by Skellie
Photo by bestfor.
I’ve been thinking about some of the important lessons I learned in the very early days of my engagement with the web, back when only an obscure few knew what blogging was, and before blogs like ProBlogger existed. There were no websites (at least none that I found) to tell you how to build popular sites, or how to make money online. Those who had done it probably weren’t sure exactly how they’d done it, but were pleasantly surprised and pleased none-the-less.
As you may have read on my About page, I’ve been creating web content for about nine years now. The first site I ever created was hosted on Yahoo! GeoCities and featured lime-green text on an image background (completely unreadable). There was no medium for interaction on the site. I hadn’t discovered stat counters yet, so I also couldn’t tell if anyone ever visited it. I certainly never promoted it, though I think I would have if I’d known how. The focus of the site was on writing lessons for beginner writers. I–someone who has never published a novel, or received any accolades for her fiction writing–was the guru. In reality, I was just excited about what I was learning about writing fiction at the time. I was as much a beginner as the imagined people I was writing for.
That site didn’t last long. I craved some kind of feedback or appreciation for the work I’d put into it, which I wasn’t getting. I was determined to try a different format.
The next website I created was fan-site for a band I was crazy about at the time. My design skills had sort of improved (I’d moved from outdated HTML in NotePad to fumbling around in FrontPage 2000), and so had my knowledge of the web. I still hadn’t found anyone to tell me how to promote the site, but I did have some understanding that I’d need to give people the means to actually reach it if I wanted to share my work with other fans.
At that time I wasn’t exposed to stories of people receiving four-million page views a month, earning 75k a year from blogging, having this many subscribers and that much search engine juice. Because I didn’t know about it, I didn’t know it was possible, and therefore it didn’t concern me. I didn’t care about getting a lot of people to like the site, but I was happy if a few people loved it. Mainly, though, I was happy if I loved it. I poured a lot of time into creating every kind of band-related content you can imagine. Anything that a fan might want, I made. I painstakingly transcribed audio interviews with band-members, uploaded setlists, kept track of tour dates, archived every image I could find, offered downloads of bootlegs, covers and live recordings, reported on news and even created a horrible looking WinAMP skin.
And still, I hadn’t yet installed a stat counter on the site, I didn’t know there was such a thing as online advertising (at least, not that I could put on my own site), and the only time I knew anyone visited the site was when I got an email. Sometimes I’d get 5 - 10 a day, which for all I knew meant the site was visited by 5 - 10 people a day. That was enough for me, because I knew I was going above and beyond what any other fan-site was doing, and I was giving the project everything I had. Not in terms of promoting it as much as I could, or in terms of making as much money as I could, but simply through creating something that had as much to offer as I could possibly give, and by working on it day-in, day-out, and loving the process for its own sake.
A friend of mine at the time, who was a web designer, asked me how many hits the site was getting. He was shocked to find out that I had no idea, and helped me add a stat counter to the site. When I saw that the site had upwards of 500 unique visitors a day, I was quite stunned. Where were they all coming from, and how had they found it?
To this day, I still don’t know. I’m sure my stat counting program had the capability to show referrers, but I didn’t think to look at the time. I had done next to no promotion of the site. All I had done was pour everything I could into making it as cool as it could be. The result was the best fan-site in that niche, and those few who did stumble across the site initially must have recognized that, and passed it along via word of mouth. Based on what I know now monthly page views could have been as high as 60,000. If I had known how to promote, who knows what that figure might have been.
So, did I flip the site?
No. At that point I didn’t know websites could be bought and sold.
Did I start to make money from it?
I made about three dollars worth of Amazon referrals on sheet music. Because the payment threshhold for Amazon is $100, I never saw the money. Once I got a free Xbox game in return for displaying a banner ad on the site. I didn’t own an Xbox (and probably never will), but I gave the game to a friend.
Did I grow it into something even bigger?
No. I started to enjoy checking my stats every day and the site did reach 700 uniques on some days, but I lost interest in the project soon after.
What it means
At this point you’re probably asking: where is the lesson in all of this, then?
