We all know that I am an analytical kind of person that thinks in charts and data. I love looking at information to identify patterns and ways that I can improve. I think that is a big reason that I prefer running to other sports: you can easily track your progress (pace) and ways to improve (proper hydration, run in a tailwind, sell your soul for a PR). So it surprised literally nobody last week when I talked about all the lessons that I learned from diving deep into my blog’s statistics.
Even though I think it is incredibly important to normalize conversations about statistics within the book blogging community, I also feel strongly that we shouldn’t let statistics rule our lives. I know what you are saying, “sure, that’s easy for you to say, Kal!” and I hear you. But that is why I wanted to follow up last week’s post with this discussion on whether or not we should let the posts we make be dictated by our statistics. The short answer is no, but of course, I have more to say than just that!
Generally, my approach is to write what I feel like writing
Despite what the extra level of statistics analysis implies, I don’t really choose the kinds of content that I am going to write based on how other posts in that category perform — I’d never write book reviews if that were the case.
📝 Related Post: Stats Transparency Post & Lessons Learned After One Year of Blogging
We all know that book reviews tend to be the least viewed type of post (as reiterated in Drew’s poll), and there are a lot of factors that come into play: genre, a series you haven’t read, not wanting to read reviews of books you plan to read, etc. But I started my blog to write book reviews. They are among my favorite kinds of posts to write and read, so I continue to post 2-3 reviews every week (unless I am in Slump Hell). But what I do is ensure I never post two reviews in a row, and I try to be diverse in my posting schedule. But what I write? That’s all about what ideas I have and the inspirational writing whim (which is also why I live by a blogging schedule).
The kinds of information that I do glean from my statistics to inform my posting?
The more popular times that people are visiting my posts, which is why you will notice me playing around with my posting times. I want to make it as easy as possible for followers to come across my posts and for me, that is finding the posting time sweet spot for blog hopping. I also pay attention to things like post length to see if that affects the amount of engagement that the post has (for me, not really). But in terms of my content, it’s all my brain!
A Treasure Trove of Ideas in Search Terms
One thing that I find fascinating is the various search terms that drive people to my blog. Sure, most of my search traffic is unknown (243 as of writing this post), but there are some fun gems to be found. Here’s a badly edited image of some of my search terms for an example.
Another thing that is really interesting to me is the number of search strings that directed traffic to my ARC review of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. But I am also not surprised because that book is a mindf*ck and so I got to thinking… I should re-read the book and do a big spoiler reveal post. Mainly because I loved the book and have been wanting an excuse to re-read it after buying the finished copy, but also because it seems like something that could interest others.
Other search terms that come up quite a bit are along the lines of “books about ___,” which is why I think those kinds of recommendation posts are popular. People also apparently get to my blog by searching for free epubs, which I am not about that life and it makes me sad that my ARC disclaimer brings me that kind of traffic but oh well. As a note, my second favorite search term is angel jasmine jump the shark, and my Buffyverse soul is infinitely happy about it.
I’ve actually been inspired a few times to write posts based on some of my search terms and have a few posts coming up! I get inspiration from the weirdest places sometimes, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
So there you have it, why despite my obsession with statistical analysis it doesn’t dictate the posts that I write. At the end of the day, this blog is my outlet and hobby. I want it to remain fun, so I won’t ever do away with posts of a particular type because they are underperforming. My favorite part is flexing my creativity and interacting with you all — all I want to do is find ways so you all see my posts.
What are your thoughts on choosing what to write based on your statistics? Have you noticed anything interesting that inspired you?
I recently ran a pool on my Twitter about posts people are more interested in and the winner was “tbr / reads”. I think people are more prone to read lists and small reviews than long reviews on books… but I noticed my listicles posts have been more successful than review posts!
I loved reading your thoughts and your research! 🙂
That’s so interesting because I generally don’t enjoy reading listicles lol! (Top 10 Tuesday is like my nightmare.) I can see why they are popular though.
