Today, we’re going to talk about why you should avoid becoming a Blog Monitor.
Trust me, you do NOT want to be one.
Be a blog ninja instead.
Stay in hiding for a bit, get the hang of things, and then when you’re ready, pop out and you’ll shine as a blogger.
Trust me, I’ve been a BM before, and it is a horrible existence. It sucks the desire to write – right out of you.
The words just fly away.
It is way better to spend time creating instead of watching the moment by moment daily stats. (Don’t be a BM who spends time thinking…oh, my, only 15 views so far today, just wait, once I hit publish on this one…boy will the stats climb…just wait and see…)
That route gets you sidetracked (maybe I should check again, to double-check that the post was really published), depressed (I checked, yes it was, maybe it’s too early, yeah, that’s it, no one else is up yet, I’ll check back in a few minutes), and OBSESSED or DESPERATE (Why isn’t anyone reading my post…maybe I could read it, then it would look like at least someone read it, yeah…open a new explorer tab, find my blog, read the post, and then go back to check stats…yep, 1 reader for the day…yikes…I need to get a new life!) with how poorly your blog stats are doing.
You’re in practice mode, so don’t watch your stats, especially when you’re starting out.
Why?
Because the reality check is that at the beginning of a blogging career – It.Is.Tough. And it is lonely. Stats move very…very…very…slowly.
It is never rarely you, the blog writer, that is the problem – it is always the bazillion (yeah, I made the number up, but seriously, there are A LOT of other blogs out there to compete with yours) other blogs available to be read that create odds you’ll end up being invisible. That will get you feeling down. If you pay attention to stats, that is!
Be a blog ninja instead. One that is practicing the art of blog writing.
As you can see above, I’m in my 3rd year of writing blog posts. I was (am) devoted, always mostly sometimes creative, down-right honest, and yet, there are many a post I wrote never seen or read by anyone other than me (or my kids).
I practiced being a blog writer A LOT! I was a ninja in hiding and fighting my own fears and had serious gremlins taunting me! It felt incredibly lonely being a newbie blogger.
Wait…did you notice it, too? Holy crap…!
Something appeared out of nowhere and changed my blog (stats) existence…what was it?
What did I do differently to all of a sudden get others to notice my blog?
Hmm…looking at the daily stats…it appears to be a few different things. Crap…no real pattern, other than not a day went by without someone reading my blog.
(Jeez…cut me some slack…yeah, I confess, once I started to dig into the stats, I’m intrigued to see if my hunches are true, or at least worthy of sharing with you!)
The secret ninja moved quietly at first, practiced the art of writing, found it was human connections that mattered more, and then suddenly broke free from hiding and was finally NOTICED.
What did the ninja blogger in me do differently than the blog monitor in me? What do the yearly stats tell me is the secret to getting noticed? (Big deep breath…let out the sigh…go ahead, don’t be embarrassed by the facts…share them…! Okay, since you’re making me…)
The ninja blogger in me became a blogging friend. Then, and only then, did my blog stats start to rise and shine.
The simple trick is to remember that we are humans, we crave human connection. The secret is – we don’t like to hide forever, we like to chat and interact.
When we venture out from the hiding we’re doing solely on our own blogs, our blogging life changes. When we say “Hi” to other bloggers, when we share quality feedback, and when we respond in kind if they read or follow our blogs, it helps to build a following.
It is way more fun to chat, than it is to watch a stat! – Blogging Ninja
Together with those new friends, we create an alliance! We are able to fight off the battles of loneliness and all those gremlins telling us we’re not good enough to be bloggers! Then the challenges of blogging are doable and worthy to fight.
The added bonus is, (to all the time we spent in writing practice leading up to those moments of chatting with blogging friends), it makes every post we write, a sweet treat to write!!
Post inspiration – #MyBlogMyWritingStyle 30-Day Blogging Challenge (rules here) the word of the day – Monitor, and the question of the day – “Do you monitor or do you ignore your stats?”
PS – Do you watch your stats? Have you found a great secret to share on why you shouldn’t monitor your stats?
