I've been thinking about blogging a lot lately, you know... rather than actually doing it.
I have some confessions to make. I've been a "bad" blogger the last couple months. I got frustrated with the lack of progress my blog had made in two years and I compromised my integrity to get higher numbers.
Yes. I did.
What exactly did I do to get the numbers I wanted? Are you prepared? It's pretty awful.
I hosted several contests where you had to be a GFC follower to enter. I participated in Giveaway Hops, again, where you had to follow in order to enter. I became obsessed with Follow Friday and the Book Blogger Hop — where you follow and comment for the purpose of numbers. Yes, I did find a few (I can think of three off the top of my head) bloggers who I've actually built a relationship with.
Now, this is not a slam on those memes, but the basic purpose (as far as I can tell) is to gain followers. And... I won't lie, my blog has grown exponentially. The thought behind these memes is to meet other bloggers etc and visit new blogs, but the truth is (for me) it was about numbers, about putting forth as little effort as possible (posting a simple response to a question) and watch my follower number increase.
As part of my confession, I want to illustrate just how much participating in these particular blogging extracurriculars boosted my "numbers"; I actively began participating in January. (Note: Blogger began keeping track of stats in the middle of June).
There's no doubt about it — if you want numbers it works. I thought I wanted numbers (and I still kind of do — I won't lie).
But the fact is, if I'm going to stress about blogging (never a good thing) I'd rather stress about my content than numbers. I'm being completely honest — I blog for me and my students, I blog because I love the community, I blog because I love books, I blog because I love blogging. But honestly, I just don't think it's as fun blogging if no one reads it. There will always be those people who say "I don't care about numbers" etc (and I mean no disrespect) but generally, it seems, like the people saying that HAVE the numbers and have the niche.
It'd be easy to lie. It'd be easy to say: "No, I don't care about numbers or followers or a larger readership. I don't care about my blog being successful. I blog for me and me alone." But I'm not going to do that. Yes, I blog for me and because I enjoy it, but I do care about the success of my blog. If I didn't, I would read books and form opinions and move on without a review. If I didn't care about the success of my blog I wouldn't have taken all the steps I have to market and promote my blog. I wouldn't be spending countless hours reading other blogs, commenting, tweeting, and working on the look of my own blog. I wouldn't be so engrossed in the social media of the book blogging community.
So, what do I do? I feel like I've lost my blogging integrity and I've lost focus. I don't want my blog to be about numbers. I don't want to post memes to "fill space" and "gain numbers."
In order to gain back a bit of my blogging integrity I vow to all of you faithful (and amazing) readers:
- Never to host a contest where you must be a follower. I want my online space to be content driven, not numbers driven.
- Instead of posting mindless, contentless meme posts in hopes of adding followers, to instead visit three other blogs a week and attempt to build a real content-based relationship with them. Rather than leaving a quick comment: "New follower here stopping by for the Hop/Follow Friday/etc"
- To never (or hardly ever) feel stressed or obligated to post
With these confessions and new vows I hope that I can atone for my blogging sins.
The truth of the matter is that I love blogging and I do it for me, but readership and even the concept of "numbers (of followers)" count (in my opinion obviously). The question is how much do these numbers count? How far do you go to get the numbers you want? What do you do differently? Do you compromise your content for the sake of "quick followers?" If not, how do you compete with those that do — simply with the satisfaction that yes, they have more "numbers" but you have better content? "Veteran" bloggers say "be patient" and "keep working on it" — but it's been years (for some). What can (new and old) bloggers do to keep their blogging integrity but still be competitive in the book blogging market?
I apologize for the use of parentheses.
Edit: I forgot to mention this. Thank you to all of the "content-driven" readers that I have. Besides my love of students and books, you are the reason I keep blogging. You're the reason I love hearing that little Blackberry email chime on my phone when you comment. Thanks for all you do.
I solemnly swear I will post a review this week.:)