In the past we talked about “pajama blogging”. Today we’re discussing how to become more liberated online by striping.
I’m not talking about taking off our clothes. Remember this is a PG rated blog. 8)
What we’re discussing today is about striping numbers from our blogs. 
Today’s Lesson
EVERYWHERE we look in the blogosphere and on social networking sites, we see numbers. Whether it’s
- Subscribers
- Comments
- Friends (on Facebook)
- Followers (on Twitter)
- Visits
- Page Views
- Retweets
- Google +1’s
- Downloads
- And so on…
We can’t get away from them.
For some bloggers, the bigger the numbers, the bigger their ego.
For others, small(er) numbers can make them feel “less than”, all because they are comparing themselves to their fellow bloggers.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my readers to feel inferior.
Although the numbers can tell us if our efforts are paying off, I wonder, is it necessary to publish every number for all to see?
Some will argue, “a blog which publicizes a large readership shows it’s a reputable site.”
But is it? Or are the large numbers the result of the blog author being good at marketing their blog?
From my experience, I’ve been on some sites which display tens of thousands of subscribers, and the content is mediocre. On the flip side, I’ve visited blogs which have a low readership and the content is phenomenal.
In many cases the numbers lie. This is best demonstrated on Facebook. Even though some show they have thousands of “friends”, they’re not REAL friends. 
Numbers can also be manipulated on blogs – think “Photoshop”.
On the Discouraged With Blogging? post, Amy, at Soul Dipper echoed my sentiments. She said, in part,
WordPress recently added a feature – on our blogs – that shows the number of subscribers to our blog. I went into my admin and disabled the feature. I found that encouraged competitive thinking and acting. That’s not why I write! I also don’t look to see if those numbers show on other blogs.
Blogging is only a competition if I make it so. I choose to write and publish according to my offering and time.
Very well said, Amy.
Today’s Assignment
If you show numbers on your blog, how do you feel it benefits you and/or your readers?
If a blog displays subscriber and/or comment counts, do the numbers affect whether you also subscribe and/or comment?
Care to share?
~Barbara
P.S. Larger numbers can be beneficial for those who are marketing products or services.
Twitter is a perfect example of this. Look at Kim Kardashian. She has over 10 million followers. This lets her keep her thumb on the pulse of current and/or potential customers. (By the way, as of today, she only follows 145.)
You are right, Barbara-numbers are a big lie. In fact, they are, as you say it, just a way for some bloggers to upgrade their ego and self esteem. I prefer having a few loyal people around me then a bunch of acquaintances who do not care about my work, but rather care about showing themselves and their “big numbers”.
Hi Kristina,
I hear you. It’s one thing to have big numbers but if our followers don’t read our work or care about us, as people, trying to attain big numbers can be all for naught (unless we’re trying to attract advertising dollars).
Lol I thought this was going to be saucy post 😉 nice eye catching title! returning to the issue of numbers, well let’s face it even if we know deep down that numbers do not really matter, as bloggers we sometimes wonder why we have only a handful of readers while others have thousands. Worrying about numbers is sometimes a good thing, it forces you to improve, lets the competitive drive kick in. Imagine if you did not have a clue of how your ‘competitors’ were performing, you would never had an incentive to improve or even to feel proud of yourself. Numbers do matter to a certain extent.
LOL Gerald,
No saucy posts on this blog. Sorry 🙁
What you said is true. Seeing what our competitors are doing can be a motivator for us to improve, however if we’re not careful we could become discouraged if we start thinking we’ll never get THAT many visitors, or if a blog is growing faster than ours.
Looking at our numbers behind the scenes can also be beneficial since they do tell us if our blog traffic is growing.
I do not pay much attention to numbers – I think it is part of marketing…
The numbers that show on my blog are the top posts that have been read – I am so amazed at the number of people who have read some of my posts – I write to communicate – those numbers show that I have at least made contact with some viewers.
I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and doing my thing. I try to stay in the present tense of life and living.
I have something to say and I am happy some folks are dropping by and some are appreciating. Its all good
Numbers are not my thing!
Hi Patricia,
True. For those who are into marketing their blogs or a product or service, numbers play a very important role. Bigger numbers can mean more sales.