The significance of this experience for me–and hopefully it seems significant to you as well–is that my motivation for working on the site was completely internal. My goal was only to please myself by creating the best site I could and my rewards came in being proud of what I’d done. Visitor feedback was nice, but it only served to tell me that ’some’ people were enjoying the site. I didn’t really care so much about the volume, only that at least a few other people thought the site was as cool as I did. But if I had only ever received a handful of emails each week to say I was doing a good job, I probably would have been happy, and I probably would have maintained the site for a long time.
But I didn’t. Once stats came into the picture, my motivation was externalized. I wanted more visitors, and I started to only enjoy adding to the site when I felt it would see my stat counter climb. Whenever my visitor count dropped I felt deflated. My work on the site began only to matter in as much as it would eventually improve traffic. Predictably, maintaining the site became a lot less fun, to the point where I eventually gave it up.
I believe my experience six or seven years ago has some bearing on blogging and social media culture today. We measure everything. We try to hoard more subscribers, more daily traffic, more Twitter followers, more AdSense clicks, more Digg fans and more comments. We are so focused on this that what we actually do becomes nothing more than a means to an end. If your latest blog post didn’t yield any comments, it was a failure. If your subscriber count hasn’t increased in a month then you need to make your content more appealing. You write list posts even though they bore you, because you know they’re popular. And so on, and so on.
Photo by skyseeker.
The problem with being motivated and rewarded by external factors is this: external validation is not always going to be there for you. It’s virtually never there when you first start blogging, which is probably the reason why many blogs die almost as soon as they’re born. It’s also prone to leaving at inopportune times, even when your blog is well established.
Worse still, if you only value your actions depending on how (and how many) others react to them, the process of doing blogging and doing social media itself can become chore-like. If you find yourself sometimes having to force yourself to write a post, or wishing you could take a month off blogging and not worry about it, or feeling like you won’t achieve the goals you’ve set yourself, that’s probably a sign that your motivation and sense of reward for blogging needs to be brought out of the control panels, graphs and counters and back inside your head.
Be the best (really)
Your enthusiasm will be never-ending if your motivation and reward for blogging is to create something that you are immensely proud of.
You’re not that weird that other people won’t see value in what you’ve done!
If you create something that is as completely awesome as you can make it, other people will see that awesomeness. If you keep plugging away at it, adding more and more layers, even when you haven’t been discovered yet, one day you will be. You can put ads on it, you can promote and you can measure the results, but I want to suggest that a truly successful blogger will mainly concern themselves with churning out as much incredible content as they can, day in, day out. And you should do it even if you’re pretty certain the only people reading your blog are your mother and your boss.
This is why debut albums are so often a band’s best album, why debut novels are often the best novels, why the Matrix is so much better than Matrix Revolutions. What you think is awesome is usually a million times better than what you think someone else will think is awesome. That’s one of the ugliest sentences you’ll ever read, but it’s also drop-dead true.
What you would look for in an insanely good technology blog, or college basketball blog, or personal development blog, is not too different to what other people interested in the same topics would also go crazy for. You are your own target audience. And if you’re not, you should probably try writing about something you’re actually interested in.
Think back to the last time you stumbled across a blog and thought: Wow, I’m so glad I found this!
Think about the last time you felt a thrill to see a new post from your favorite blog in your feed reader.
Now ask yourself the question: how can I create a blog that would make me feel this, if I were someone else?
And if you’re a little competitive, ask yourself: how can I create a blog that offers more than any other blog in my niche?
To compliment this strategy of self-fulfillment, try checking stats less. A lot less. Once a week? Once a month? By unplugging from your stats as much as possible you place the emphasis back on what you do as a blogger, not the reaction to what you do. Stats still climb when you’re not looking at them, and if you’re working hard every day to create something incredible, they will climb up and up.
It might take some time for people to discover you, but when they do, they’re going to evangelize what you’ve created. This point reminds me of a great talk from Gary Vaynerchuck at the recent Web 2.0 Expo, where he said, if you’ll allow me to paraphrase: “I’ve been doing this online thing for a long time, you only heard about me yesterday.” But we heard about him, and now he’s huge.
