Thanks to Hugh over at Hugh’s Views and News, for sharing my post How Do You Ask Someone to View Your Blog? with his audience.
I was overwhelmed by the renewed interest in this classic post and grateful for the boost in followers on Perfect Manifesto (Welcome to those people!)
The article was a sarcastic rant at a comment I perceived as rude as it was requesting me to go check out their blog – in my opinion poor etiquette!
Judging from all the new comments I received, I’m obviously not alone, an issue many a blogger can relate to.
The comment section is the most valuable resource to get feedback on what people think of your work, so it can be frustrating when someone is motivated by personal interest and makes a comment that suggests they haven’t even read your post.
This got me thinking, when a person to makes such a request it reeks desperation for attention, and also highlights that a lot of people are getting into blogging for all the wrong reasons…
Vanity Metrics…
If you wanted to apply the seven deadly sins to blogging, you might say they are driven by greed and pride.
The stats page on a WordPress site becomes a monster if a creator gets too consumed in those numbers, and blogging loses it’s fun if increasing the number of people stopping by is your raison d’etre.
If you get into blogging for validation or because you’ve read one of those Google SEO articles talking about how it’s an ‘easy’ way to make extra cash, then you’re in the wrong game!
Blogging takes time, patience, and a lot of effort.
If your reason to blog is to be popular or to make money, you’re going to get frustrated quickly…
To be a good and persistent blogger you have to:
- Love your subject matter.
- Love the process of writing.
- Not be obsessed with metrics.
If you don’t then you will quit eventually.
Find your why
Too many bloggers put their self-worth into numbers – a poorly received post can destroy them.
It’s always worth remembering with so much content online it’s a constant battle to get your work seen.
Which is why I implore you as a writer, to ‘Find your why.’
This will be the motivation to keep you creating rather than having to rely on warm fuzzy feelings knowing that ‘X’ number of people checked you out.
You may have heard of Start With Why, it’s a pretty well-known theory in corporate circles devised by the business-leadership thinker Simon Sinek to define how success comes from knowing your why.
I recommend you read his book, or at least check out his iconic TED talk to understand this theory:
If you watch the video, you’ll understand the difference between:
- What we do
- How we do it
- Why we do it
And hopefully it will make you appreciate that top ‘Why’ level
This theory can be applied to you on a personal level, so you understand the vision that keeps you going.
As a blog writer I challenge you to ask yourself:
“Why do I blog?”
When you know the answer, it becomes a lot easier to manage when that awesome post you spent hours (days) on got an underwhelming response…
Closing thoughts…
Becoming obsessed with attention is an easy trap for bloggers to fall into.
I’m going to guess 99% of us have based our abilities on how many people visit our little corner of the web, and of that unique 1% who say they’ve never been bothered, I can say their lying!
I used to set goals based on blogging numbers and would get disappointed when they weren’t reached1.
But then I got a greater understanding of why I blog…
I write so someone can gain something from it – whether it is to learn, laugh or just be motivated to go out and do that thing they always wanted to do.
I enjoy the process of writing, to express myself creatively and recognising the benefit it’s had on my own mindset.
Finally every word I share with the world is something my children can read – if the thought of sharing my soul with my flesh and blood isn’t a great enough ‘why’ to keep going, then I don’t know what is….
Footnotes
1 Sometimes the exposure you get is down to luck, for example I wrote a post about the Monty Python Film – The Meaning of Life. When the Python Terry Jones died, my site stats exploded as the world looked up all things Python. Current events can influence your site visits.
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Perfect Manifesto 
Hi James, I’ve come here from Hugh’s blog where you wrote a great response to my guest post, thank you. So good to ‘virtually’ meet you, great blog too!
I recently had a comment which annoyed me too, this person didn’t even say anything about the post she obviously hadn’t read, but in fact just left a link to her own blog. That was it, nothing else! Very annoying, but I have to say I didn’t know what to do about it.
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Very annoying Sam, if it was just a link I would be tempted to Spam/Trash it. It’s either poor blogging etiquette spamming a link or in this age of Cyber Security it could easily be something more suspicious!
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Nice post. Blogging for many is a random expression, which I really appreciate — that unusual thought, subject, the off-the-cuff idea where a reader enjoys the faint sort of silly happiness from a totally weird post.
For others like me, I blog because I love what I do that much— I ooze what I write in my life, but I also make a living from it. Therefore, I must make a professional effort to follow a strategy that competes but doesn’t forsake the inclusive prosperity I believe in.
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Thank you Efrona. There is something wondrous about blogging, the number of times I’ve thought of an idea, then in the process of writing it goes in a way you never expect!
If you love blogging that’s great and if you can make a living from it even better! I’ve considered ways of monetising, but ensuring I keep that balance right (I have read blogs that just sound like one advert after another so not appealing!)
Thanks very much for commenting.
James
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Thanks for the mention, James. I shared your post because I knew that many of my readers would find it an interesting read. And I’m pleased that some of them did engage with you.
I’ll be honest and say I do check the stats on my blog, but only to see which of my posts are engaging my readers the most. That helps to let me know what they like reading and commenting on, so I can write more on that subject. However, I still write and publish posts about the not so popular topics because I enjoy writing and sharing my thoughts about them.
Keep the enjoyment in blogging, and you can’t go wrong.
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Thanks Hugh, using stats for intelligence is certainly the best way to use the analytics to give you know how content goes down with followers (it’s also giving me a good idea what works well with SEO).
I do write about topics because I know it will be well received by my readers but mostly focus on writing on whatever interests me (trying to not stray from the sites usual subject matter).
Thanks for commenting 🙂
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This is a nice way of finding the right kind of motivation!
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Thanks. Enjoy the process of blogging and utilise it to meet like minded people 🙂
Thanks for commenting.
James
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Great Post James. I find myself checking the stats for my own blog sometimes without even realising. I thoroughly enjoy the writing though. It’s been a great hobby of mine while being the stay at home dad. I myself hope to offer dad’s mainly but mum’s too help and advice with parenting and general family lifestyle as a stay at home dad.
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Thanks Eddie, I used to be really bad and would checking on stats daily, sometimes several times a day. When I look at analytics I try and focus on month/year view as that’s easier to influence growth.
I’m glad you enjoy the work you do, resources such as your own are really helpful for newer dads like myself to learn from, reflect and I enjoy sharing perspectives with other dads keen to be involved!
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
James
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Great to hear some of my posts have been helpful for you 😊
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I never worry about stats, views, clicks ect for blogging or social media of any kind. That way only leads to madness! Make good content and people will read it and most improbably come back for more. I only started blogging as I was already reviewing things and someone suggested I make a blog of everything as it would act as a digital portfolio – which it has. The real bonus I’ve found though is the interactivity of WordPress as a platform and the enjoyment I get from commenting and sharing views with other bloggers.
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It’s the best way, you can easily forget how far you’ve come I remember starting out and just wanting to get a comment. I’m lucky now that most the things I post get some feedback.
Benefit of wordpress is the built in audience ready to view if they are interested. Places like Wix and blogger been difficult to find that engagement.
Thanks for commenting.
James
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Totally agree. I can never understand why people get to hung up on stats for everything. I’ve found the WordPress reader to be a great interactive aspect for my blog, and its lead to some really good engagement all round. 🙂
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