock — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:16:50 -0000

Chris, congratulations on the numbers. Also, I like your idea of social proof. I've heard a lot of people talking about qualitative and quantitative stats. Interesting discussions. And the other question around that issue is, of course, how do you measure engagement. Your post pushes that discussion forward. Does anyone know of other good posts on these issues?

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

Bill Stevens — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:14:04 -0000

Congrats Chris. I think numbers make us feel good, help with paid advertising for those who pursue it and social proof.

I wouldn't mind going in the empty cafe, you might get quick service when you're in a hurry. :) But, you never know, at least you'd have a story at the end of it - good, bad or outstanding.

It's great to see all the content you've created over a long period of time and it's nice to know we have time to shape/grow our endeavors.

Great stuff. Thanks.

Re: Blogging is Not a Numbers Game- Or Is It

ccseed — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:13:34 -0000

Hey Chris, thanks for the honesty on this one...I too, though a newbie find myself checking analytics daily, looking at my feedburner numbers (passed 10 yesterday!). Where I discovered my relationship to the numbers was with twitter grader. Two weeks ago I ranked in 51%. I had counter attack. It wasn't good enough for the effort I was applying. So I studied their formula and realized that they were right, without being further out into the stream and connecting to more people, I didn't deserve a better grade. So now my practice includes inviting and following folks and things have changed dramatically. Last night I passed my goal of cracking their top 1000 and my practice has improved because of it...and visitors to my blog keep growing as well...