This is such a great post! I generally don’t let stats dictate my posts too much. Reviews are almost always consistently my worst posts, but I enjoy writing them so it doesn’t really matter. And my most popular posts are fairly random (like random Top Ten Tuesdays) so I find that’s not really a good indication of what’s doing well.
But I never thought to look at my search terms! Maybe I should do that and see if I get any inspiration!
I am glad I’m not the only one that enjoys writing reviews!!! I hear you on the random component, which kind of leads me to thinking it has more to do with follower behaviors than the content I’m posting.
Look at your search terms, they are amusing and maybe you will get inspired!
How do you get all that search term information?
Click on Search Terms on the daily stats view and you can change it to be alltime. Most will be unknown terms, but you will see a few of them.
I have seen those. I swear all of them are either Wicked King, Wicked King ending or Cardan and Kaz lol… and unknown lol
This was such a neat post! But what I’m really taking away from it is a justification for my decision to, mostly, stop writing reviews. Love to read them and hate to write them. It’s so fun how everyone has different preferences though!
I fully support your decision, Dee! At least in my experience, people seem to resonate with things I put “me” into and if I am not in the mood the post feels kind of flat. I have a lot of drafts like that right now… posts that will be cool maybe someday. Above all else, the blog is your space & you should write what you like!
I had never thought about looking at searched terms like this, but now I’m thinking, “duh”! Great idea.
My top posts are either tags or posts where I’ve featured a book or books (Top Ten Tuesday and my From My Bookshelf feature). This makes a lot of sense to me because 1. Other bloggers are tagged, or in the case of TTT, my post is part of a big link-up – and 2. Those posts offer more opportunity for discussion in the comment section. Fortunately I enjoy writing these posts, and they do inspire me to draft more discussion-like posts. I should perhaps focus on completing some of those drafts…😏😆
Honestly, I don’t think I ever would have thought to look at my search terms if it wasn’t for the fact that I noticed the ‘yuban coffee’ search terms one day and laughed for fifteen minutes about it. I find reading them really enjoyable.
That totally makes sense, and I think tagging plays a big part (and probably why tags and award posts do so well — but I think people also like learning about the blogger, too). It’s great that the kinds of posts that work best for you are the ones you enjoy writing!
There’s so many things I know I should be posting about to get found more, but also I started this blog to write what I wanted to, and that I shall do!
Yup, that’s precisely how I approach my blog as well!
I didn’t know what “Coffee yuban” was so I had to google it … I looked at the top 43 results and none of them were your blog 🙁 so now I really want to know how they got there haha 😀 Last time I saw a post about search results I didn’t have any but I do now, so I might do a post on them too! Hopefully I have some good ones like you do 😀
I don’t even look at my AdSense or stats anymore because it used to frustrate the hell out of me as to why I wasn’t getting the amount of numbers as other bloggers. But then I started to think does it really matter? I know stats matter generally, but do they really when you’re writing? Idk I guess I don’t pay attention to that stuff. I do get inspired by comments and current events that happen around me.
WEIRD now I am even more confused as to how they got to my blog LOL. SEO is weird, and Yuban coffee is literally the worst. I’d love to see what your search results are – I find it fascinating.
never mind a PR, I would be tempted to sell my soul just to not get winded after running half a mile 😅 this is why I stick to swimming, because it’s lower impact and I don’t have to deal with sweat and being short of breath and cramps and all that, lol.
but more on topic: planning out posts, as you mention, is a great way to make sure I keep things varied to kind of balance posts that are great for stats (memes, tags, guides, etc) with posts that are easier/harder/more interesting to write. I’ve definitely noticed that kind of Buzzfeed-style posts (lists, gifs, embedded/screenshotted social media images) tend to get more engagement, which makes sense since apparently attention spans are getting shorter and we as a society now tend to prefer visual storytelling.
my non-unknown search results are pretty boring (mostly to do with pretty generic bookish topics or certain books), but hopefully as time goes on I’ll get some interesting ones! and now you’ve got me wanting to sneak random phrases into my posts to see if they drive any extra traffic 😈
looking forward to reading your search term-inspired posts, because they sound fascinating! and your creativity and positive blogging energy are always so inspiring 💕
Oooh yes, not getting winded while running is a way better barter! Swimming sounds so easy in my mind but I feel like it would also murder me because I have never… swam for exercise before? I think it would be so tiring, but given where I am at now maybe the low impact would be good. HMMM
I totally agree that planning helps spread everything out, I like being able to vary my content! Visual storytelling is definitely the trend we are moving to, and lists break things down into easily bite-sized chunks. Those aren’t my favorite posts to read personally, but I understand why they are popular.
