10 Weeks as a Blogger with Over 400 Feed Readers: What I’ve Learned

By Ron | Mar 10, 2008

It appears that you're new here. If you like this content, subscribe to my feed via RSS or Email and you can keep up with all the new posts.If you aren't sure how to use an RSS feed, read this post.

I’ve been hard at it for just over 10 weeks, writing post after post. I’ve seen some article become successes based on the number of hits they received. A few of these are:
12 Things I Learned By 42 That I Wish I Knew At 22
Things I DIDN’T Learn in College: Part 3 - How I Learned to Study
Things I DIDN’T Learn in College: Part 1 - Networking
7 Bad Decisions That Cost Me Over $1,000 Each
Things I DIDN’T Learn in College: Part 5 - How I Manage Multiple Priorities

The first thing I’ve learned is people seem to be genuinely interested in what is going on in the life of a blogger. They want to hear about my successes and failures. Unfortunately, my failures have been easier to write about and remember. Could it be a simple matter of quantity? If it is, I have plenty more to write about!

People also love to hear about successes, though. John Chow publishes his monthly blog earnings and people simply love to read about how much he makes. His blog has gone from generating about $10/day in September of 2006 to a whopping $1,000+ per day in February of 2008. It should be noted that John donates his blog earnings to churches and charities! I eventually plan to blog about some successes, though I guess that’s what I’m doing right now.

Christine OKelley (aka the Self Made Chick) wrote a blog post about the ONE word that helped her blog grow to 800 subscribers in 17 weeks. I’ll spoil it for you here (but please read her post) and tell you that word: I. Yes, the simple letter I. Why? Because people love to hear what you’re doing. People love to hear what’s going on in your life. People need to feel connected to your life if they are going to consistently read your material. I noticed that 70 percent of my top posts use the word “I” or “me” in the title. That’s enough validation for me.

The point is, people (myself included) enjoy the connection they feel when they read about what’s going on in another person’s life. Life today is so interconnected, but people feel more isolated than ever before. Could it be that reading about another person’s life, their ups and downs, their experiences and travails lets us fill a social void in our own lives?

The second thing I’ve learned is the incredible generosity and just, “nice-ness” of people in the blogosphere. Linking to other bloggers is like welcoming them to the neighborhood and I have to thank people like Patrick of Cash Money Life, who linked to me in several round up posts. Thank you Patrick.

Other bloggers in the M-Network,have also been a big help. Lynnae from beingfrugal.net, Glblguy from Gather Little By Little, and of course, Pinyo from Moolanomy. There is just a large number of people to thank. If I’ve left anyone out, remind me. I’ll hurriedly add you to this published list! :oops:

I also have to thank my fellow bloggers in The Life Skills Network. Originally founded by Ciaran McKeever from Chance Favors, Jeff Nickles from My Supercharged Life, Jason of Frugal Dad, and myself, we recently added Madison of My Dollar Plan and David from The Good Human. We’re an assortment of bloggers who want our network to be a “one stop shop” for people looking to improve their lives in areas such as:

Motivation
Frugality
Financial planning
Business and marketing
Online education
Green living
Personal finance
Cooking
Gardening
Home improvement
Landscaping
Parenting

Couldn’t we all use a little help in at least one (if not more) of these areas? Our site is under construction, but is a functional thoroughfare to each of our sites.

Lastly, I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve rediscovered my love of writing. I’ve found that some things (like television) are not as important as I thought. If you were to judge what someone thought was important by the number of hours spent on that activity daily, you’d think that sleep and television were the two most important things in our lives.

I’ve also discovered that I need to practice what I preach. I now find myself putting a halt to my bad habit of interrupting, as well as refusing to watch that crazy television. Hey, I have better things to do with my time!

So, here’s my formula for successful blogging:

Create personalized, relatable, remarkable content for your readers. Make sure you connect with them.
Create friends across the blogosphere. It is full of amazing, friendly, helpful, and interesting people.
Create a spirit within yourself of personal discovery. Figure out what you enjoy, what turns your head, what makes you sit up and notice. Blog about THAT.

Everything else is just details.

[tags]blogging, lessons, learn, readers, blogger[tags]

If you liked this post, would you consider buying me a cup of coffee?