I don’t want this point to be confused with “make your next blog post the best blog post you’ve ever written”. It’s not about that. It’s about looking at your blog as a whole, past, present, and future, and forgetting about traffic and subscribers, and what people will and won’t like, and what people will and won’t vote for on social media, and instead starting to think about making it incredible, and having the honesty to know you’ve added something really cool to your blog even when others aren’t there to validate you. If you do this, the end result will be something people can really evangelize.
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71 Comments, Comment or Ping
Dave Navarro
Too true.
Don’t compete with stats - compete with yourself. Demand the best every day, then push yourself to become greater.
Stumbled & Bookmarked
Sep 26th, 2008
Ankesh Kothari
Thanks Skellie.
Good post.
My take is built upon what Confucius says: build a small community and thousands will want to join.
Always act like you’re catering to a smaller audience. Don’t try to be everything for everybody. Thats the secret.
(Some of my best writing has been done when I’m thinking of writing for just 1 person.)
Become indispensable (for a small set of folks). And fame will follow.
Sep 26th, 2008
Tim Arview
Excellent, excellent advice. I admit; I’m a stats junkie. I love to write and I’m pretty good at it (if I do say so myself…and I do sometimes), but I find myself always wondering, “Is it worth it?” I guess I’ve placed my evaluation of worth on the stats, rather than what I think of the content.
Thanks for “saving” me from this.
Sep 26th, 2008
Ms. NewsBlogger
And do, pray tell, which band you started a fan site for?
Great post, btw.
Sep 26th, 2008
Daniel Richard
It’s a very meaningful and thoughtful writeup! I too started in the whole web stuffs way back since GeoCities period too. Recalled that I too started with notepad, then went on to Frontpage (which I seriously didn’t like), found out about Dreamweaver around the same period and stuck to it till I went on to play around with the web programming languages such as php and so on (turned to Notepad ++).
Yeah. I was a tech geek with some of my friends ever since we were like 14?
I too didn’t know anything about advertising or making money and network on the web back then. However, it was during the FIFA World Cup period recently (when Italy won) was when I realized that there are people who read blogs at a larger margin. I received nearly thousands of views daily cos’ I post as I watch the matches live.
Of course, I wasn’t particularly interested in writing about that all the time, so it was a short lived thing.
Like what you mentioned towards the end about being your best, that is like what matters to myself (maybe most of us too) who came onto the blogging scene in the previous 6 months.
Your articles have always been a great and enjoyable read! It’s too an inspiration for myself to really come up with stuffs that not only want to see improvement in my own writings, but too created to be relevant for friends who matter to me. Lol.
Continue posting Skellie! May more great gems start to be discovered from today.
Sep 26th, 2008
Ari Koinuma
I can definitely relate about external validation being more of a distraction than motivating. It’s simply too unreliable to base your motivation on.
That’s why I stopped looking at stats on my site. I do track them, don’t get me wrong — but I fight temptation to look at it more often than once a week, or once a month.
It’s good that every blog in the beginning gets little traffic. It tests the resolve of the blogger, it forces them to examine where the motivation is. Only those who find it within break through this initial lonely period and are rewarded by traffic and interactions. It’s the love of the act, the enjoyment of being on the way, that drives sustaining activities.
I’ve written more about that, here:
http://ourbestversion.com/2008/07/path-over-destination-a-little-known-secret-to-satisfying-life/
ari
Sep 26th, 2008
Alek
“What you think is awesome is usually a million times better than what you think someone else will think is awesome.” - LOVE THIS!
such a great post!
Sep 26th, 2008
rebel
I have started a blog a couple of times in the past. Each time I have never made it more than a week. Then I realized something, I was trying to preach at people. If you are not teaching yourself, where is the passion going to come from? Passion is what drives us. And now that I am mainly writing my blog to teach me and reaffirm to me what I have learned, it is enjoyable. Of course I want more readers. I want to help people as many have helped and are still helping me. But, I am getting something out of each post. each one actually means something to me first. I hope it connects with someone else or they can learn from it, but I already have so I have already won.