Seeing that others are reading our work is encouraging. Often that’s all it takes to keep us motivated to keep plugging along.
Hi Barbara, Awesome title and I know it’s going to bring a “huge number of readers to this post” – lol.
I would hate for new bloggers to get discouraged by the fake numbers game. As you mentioned, there are so many ways to fake numbers, and they shouldn’t assume their blog sucks if they don’t have 10,000 subscribers. What’s a subscriber if they never come back?
To me, the only use of high numbers has always been to create perceived popularity and attract “genuine readers”. I don’t know if you remember, but I once wrote a huge resource post, which got “Stumbled” by a reader. And that pushed all my numbers up. I was under no illusion that most StumbleUpon peeps were actually reading or using the resource post. But I think it helped create a perceived popularity, which attracted genuine readers.
But bloggers really shouldn’t get hung up over these things. Reaching your target audience, no matter how small is what is important.
Thank you Cath. It’s good to see you here and have you share from your experience.
I do remember that post of yours. It was value packed – well worth the Stumble.
I like the advice you’re giving to new bloggers – reaching our target audience is more important than getting caught up in the numbers game.
P.S. I’m patiently waiting for you to start blogging again. I miss your words of wisdom. 🙂
Hearing that people actually manipulate numbers makes me think of sad faces on Valentine’s Day in Elementary School.
On the days when my readership numbers shoot up, I have no idea what causes the surge. I could speculate… It happened one day when I didn’t even post.
I don’t understand what’s happening in the background of the Net – especially since I just read that Google quit playing the word game as in SEOs. Thankfully, I do not have to make a living with my blog so it is interesting to see it unfold and slowly grow.
Hi Amy,
It is sad, isn’t it? To think some bloggers feel the need to manipulate numbers, for whatever reason.
One thing that can cause a surge in traffic is if someone links to a post of yours on Twitter, Facebook, Digg or StumbleUpon. Although traffic spikes, as fast as it spiked it can also dip back down to where it was. I know for me, as nice as the spikes are, it’s kind of a let down when the traffic goes back to normal.
The numbers certainly dont affect whether or not I will read someones blog. That’s a pure content discussion. But I would be lying if I said I don’t care how many people read my blog. I like to know that what I’m saying resonates with people. As for getting a true picture of who’s keeping actually reading I wouldn’t know where to start.
Hi Heather,
I don’t think you’re alone in wanting to know if others are reading our blogs. One way of tracking that is through statistical programs. WordPress has a plugin for stats. Others to look at and try are Google Analytics and Woopra.
I used to spend a lot of time comparing different statistical programs but found I was spending too much time analyzing traffic and not enough time blogging. Stat watching can become addictive, too.
I think the reason why they display those numbers is to gain more readers. More numbers means attracting more subscribers.
That really depends on the admin of the blog, and I don’t care as long as they have a great content and helpful to me I will subscribe.
Hi Sanjay,
I think so too. It’s like “get on the bandwagon” because all of these other people have, too. In a way it’s good marketing strategy, but as you said, the content has to be there, too.
Hi Barbara! Intriguing title – haha 🙂 Well to be sure I’m not a numbers person, just ask the hubs. He forever marvels at my total inability to deal with numbers. It’s not like I can not do it, I just prefer words to numbers and besides, I married him to be the numbers person in this marriage (he’s a CFO and CPA).
I had the silly “followers” put on my blog when I started. It’s not anywhere near the readership according to “hidden” stats, which is nice. And I was just thinking the other day I should take that off my blog – would I be technical enough to even know how, well one wonders.
You are so right tho – numbers really don’t prove much, if anything. Like you said, those on FB with thousands of “friends”? Really? Readership or followers on blogs in the thousands? Really? I follow one blog where the followers are like over 3500 yet I’m practically the only one who ever comments. I know for sure that even in my followers thingy on my blog, there are plenty of people there I haven’t heard from in two years so it really is kind of dumb to have it on there at all. It proves nothing.
I don’t write for the numbers, because of the numbers or to the numbers. I just write.
