Getting Past the Numbers Game
A successful blog must have a high number of visitors each day. A successful blog must have consistent, quality content. A successful blog must have a strong design that keeps the visitors around and brings them back. And a successful freelance writer MUST have a successful blog.
My journey as a writer began long before the internet was in every household, but it has only been in the last few years that the internet has enabled my writing to begin to take off. The problem for me lies in the fact that I began to trust the internet over all else.
Each morning started out with me reviewing my stats on two different sites. Every few weeks I would run my website addresses through page rank software to see how they had improved. My goal was to drive my page rank up high to pull in advertisers.
This month I stopped.
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I stopped thinking about the advice of the internet experts.
I stopped focusing on the numbers.
I stopped writing content for content’s sake.
I stopped visiting sites in the hopes of having those sites visit me.
April began a new season in my writing and speaking career. The focus has moved to the words again. Yes, I do still want to drive my numbers up but I do not want the numbers to be the motivation.
Getting Past the Stats
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1. Create content worth reading. Above all else, give visitors something of value for the time spent at the website because more time can ever be earned to replace it.
2. Listen to the readers. Many of the people that stop into my websites do not have the time to read something EVERY SINGLE DAY. And posting every day puts them “behind.” Better for me to provide strong content once a week than to overwhelm the loyal readers.
3. Rely on word of mouth. Building relationships with the readers to my website, on other blogs and forums, and even in the different social networks will to more to build my own website than all of the tips, suggestions and plans the experts can think or imagine.
4. Let it go. There have been a dozen websites that have been created with the simple idea of monetizing. I wanted to provide interesting content, but ultimately I was seeking a paycheck. Pursuing the things that drive my passion is more important to building the successful writing and speaking career that I desire.
I want to make money as a writer and a speaker. Most people want to make money doing the things that they love. The truth is that as I provide things of value then the value starts to come in. My new journey will not be driven by the figures of an algorithm.
Thank you, Karen. You have given me permission to relax 🙂
Good post, Kathryn. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I needed to hear this; I have been feeling a bit swamped with keeping up with my blog and everything related. Have a good weekend. 🙂
[…] The Best Reason to Write, focused on the path I had been taking and was now taking in my journey to become a successful writer and speaker. The new journey has been on my heart for several […]
Its easy to get sidetracked by statistics. Especially when those statistics can be attached to a dollar sign. I want to write for a living, so I was focusing on how to make the sale. That wasn’t my original motivation for writing my book. My original motivation was God. He had a message He wanted me to spread in an unusual way. I have let the dollar sign distract me from my goals and I am now having to find my way back to Him. Its not about the sales, its about the message. The sales will come if He so desires it.