(Typo fixed in title.)
Let me start this post with saying a lot of love and respect towards Pooja from the blog Lifesfinewhine. The reason why I am sharing this is due to a conversation I’ve had in the comment section of her blog post ‘How to grow your WordPress blog before 2023 ends.’ I really wish to be clear that if you intend to visit her blog, to please be kind and supportive to her. As well as the one I’ve had a conversation with, which is Devang Upadhyaya of the blog Fat Guy Workout. Consider visiting either of their blogs and showing them love.
So, let’s get to the point of this blog post, what’s my measure of succesful blogging? Is it views, likes, comments, followers? I would personally say not any of them.
The reason why I don’t think so is the fact that each of them don’t really say that much. I can go to another poetry blog and say “beautiful poem!” But what have I really said about the poem? Such a comment says nothing about the actual poem, as it is a very non-descriptive response. I don’t say what I like about the poem, which could be many things, depending on the person who reads it. That’s actually the beauty of art, it’s different to each which comes in contact with it.
Likes and followers on the other hand have the same problem each, which is that it takes a press of a button. It’s very similar to the problem of comments, you could easily just press the button and move on, never reading anything. That’s even the overlapping problem of all 4 of them, you don’t need to read for any of them.
When it comes to me, I even do some of these. I visit blogs but don’t end up reading everything. This happens among posts that are just rehashes of things that are spread anywhere. As an example, I can find a list of symptoms that show among my disorders anywhere on the web. If I would wish to know them, I wouldn’t visit a blog, but much rather a reputable source like the American CDC. So, if it is the blog of someone who I like, I scan the post for possible mistakes, and if none are there, I like and move onward. It’s not nice, but it is the truth. The only exception is if someone provides personal experiences, but that is becoming more and more rare among the blogosphere. It’s just plain copy and paste lists of symptoms.
Comments are a more difficult part to me. I skip commenting many times, but not without a reason. For one, I am not of the pleasantries. I am of the belief that if you post something, it is something you believe is good, otherwise you wouldn’t have posted it. My response only could be positive, so what is the point? You should already know your work is good without my confirmation. It’s maybe a bit anti-social, but it is my way of thinking.
That’s also my second point to it, as I am diagnosed with social pragmatic communication disorder. I tend to hide behind a shroud of acceptance, but I am still very embarrased about it. The common explanation of it is “autism without the behavioral issues,” but it is much rather autism without the behavioral issues and the social and communication issues being far worse. I am more on the level of my dad, who has selective mutism, than my brothers who are autistic. But this is not something that many will understand due to the many who choose to fake being autistic.
When I comment, I force myself to overcome severe difficulties. I am scared with every comment I make that it comes to backfire. This is even more the case when it has political connections, like my comments on The Skeptic’s Kaddish blog. I tend to dig myself only deeper and deeper when I come into social difficulties that I can’t handle, like fights. Luckily those are extremely rare for me, but it doesn’t change my deep fear with every comment. I choose to carefully comment, only on blogs of people I truly trust and like. Anyone who truly knows me, knows that if I made even 1 comment on their blog, it’s huge, unlike what most bloggers expect.
Even more so as the consequence of this are not even said yet. The fear, it interacts with one of my other conditions, my myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). It results in what is officially known as post-exertional malaise. My ME/CFS basically lets me collapse both physically and mentally following these kind of activities. My mind locks up and I am useless. I can no longer really think.
In regards to my blogging, it is the reason why I have had breaks in the past. It would not surprise me if I have the same after this blog post, so be prepared for the possibility. You could see it as being locked out of my brain, as this is in ways how it works. So writing poems, it becomes impossible.
This shouldn’t be a problem to blogging, as writing a blog should have just been that, writing and nothing more. But a lot of people have lost this sense long ago. Interactivity should have been important to those who matter to you, especially when they interact with your blog, but this shouldn’t become like work. You shouldn’t be forced just because people expect so. It’s like the 3 bloggers who interact most with my blog, which are I Am Brother Love, C L Couch, and the writer(s) of pk ???? MUNDO, mean the world to me. They truly do. But this doesn’t change when they don’t do so. They don’t matter to me for their interactions. They matter to me for giving me a good mood, the kindness that they show me, and just for who they are, as they show through their own blogs.
People have become so obsessed with interactions that they have lost the essence of why they blog. Numbers don’t matter as much as they think. And it’s not that I am saying that because I lack the number. I could just show this:
The reality of the matter is that people no longer understand that all of this shouldn’t matter. It should be about just 2 things:
- Enjoying the writing process
- Readers liking what you write
That’s it, all of it. A blog could have a single reader daily, no more than that. What does this matter if this makes both the writer and the reader happy? Bloggers have become so obsessed with the numbers that they are pushing the readers away. It’s like many bloggers no longer even understand that 90% of all readers will never press a like button, write a comment, or do any other interaction. They read and that is it.