Hugs
Susan
Thank you SuZen,
You got it made. You can delegate “the numbers” to hubs. 🙂
You’ve raised a good point. If a blog has thousands of subscribers but you’re the only one who’s commenting, it does make you wonder, “where are all of the other readers?”
I know when I started blogging I subscribed to hundreds of blogs, but pretty soon I couldn’t keep up with all of the updates so stopped even checking my reader. I should probably unsubscribe from most of those blogs, but for now it’s easier to just let the reader do it’s thing.
Hi Barbara .. I have no idea – and realised early on that it was a waste of time thinking about those things. I was new – I needed to establish myself .. work out where the blog was taking me .. and frankly the most important thing is having comments, quite often amazingly wonderful ones, interacting with others in my replies, and following like-minded people – almost certainly with different type blogs.
I know that you set that standard for me over 2 years ago … I continue on – life will sort itself and I’ll progress – but I love my blogging friends dearly ..
Cheers to all .. Hilary
http://www.positiveletters.com
Thank you Hilary,
That’s a good point about comments. Not only can comments show us if others are reading our posts, but those who comment can also either keep us on course, or lead us into a different direction (with our blog).
Blogging buddies are the best, aren’t they?
I did not really pay much attention to the number of visitors. The most important point I get the information I’m looking in your blog or website
regards.
Hi Arman,
That’s true. If a blog has thousands of subscribers but doesn’t provide us with the information we’re looking for, it’s useless to us.
Hi Barbara
I am too a big fan of the “less is more” idea when it comes to blogging. I prefer to judge my blogs by the quality of the content, and the quality of the comments, not the number of subscribers.
Thanks for writing.
Hi Roy,
Yes. Less is more goes a long way with blogging. From the beginning we’re taught it’s all about quality, but unfortunately many bloggers forget that and go for quantity.
Barbara,
At first I was obsessed with numbers. Google analytics, subscribers, post hits, etc…
After a while, it was more about the blogging and less about the numbers.
I enjoy seeing people coming by and commenting so the number of comments does make a difference for me, although that number doesn’t affect whether or not I’ll leave a comment on another blog.
George
Hi George,
Me, too. Watching stats becomes addictive. 🙁
I’m with you. Comments are important. They show others are enjoying our posts, but as you mentioned, commenting shouldn’t be tit for tat.
Numbers are just numbers. The interaction between people is the most important thing online. That`s why this web 2.0 websites have so much succes. Anyway i like the offline part of making friends and connect with people so i don`t have this numbers sindrome.
Hi Reduceri Haine,
Very true. It’s more important we make friends in the real world than worry about how many friends we have online.
Does it not depend on your area of blogging and your audience?
A niche will always have a lower number of readers, but of higher quality. A cult following. The sense of community can be satisfying for both the blog owner and the readers.
But if I were writing about a certain football team, then the number of readers would be of major significance compared to other blogs in the same genre.
Hi Chas,
You’re right. It does make a difference who our audience is. As you mentioned, some niches may have a tight knit group of followers, whereas other niches would appeal to more.
I thought this was about taking off our clothes. Just kidding.
The only numbers I care about is my ROI. All the other numbers don’t mean much to me. If I want to make more money, I’m not going to try to get more subscribers, I’m going to do more of what made me make money in the first place. Most of the time it’s writing more content.
LOL Jay,
How smart on your part. When we’re making money with blogs if having more subscribers doesn’t affect our income, it doesn’t make sense to pursue that avenue.
Personally, numbers are good to a certain extent, especially if you want to use your blog as a source of income. Advertisers, Corp Comm people and PR firms are always looking for potential avenues that can help them in their projects (and will be willing to pay for these). One way for them to do this is through checking the numbers: how many people are following the blog, how many people comment, hits, page views, and all that stuff.
That doesn’t mean to say that the quality of the content would not matter. I check my stats once in a while to see which kinds of articles I’ve posted my readers find the most interesting and which ones are not. That way, I can focus my efforts on posts that my readers would appreciate, causing them to keep on coming back, comment, and even help spread the word.
Hi Adeline,
That’s true. When advertisers are searching for blogs to help market their products, numbers are what they look for. Another thing they watch is our Alexa ranking. Although it may not be a true representation of our traffic, it’s an unbiased assessment.
