SO AMAZING!
It’s hard to believe, and I owe it all to you. Yes, you:
I checked my WordPress stats, and was elated to find:
- 3,000 followers
- 65,000 views
- 610 posts
- 5,000 comments
- 170 countries
- 159 search terms (today)
- 699 posts in the self-publishing category
- 11 clicks to Amazon and 8 clicks to KDP.Amazon (today)
- and many other wonderful numbers
Technically, I have 3,492 followers, although I only have 3,029 WordPress followers.
You see, there is a little secret: Your Facebook and Twitter followers, if you associate these accounts to your WordPress blog, count as part of your following.
I was late to the social media game, so most of my followers are at WordPress. My 106 Facebook author page likes and 357 Twitter followers are the reason WordPress advertises that I have 3,492 followers on my blog site.
I’m glad to see that WordPress displays the actual number of site views on my webpage with the corresponding widget. (I tried another website once and it actually ASKED me what I wanted the initial number of views to be. Well, I guess we can’t believe everything we read on the internet…)
NOT THE WAY IT STARTED
The following graph tells the story:
The first year was ZILCH.
The second year saw a little activity.
It started out really slow, like virtually all other blogs.
Think you had a rough start? Mine may have been even rougher:
- I registered for WordPress and made my “Hello, World” post on May 8, 2011.
- To date, that post still has 0 likes and 0 comments. It had just a few views. Ever. Even now.
- I made my second post on December 14, 2012—a year and a half later.
- My second post has 5 likes, but at least it generated some views at the time.
I went 1.5 years without a single Like. Yep, it was a slow start.
I dipped my toe in the WordPress water in 2011, and came back with an actual plan at the end of 2012.
What was my plan?
- Provide free help to other authors and self-publishers.
- Motivate and encourage other authors.
- Become effective at marketing and serve as an example to other authors that it’s possible to embrace this and do it effectively.
- Enjoy writing articles on my blog and have fun with it.
The best parts were unexpected:
- The interaction here at WordPress is amazing.
- The community here at WordPress is incredible.
- I never expected to make such wonderful connections.
- I have come to love writing for my blog even more than writing books. (Shh.) (Don’t worry. I’ll keep writing books, too.)
Blogging can start out exceptionally s-l-o-w. But it has much potential to accelerate.
Don’t focus on your numbers now. See if you can grow your numbers over time. Play the long game.
If you can grow your numbers over time, your blog has much potential.
Likes and follows are absolutely wonderful, but there is another number you need to focus on.
How many visitors come to your website per day, on average, via search engines?
I had 375 views today. 243 of those are from search engines.
In the early days (2013), I just had a few views per day, a few likes per post, a few followers. But a couple of my posts were generating traffic through search engines.
My search engine stats steadily grew. Still, as you can see in the graph above, it started very slow and took much time to grow.
If you can get any search engine traffic and gradually build on this number, you have much potential to transform your blog into a content-rich website.
Your blog has three goals when it comes to marketing. Likes and follows only relate to two of those goals.
- The people you interact with regularly often support your posts with likes and comments. The support is amazing, and this interaction makes your blog feel lively. But don’t sweat it in the early days of your blog when you aren’t getting much interaction. This will come, especially depending on you—make valuable contributions to the community.
- Your followers include active followers and ghosts. It can be demoralizing to realize this. Your following is less than you’d like, and only a fraction of that is active. But don’t let that bother you. It’s growing, so it has much potential. Your following helps to support you when you release a new book. Perhaps not through sales, but perhaps through reblogs and branding.
- Search engine traffic can net you the most sales of all. If you get 100’s of visitors per day from your target audience exploring content on your website, these are people who didn’t already know about your book(s) with whom you are suddenly getting exposure.
Blogging is hard work, but it’s fun.
Blogging starts out very slow, but can become an effective content-rich website over time.
Blogging is amazing because of the WordPress community.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH, EVERYONE. That means you, too. Yes, you.
If you haven’t yet reached as many views and followers as I have, I hope you get there soon. You will. Don’t give up.
And if you’ve reached many more views and followers than I have, wow. That’s amazing! congratulations! Way to go!
No matter what, YOU are wonderful. Thank you for being part of WordPress.
Read Tuesday
Imagine a Black Friday type of event just for book lovers.
You don’t have to imagine it. It’s called Read Tuesday, and it’s free: www.readtuesday.com.
Please support the Read Tuesday Thunderclap. This will help spread awareness on the morning of Read Tuesday (December 9, 2014). It’s easy to help:
- Visit http://thndr.it/1CkO2Bg.
- Click Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr and sign in.
- Customize the message. (Optional.)
- Agree to the terms. All that will happen is that the Thunderclap post about Read Tuesday will go out the morning of December 9.
- (The warning message simply means that Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr need your permission to post the Thunderclap message on December 9. This is the only post that Thunderclap will make.)
Halloween Reading
Looking for some spooky books to read this Halloween month?
https://chrismcmullen.wordpress.com/scary-books
Chris McMullen
Copyright © 2014 Chris McMullen, Author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers
- Volume 1 on formatting and publishing
- Volume 2 on marketability and marketing
- Boxed set (of 4 books) now available for Kindle pre-order
Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.
