Yesterday morning, I woke up and looked at my Google analytics and noticed that traffic was down by about 6%. A few months back I would have obsessed over what was causing that 6%. But, as I’ve been reading Seth Godin’s book, Tribes, I’m less and less concerned with stats. In fact, I only check my analytics once every two weeks. I check two stats: visits and time spent. In fact I give more priority to time spent. I use that stat to determine which relationships need to be nurtured and maintained.
Quality vs. Quantity
This concept I think can be applied to personal development as well. You’ll find that quality more often than not trumps quantity. It’s easy to get caught up in wanting more. But one of something high quality is better than 50 things that suck. I want to dissect this in a few areas.
Visitors to Your Blog
I’m more concerned with the quality of visitors than the quantity. I’ve said in many interviews with bloggers that 10 visitors who become part of your community are better than 10,000 who show up once and leave. Your community of 100 loyal fans has exponentially more power than the 10,000 one hit wonders. My focus has shifted completely to relationships with people who read and comment on my blog on a regular basis.
Your Twitter Account:
I’ve grown to hate automated Twitter growth tools.They might be great for companies, but they suck for individuals because they cause your Twitter feed to turn into a bunch of noise. With BlogcastFM, I intentionally only follow bloggers who I interview or people who follow us that have blogs. As a result we filter out the noise and are able to maintain quality.
Blog Posts
For a long time now, I’ve been of the belief that I need to publish a post every single day. It was only after my recent interview with Jonathad Mead and a chat with Adam Baker(coming soon to BlogcastFM) that there was a fundamental shift in my approach to writing. I don’t think every post I write is epic. I’m sure you don’t either(even though that would be nice.) Sometimes what does well surprises me. But, after those two conversations with Jonathan and Adam, I decided to work on developing compelling must-read content even if it meant publishing less.
Relationships:
A while back I wrote a guest post over at WasabiBurger about How to Work the room at a Networking Event. I’m still a strong believer in that philosophy and I think that having substantial relationships with people trumps a Rolodex of 2,000 business cards any day. If there’s anything I truly love about what we do at BlogcastFM, it’s that I get to develop a strong 1to1 relationship with everybody that I talk to.
Purchases:
This could be applied to anything you purchase: shoes, books, courses on blogging, etc. I believe that something a bit more expensive that lasts is always going provide you with a better ROI than the something cheap. It’s easy to get caught up in the cheapest solution, the one that gives you the most for your money, etc. Don’t fall too deep into that trap. Otherwise you’ll be repairing your cars, buying shoes, and dealing with a whole onslaught of issues on a regular basis. In the case of blogging courses, you’re much more likely to be invested in your blog when you invest a significant amount in your skill set. If Blog Mastermind had been dirt cheap, I don’t think I’d be as compelled to put time and effort into my blog. You get what you pay for (even if you are not paying money).
The quick version (in case you are feeling lazy):
- Don’t focus on numbers as much as you focus on people.
- Write less content, but focus on making it must-read content
- Treat interactions on Twitter like interactions in real life (i.e. Don’t attempt to talk 2000 people at once).
- A few good friends are worth more than thousands of acquaintances
- Don’t buy cheap shit
Any thoughts on quality vs quantity? I’d love to hear them.
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Obsession with numbers can be a big problem; i think that one of the things that can help is to use an “insane strategy” of focusing on the positive steps in terms of daily actions to grow a blog and CONSCIOUSLY turn a blind eye on the stats for a considerable period of time!
Christopher Kabamba´s last blog ..7 Things you DON’T NEED to transform your Life
Great post! I love how you tied in blogging, social media, AND life. They really are related, aren’t they!
Positively Present´s last blog ..celebrating one year of positively present!
@Christopher: It’s definitely one of the biggest problems early stage bloggers face. I only know because I used to get concerned with whether or not my numbers were what they needed to be. While it’s challenging to turn a blind eye on it, I think waiting for a few months before you start concerning yourself with stats is really key.
@Dani: Thanks. I’m glad to see you back over here. Somehow I have managed to relate all of these things considering how much they all impact my life.