Sep 26th, 2008
Writer Dad
I put everything I have into everything I publish. This has given my blog super fuel in only two months. I don’t write for keywords and I don’t write for SEO. I hope I never have to.
Sep 26th, 2008
Glen Allsopp
Absolutely amazing blog post, really really awesome. In fact, I could go so far as to say it’s the best post I’ve read this year. I know that sounds a little over the top but this one connected with me on so many levels.
I’ve been struggling with the motivation for posting and also tried to write things that I just think others will be interested in, instead of sticking to my core.
Thanks for this message! Stumbled
Cheers
Glen
Sep 26th, 2008
Tyler @ Building Camelot
This article came at a great time. I’ve been struggling with an addiction to stats watching lately and it often times discourages me because I don’t see the numbers that I want to see. And it does make me think “what am I missing? Am I doing something wrong?” which takes my focus away from my original blogging goals.
Great article and I look forward to reading more
Sep 26th, 2008
David | beplayful
Skellie,
I really enjoyed reading this post, I’m glad you’ve started writing longer posts and digging deep.
My question is: what about the people who are never discovered? In an age where everyone has the potential to create something beautiful, so many people doing wonderful things must go ‘undiscovered’ - at least in terms of high stats.
Instead of the motivation of one day being discovered, could it instead be beauty for beauty’s sake?
David
Sep 26th, 2008
Vered - MomGrind
Chris Brogan said recently in an interview that “blogging is an ego game”.
Rules of Engagement
I think this is true for most bloggers.
You’re presenting a beautiful idea here. I wish I could go back to not caring about social media success, subscriber count etc., but once you have a taste of social media success and external validation, you can’t go back. You have lost your innocence.
Thank you for a thought-provoking article.
Sep 26th, 2008
Rarst
Good post, pretty deep one so it’ll take me some time to fully digest it.
I agree that stats obsession may hurt blogging. I am looking less and less on stats lately and started to schedule posts ahead so I don’t get “what do I post today???” panic.
I am not very sure on writing content exactly how I like it. I already had some mistakes in design of my blog because I assumed that readers are used to interact the same way I am… which turned out to be very far from true.
Sep 26th, 2008
Andrea Di Tonto (McSilly)
Always considered stats like a kettle.. It’ll never boil if you keep watching it.. and still if I have to be honest.. in the last couple of weeks i kind of forgot that. So thanks for putting us right on track and for inspire to write about what we love, what we are really passionate about, and not about what other people might love..
Sep 26th, 2008
haasome
Really great post. I will keep thinking about this post as I am about to get my own blog going again, and now I know the reason I’ve taken so much time off from working on it (albeit just one part of a larger site). Thank you!
Sep 26th, 2008
Vintage Mommy
I’m too technically-challenged to know how my blog(s) are doing stats-wise.I have noticed - judgeing from comments - that certain posts draw a lot more comments than others, but I’m never sure why!
So I just keep on chugging along . . .
Sep 26th, 2008
Adam - Balkan File
Hey,
I really enjoyed this article - it’s something I can completely relate to. I also began small websites on geocities and xoom and put a lot of effort into them as a young teenager. I remember being very excited at buying my very own domain name and, just like you, devoting so much time to my content that I loved.
Thanks for a trip down memory lane, and thanks for the advice about avoiding stats. I check mine constantly!
Adam
Balkan File
Sep 26th, 2008
Nate
Thanks for this. I am a blogger newbie and a stats junkie. (Hi, my name is Nathan. Everybody say, “Hi,Nathan.”) I really have to go on a “stats fast” and get back to why I started blogging in the first place - to showcase to a wider audience the foods we cook and eat.
I also need to spend some time just thinking what I like about other food blogs and why…and try to make our site someplace *I* would like to visit. Writing just for social bookmarking / external validation is not a good reason. Blogging for money is not a good reason. It’s all about saying what we have to say, in our own way, with excellence (an audacity!
)
Sep 26th, 2008
Jylan Wynne
This is fantastic advice Skellie, I know that I get distracted by my stats, so I should try concentrating entirely on the site that I’m developing and look at it throught the eyes of visitors: what do they want to see?
