“The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.”
The online world is a sea of numbers. If you have been online for any length of time, you are sure to be obsessed with one number or another. The list of numbers that can get to you is endless, and increasing by the day – the number of times you check your email, the number of followers you have on Twitter, the number of friends you have on Facebook, and the list goes on.
If you also happen to be a blogger, then these numbers take on a whole new meaning. It can become so bad that sometimes your entire life begins to revolve around these numbers. You are constantly thinking and planning about what you can do to improve some, if not all, of them.
At times, I too have been obsessed with numbers. Some of the numbers that I have been obsessed with, and have tried to improve, for this blog are:
1. Google Page Rank – This is a number that many bloggers swore by a few years ago. Every time Google made changes to the Page Ranks, the whole blogosphere would go crazy talking about whose PR had improved, and whose had gone down. People would either be happy about how their page rank had jumped up, or sad that they had lost their PR. These days, it seems, PR changes don’t create as much of a frenzy as they used to. I guess bloggers have begun to see beyond Google PR.
2. Alexa Rank – This is another number that is still a puzzle to many. Till date, I can’t say that I have been able to understand what a good Alexa Rank really means. What I did find out instead was that an Alexa Rank of under 100,000 meant that your blog was doing good. So, off I went chasing that number. I chased hard, and I did manage to get there for a while, but, as often happens, I couldn’t keep my focus on it for long.
3. Page Visits and Site Visits – These are one of the first numbers that catch a blogger’s attention. After all, after you have posted something on your blog, you would want to know how many people are actually reading it. No blogger can really get over these numbers. Even after years of blogging it is gratifying to see one of your recent posts getting more hits than any other post you may have posted in the past.
4. Comments – One of the reasons that blogs have become so popular today is the instant feedback that a blogger receives through comments. Therefore, it is not surprising that bloggers love to see a higher number of comments on any blog post. I am no exception, so if you have the time, do leave a comment, or two.
5. Social Media numbers – Off late, the social media sites have become an important means to spread the word about a blog, or anything else, for that matter. It is no wonder, therefore, that bloggers are trying to use this medium as much as they can. Inevitably, these sites add to the numbers a blogger has to keep track of. Today, you will find a Tweet this button, and a Like this button on any site worth its salt, and higher is the number on these buttons, the better a blogger feels. (Yes, this site also has those buttons, and I would be overjoyed if you clicked them).
Although there are many other numbers that have grabbed my attention at different times, the above five numbers have been my constant companions through my blogging journey.
As a blogger, what numbers do you care about?
Image: lokigrl616 from sxc.hu
Have you been spying on me? My Alexa rank is rising but I’ve gotten no Google love yet. Glad to know I’m not the only one obsessing.
I’m not a serious blogger, so those numbers don’t matter to me. I’m sure that I’m at the bottom of any PR or Alexa ratings.
However, I’d love to get more comments on posts that I write, if only to feed my ego somewhat. Tehehe.
Well obviously I care about page visits, since if nobody visits nobody’s read. However even though Entrecard has gotten me a boatload more visitors than I had before I can’t entirely trust that number since I have to assume most show up just to drop and go rather than read.
Next are comments. Easy enough to track (thanks blogger guys for making that one easy to manage) and shows that hopefully there are some relevant responses… or at least people that scrolled through enough to get to the comments button.
Everything else, because my blog is supersmall and has no real foot traffic yet, is meaningless just now.
One number Im trying to keep low is number of advertisers on my page. Why? Through my own surfings i’ve seen LOTS of blogs and general websites that seem to devote more space to advertising than actual content… which worries me. Sure i want to make money for my time, at least enough to feel like if I had to I could pitch in a little more with bills, or save up for some new gizmo I want with earnings from what is essentially a hobby, but that’s not terribly important.
What numbers do you care about good sir?