I’m surprised at how many people look for books about witches and spoilers. I avoid spoilers like the plague. Thanks so much for your amazing comments as always, Izzy! 💕
Another fantastic post, Kal! I don’t let my stats dictate my posts either, otherwise I’d post discussion posts now and then (which I keep meaning to do anyway just to vary things up but I never have time to think about things I want to say haha). I also post a lot of reviews, usually three a week but I’m like you and try not to do two in a row. Memes are pretty good as far as traffic depending on which one. Tags are good too! I want to say I don’t think about stats much and in a way that’s true…I don’t worry about comparing myself to others, but I do check my stats a lot because I like to see if I’m getting some traffic at least haha. It’s not fun writing into a void. 🙂
I approach my stats in the same way, actually! I check them to see if traffic is coming in but am not overly concerned about them (other than analysis, which I can’t stop my brain from doing. send help!). I am the same way with discussion posts, I have a lot of ideas but little energy to write them. I want to try to have at least one a month moving forward, but we will see. I do enjoy the conversations that come from discussions like this one a lot!
One a month sounds doable! Maybe I will try for that too. We can do it! 😀
Re: reviews vs. other stuff: I actually disagree with most people’s views on this. I think more listicle-type and recent news-type posts get more viewership on the day they are posted, but for me reviews are the ones that hang around in search results and generate the vast majority of the ad income.
In other words, reviews tend to stay relevant even months and years later while other posts go up and aren’t really anything anyone is searching for.
I agree though that it’s not as fun to let stats dictate what you write. I think instead the best way is to do what you want, but at least try to be aware of how it’ll impact your stats since ultimately having no readership is also no fun.
I love your nerdy stats posts by the way! 🙂
You have an interesting point about reviews being more evergreen content, and that is particularly true. Regarding ads, I turned them off because I was not seeing any ROI on having them so I am especially interested that you say that. But in looking at my search terms, most of them are for books. I don’t post many lists but my list of witch books gets searched a lot for some reason.
Thanks so much for your comment and adding your thoughts on the subject! Glad my nerdy stats posts are loved by someone other than me!
Great post. There’s so much to keep track of between reading/writing/ posting. Plus commenting and engaging. I love reading my stats but I haven’t done much with the info. Thanks for sharing your insight!
I love this sweet and informative post 😍 It’s so great to have a reassurance that stats aren’t everything, and doing what you love is what’s most important. But I also loved that you showed us how to use stats to our advantage. LOL at coffee yuban! That’s the best thing to be popular for 😂
Thanks so much for your comment, and I am glad you found the post useful!
I completely agree with you that statisctics shouldn’t dictate posts. After all, this is your blog and you should post what you like. I feel like we’ve been gaining more and more ‘confidence’ from the amount of likes we get (which is especially a sore point on Instagram), and have been changing our behaviour accordingly. The thing is, while it is important to understand what your readers like, and maybe adjust a little bit. It should stay with this ‘little bit of adjusting’. Because the readers that you’ve already accumulated through your enormous amount of posts which feature amazing reviews, completely insane stat reports (I swear Kal, when I grow up I want to be you), and hilarious stories about gulls (I actually have a story to tell you about a man with fries and a gull, which ends up in the man being fined, remind me if you want to hear it!), are here to stay. They already like your posts, but if you only posts what those readers want to see (i.e. best stats), how will you attract new ones when it’s not necessarily what you WANT to write. Because, and I know not everyone has to agree with this, in the end, posts that shout KAL HAS WRITTEN THIS are the best posts ever. And if you’re not feeling the post and are only writing it because you are catering to your readers.. then Kal is gone. And I don’t want Kal to leave.