Great story about your fan website, its amazing how many visitors you were getting with no promotion! Is the site still online anywhere?
Keep up your great advice.
Sep 26th, 2008
Colin
It is so true. When you start out you spend so much time watching your stats.
It’s a form of validation I suppose.
I enjoyed what you had to say with this little story. I need to adopt it, and stop checking stats.
Colin
Sep 26th, 2008
Rob Chant
What a refreshing post!
I really enjoyed reading it and I really agree with your point. It’s very inspiring, especially as having advised people on social media for a while, I’m only actually starting my own first blog now!
Sep 26th, 2008
hank
I second the “stepping back from your stats” initiative. They’re what drive you at the beginning, but you definitely hit plateaus where you need to realize that you can’t just climb up and up and up, but need to step back and see where you came from. If it involves stopping for a bit, do it. Your people won’t leave just because you don’t have something interesting to post…
Sep 26th, 2008
Cath Lawson
Hi Skellie - This is I good point. I guess we get too obsessed with writing particular posts that social media users will like and others for those using a reader etc etc. We should just aiming to create excellent blogs.
I’m finding lately that the posts which are simple to write, that I don’t expect to get much attention, are the ones that become the most popular.
Sep 26th, 2008
rhonda jean
Hi Skellie, great advice and so true. Early on in my blog I asked readers what they wanted me to write about and it took me off track. I soon stopped doing that and now I write for myself - my blog is a record of what I do and now I’ve been going for over a year I can check back into last year. My blog is popular, I’m on all the lists that count things, I check my stats each week, but I only write for myself. I ignore the social media and never check out Digg, Stumble etc. I guess I’d also recommend consistency because I doubt you’d build up a following if you’re writing sporadically.
Sep 26th, 2008
jackmo
that was awesome skellie, just what I needed to read right now.
Take it easy.
your fanboi,
Jackmo
Sep 26th, 2008
Avatar
Dear Skelliewag,
Thanks for reigning us wannabees blogger back into reality. Your experience is something, I’ve been going through as well.
It’s so easy to use all those external measurements as success and forget why I started blogging in the first place. Full of insight and wisdom.
Two thumbs up
Sep 26th, 2008
Steven-Sanders
Some web designers would say that going from html in notepad to frontpage 2000 was a leap backwards.
Sep 26th, 2008
sailaja
I couldn’t agree with you more, Skellie.
Give your best and you are bound to be discovered (with a faithful following in the niche you are writing for).
I’m glad I stumbled upon your blog via your guest posts at Problogger. An excellent article I read in recent times.
Sep 26th, 2008
Polka Dot Bride
Brilliant post Skellie! It’s one I will print out as a reminder for when I find myself losing focus and losing confidence in what I want to do.
Sep 26th, 2008
Emma Brooks
“You are your own target audience”
Hello Skellie - what a fantastic post and such sound advice for bloggers.
If what you are writing isn’t floating your boat, it probably isn’t doing likewise to your reader.
Will keep this advise close by in my continuing blog journey.
Best wishes
Emma
Sep 26th, 2008
Hugo
It’s very true what you’re writing. Checking your stats all the time can also be very frustrating and can make you loose your motivation if you see them going down for a while. It’s much better to write about something because you’re passionate about it and not just because you want to make money from it! I think that’s something your readers will feel anyway…
Sep 26th, 2008
Toblerone
Love, love, love, love, LOVE this post, Skellie. This is just the fire I needed for today.
I give you top billing for being one of my motivators and “coaches” in making my blog what it is today. Seriously. You rock.
Sep 26th, 2008
Ali from The Office Diet
Brilliant post, Skellie, and definitely one I can relate to. My first attempt at a website was one for my science class notes (in colour, no less) when I was 13… gosh, I was a geeky kid. I don’t think it ever made it online.
The next ones were a series of fan sites for a MUD I played, starting out on Angelfire (does that even still exist?) and eventually graduating to my own domain. It was a place to host meet-up photos and my “Guide to Roleplaying”, and I didn’t care how many visitors I got (the MUD was tiny), I just wanted to contribute to the game community.