My most loved blog that I read is actually even one which doesn’t have any like buttons, has comments fully disabled, has no social media attached to it, and is private to a select few. And the content? A daily message of inspiration and hope. Personal and heartwarming. Which to most bloggers would seem like the writer gets nothing in return, but that is not true. As the writer gets in return something that is worth more than all possible reasons that you could blog combined together, she knows that she helped others, like myself.
Which is the whole measure of succes of a blog. It’s about enjoying what you write and having someone who reads it. Nothing more than that. Which also means that I say that almost any blog is succesful. Think of it what you may. But if you have millions of followers, views, likes, comments, and even money coming in, but you dislike writing, could that really be called succesful blogging?
Sorry for me rambling on.
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Your struggles are indeed significant, and it’s admirable how you handle them. Your insights are accurate; life’s pursuits should stem from a genuine passion for what we do. Your blogging approach is truly successful, and I hope that positivity continues to flow into your life. Your poems never fail to captivate with their splendor.
Your struggles are indeed significant, and it’s admirable how you handle them. Your insights are accurate; life’s pursuits should stem from a genuine passion for what we do. Your blogging approach is truly successful, and I hope that positivity continues to flow into your life. Your poems never fail to captivate with their splendor.
❤️
Kasia, you’re right, but sadly you speaking this out will only make you an outcast to most bloggers. The self-obsessed nature is far too common. Claims of community, while getting angry when you don’t interact on a daily basis, no understanding of a person’s life. Your sidebar shows you have more views than blogs I have seen with 23 thousand followers and 100 likes average on a per post basis, even while they post daily. You say it doesn’t matter to you, but it does matter for comparison to others. Your blog thrives, the views show it. Just let those who are ignorant remain away, they are not worth your time and attention. Just keep being you, writing your lovely poems. You deserve to be proud of yourself.
I have noticed this, but I don’t know. I dislike the atmosphere among the blogosphere. I might remove the like feature from my blog, what would be your opinion? I will try to keep it up and thank you for your kindness and compliments.
Kasia, you’re right, but sadly you speaking this out will only make you an outcast to most bloggers. The self-obsessed nature is far too common. Claims of community, while getting angry when you don’t interact on a daily basis, no understanding of a person’s life. Your sidebar shows you have more views than blogs I have seen with 23 thousand followers and 100 likes average on a per post basis, even while they post daily. You say it doesn’t matter to you, but it does matter for comparison to others. Your blog thrives, the views show it. Just let those who are ignorant remain away, they are not worth your time and attention. Just keep being you, writing your lovely poems. You deserve to be proud of yourself.
I have noticed this, but I don’t know. I dislike the atmosphere among the blogosphere. I might remove the like feature from my blog, what would be your opinion? I will try to keep it up and thank you for your kindness and compliments.
Hey, thanks for the sweet shoutout at the start. I appreciate that. I read through your post, it’s well written and clear. And I agree with the two things you think are most important with blogging: “Enjoying the writing process” and “Readers liking what you write.” Those are both important to me too. But here’s the thing. Blogging was not created for just one purpose, people blog for a wide range of things and you will notice this from the very wide range of blog posts you will find on this platform. Perhaps to you the writing process and your readers thoughts are what is most important. But that is certainly not the case for everyone. Some people don’t even write on their blogs/sites. For some, their blog is associated with their business or store. For others, their blog revolves around photography. To some it’s like a diary. And to many, it’s a multi-niche space where they can do whatever they want. Like you have your priorities when blogging, they have their own too. Since we are all different, we do things for different reasons and that’s okay. I don’t think there is a wrong way to blog as long as you’re doing what you would like to with your own blog. A lot of people find the stats an important part of blogging because they are hoping to earn money through blogging or already earn money from their blog. Something many people including myself do. And I don’t mean money off the ads. I mean blogging as a full time career. And for those of us that do blog for a living, even though we still enjoy blogging, stats are important too. And again, that’s okay because we can focus on multiple things at once. It doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy the writing/content creation part. I still very much love it. So maybe to those who are only here to have a creative outlet or a place to share their writing, stats should not matter much. But to others who have different goals, stats do matter and that’s fine too. It’s okay to have different goals and blog according to your goals for your post. Blogging is not as black and white as you may think. In fact, most bloggers are in the grey area.
Again, really interesting post. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the topic and sorry for the long comment. It’s just I’ve been blogging for almost a decade now and your topic was something I have a lot of thoughts on.
Two comments have been deleted. I want to make it clear that offensive messages are not tolerated. While some disagreement is natural, both of you were offensive. Please keep in mind that you are commenting on the blog of a 14-year-old girl. As adults, you should be setting an example for her.
