Bloggers who have any of their posts set to public have something to say that they want others to know about. Recipes, decorating, book reviews, landscaping, fashion, entertainment news, relationships or sex, these are topics that may be important to you.Social Media has conditioned us to friend, tweet, follow or connect via many outlets. As bloggers we torture ourselves by paying attention to the numbers, while promising ourselves it's not all that important. It's also entirely possible that non-bloggers think about things like this too.
We spend a great portion of our day pinning, liking, viewing or sharing, in addition to coming up with daily content that's interesting. We wonder if we've said the right thing, obsess on whether the things that are supposed to be funny actually are, have nightmares about what happened to the subscriber we lost, and if people really care about us.
Do numbers reflect those feelings? Some of us may have 2000 followers on Pinterest, 9 on Facebook and 852 subscribers. Many may have 323,000 views , yet only 72 actual followers. The list goes on and on, but what does it all really mean?
Let's be honest. If we had only 10 views or 5 followers or 10 friends, wouldn't that just be the pits and hurt like the dickens?
Can any of these numbers actually translate into income? Do these statistics drive whether you continue to spend hours every day blogging about the things that you love? Does it matter to other people who are looking at your blog? Do you help other bloggers to meet their goals?
The only number I really look at on my blog at the daily page views. I remember back when I first started I would get excited if I saw 5 views a day. lol Now I get somewhere between 300-500 views a day and I get really excited when a blog post does really well and has a lot of comments on it.
ReplyDeleteWow! That's pretty amazing Mary! What a difference a few years makes. Those comments do help, right? hugs...
DeleteI think daily views and interaction are the most important. For bloggers in the beginning those numbers are important to receive ARCs but anyone who blogs long term does it because they are passionate. While I make funds on ads, it covers my hosting costs, etc but blogging particularly for book reviews isn't really an income maker.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you had to have specific numbers to receive ARC. That's interesting. Those book reviews are fun and important for us readers. Hugs...
DeleteIf you're looking for income, then I think subscribers (EMAIL subscribers) are the most important. That's pretty commonly believed if you're looking to earn money. That's because email subscriptions are the best way to guarantee that your message gets seen by someone. People check their email. But they may not log in to Twitter, Feedly, Bloglovin', or whatever.
ReplyDeleteSo if you're looking for loyal readers that you can convert into buyers at some point, email subscriptions are what you want.
If you have zero interest in making money, then I think INTERACTION (like blog comments) are the most important because that's the one you'll see feedback from.
If you have 1,000 page views per day but 0 comments, you're still going to feel like you're blogging alone.
But if you get 10 page views per day and 10 comments, you're going to feel like you're actually talking to someone and that's the thing that will keep you motivated!
Hey There Ashley, this is very valuable and appreciated info, and totally makes sense! Thanks so much for stopping by to say hello. BIG Hugs...
DeleteI think interaction is the most important. I love comments and interacting with people. Obviously the statistics matter but the times I really started to focus on that and trying to get those to increase I kind of lost the fun. I'd rather have okay page vies and followers but great commentors than super high stats. This is such funny timing! I just kind of had this discussion with my self when I was evaluating what direction I really wanted my blog to go in.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I totally enjoy the interaction and I've had a blast meeting new friends. Looks like great minds are thinking alike, huh Katherine? (lol) Hugs and thanks for stopping by!
DeleteThere are a LOT of writers, editors, and agents on Twitter...and once you're published, you end up in this community that you pretty much have to participate in. I've seen authors admit at conferences that they aren't on Twitter and everyone pounces on them. "You HAVE to get on Twitter, even if you don't do any other social media!" Talk about peer pressure!
ReplyDeleteGoodness Stephanie, that's really interesting and amazing and i agree, that sounds like some tremendous pressure in addition to the stress of actually writing on a daily basis to get a novel completed. Thanks for that tidbit. I have a Twitter account, but have to admit I'm on it maybe once a month, but may need to bump that up. Hugs...
Deletegreat post! thanks!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your support Angela! You're awesome! Hugs...
DeleteBlog interaction is important to me. So I don't care if my page views are only of those who visits me everyday.
ReplyDeleteI agree Joy that the interaction is important. I like meeting new friends and getting valuable feedback. Hugs...
DeleteI'm with Joy, I prefer blog interaction although having healthy page views is a good thing too. It's validating to know that at least one person felt strongly enough (or comment thirsty enough LOL) to read my post and leave a comment.
ReplyDeleteDitto Braine. Meeting new bloggers and getting good feedback can be fun and valuable. Hugs...
DeleteIt can all mess with your head. I pay attention to interactions. Unless you use google analytics or similar views aren't accurate in Blogger (and are usually only about half of what Blogger says due to spammer clicks which is frustrating).
ReplyDeleteI don't pay much attention to views on the blog though that's important to publishers so every few months I update my average. I do pay attention to FB views and likes. That's my weakness. But it's also where I spend most of my fun time so I want to see things happening there but again usually more into having the interaction there too.
I definitely agree that interaction is important, because you meet new people, get valuable feedback, and it also solidifies that people are paying attention to what you're writing about. I don't have a Blog page like you do that's tied to the blog, but I do have a business page that I help market and I'm the same way. (lol) I look at those numbers fairly consistently to see what's working. Hugs...
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