I agree that stats-checking can take much of the joy out of having a website. I like The Office Diet, but can’t say I *love* it. The next blog I’m working on, though (about to launch!) is something I think is Just Plain Cool…
Sep 27th, 2008
Ostom
It was a very good post and an eye opener for me. I promise not to look at my stat ten times (or more) a day.
Thanks for your post.
Sep 27th, 2008
RhondaL
Thank you, skellie. Your post couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I’m even typing this comment through grateful misty tears. My new blog (barely two months old) only has a handful of subscribers, but it’s a labor of love. The mix of posting and promoting, let alone the technical mechanics, overwhelm me at times. Yet, I’m proud of the work and love it.
Thanks again for the pick-me-up.
Sep 27th, 2008
Bamboo Forest
Cool post. I agree with your article, that we as the writers know what we love. And what we love, is what many others do too, because they share with us our own humanity.
Nice read.
Sep 27th, 2008
Angel Cuala
How I wish I also started this early!
I am afraid that the principle of blogging has a very big difference now from nine years ago.
I think that a lot of bloggers of today blog just because they thought it is a good way of earning money, and loosing the art of expressing and sharing. They are always in a hurry to be on top because they feel competition is very high.
I think that in any career, pioneering is very important since you can be among the pillars in the future. But this is quite risky so we will still go back to the main reason why we do things and how can do it good - Passion!
Another great sharing, Skellie. Thanks!
Sep 27th, 2008
Abhijeet Mukherjee
Nice post, however I recommend checking your Google Analytics stats once a day and Webmaster tools account once in 3 days because that always keeps you informed in case something weird comes up.
For example, recently my friend’s blog was hacked and he came to know only after he received a notice from Google. If only he had checked his webmaster tools account, he would have known that Google is reporting crawling errors on his site since days and the hacker is directing visitors to his site.
For the same reason, you should keep an eye on your Analytics account too. If you find a sudden drop in traffic from Google or any other source which sends you consistent traffic, you know that it’s time to investigate the matter.
So don’t be obsessed with your stats, but do check them once a day or once in at least 3 days. My 2 cents.
Sep 27th, 2008
Evelyn Lim
Your advice is brilliant! We care more about the stats and in attracting new traffic that we can forget our loyal subscribers who would like to read richer content. I’ve been moving somewhat away from writing the typical digg-acceptable articles to personal journals of real experiences. I think my readers are appreciating a breath of deeper inputs.
Sep 27th, 2008
Mahalia
What an inspirational speech. It gave me more self confidence to write what is from my heart and just be. Thanks.
Sep 27th, 2008
Johan
Hi Skellie
This is not only a blogging story. It’s a life story. Thanks for this and may I remember to do what I like doing and stop chasing the numbers. Because the numbers are the result of having fun….. going down stream. Life is not about the struggle. Number watching force us to struggle. Let’s let go of the oars and flow with the Current. Let’s watch the happy faces because we expand this world. Thanks again.
Sep 27th, 2008
ZeroNews
You said only the truth. Thanks
Sep 28th, 2008
ChrisB
What you think is awesome is usually a million times better than what you think someone else will think is awesome.
It may be ugly, but it’s a lot to chew on. Thanks, Skellie.
Sep 28th, 2008
SoulRiser
Very very well said. And very very true. When I started my site 9 years ago, I did have a stat counter, but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a month after launch that 89 people had visited it. I was never really overly obsessed with stats for some reason. I just genuinely enjoyed adding stuff and trying to make my site the best site for kids who hate school. The few sites I made before this one never lasted long, though. I just didn’t care enough about them.
But yeah, lately after I’ve gotten into all this SEO and making money stuff, the stats have become a slight problem. I guess on some level I knew that would happen, which is why I originally declined offers of advertising and swore that I would never make money from the site. But it’s really not that bad, and adding stuff for SEO purposes every now and then isn’t a bad thing, I just have to be careful not to make it the ONLY thing I do.
Brilliant post
Sep 28th, 2008
Suzy:)
Hi Skellie,
I found this article and site by happenstance — but I think not — it was more about divine guidance. Your article was touching my heart.