Nice post Sriniroa. I totally agree that we should focus on quality than quantity, and also building relationships with other people. I remember one month I wrote about 20 posts in a month. I felt burned out, and the results were zero people commented on my blog. But now I write about 8 posts per month, and also spend time trying to get myself out there and talk to people I don’t know. I found out that there is a big difference. Thanks for giving us these tips on blogging, social media, and life in general.
Hulbert´s last blog ..Do Your Blogging Struggles Still Bother You?
@Hulbert: It’s interesting that 8 posts got your more ROI than 20 posts. I guess that’s a perfect testimonial for everything I’ve mentioned in this post. I think balancing your time between building relationships and working on your own stuff is really key. Good to get some reinforcement that I’m on the right track with this
AMEN! I’ve always been for quality over quantity. Especially in my professional life. When it comes to what I buy, I almost always pay just a little more for a product I know is better. I love your shoe example, because it’s so true! Buying cheap shoes never pays off; one pair of good, sturdy, classic, well-made expensive shoes is better than 10 pairs of cheap, trendy, flimsy shoes any day!
Jen´s last blog ..FMM: Valentine’s Day
@Jen: It’s funny you mentioned shoes too. I have one pair of Ferragamo dress shoes. They are in great shape and will probably last 5 years if not longer. I even went the shoe repair guy and he said for 5 dollars he can make them look brand new. Also regarding the professional life that’s another great place. A quality job that makes you happy is going to be much better than one that pays you a ton of money, but sucks.
Since I started my blog, I have never believe that posting daily is ideal. I have always been a deep thinker and I thought that every post that I create should be full of substance and meaning. With this intent in mind I resolved to post one article per week. It works for me.
@Walter: I think that it’s a bit of a balancing act. But, it’s different for everybody. I felt that when I started out I couldn’t do that and build traffic, but now it makes complete sense as a strategy. If your intent is to build a community, then I think there’s nothing wrong at all with one post a week.
This is by far the best post I’ve seen you write Sri,
Very well thought out and written.
When I look at my stats I’m more concerned with what’s had an impact rather than actual numbers. But it’s easy to get sucked into that thinking so it’s also important to treat it relatively loosely and focus more on the content than the figures.
I’m also not a fan of posting daily, what purpose does that serve? Especially within the field of personal development I feel in some ways it defeats the object for me. One post a week at minimum or three at absolute max. (from my recent blogging experiences I would say two is ideal)
Quality Trumps Quantity any day of the week!
Amit Sodha – The Power Of Choice´s last blog ..How To Make A Plan Come Together – Just Like The A-Team
This is the ever-present debate that I have as well. I am glad you have decided to forego the importance of stats to be all-encompassing. Stats can just give you a snapshot – not the real answer. For me, I try to produce quality over quantity, but I also think that blogging routinely has allowed me to find my voice. Some things are probably not great, but at least they are out there and I’m trying to figure things out. Great ideas!
@Amit: Thanks for you feedback. I have started to realize after conversations with some of the best bloggers out there that that when they made the shift to a few times a week instead of every day they started to see their growth take off. It also gives you time to let your ideas formulate.
@Beth: As I mentioned in one of the above comments, the challenge is that in the beginning you need to build your base and posting every day helps. But if you want to build a loyal engaged community I think focusing on your best work is key. I don’t think everything I write is a masterpiece by any means. One way to balance this issue is to write every day but, only publish your best stuff. Have a repository of blog posts that most people never see. When you really have nothing, then use those. What I find is that I almost never have to use those, but just knowing they are there is comforting.
Total believer in quality over quantity. With RSS and email subscriptions you have a little less to worry about regarding frequency (to a degree). More importantly in the 6 weeks I’ve been following TSOL I’ve noticed your writing improve notably in terms of what I am taking away.
This sounds trivial but it’s not. Your small round up at the end was of high value. I am curious if that was your outline or you just summed it up. Regardless I may steal this and end all my posts similarly – that’s the real blogging tip here IMO.
Marc Winitz´s last blog ..Stop Learning, Start Teaching
@Marc: It’s funny you mention that part about the end. I think I’ll be doing that for all my posts from now since you mentioned it. Thanks for the kind words. It’s been a continual evolution and I think that’s pretty much the way it is for all bloggers.