Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Blog Stat Wars

I have been blogging for over 5 years. At one time, I had three blogs going at once and I was posting 6 days a week in some combination on those three blogs. My book blog is the more consistent of the two I have currently - I post three times a week, every week, and some weeks I hit 5 posts because I have been reading a lot lately. That is the more popular of the two, probably because of the clear focus/purpose for the blog, and the consistency.

My husband started a football-related blog several years ago but had trouble keeping up with it. Recently he started blogging again, focusing on the new football season and on fantasy football in particular.

I'm not sure when the stat wars started, but it was not long after he started posting again. I think he was enjoying the popularity of his second post about Peyton Manning. To date, it has been viewed 51 times. Of the seven posts he's written since re-launching, the smallest number of views has been 7, but most posts are running in the high teens.

Yesterday I posted my 986th post on Bring on the Books. I don't know if anyone has read the first seven posts besides me. It's only been this year that I have seen any sort of "traffic" on my blog.

I was teasing my husband about his quick "success" compared to my years and years of posting and he said, "Consider the topics - how many people play fantasy football and how many people read books?"

I laughed at his teasing, but unfortunately it is true. This time of year, a lot of folks are looking for football news. In fact, one of my more popular posts on this blog lately was the one titled "The BenJarvus Green-Ellis Incident!"

There's a small part of me that is jealous that my husband is seeing such quick success. Earlier this year, though, I wrestled with my blog stats and wondered if I should just stop blogging. It's a lot of work if no one is going to read it. But then I thought about what my life would look like without it. Even if no one reads it, I have to have a forum to tell the "world" about the books I read. I know there are a few families who stop by when the kids are looking for a new book. I want to be there for them, and I want to generate content regularly so they have things to choose from when they do come by. So, even if it is only three family members and a couple of friends whose kids are readers, so be it. I'll keep blogging no matter who comes by to read.