Does this still all make sense? I just have a real strong opinion on this :’)
Every time you mention you’re on a schedule I get embarrassed and frustrated, because I know I should do it, and I started it, but somehow things always go awry and I don’t know how to continue anymore. BUT! I do think I have a bit of a system, if I want to post a certain tag or meme, I always go back to see what I’ve posted and how long it’s been since I posted the same type of post I have in mind. See, you’ve influenced my blogging habits! No but on a more serious note, you are such an inspiration Kal. I’ve only been blogging for just over 3 months and I meant it when I said that some day I want to be you (but I also want to stay me, so don’t worry 😉 ). Please keep going like you are (or not if you don’t want to!), whatever it is that you do, I’ll always be a reader (one that needs to comment on more of your posts!)
I love that you have a strong opinion on my blog and Kal in the posts. I promise that Kal will never be gone, Michelle. I definitely need to hear the story about gulls please and thank you! You are too incredibly sweet and this comment means a lot to me. I am humbled that you want to be like me when you grow up, truly humbled.
Listen, being on a schedule works for me but it isn’t for everyone! When I first started blogging I was without one and I did the New Blogger Thing where I got a bunch of ARCs on NetGalley and then was sitting in a panic about trying to keep track of them all and read them in time. That was when the spreadsheet was born — it started as just a way for me to track all my ARCs in one place. And then I was like “oh. I should also schedule when I want to post the reviews” and so I started calendaring out my posts. For me it frees me of anxiety, but I know so many others that my methods give them anxiety. It sounds like you have the right system for YOU and that’s all that matters!
Wow. I’ve never thought to write posts based on what search terms bring people to my blog!! That’s a really interesting thought Kal!! x
Thank you, Meeghan! The only reason it came to mind was I saw something and was like “oh huh, this would be cool.” Inspiration comes from the weirdest of places!
So many things are about achievement, got to get the numbers up, got to be efficient… I just cba with that all the time! I can’t help but look at stats and be pleased/disappointed by numbers, but ultimately I just do what I want with my blog. I know I could get more traffic if I did certain things, if I didn’t divide the audience between books/writing tips/fiction/politics. Eh, whatever. I like what I do.
You do you, I think enjoying what you’re doing is the most important!
I love these posts you’ve been making lately! I agree with you that stats shouldn’t dictate what you post. At least, not if you’re posting to share your love of books and talk about them with others. Book reviews always get the lowest amount of views, likes, and comments for me, but they are my favorite to write. It can sometimes feel a little discouraging, but much like you, the reviews are what I created my blog for!
Great post, Kal!
Thank you so much, I am really glad you’ve been digging my posts lately! I am also so excited that so many people enjoy writing reviews as much as I do. Which is interesting because they go unread lol.
You’re very welcome! I’m loving your content. It is always weird to hear that so many love writing reviews whenever you know that reviews get so little attention. I know there are a lot of reasons for it, but it still sucks to put so much effort into the review and then have it go largely unread!
Yea, it is a bummer but I also think reviews are… kind of evergreen content? Like you will continue to get views on them forever, whereas lists seem to have more in the first 48 hours and no more.
I totally agree!
I started blogging primarily to post book reviews, and while I have delved into discussion posts, my favourite type are still review posts. I love reading books and sharing my opinions with others! It used to perplex me that I didn’t get the kind of stats that I wanted, which is why I switched to discussions posts in the first place, but I realized soon after that I didn’t want to get hung up on stats and I would rather just enjoy posting the content I like rather than garner followers doing something I don’t absolutely love.
Some of those search terms are hilarious – I’ve never actually looked at the search terms on my stats, but I have half a mind to do so now!
Great post!
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences, and it’s interesting that you did change up your posts a bit but wound up not enjoying it. Discussions are great posts to read, but for me I can tell if a person is passionate about the topic or not and it makes a difference. I’d much rather read a post the blogger put their soul into.