I like your idea of checking what brings traffic to your blog. The search terms others are using to find us not only tell us if we’re on target with attracting our target audience, but like you mentioned, they also give us ideas for future posts.
Numbers….numbers…. they lie) I understand this but nevertheless, when I’m looking for any article to read, I always pay attention on the number of people who comment it. And to tell you the truth, if there are no comments, sometimes I can even not read it. Because we have a stereotype that if the number of comments or “‘likes’ is not very big, then it’s not very good. But of course, it’s wrong. And I hope that some time I’ll stop paying attention on them.
Hi Jeannie,
I apologize for the late response. You comment ended up in my spam folder. 🙁
You’re right. Numbers can lie. Just like you said abut comments – just because a blog has no comments does not mean the post isn’t worth reading. Often it’s a new blog which has just come online.
Hi Barbara!
After I got a little more confident with blogging, I quit paying attention to the numbers and more attention to the actual content. Even the blogs I read and comment on have to have good content. I might have a soft spot for the underdogs and if I find a good writer with interesting content and little or no comments, I feel compelled to leave a comment. Sometimes, I’ll link to them or tweet about them just because I think they should be noticed. So really, the numbers that are on blogs tell me whether I should go out of my way to ‘market’ them.
Hi Maddie,
You’re a blogger after my own heart. Like you, I love to find new blogs or blogs with little to no comments. I think if we stop to remember how we felt when we received those first comments, we can’t help but want to spread that love to those who are just joining the blogosphere.
You’re spreading good karma, Maddie. 🙂
I’m with you on this one- I dislike the numbers game and refuse to participate in it. My entire life is built on quality over quantity – why would my online life be different?
Hi Vered,
Yes. The numbers game can make a person crazy. Quality in all aspects of our life is what’s important, and to echo what you said, “why should our online life be any different?”
Barb,
I do not show numbers on my blog.
According to Robert Cialdini, one of the “gurus” of persuasion and influence, “social proof” is a powerful factor, so if the blog has big numbers of readers, visitors, etc. it will provide an element of legitimacy, which may be beneficial to the blog owner depending on what their objective is.
A possible analogy is “the availability of numbers is to a blogger what a lot of road traffic noise is to a meditator” – both represent challeneges to keeping our focus.
Depending on why we are doing it, numbers may matter and they may not. We should try to be true to ourselves.
Hi David,
Great quote and analogy. 🙂
You’ve raised a good point when you said, “both represent challenges to keeping our focus”. I think if we get hung up on “the numbers” it makes it more difficult to focus on good content. Not that we can’t have both, but spreading ourselves between the two could take the joy out of blogging.
Actually, I’m not that concern but I’m looking at it a lot. Just wanted to track what my status on the viewers side. Comments numbers would be great, but I think, the article itself is more important. Content. Good content drives viewers. The numbers? to follow…
Hi Vhien,
Like you, I think it’s important to track the stats for where our traffic is coming from.
To echo what you said, good content will bring us more readers.
I’m with everyone on numbers for profit sites, but not so much on my personal blogs. I like to save my personal rants for a choice group to read, so stats don’t matter there. But where I blog advocacy or market products, stats do count because they let me project how far campaigns should go…
Hi Annie,
That’s a good point. Numbers can be the deciding factor when we’re marketing products. If the numbers are low, that’s a good indication we need to tweak our strategy, whereas if they’re high, we can learn from our success.
I really agree with you.
Blogging is not quantity but its all about quality.
quality should leads to quantity when ever its needed.
How many repeated visitors will the right factor when you cares about quantity.
Hi Kumaran,
Yes. Quality is what will make a blog successful, and as you mentioned, repeat visitors. If what we share today has value, chances are, readers will return to read what we share in the future.
i don’t trust numbers since i knew the F5 button, but some of the stats are now quite sharp and useful and distractive, like in sports, records are for the pro, we the people just want to beat our last one!
Hi Goupixg6,
I agree. Some of the numbers can be useful and like you said, can inspire us to “beat our last one” i.e. act as a motivator, as well.