Hey, thanks for the sweet shoutout at the start. I appreciate that. I read through your post, it’s well written and clear. And I agree with the two things you think are most important with blogging: “Enjoying the writing process” and “Readers liking what you write.” Those are both important to me too. But here’s the thing. Blogging was not created for just one purpose, people blog for a wide range of things and you will notice this from the very wide range of blog posts you will find on this platform. Perhaps to you the writing process and your readers thoughts are what is most important. But that is certainly not the case for everyone. Some people don’t even write on their blogs/sites. For some, their blog is associated with their business or store. For others, their blog revolves around photography. To some it’s like a diary. And to many, it’s a multi-niche space where they can do whatever they want. Like you have your priorities when blogging, they have their own too. Since we are all different, we do things for different reasons and that’s okay. I don’t think there is a wrong way to blog as long as you’re doing what you would like to with your own blog. A lot of people find the stats an important part of blogging because they are hoping to earn money through blogging or already earn money from their blog. Something many people including myself do. And I don’t mean money off the ads. I mean blogging as a full time career. And for those of us that do blog for a living, even though we still enjoy blogging, stats are important too. And again, that’s okay because we can focus on multiple things at once. It doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy the writing/content creation part. I still very much love it. So maybe to those who are only here to have a creative outlet or a place to share their writing, stats should not matter much. But to others who have different goals, stats do matter and that’s fine too. It’s okay to have different goals and blog according to your goals for your post. Blogging is not as black and white as you may think. In fact, most bloggers are in the grey area.
Again, really interesting post. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the topic and sorry for the long comment. It’s just I’ve been blogging for almost a decade now and your topic was something I have a lot of thoughts on.
I hope that it is okay for me to speak my mind openly, just like you, Pooja.
You’re right about most of what you say, but you don’t notice that you state the same as my own statement through my post, that successful blogging requires readers. As when you say that you earn money through blogging, that it is a full-time career, then you need to have readers. Simple as that. You don’t earn any money without readers.
You recognized the fact of readers’ importance. However, we might both want to think back when WordPress opened up the views to public view. Remember what happened? People went suddenly in protective mode, acting like all sorts of bugs happened. Instead, it showed a sudden truth, the fact that the great majority of likes are completely fake and that the average blog gets almost no views. People faked it all along the way. It’s a huge problem that doesn’t (only) exist among new bloggers, it is extremely common among the older ones. Keeping each other up by spreading the likes among yourself, making it seem like blogs more than they factually are.
And the average blogger doesn’t even realize or recognize the fact that even now Automattic has removed the view counter again, it’s still possible to see this. As just see this:
https://sleeplesswhispers.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/1.png
These numbers are lowered due to deduplication, but you should be able to see what I see. Only your and my blog are actually reaching the measured mark of 5 thousand. Now add to this that all but my blog get over 100 likes per post. And all of us post at least 2 times as week. It’s hard to exactly measure how many more views your blog gets than those other 3, but I would say about 10 times based on the lines showing. They get the same amount of likes as you, some even more…
And it gets worse when you see this:
https://sleeplesswhispers.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2.png
Two of them don’t get enough viewers to be measured, but the last one, average duration on website of 7 seconds. You are unable to read a full blog post within 7 seconds, no matter what someone posted, like it’s not even enough for photos. Feel free to check the blog to see what I mean.
I could go in-depth about each point you make, but I don’t think it is worth it. I agree with you. I just think the problem is that you are defending people that you shouldn’t. These points are correct for you, but not most of the WordPress community. That’s also why you see so many leaving, as you said before, as many are just writing into empty spaces. People that come to blogs to like and/or comment and move to the next blog. That is black and white, it is not grey at all. This is not about goals, it is about people just feeling good about themselves. It’s similar to people who buy bot interactions on social media. That short feel good moment. And if that is okay for others, that is good for them.
But when you speak about priorities, businesses, earning money and all of that. You are clearly not speaking for others. For that, they would need to actually care in the first place, which clearly people no longer do at all. It’s just that if I state that bluntly in my post, all I will receive is a lot of hate and readers moving away.
Just wanted to point out that a lot more people care about making money of their blog. I get comments, messages and DM’s every single day from bloggers asking me about that. I’m a bit busy right now so I’ll read the rest of your comment later even if I don’t get the time to respond. All the best 🙂
Two comments have been deleted. I want to make it clear that offensive messages are not tolerated. While some disagreement is natural, both of you were offensive. Please keep in mind that you are commenting on the blog of a 14-year-old girl. As adults, you should be setting an example for her.
This is lovely and heartening, Kasia ~ thanks for sharing your thoughts! I must agree with you on all of it 🙂
Much love,
David
This is lovely and heartening, Kasia ~ thanks for sharing your thoughts! I must agree with you on all of it 🙂
Much love,
David