As I went for a walk this morning, I met someone who told me that her friend gave up blogging because they did not get 1000 people following their blog. Is a blog really worth it?
The fact that someone would give up blogging if they did not reach 1000 followers seems strange to me. I get concerned when numbers come up in conversations. It gets me wondering what the real purpose of the blog is.
Is blogging all about getting numbers or is it about sharing with others? As a business, I realized that it is important to attract people that like you and what you do. But is it really about attracting huge numbers? Or is it really about creating influence in the lives of those that connect with you.
Is numbers the only way to gauge the effectiveness of a blog? Does large numbers always indicate that your blog is successful? Can your blog be successful with fewer followers?
The reality is that most of us will start small and build more followers over time. The key, I believe, is that we build properly all along the way. What I mean by this is that we engage people in a meaningful way as they comment and interact with our blog. We should focus on building raving fans of our blog rather than on numbers only.
If you focus on the small things in your blog, the big things will be taken care of; all along the way. Make sure you enjoy your blog and try not to let it become only a tool. Give it life and let it be a powerful touch point with others. Life’s too short not to have fun all along the way. Have fun with your readers and then, see what happens. I bet you will be surprised. Don’t put a number to reach on your blog or else. Make those connections great along the way and you will create the impact you are looking for. Don’t give up because of numbers. Your thoughts add value to the online experience. So blog ON!
Silver Level Membership Tip:
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It makes real good SEO sense to make sure your blog is on your own domain and not on www.wordpress.com, for example. My blog brings lots of traffic to my www.alphacomputer.ca domain and this is good. So if you do not have a blog yet, and you are considering one, make sure you build it on your domain.
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Building a smaller community of users is more powerful then one thousand people that just view one page on your blog. So many people get lost in the idea of numbers when it comes to blogging and also social media. If you start to be consistent with your blog and offer various ways of content such as youtube videos, interviews, and article marketing using prweb then you will start to get the followers and interaction that you are looking for.
Blogging is absolutely about sharing information with others, and if you don’t have a large following, that doesn’t mean you’ll fail! Blogs are about engagement and conversation, and if you have a small following, but they are leaving comments and asking about more info, I say you’ve succeeded.
@Justicewordlaw Excellent comments, I absolutely agree with you. Also, thanks for the mention of PRWeb 🙂
@sacevero Your welcome I have used prweb before and enjoyed there services.
@Justicewordlaw youtube prweb I absolutely agree Justice and Stacey @sacevero The person I heard saying this was a influential business man overseas. I could not believe their motive… I am seeing that big business needs to think like small business, and make very person count. Thanks both of you for commenting here. I appreciate both of you taking the time from your busy schedules to be here. ~Jeff
@sacevero Your are so right Stacey. Blogging is so much more than numbers. I still find it hard to believe that so many don’t see this. ~Jeff
This is baffling to me. That’s like saying “if I don’t play with the San Francisco Symphony in a year then I’m going to quit playing flute!” Small steps are key, and lowered expectations, as well. Like @Justicewordlaw said, a smaller, invested community will almost always be better than 1,000 silent readers. Everything has to start small and build, and more often than not it’s a slow process. Too bad that we, as human beings, seem to be generally impatient… 🙂
@annedreshfield @Justicewordlaw This is so true about investing in the people that connect with you. Bigger is not always better. A strong smaller healthy community is always better than a big community of observers only. Business needs to move away from thinking about numbers and thinking about connecting with people in worthwhile ways. Mass advertising and throwing money at things is not always the best avenue for today’s market. Big business will eventually figure it out. Thanks Anne to the comment. ~Jeff
@Alpha_Computer youtube prweb @sacevero Yeah a lot of major companies really forget about the small person and trying to reach the person that could uplift your business in an entirely new matter. If more companies concentrated on that then they would see a better ROI with using social media.
@Justicewordlaw youtube prweb @sacevero I think big business will have to look at how they are looking after their current customers. They are already feeling the blunt of social media. I fear some will stick to their old business models and simply fade into the sunset.
@Alpha_Computer yeah some will fold especially after this year if they don’t get a true understanding of customer service using Twitter and also mobile devices as well.
@Justicewordlaw It’s scary to see how many do not see this as important. Ah well, here comes the rush when they all panic 🙂