Hi Barbara,
I guess the whole point is not to get hung up on anything in particular. Numbers play an important role, but so does content and about a million other things. The combination of all these parts is the image you represent – it’s who you are and how you blog.
If you work diligently and collect a quality network of viewers then there is no harm in being proud of that. You shouldn’t be discouraged from displaying your success publically. On the other hand, you should never let your content slip for the sake of numbers. I guess it’s all about balance and personal preference. Some people are drawn to numbers, others repelled. Pick your path and follow it.
Hi Chris,
Ah yes, balance. The key to blogging.
I know what you’re saying. If we’ve worked hard on amassing a large readership, there’s nothing wrong with displaying those numbers. In fact, if we “advertise” our numbers without making it look like we’re bragging, chances are more readers will subscribe.
That’s a good point about not letting our content slip once we’ve reached a certain number of readers/subscribers. After all, they subscribed due to our valuable content, hence we must concentrate on not letting them down with our future posts.
I never have published the number of subscribers to my blog — it never has been big enough to brag about…, and I wasn’t about to lie. At this late date, even if it grew humongously, I would not consider posting it. No value added.
I am willing to say, though, that there are more than a dozen subscribers at this time, though only a few comment. 😉
Hi Mike,
You’ve raised a good point. Even though we might have a lot of subscribers doesn’t mean we’ll end up with a lot of comments. We see evidence of this now only on smaller blogs, but even the ones who sport numbers in the thousands.
Haha, cool title. Very smart to choose an eye-catching title nowadays, when so many blog posts are out there.
Thank you Anna,
Yes. Titles are VERY important. Glad you like this one. 🙂
Previously i use Google +1?s dan social media share for my sites. But now i remove all of it, it’s because i think it useless.
Hi Tom,
I hear you. Even though it’s easy to add visible stats to our posts, we need to ask “which ones are REALLY important?”
For myself, I’ve kept the retweet button only because it does make it easy for readers to share.
I think there’s not much point in showing off numbers unless there is something to show off, but that’s nothing against people who do show their smallish numbers. Talk about stripping! 😛
LOL Annie,
It really comes down to “to each their own”, but we also need to ask “how important are these numbers in the grand scheme of things?”
Big subscriber numbers sometimes influences people to subscribe. A professional blog shouldn’t really show the the number if its less than a thousand.
Hi Imtiaj,
I agree. BIG numbers are impressive and can lead to more subscribers.
Ironically, as we spend more time in the blogosphere, we soon find out the big numbers are usually for the benefit of potential advertisers and are no guarantee the content is stellar.
There really isn’t much point in putting those numbers out there, mostly its for bragging rights. Now number of comments can be useful, since it will help you track popularity of posts and let a reader know that if they are looking for something specific in the comments, just how many they’ll have to wade through.
Hi Charles,
That’s a good point about the number of comments. Although comment numbers can show how popular a post is, large numbers can also deter readers from commenting since they often feel “it’s already been said”.
True. Some may decide that it isn’t worth the time to comment, since so many already have and there voice may not be heard in the crowd.
I love this food for thought. My blog advertises some numbers. And because I love numbers (not in a competitive sense but because I used to be a math teacher) I keep them on my blog. I like seeing the numbers. For me, they provide interesting information. For myself. But when I visit another blog, I hardly ever look at their numbers. I’m there for the content. And, I’m not that competitive of a person.
Thank you Jane,
Like you, I also love numbers – I work on the administrative side of our business.
Numbers can provide interesting information. Like you said though, it’s when we start feeling competitive, a problem could arise.
It depends what the numbers mean, surely? If I see that I’ve had (it’s OK, I’m not going to write a number…) lots and lots of visitors to my blog then, to be honest that doesn’t mean a lot to me. What’s much more interesting is the number that actually pulled out their plastic and bought something.
I know what you mean though, all these virtual friends aren’t worth a candle compared to one real friend who helps you out of a hole when you’re in trouble.
(sorry, I’ve just written the number ‘one’, would it help if all numbers were written out in words, do you think?)
Hi Jane,
You’re right. For sites which sell merchandise or a service, the numbers which matter is when someone buys. The more the better.
As for writing out numbers, I don’t know that it would make a difference, except for the fact others might not read the text.