Honestly I love looking at search terms, they amuse me greatly!
I think I definitely want to go back to discussion posts – but sometimes, I feel the pressure of trying to come up with something different or unique to talk about, which isn’t something I need to deal with when writing reviews.
I definitely can understand that pressure, but my personal outlook is every person has their own opinions to share. It’s safe to say everything has probably already been discussed before, so it is unrealistic to try to think of something completely new and unique. Your perspective, however, is unique and worth sharing!
Well I already jumped on your spreadsheet train, and I find myself nodding along with your whole post, I’m glad you don’t let it dictate you but I also think everyone could benefit from some sort of post scheduling, with music things the past couple of weeks I realized I’ve posted like 2-3 reviews in a row for two weeks in a row and I’m mortified at myself lol I actually was so happy you tagged me on the currently reading tag because I finally get a chance to post something else while still not having enough time to schedule anything more until next week. But we all come here for you, Kal, so whatever you decide to post is always the best thing to post 🙂 if that makes sense lol
I definitely agree with you there, but I do know that some people get massive anxiety from scheduling/planning. But I don’t think you need to be mortified about posting two reviews in a row, haha! I’ve done it and it’s been fine. I am glad scheduling helps you diversify your posts, though and THANK YOU for coming for me! Honestly, the book community is so wonderful and I don’t deserve you
I really should check my statistics, since I have no idea what people searched to find my blog or which posts they enjoy the most. But I’m also scared that it’s going to make me post more about what I think other people want from me than what I actually enjoy writing. Like, my Queliot post wasn’t popular at all but I just love talking about my ships.
I rarely posted reviews last year but now I feel like 90% of my posts are reviews. I think I’m only going to post few reviews from now on too. I miss having other kind of content in my blog too, like tags and memes. Unfortunately I don’t really have ideas for discussion posts.
I totally get your fear, Jamsu! I honestly love reading posts that people are passionate about, whatever that may be. Your ship posts are a treat because I can see your excitement in them if that makes sense. I don’t always comment because often times I have no idea who the ships are, so I have nothing to contribute. The search terms are funny though, I highly recommend you giving it a look!
Looking forward to seeing different kinds of posts on your blog! And yea, I like discussions but I spread them out like one per month max because I don’t want to have that creative well run dry.
This is really interesting, especially knowing that reviews are the least-read posts. I’m new around the blogging sphere which means I’ve not yet had a chance to vary my posts much; I’ve mostly been posting reviews and memes, but I did only start my blog up three weeks ago so I’m still trying to figure out the types of things I want to post. This is actually super helpful for a newbie blogger, so thanks for putting this up 🙂
I am so glad you found this post helpful, and I probably would have benefitted from it when I started out as well. Welcome to the book blogging community! It took me a few months to really figure things out and determine what it is I like doing, so what you are feeling is normal. 🙂
If you ask this question to me… If you’re blogging for a living, yes, stats and analytics and search terms and SEO and all of these technicalities should be taken into account when writing posts and you should write for stats, too. They are what bring in the people and, ultimately, the views the money, the success, or whatever you want to call it, too. If I’m asking this question right now, to myself, the answer would be, no. Statistics should not dictate what we post and what we should be posting, either. It’s fun to look at these search terms and sometimes, we can randomly get inspired to write about topics, yes, topics that can bring on people and statistics and be useful and so on, but ultimately, we’re here to blog for fun and… getting too caught up in writing for the statistics can definitely bring out all of the fun of it, too. To be completely honest, writing content for statistics is kind of part of my daily job and, as a book blogger, I want to write what I like to write, too 🙂
I agree that you can find inspiration from these kind of search terms and so on – and I’ll be looking forward to your posts on these, yay!But it’s so important to speak from our hearts, too, because this should remain fun before anything else and writing for stats can be both draining, uninspiring and… well, bothering at times haha 🙂
Sorry I rambled on a bit, this was an interesting topic!! 😀 <3
Thank you so much for your comment, Marie, you really got me thinking because you are right. I wrote this post from the mindset of a hobby book blogger, and that perspective is totally different from someone that blogs for a fulltime job! I also write and analyze statistics/analytics for my day job, which definitely influences how I approach my hobby: I don’t want to suck the fun out of it, but I also have trouble turning off that part of my brain.
