When I started this blog I plucked a figure more or less from the air of how many followers I would like by the time I publish my book. At the time I didn’t know a) how easy it would be to gain followers and b) exactly when I would be publishing.
Well, as if by magic, it appears the two have collided in some sort of cosmic ordering and as I approach the day I publish (next week???) I have hit that random number. Plus one.
(I do have more than three followers, just in case you were wondering)
I’m not going to reveal what the figure is but it is Word Press followers I was interested in rather than Twitter followers. I have lots of the latter (well, “lots” being relative – I have only just reached my first K but that’s plenty for me), but started in January with none of the former. And now I have some. Again, compared to many bloggers it is still a very, very modest number. But I am mighty happy that anyone is following me at all and I hope that some of those followers do occasionally read some of my ramblings.
Statistics is an interesting one, though. When we read our numbers what are we thinking? Is it better that we have lots of viewers who each view one thing? Or fewer viewers that stay longer, browse around and read a few different blogs? I like it when I see I have two or three times as many views as viewers in a day because it means people are interested in what I’m writing about and want to read more. To me, that is more satisfying than lots and lots of hits from people who don’t stick around.
What do you think?
expatpartnersurvival.wordpress.com 
Clara, I agree that time on site is an indicator that seems to validate what we want for our readers. However, for (y)our loyal readers, what happens when they have read all that is in our archives? Hmmm… then they come and read today’s post, leave comments (like all good readers will 😉 ) and then go about their business.
So does the one and done mean they came. they saw, they commented (to coin a phrase) or that they were not interested? Hopefully, the numbers mean more readers are caught up than not interested! Sometimes numbers are just numbers, and comments and sentiment mean more than anything else.
Can’t wait for pub day! Good luck with your “just right” number.
-Jonelle
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Thanks Jonelle. You’re right – the really lovely readers will be the ones that come and read all your posts so have already read everything 😉
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I was just thinking the same as Jonelle – she put it so well. There’s also the readers who visit the site less frequently because they get your posts straight into their inbox, and so don’t show up as a site visitor. I’d also warn against getting too bogged down in stats, or trying to analyse them too much, just enjoy your blogging and reach out to people, and the stats will take care of themselves.
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I nearly named the post if you build it they will come as I’ve heard a lot of peooje say it’s all about good content. But I think it’s that plus a bit of networking….
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I like knowing people stick around to read more than one post. Congratulations on hitting your targets 🙂
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Interesting the comment above that Inbox readers don’t count as a site visitor. We should! I click on your title to open your blog to read. Weird that is not considered a visit. Oh, well. Yes, I am a loyal reader. Congrats on 3……! 🙂
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Thanks 🙂 I’m hoping to reach four or even five this month 😉
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Well done on reaching that target. As the comments show, there are different types of followers, from faithful to occasional, commenters and likers. And they shift around so it’s not that easy to figure out! (Is it really coming out next week, btw?)
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Who knows! It’s having the final corrections done as we speak then to upload them…then I don’t know how long it takes after that (eg what happens in the mysterious place that is Amazon). I HOPE it will be ready but don’t quite want to say for sure or what day it will be…..
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