I have been blogging for the past two years, for the most part, to myself. It would be nice to have more of a response, but I realized (after feeling a bit burned out from doing the social networking scene) that it’s more important to be true to me and use my blog to help me grow.
I hope that people will find something of interest and useful that will help them in their journey. I want my blog to be a reflection of who I truly am and to showcase some of my interests, and to, hopefully, do something that is good and of value and share this with others.
Thank you for the beautiful post, and great responses too.
Suzy
Sep 28th, 2008
Darren Alff - Bicycle Touring Pro
This is so very true. The articles I’ve received the most feedback on are the ones I figured no one else would ever read. I just wrote them because writing them made me happy. In the end, these articles end up being much more personal and deep. My readers tend to connect with that and it benefits us all in the end. Thank you for reminding me of this as I begin writing my next blog post!
Sep 28th, 2008
Mia Hysteria
Thank you for writing this.
I am very new to blogging and am still finding my voice and trying to really pin down what I want to do with my blogging. In many ways, I’m trying to be the catch-all, and really, who can do that?! Well, I’m sure someone can, but I’m not certain that’s to be me.
Though my blog is so new, I still take time out to look at stats and even though I see some feeds going out (and still get confused by the way the stats are presented), I get discouraged. I keep thinking about the little joke/comment that was said to me (which really isn’t too funny)…”you’re writing away to no one.” Not looking at stats is definitely a start!
Thanks for putting that out there…and for reminding me why it is that I’m writing to no one…I’m writing for myself.
Sep 28th, 2008
Alban
You are so right on. We are only happy when we are free, and not possessed with results. And thanks for the hint about Gary Vaynerchuk. I loved the video and his idea of doing what he loves.
Thanks,
Alban
Sep 28th, 2008
christy
Great post! Great blog!
Sep 28th, 2008
Don
Skellie,
Thanks for writing this article.
Just a few days ago I heard Seth Godin talk about his blog. Basically he said he wanted his blog to be “his” unique to him…and he knew those who were like minded would read it. he didn’t design it to please others. And he writes what he feels he needs to. Not to please others.
I’ve got that bad habit of “always” watching the stats. But recently I gave it a 45 day rest, spent a month in Thailand just chilling out…and when I checked my stats…I found the numbers had taken care of themselves. The traffic had grown without me!
That was confirmation that I had readership and what I was doing is working. My niche will never be big but it’s my niche.
Now that I realize this I’ll start writing again and stop “pontificating” over the numbers so much.
Once again thanks for writing this article…and thanks for blogging.
Don
Sep 28th, 2008
Shaun Connell
So, so, so, so true. “why the Matrix is so much better than Matrix Revolutions” — again, so true.
Sep 29th, 2008
genuinechris johnson
Skellie-
Bless you, blsess you, bless you. This is a fantastic reminder.
And…not once does it say “don’t make concessions to professional standards.”
Be Well.
Chris
Sep 29th, 2008
Suzy:)
Hi Skellie,
I found your post and blog by happenstance, but I think it had more of a divine aspect. What you’re writing about is exactly what I had come to realize over the past few months, after getting burned out from doing the so. networking scene, and realizing that I’m not a failure there’s hardly a response.
I had to decide to be true to myself, and write content that reflects who I am and my interests. I’m having a party for with me and my avatar, but I’m leaving the door open for anyone who wants to join in.
I’ve come to the conclusion, that it’s important for me to find passion in what I do in order to help me grow as a person and keep going with this blog. I hope people find my site serendipitously, like the way I found your site. That’s makes it more special and appreciated.
Thanks for this exquisite post. It touched my heart.
Suzy
Sep 29th, 2008
Ernst-Jan Pfauth
As a stats and subscriber addict, I’ll keep this post in mind. Thanks.
Sep 29th, 2008
Rich
Great advice Skellie!! Thanks!!
Sep 29th, 2008
Frank
Great stuff Skellie,
I really am enjoying your longer, analytical posts. I hope you are also finding them satisfying.
As an Aussie, I would love to know the name of the band you ran the fan site for (all those years ago!!)
Hope all is well and you are travelling along your chosen path!
