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Are You Struggling Over a Small Readership?
How many people read your blog? 1,000? 500? 300? Maybe even just 100 readers or less. Those numbers might discourage you.
Just 100 readers. That’s nothing, you think. You look at the big blogs you admire, and with a low heart, you notice their reader stats so proudly displayed. They have thousands of daily readers showing up. They have the readership you dream of, the stats that make you envious.
Maybe those numbers make you feel small. You might wonder if you’re writing every day or two for nothing. You may feel like you’re wasting your time.
I’d like to turn that line of thinking on its head and give it a good ass-kicking. It’s time to put stats into perspective.
The Biggest Show in Town
Imagine you have tickets to a fantastic show – your favorite artist, too. It’s going to be huge – an extravaganza! The biggest thing to hit the region!
Have you ever been to a big rock star performance? I have. It’s crowded. It’s noisy and there’s no place to sit. You can’t see the stage well. So you stand uncomfortably and watch the big screens that show clips and bits of the most exciting parts of the show.
There are lights shining in your eyes. People around you are talking, and you can’t hear well over the background noise. Someone jostles you. It smells funny. It’s long. Your legs are tired. Maybe the weather isn’t the best, either – of course the show is outdoors.
Who could fit that many people in an auditorium?
When you leave at the end of the show, you’re glad to be out in the fresh air. It’s good to stretch your legs. Your ears are ringing from all the noise. You had a good time, sure! It was the biggest show in town – amazing!
Really? I don’t think so.
Biggest Isn’t Always Best
Now imagine a different show. It’s smaller – in your home town. In fact, the performer about to take the stage is you.
So you walk out on stage. The lighting is basic. There aren’t any big screens. There aren’t many seats in the auditorium, either. Your show isn’t at rockstar levels, and you wonder if anyone is going to show up.
You take a deep breath, and the curtains open.
Look out at the auditorium. It’s small, but the seats are full. Expectant faces look back at you. Everyone is seated comfortably and they’re waiting for your performance. The sound is good, there’s not much noise, and when you begin your show, you manage to reach every single person in that audience.
Up close and personal, too. Now that’s a show I like to attend.
Small Stats Make for Big Audiences
Recently, I attended a performance just like that – a small show in a small town. The auditorium seated about 200 people, tops.
It was full. Not only full, but it was packed for three nights in a row. The show was a resounding success, and everyone who came was very pleased.
I did a bit of math after watching that performance. Nearly 600 people saw that show, in fact – and that show only happens once a year.
I thought about all the small blogs out there, the new bloggers struggling for bigger numbers. Then I wondered if they knew how great their stats were already.
If you have only 100 subscribers showing up at your blog to read what you’ve posted, you are reaching 100 people not just once, but 365 days a year. That’s not counting the new readers that happen to stumble upon your blog, either.
365 days a year, these people come to see your performance. They take time out of their day, every day, to come read what you’ve written. Each post you write draws people to your stage, and readers come to enjoy your performance.
Do brand-new musicians hitting the stage fill the seats of their auditorium like that? Do the research. Do the math. They play for a handful of friends on weekends for a long time before even starting to hit the small local bars on weekends.
Even then, those small local bars and Saturday night shows don’t give them 100 daily fans. It takes them a long time to reach people every single day. They may never make it.
Guess what? You already have.
Help spread the word!
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@ James – Shouldn’t that be out of the ‘brickwork’? LOL!
Melinda´s last blog post…Do You Have Permission to Market?
Um… no? Not in Canada, anyways.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/come+out+of+the+woodwork
I was referring to the brickwork background on this site. Instead of lurking Christopher has come out from the BRICKWORK and posted! LOL!
Hi. I have only started my blog last Monday so I’m not expecting many readers or any for that matter yet. All I’m doing at the moment is posting a link to it whenever I can and see wherever that helps.
I have a question how long did it take for you guys to find a layout that you felt suited your blog?. As I have changed mine about 5 times now but I think I have found one that suits my blog.
Keep up the great work on this website you guys!
Pandora Moon´s last blog ..The Fact On Jehovah’s Witnesses
@ Pandora – We’ve changed three times in all in three years. But, we tend to put a lot of thinking into site layouts before we make changes, which means we end up making less changes over the long term.
Good luck with your blog!
Thanks for answering my question James. Good tip on thinking about the layout before putting it on the site I should keep that in mind myself.
Oh and cheers for the good luck I’m defiantly going to need that
Pandora Moon´s last blog ..Observations On The Bible Genesis 4-6
I have found a focus for my blog the only problem was that the name Hotch Potch didn’t fit it. So I moved to wordpress and picked a more suitable name for my blog.
I just figured it would be best if I left a link to my newly named Heavenly Demonic blog.
Pandora Moon´s last blog ..The 10 Most Important Things You Can Say to a Jehovah’s Witness
As long as I know there are 2 kind of visitors. new and repeat. New visitors come from search engine. repeat could be from subscriber or maybe also search engine.
The first strategy we should do is how to invite someone from search engine. then we need to search engine optimization our article. If we already having visitor from search engine. some of them will like your article, some of them are not. Some of the people like you story will subsribe.
This is I think the cycle of blogging business.
Ruri@Free article directory´s last blog ..Top Ten Ways To Sabotage Your Own Audition
Sorry I missed this post…would have saved me some frustration this year
Nathan Hangen´s last blog ..Chris Brogan’s 2009 Blogworld Expo Keynote
@ Nathan – Kelly wrote the whole thing out, by hand, in gold and blue ink, and I have it pinned to my wall. It’s the only post that makes me smile and think of everyone out there I’m trying to reach, every day.
And that’s why I keep it right where I can see it all the time.
Nathan
(pssst. You commented way up above. Spotted your adorable gravatar up there. hehehehehe)
James,
I think you’ve put a tear in my eye about three times at Men With Pens, and I’m a hard lady to crack. This was one of them. From your heart to your readers’ hopes and fears.
Worth twice as much gold ink as I used for it, darlin’.
Until later,
Kelly
Kelly´s last blog ..Imagine You Needed To Kick Ass, Starting Today
Thanks James for the encouragement regarding small numbers, I have at present, according to the stats, 25 daily readers. I need to cater for them and look after them as if it was 25 hundred, by posting regularly and by being as honest and writing with integrity. Thanks for the reminder.
JimmyKellyart´s last blog ..Oct 25, Bistro New painting
@ Jimmy – You’re very welcome. I started out with just one or two readers, and nurtured those relationships well. It’s done right by me, and I think it’ll do right by you too.
I have about 700-900 daily visitors. Is it considered good? I agree, “Small start, Slow growth is key to eventual success, if you persist.”
Chris´s last blog ..Persecuted for Righteousness: Beatitudes Bible Study Series – Part 8 of 8
very inspirational wordings to a new blogger like me .. I’m loving it .. thank you so much .. it has made some magic in me .. the each n every point mentioned in your post, I can imagine that in my life and blogging carrier .. thankyou !
srivathsan.GK´s last blog ..Videos of Google Chromium OS Event Launch
Size doesn’t always matter but the quality does. It’s better to have a few readers who follow you daily rather than having 1000 users who just come and go. If you have 100 users for example you can communicate more easily and offer them exactly what they want, while having 1000 readers makes almost impossible to find out what everybody wants and is less probable that they will stay.