NEVER apologize for rambling, I loved reading your thoughts!!!
I 200% get that, I’m doing a lot of online writing, analytics and writing for stats and to drive traffic, SEO and everything else in my day job and it’s so hard to turn that part of our brains off at time hahahaha 🙂
You’re so, so welcome! <3 Always here to ramble haha 🙂
Hmmm… I’m re-implementing a few posts that have done well on my blog in the past. I’m just sprucing up the posts a bit by writing new posts with new books.
I actually started my blog as a journal of sorts for myself so I don’t forget my thoughts on books. I am SO forgetful! LOL.
I am also REALLY FORGETFUL! Like I started a next-in-series ARC for a book that I read 4 months ago and remember very little, so I have to re-read it before the new book. Having the memory of a goldfish is really tiring, and I need to take better notes.
Exciting to hear you are bringing back some old faves!
if i wrote posts based on what previous posts on my blog had the highest hit count, i’d never post a book review again.
all us book reviewers, we’re here to write book reviews, right? it’s a conundrum that those are the posts that tend to get the fewest hits. like, you gotta write something (anything!) other than what you want to write, to get hits. weird.
HAHA yup, I’d never write reviews either. Which honestly saddens me at the thought!
I actually make a commitment to read as many book reviews in my reader as possible to support other bloggers because of this.
Kal! This is a great post and certainly got me thinking about whether statistics dictates my posting.
I don’t think my statistics do, though I have wondered whether, if I was prepared and more organised enough to plan this sort of stuff, I would maybe consider writing content that people would be more interested in reading about.
Sometimes I feel a little demotivated when my reviews can barely any views, but I think that’s just the nature of the beast — people either want to know your thoughts on a book they are interested in, or they want to know why you didn’t like it. (Hence why my Autoboyography review got 2x views in 2 days than my second most popular review has since I started my blog.) 😂
But thank you so much for sharing your insights! Such an interesting discussion and topic. 💛
I am so happy to hear that this post got you thinking, CW! I think that it’s tough to even predict what people would be interested in reading about, honestly. I know I have written posts that I was sure would be more of a hit than they were, which is kind of why I mostly just write what I feel like and enjoy.
I feel the same way about reviews, honestly. It is a bummer because they are really important and I feel almost a sense of pressure in doing my best to help books succeed. It does help me and my brain to know that this is common for everyone though, and it is why I make an effort to read reviews when I am blog hopping to give them a little extra love.
Thanks so much for reading & sharing your thoughts!
I just write whatever I want. In the end it is my space. I don’t even look what is the best time because overall readers and other bloggers will come by when it suits them and if they are like me will save the posts they want to read/comment on.
Great way to look at it in my book, Annemieke!
Thanks so much for reading and sharing your thoughts!
Wow, loved reading this post! I’m don’t usually view my stats but I’m gonna do that now. I’ve been really behind on my blog commitments but I want to start over and be more happy about writing, posting, reading posts while also being analytical because I feel like my brain is wired that way. I always analyze past question papers and smartly study to get the As on exams so why not apply the same to my blog? But you’ve given me a good insight into managing the analysis and fun. So thank you <3
I am glad you enjoyed reading my post Fanna, and huzzah to another analytically-wired brain! I am definitely trying to find my own balance between going all-out stalker on the stats and not caring at all (because honestly not caring kind of sucked out the fun a little for me?? is that weird???) I hope you get into your blogging swing and find your happiness soon!
I’m always surprised about which post is popular. I do agree you can’t let stats rule your blog. My real problem is I’m interested in too many types of storytelling. I appear to not be focused. I love exploring not only words but visual mediums too. Excellent post! ❤️❤️
OMG I am also interested in so many things and it takes a lot of planning on my part to not leave the well of inspiration untapped but also making sure my blog is more cohesive because it’s important to me right now. I think it is cool that you explore visual mediums though, and I think more and more people are getting interested in discussing things beyond books and film!
