Ok folks, the question for today is, “Are you succeeding on a small scale?”
This post will be most valuable for bloggers with a relatively small audience. Many of you who read this blog are bloggers yourselves. You write awesome stuff (are you on the blogs I like page?) and I love the work you do.
At the time of writing this post I have a whopping 40 subscribers. I thought about not sharing the number, because it’s embarrassingly small. But for transparency’s sake, there it is.
Even though my subscriber count is a little (ok, maybe a lot) on the low side, do I view this blog so far as a failure? Heck No!
Here’s why:
- I’ve connected with the coolest people ever.
- I found something I’m passionate about.
- I KNOW that people value what I have to say, because they tell me so.
- The percentage of my readers who comment is really high. It makes me happy :-) There are still some lurkers though, and I’d love to hear from them.
It makes me think, if I’m having such a great experience with only 40 subscribers, what would it be like if I had 1,000?
When I check my FeedBurner stats, even though it is pretty rarely, I don’t see the small number in front of me as a sign I’m doing something wrong. I see it as a sign that I haven’t been at it long enough. For lack of a better really lame phrase, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
I am succeeding on a small scale. I recently pictured it like this… I imagined a room, with a podium, and 40 of my blog readers seated in front of me. That many people in person seems like a lot more than it does when I check FeedBurner. Have you pictured your audience in this way? It was cool for me, maybe it will be for you too.
As for what you can do:
- Don’t focus on the subscriber count as a measure of success.
- Put your effort into creating great, consistent content.
- Work even harder to connect with people. That’s where the real success can come from.
I hope that this post has been encouraging for those of you who are in the same boat as me right now.
Are you succeeding on a small scale? I’d love to hear some of your thoughts!
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
It sounds cliche but my #1 objective is always to produce worthwhile content. If I can achieve that I feel the other things will come into line and end up with something that will be easier to market.
I can tell you that things seem to get easier the further you go along.
Great perspective! I’m putting my blog together as we speak and know that I am the sort of person who likes to see instant progress (which doesn’t seem like it’s really progress if it’s instantaneous – more like a fluke – when I think about it). But, I was saying, this post is encouraging. Everyone starts somewhere and it’s all about the content you put out there, connecting with people and letting the conversation flow. The rest (with maybe a little pushing and prodding) will more or less fall into place.
Thanks, Nate! Keep up the great work!
Anil – You just said it perfectly, my friend. The other stuff follows great and consistent content. And the small things like that will add up over time, and momentum will continue to grow. Thanks for the comment!
Kristin – Glad you got the point I was trying to make! And as for instant progress… pretty interesting concept haha. I definitely understand what you are saying though. Good luck with your upcoming blog, make sure to let me know when it launches, I’d love to check it out.
A perfect pep talk! I am still starting out so I have to perpetually remind myself that a good blog is about slow growth and persistence. It’s so tempting to become obsessed with the numbers because you can actually SEE them, so I really like your visualization idea.
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing Nate.
I agree, blogging is such a fantastic opportunity to connect with people. It really is fantastic to be all to build relationships with people all over the world.
I think success is all about persistence. Keep putting out content, keep improving and keep connecting. Soon you will be too busy to respond to your comments. :-)
I have to admit, I’m a compulsive Feedburner/Analytics/Su.pr checker. I like watching those numbers go up because it is a kind of validation for the work that I put into my blog.
That being said, I also get a whole lot more out of the process and the conversations that I have through the blog than the actual numbers…the numbers don’t give me a single tangible benefit right now.
You made some good points and I’m going to try to remember them next time I’m feeling like checking just one…more…time….
In fear of being considered a lurker, here’s my lazy comment: Great Post!
Nah, seriously, building a strong foundation and taking the time to celebrate your successes is a great way to built a long-term and well-established business.
I think it’s important to try to have fun too. If you take yourself too seriously, your site may not be as sticky as it could be. Of course, if the purpose of your site is to deal with serious issues, a more serious approach might be right for you. But even serious topics are well-served with a little humor at just the right moment.
A question I have for you, Nate (and anyone else), is:
Do you measure your subscribers as only those who become subscribers to your site or do you include RSS feeds as well?
Scott
Wow! Lot’s of great comments, thanks everyone!
Stephanie – That’s what it’s all about. Checked out your blog, looks great! Glad you liked the visualization idea.
John – Thanks for the comment once again! And I’m hoping that someday there will be too many comments to respond to :-) That would be nice, but at the same time I LOVE this small, yet very active audience.
Colin – I used to be an unbelievably compulsive stat checker. It was borderline insane. It really is cool to see those numbers go up, but like you said, it’s more about the process and relationships that come along the way. Glad you liked the post! Hope everything is well in Buenos Aires :-)
Andy – You are not even close to being a lurker, my friend. Ha!
Scott – Having fun is also very key! Glad you brought that up. I’m all about having fun. By subscribers do you mean email subscribers? In Feedburner RSS reader subscribers and email subscribers are grouped together. So mine are one solid number. Thanks for the comment buddy!
Heya Nate:)
Don’t give up, you’re doing great man! Really enjoy what you write!
I’m on 186 readers, and happy about it. The long term goal is over 10000 interested readers, but I don’t mind if that takes me another 2 years.
I’ve never really pushed hard for subscribers, but 2 months ago I started promoting it heavy, leaving comments on many related blogs and doing guest posts for the big blogs like UrbanMonk and Alexshalman, and I grew with 100 subscribers in a month. I’m pretty sure I can keep this up if I keep working this hard.
Also, remember at a stage your growth will become automatic and exponential as you start ranking for keywords, and people start reckognize you as an authority.
Keep it up man!
Cheers
Diggy
Hey Nate,
I totally relate to what you are talking about. I am in the same boat, and feel like I’m succeeding on a small scale too… But I think in order to succeed on a large scale, you have to succeed on a small scale first.
It is frustrating to want higher number occasionally… but I agree that the awesome people I’ve met, and finding something I am passionate about (blogging) makes it all worthwhile. Keep it up with the good posts. :)
Karen
Diggy – Thanks for the encouragement. It’s really nice to read kind words like those. You are making huge leaps man, 100 subscribers in a month is really great. I’ve thought about doing some guest posting, but I have trouble with not keeping my best content here on this blog for my readers. Maybe I’ll suck it up one of these days :-)
Karen – Thanks for stopping by! And I agree, we seem to be in the same stage of blogging right now. I’m glad that you are having such a great experience as well.