Frankl
Sep 29th, 2008
Fatma
this post was just what I needed,
thank you very much for sharing,
Sep 29th, 2008
warm
that was a slap in my face eye-opener. i really really need to be back in that feeling of nothing else matters but just to put my real self on the net and just because of the stats. Thanks. I think, i need to drop my current blog now, and will make a new one out of passion.
Sep 29th, 2008
Jo
Skellie,
I think you’ve nailed it with this post. I’ve been following your blog for a long time and I think this is the essence of why your blog is different from the multitude of blogs in this niche. Your content always has a fresh perspective, is well thought-out and deep. In short: it shows that it’s a work of devotion.
Interestingly enough, the comments indicate that many readers here are following the get-rich-quick-and-easy dream. They DO benefit from your ideas, but they often fail to make it or maintain it. The reasons for that are laid out plain and simple in your brilliant post here.
I realized a long time ago that I’m writing our blog at least as much for myself as for anyone else. Comments and subscriber numbers are a nice touch (and feel like a reward for the hard work), but in the end, the content has to satisfy me and my standards.
I fully agree with you when you put pride of your own work as the highest priority in creating web content.
Jo
Sep 30th, 2008
Alex Beltechi
I quote: “Think back to the last time you stumbled across a blog and thought: Wow, I’m so glad I found this!”
you basically quoted my thoughts upon finding this blog
it’s a great site, and quite frankly i don’t understand how you manage to run so many things…. keep up your great work!
Oct 1st, 2008
HIB
This is a well timed post for me. I’m actually going through some of these beginner blogger growing pains. I have in the past, checked my stats counter every half hour. I’m not sure why. I guess I wanted validation that I was doing a good job. I have made a conscious effort to only check it once or twice a day. I hope that I can get to where I check it once a week or once a month because it really doesn’t help me in the long run as pointed out in this post. I’ve also added tons of people on twitter and stumble upon and have seen significant spikes, but I’ve also cut back on that. I need to get back to why I started my blog. I started my blog to be used as a tool to help me achieve my goals. I need to focus on my goals, my interests, and write about my journey to completing these goals.
Great post!
-HIB
Oct 1st, 2008
Laura
Love the post Skellie! I adjusted my writing based on comments, not stats. I find that the stats are slowly following.
Oct 1st, 2008
Good Vibe Coach
“You are your own target audience.”
I love it!
Thanks, Skellie. So much to think about here!
I’m really grateful that this post has helped save me from the slipperly slope of writing for SEO. Also loved Ankesh’s comment:
“… build a small community and thousands will want to join. Always act like you’re catering to a smaller audience. Don’t try to be everything for everybody. Thats the secret. Become indispensable (for a small set of folks). And fame will follow.”
Great post and comments. Thanks again, Skellie!
Jeannette
Oct 2nd, 2008
usagijen
aww, this reminds me of a recurring problem I’ve had in blogging before… that is, until I finally found the answer to this trivial problem, like you. Rilke’s voice allowed me to gain this epiphany, and inspired me to write this post tackling my very own blogging dilemmas. But of course your post adds a whole lot to my still inexperienced writing…
thank you for the brilliant insights, and for being such a great blogging inspiration ^^
Oct 3rd, 2008
Jesse Hines
“We try to hoard more subscribers, more daily traffic, more Twitter followers, more AdSense clicks, more Digg fans and more comments.”
And far too rarely do we sit down and ask ourselves, “Why?”
If it’s all for the popularity rush and ego-boost, I suppose it’s fine–although, that’s got to get boring after awhile.
But if we blog for business, a lot of the aforementioned stuff often doesn’t matter.
Oct 6th, 2008
Arusbait
Seriously, this is the best advice i ever read about blogging. Thank you.
Oct 7th, 2008
joshuachay
It couldn’t come at a more perfect time for me. Recently moved from blogging at blogspot for 2 years to a hosted wordpress blog. And am more disillusioned than ever. I’ve been caring too much about stats and acceptance that I feel tired.
But your post is encouraging and validates a lot of feelings I’ve been having. Thanks!
Oct 11th, 2008
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