Likewise I started my blog both as a creative outlet, but also it was a way for me to find other readers like myself. Although, unlike a lot of people I guess, I didn’t start to share reviews. I started to share my thoughts, talk about topics, give advice and so as a lot of people can tell. I have a lot more discussion posts, than reviews. I struggle writing reviews, from the very beginning I struggled and to this date I still struggle…one day I’ll figure out what works best for me in terms of reviews.
Stats – as much as we enjoy looking at them, collating them, analysing them…they are numbers at the end of the day. They totally shouldn’t dictate the content we create, like you said Kal, if they did hardly anyone would post reviews. Love this post my data Queen <3
I don’t think that you necessarily need to write reviews to be a book blogger, so I see nothing wrong with you not posting them if they don’t bring you joy. And since you don’t really read ARCs there isn’t an obligation for you to write them, either. Maybe there will be ways/lists/discussion topics that you can incorporate to talk about books you read without the formal review format.
Thanks so much for your comment, Clo!
Ah Kaleena, you are smashing it with these awesome posts!! Another incredibly interesting one and again, lots to think on.
I am in two minds here and I’ll try to explain (I’ll probably fail but I’ll try)!
I 100% agree with your statement to ‘write what you feel like writing.’ I think that’s the most important thing for two reasons – 1) the blogger should absolutely enjoy writing the content for their own blog and should write what they would want to read and 2) the blogger’s enthusiasm and enjoyment will clearly show through the post and make reading it a great experience!
If someone is producing content that they don’t want to produce or that they don’t have fun producing (even if it gains them lots of views/ likes etc.) than I think that’s a sad way for them to spend their time and will ultimately only lead to frustration.
On the flip side I know how equally frustrating it is to spend time on a series or blog posts that not many people read but which takes a lot of time to research and write. Again, if it’s done for love it will pay out (personal satisfaction and that warm fuzzy glow) but then there is a sense of frustration that it just isn’t as loved as much as the blogger loves it 😛
But then I think it’s a balance – do views/ stats matter if the blogger is enjoying it? I think no. It’s up to the blogger to determine whether personal cost outweighs personal reward. I guess personal reward varies from person to person.
I think in a roundabout way I am agreeing with you (because I do agree with you!) but then my HR head can’t shake off data and what data can inform us. In work if something were taking time and effort for low ‘return on investment’ we wouldn’t continue. I think it’s hard for me to disentangle my blog head from that.
That being said – I have low ‘ROI’ on a series I do but I love doing it and the interaction I get from those who also enjoy it is what spurs me on to continue! I have moved it from a fortnightly to monthly though just because it took such a long time to do!
I think using statistics for times and length of blog posts is a good idea, again you’ve inspired me to do a deep dive.
I also checked out my own search terms and I was found on ‘I really like wordpress thanks for making it….’
I mean…. they’re welcome?
“But then I think it’s a balance – do views/ stats matter if the blogger is enjoying it? I think no. It’s up to the blogger to determine whether personal cost outweighs personal reward. I guess personal reward varies from person to person. ”
THIS very much succinctly relays my outlook on this! I know this is something that is different for every blogger (and if you are blogging for a job rather than a hobby then views to matter). And I feel you on a visceral level about needing to turn my analytical/ROI-driven brain from focusing on my enjoyment for my hobby! Because I look at stats all the time for my dad job and tweak strategy… it’s hard to turn it off.
DO A DEEP DIVE PLEASE! I love stats it is so interesting to me ahaha. “‘I really like wordpress thanks for making it….’” 🤣
Ha! Same! A lot of my job is analysis but I have to try and turn that part of my brain off. It’s so hard to do though and I must confess…. I love stats too. I’m not numbers orientated as such but I always tell people it’s not about the numbers it about the story that numbers can present to us.