Sphere: Related Content

20 Comments so far

Patrick (63 comments.) March 10, 2008 5:54 am

Ron, congratulations on your well-deserved success! You speak from experience, and that is why people come back time and again.
Jeff@My Super-Charged Life (65 comments.) March 10, 2008 7:48 am

Ron - People obviously love your writing! You have done a fantastic job. I believe you are right that it is the consistently good content that keeps readers coming back and that is where we as bloggers should concentrate. Congratulations on all your success! I look forward to seeing your site continue to grow. I know that it will. I also appreciate your willingness to share your ideas and the help you have provided me over the last several months. I hope to pass it on in the future.
Ron March 10, 2008 8:53 am

@ Jeff@My Super-Charged Life
Thanks Jeff. I’m really proud to be aligned with you in the Life Skills Network. I think we can provide a great service to people looking to learn from our mistakes as well as our successes.
Becky@FamilyandFinances (7 comments.) March 10, 2008 2:29 pm

Wow! 400 in 10 weeks, that’s very impressive. Keep up the good work
Ron March 10, 2008 2:32 pm

@ Becky@FamilyandFinances
Thanks. I hope the blog continues to grow and with a little help and some hard work, I feel confident it will.
Aaron Stroud (29 comments.) March 10, 2008 3:06 pm

Ron, thank you for linking to Self Made Chick’s post. Her message is one that I need to hear over and over again. After reading your post and hers, I feel inspired to put more of myself into my posts. In fact, I think I have one percolating in my head right now.
Ron March 10, 2008 3:08 pm

@Aaron Stroud
Thanks Aaron! Glad to help the percolation!
LJ (3 comments.) March 10, 2008 3:35 pm

400 Subscribers in 10 weeks!? That is fantastic! Congrats on your success!

Take Care

LJ
Ron March 10, 2008 4:13 pm

@ LJ
Thanks LJ.
Love YOUR blog btw
LP March 10, 2008 6:09 pm

I am impressed with your work young man! Your posts seem like they are your life! And people like that!

But numbers are just that……numbers……and although yours are garnering attention, just keep plugging along and there will be rewards for your persistence!

Thanks!
Emily (2 comments.) March 11, 2008 4:12 am

Your popularity is much deserved, as you write from the heart and about yourself and share sound advice. Keep it up!
Four Pillars (21 comments.) March 11, 2008 5:11 am

Is that it? Quit slacking off!!!

Seriously - that’s pretty amazing.

It’s taken us about 10 months to get to the same level.

Mike
Ron March 11, 2008 9:04 am

@LP
Hey, you are you calling young? I have the scars, wrinkles, and gray hair that goes with all that stress!!!
Ron March 11, 2008 9:06 am

@Emily
Why thank you Emily. That is very sweet of you to say that
link building services (2 comments.) March 11, 2008 9:27 am

I am new to reading and paying attention to blogs. I find that blogs like these help expand my own knowledge and connection to my peers in a way that is unavailable in mainstream media. I’m not a big TV watcher. Of the few shows I watch, 60 minutes and Jon Stewart show are two of my favorites, and yes I am a member of the Colbert nation.

I wonder if the overall increase in readership of these genuine, non corporately blogs is marking a turning point for the hunger in intelligence and truth that society should be yearning for. Blogs like these help raise the common sense level of society which is definitely at an all time low. At the end of the day these blogs boil down to community and individual improvement, which leads to social empowerment. I mean, if thousands of people who never thought about investing, reads one of these blogs, then decides to start owning shares of companies, over time, thousands turn into tens of thousands, then to millions of people. Now if these global corporations all of a sudden wake up one day being owned by the very people in which they’re used to taking advantage of, that would certainly change the global economy power structure.

All because of a blog.

Yeah I know its far fetched, but every movement starts with just one person standing up. Martin Luther King had his dream, and we can have ours.

Till next time

Get your online business up and running on a tight budget
Ron March 11, 2008 9:30 am

@Four Pillars
I know, I know. Must work harder. MUST WORK HARDER!
Shama Hyder (18 comments.) March 11, 2008 2:03 pm

This is indeed a great blog. I love how you write about a variety of things in a candid manner.

Keep up the great work!
Ron March 11, 2008 2:22 pm

@Shama Hyder
Thank you Shama. Always a pleasure to hear from you and AftertheLaunch.com!
Christine O'Kelly (2 comments.) March 12, 2008 1:24 am

Ron - these are phenomenal results! Congrats to you - but you earned it. Your posts are consistently thought-provoking, personal, and interesting to read.

I completely agree with what you say here:

“Life today is so interconnected, but people feel more isolated than ever before.”

I think you are right on. I feel that way - that’s why I love reading posts about other people’s experiences.

Thank you Ron,
~ Christine
Ron March 12, 2008 6:03 am

@Christine O’Kelly
Thank you Christine. You’re a big encouragement and an inspiration to me and many others. You always have timely and valuable advice!

Ron