I look at it this way: practice the art of story telling. 🙂
I used to do this whole stats monitoring thing back with my first two blogs. With this blog, not really. I don’t have time…when I empty my brain and hit publish, seventeenmillion things need doing so I go away and do one or two of them and by the time I get back to the blog I have new stuff occupying me brain which needs writing down so…
Sometimes I check. I mean, that’s only natural. But what I prefer spending time on is reading other blogs, or comments to a topic on their blog that interests me. The dialogue in the community is more enticing to me than some stats on my own blog.
Does this make sense?
Absolutely – your approach makes perfect sense! Thank you for sharing your insights about the path you’ve taken as a blogger and a super mom!
I find my stats go up when I faithfully get involved in photo challenges. I love photography and I feel very proud and humbled when professionals comment and like my photos.
That is great that you’ve found a path that is rewarding in many ways! I like the photography challenges, too. And those Halloween decorations you’ve got going on are so cool!
thanks!! Halloween is my jam
You rock it, that’s for sure!
Oooh…gonna have to check out your Halloween stuff. I have a Halloween obsessed 10yo here…🙃
Oh sweet pie … I miss you! Thanks Ms Shelley … g
LOL – you’re such a sweet tooth, aren’t you!? You’re welcome for the calorie and sugar-free photo! 😉
So now I want some pie. Sigh. 🙂
You have a really good point about stats watching. It can be craziness. Best not to do it. And easier said than done!!
The human connection…I absolutely agree. Since I started blogging, I have wondered…why do so many people do this? Besides just wanting to write – or sell something. That is the conclusion I came to as well.
As always, I enjoyed your post.
You’re welcome – it was an extremely tasty piece of pie! Yes – you’re right on target – connection is the key! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and for your feedback – I so appreciate it!!
Love some of that pie please!
It is heavenly…I might just have to visit that cafe again when I’m in Middleton in October…the photo version is calorie free, but not quite as mouth-watering! 🙂
Great write Shelley.
Thank you!!!
You are welcome.
I think I pay closer attention to which posts are getting more attention than others than to how many people appear to be reading my blog. I know that the numbers are inflated by the various bots that are scouring the Internet for a convenient place to dump a load of spam. I’m also cautious about how many people are “following” my blog, because many of them follow so that I’ll follow them back, then stop following me. In fact, I don’t follow people through WordPress: I subscribe to their RSS feed on Feedly, and only if I think I’ll be interested in what they have to say. Often I follow the people I’ve encountered in blog hops and the people who have bothered to comment. It seems to work for me…
Great tips, John, you must be a programmer of sorts? ;-)! I don’t understand the RSS thing, but I do offer it, my kid told me I needed to! I have so much to learn, and am thankful for wise bloggers such as yourself to share advice! Thank you!!
I can still toss code together like I know what I’m doing.
RSS is Real Simple Syndication. Every time you publish something to your blog, a copy of it is sent to the feed readers (also called news aggregators), which then present all or part of it to the subscriber and provide a way to link to the original article. Wikipedia has a pretty good article on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS
I bet you can!! And I can count on you for excellent guidance and the links to support your tips, you’re so great at that, thank you!!!
I too need RSS education. 😊
I think bazillion is a word…like gazillion or gargantuan. It is a creative license for writers. Eventually there will be enough people who us it then it winds up in a dictionary. A creator of fine words…that’s what we are, LOL. I do look at my stats but in a different manner than most. I find it interesting and exciting as to the countries around the world that read my post that day. Who would have though that someone in Madagascar would like a post that I created about smiling. Wow. I think that is what the fun part of blogging is, not the quantity but the connection across the world. Fascinating.
LOL – thank you for the creative permissions!! That is a cool part of stats – it is amazing to find people across the world! I remember once noticing a country I had never even heard of, that was so fascinating as you described it. You’re on the right track to look at the stats in that way!! That was a great post you shared about stats – https://anitashope.com/2018/09/27/continue-to-rise-when-you-fall/!
Another really inspiring post. It is so easy to get distracted with the “stats” instead of creating quality contact and as you mention, interacting. I think interaction with others is the big way we can grow as bloggers.
Thank you, Lesley! Interacting is the fun part of this world, that’s for sure! Thank you for sharing your feedback, I appreciate it!!