So many people look at me like I’ve grown an extra head! 🙂
“I’m not numbers orientated as such but I always tell people it’s not about the numbers it about the story that numbers can present to us. ”
^^^ THIS! I find it so funny how much I love statistics because I actually really hate math, lol.
“Even though I think it is incredibly important to normalize conversations about statistics within the book blogging community, I also feel strongly that we shouldn’t let statistics rule our lives.” THIS. *stans by this saying* Partially why I avoid looking into stats is because I know full well I’ll sometimes let stats dictate what I write??? But also I just write what I want and let whatever is available dictate my posting schedule (bonus for mixing things up) since it’s too much work for me and I CBA to shuffle more.
I am laughing in the corner so much about coffee yuban, LOL. One thing I do notice is how everyone seems to like spoilers??? I feel like other than the additional posts, that would be super interesting to read about but I’m not about that spoiler life. I feel like the spoiler life is a YA version of SparkNotes, LOL.
I know, so many of my search terms are for spoilers and I avoid them so much personally. Like if something is spoiled I won’t watch or read it for myself level of avoidance. Then again, I do think recaps are useful for my goldfish brain on series, which is why I am going to start writing those. But no other time! haha Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts, Soph!
I started blogging to write about the books I read, which turned into reviews later and that is what I will continue to do. I will not and can not go by the stats. Also the stats have not been that great to me anyway. So I will stick to what I know.
That’s great and I’m glad you’ll just keep on doing what you know (and hopefully) enjoy! Thanks for reading!
Im a new blogger so i dont have many search terms, but Evelyn Hardcastle also shows up for me lol
Right now my stats are not impressive, but my meme posts are the most popular by far. Reviews are the ones i care the most about and even if they dont get much traffic when i post them they get more in the next few weeks and they are the ones im the most proud of.
I think Evelyn Hardcastle is searched a lot because the book is such a mindf*ck, lmao.
Meme posts are so good for bringing in traffic, especially when you are a new blogger! Welcome, and know that reviews get less views for everyone. I care most about mine too, and I love them a lot. The cool thing though is reviews never go out of style, so views will go up over time on them.
I never let stats dictate my posts either! And fortunately for me the kind of books that perform best are the ones I love writing the most and posts like book reviews which don’t do so well are the ones I’m not really crazy about 😀
It’s so great that your stats kind of fall in line with what you enjoy the most, Charvi!!! Thanks so much for your comment!
Statistics are also my thing. I try not to stick too much on them though. Thank you for sharing!
Statistics are so much fun, but it is also so important to not let them rule you! I am glad you try to not stick to them too much, and thanks for stopping by!
I absolutely loved this blog post. It works as a motivator when one is almost ready to give up on the idea of blogging. I started mine as one for reviews exclusively but now I am thinking of working towards more views and reviews instead of just reviews.
Thank you so much, you are so sweet! Keep doing what you enjoy, I throw in other posts in between my reviews to mix it up & help others (aka my brand).
That’s the plan.
Interesting discussion! I also love looking at stats but they don’t drive my content for the most part. I love looking at the search terms! By far, my #1 search term is for Where The Crawdads Sing……day after day, week after week, month after month! It’s one popular book! The majority of my content is book reviews but I try to mix it up with other book related topics.
You and I are pretty much the same, then! I look at my overall daily stats and play around with posting / sharing times on Twitter to see what works the best, but that’s about it. That is so cool, I’ve heard good things about that book but haven’t read it myself!
Great post, and interesting discussion.
I loved The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle too 😉
Thank you so much, and wasn’t that book amazing?!?!!?
My recommendation posts, and Top Ten Tuesday posts are the most popular! Statistics don’t drive what I post but I like knowing what drives more traffic to my blog and playing around with that. But when I don’t take statistics into mind, the lack of traffic can be disheartening.
It is nice to know the kinds of posts that tend to drive traffic – I actually use that information to plan my posting schedule! I write what I want, but I prioritize my posts accordingly, and I also spread them out between my reviews (and try to not have two reviews back to back). Thanks for reading, Camillea!