Comments
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chrismcmullen 
Congratulations! And thanks for all the tips and inspiration 🙂
Thank you. Good luck with your blog. 🙂
There’s hope? Lol
I’d have thought the same thing about 1.5 years ago. Your blog will grow, too. Just add water, sunshine, and love. 🙂
Congrats. Awesome numbers.
Thank you. Funny how much writers can appreciate numbers. 🙂 Looks like you deserve just as much congratulations for awesome numbers, by the way.
I actually haven’t looked at mine in months. I glance at that chart thing at the top, so I have no idea what the specifics are.
Much wisdom in that. 🙂
Congrats. I like stats, so I’m often watching my blog numbers, mainly because it’s interesting. And I noticed you’re a physics instructor. I have a degree in physics and astronomy.
Thank you. Yes, I teach physics. 🙂 Occasionally, intro astronomy, too.
I teach, too, but not physics. I’m actually teaching English.
That would be a fun course to teach, but I think I would do it with way too much math. 🙂
Haha. Well, I teach English in Japan, so it’s not exactly a course, but I teach a variety of ages and levels both conversational and business English. And kids, too.
Reblogged this on theowlladyblog.
Congrats Chris! This is so wonderful! @v@ ❤
Thank you. 🙂 I’m sure I owe you a little credit through your reblogs.
Congratulations and what amazing news!!
Thank you. Hoping for good news for you, too. 🙂
CONGRATULATIONS CHRIS 😀
Thank you, Chris. 🙂 No doubt, all your support has been responsible for much of this.
I hope so Chris 😀
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog….. An Author Promotions Enterprise! and commented:
AUTHORS – Chris McMullen posts GREAT articles that I sometimes re-blog – why not call over to his blog, follow and not miss ANY of them – RECOMMENDED 😀
Thank you, Chris. 🙂
Well done, Chris! But you provide some excellent posts, especially when it comes to helping techno-thickies, like me! Keep up the good work.
Thank you. 🙂 I like the idea behind your header.
Woo Hooooooo. Congratulations. I know. slow start but look at you now. ⭐ ⭐
Thank you. 🙂 The quickest road from START to STAR is just do drop the ‘T.’ Hehe. If I’m up there, it looks like you’re in the ranks of ‘stardom,’ too. 🙂
Congratulations!
Thank you. 🙂 Hope you have some good news, too.
CHRIS, WELL DESERVED!!! As I say, PERSEVERENCE brings rewards.
Thank you. 🙂 May your own perseverance reap nice rewards for you, too.
You put out great information, Chris. I’m still reading your How To Self-Publish A Book on Amazon.com. Great info on using newer versions of WORD
Thank you. 🙂 And thank you also for reading my book. Looks like some congratulations are also in order for you and your blog. Good luck with your books.
Just had to add in my congrats too, Chris! I don’t remember how I found your blog but it’s one of my top favorites! You always have such wonderful advice and guests! Thank you for all the time and love you put into it every day!
Thank you for the kind words. I think you hit on the magic formula—”put love into it every day.” 🙂
Cool beans
Thank you. 🙂 Hope you have a plate of these coming soon, too.
Congratulations! Your post is certainly encouraging.
Thank you. 🙂 I hope the encouragement helps, and I hope you have some good news, too.
I haven’t quite reached your stats yet 🙂
Congrats – great work always rises to the top – thanks for all the help and info.
Thank you. 🙂 That’s a belief I will cling to, as the alternative doesn’t provide much comfort; this belief is also a good motivator. I hope your work is rising, too. 🙂
Fantastic, many, many congratulations to you Chris, this is wonderful and all your hard work has paid off big time, long may it rein 🙂 My blog was very slow at first but picked up last summer and has grown ever since. I absolutely adore my community (and btw I didn’t know that WP links followers from FB and Twitter- I have a FB page, recently started with 59 likes so far but not on Twitter….yet!…so thanks for that info), never expecting to gain so many amazing blogging friends. It’s so interesting to read about other search engines. I write about Asperger’s Syndrome from time to time on my blog (my daughter has Asperger’s) and one post in particular that I wrote one year ago gets hits every single day and is my most viewed post to this day but this is not reflected in the correlating number of likes or comments on that post. So I know others ‘out there’ are reading it. Some drop in from time to comment and share their experiences. I can’t say enough what this means to me, not in the numbers or stats, but in the fact that something in that post resonates with others experiencing the same challenges. This gives me hope that I am on the right path. It is so wonderful isn’t it to know that in the sharing of our writing, or ourselves, we are all supporting one another so generously as well as reaching out into the wider community? And your generosity has paid off in dividends 🙂
Thank you. 🙂 It does look like you’re headed along the right path. It’s a great feeling to see an old post getting views every day, especially since much of the posts that we write become a “diary of unread blogs” of sorts. Interacting with blog friends, attracting traffic through search engines to old posts, and seeing your blog grow are all great signs that this is worthwhile and has much potential. I hope your blog keeps growing. 🙂
Thanks so much Chris, I really appreciate it 🙂
Congrats on your well-deserved success! 🙂
Thank you. 🙂 May there be some headed your way, too.
Congratulations! And thanks for the inspiring post!
Thank you. 🙂 That was my goal.