Last fall when Vicky @ Vicky Who Reads wrote her own Stats Transparency Post, I was inspired. When it comes to blogging, it seems that statistics is a dirty word, and no one really talks about them as a result. (The one exception I am aware of is Kristi @ Confessions of a YA Reader, who posts her stats every month.)
Friends, I have been working on this post for almost five months and finally have enough courage to will press the publish button. I didn’t realize how personal this post would be until I sat down to write it. And I am really nervous. I don’t want this post to come across as bragging or like I am shoving success in everyone’s faces (and I actually had a nightmare about this recently). It’s okay if you do not want to read this post, and no one should feel obligated to do so. This is merely here as a resource if you want it.
I think it is important to normalize talking about statistics within our blogging niche, as well as remove the stigma surrounding sharing statistics, and agree with what Vicky put in her post:
But ultimately, I believe that the book community is a community in need of a lot more transparency. For authors and publishers, I know this is a lot more difficult, but for bloggers–we control our platforms. Not anyone else. In the end, my blog is my blog and I can give insight to other bloggers by sharing this information (even if it feels so awkward).
The side effect of no one really talking about their blog’s statistics is that we build up unrealistic expectations of what it means to be a “successful book blogger,” and feel bad for not reaching those benchmarks we create in our mind based on those assumptions. Data pulled by Pages Unbound last year shows that 60 out of 103 respondents to their survey indicated that their average daily page views is 0-50. This is why I think it is crucial that we talk about this because unlike other blogging niches our audience is other bloggers. So it is important that we normalize these conversations and discuss ways that we can meaningfully support one another in the community. Everyone’s blogging journey is different and statistics do not measure a blogger’s worth.
I know how very fortunate I am to have the platform that I do and how anomalous it is within the community. In looking at my own data, I have some insights on how my platform grew and I want to share it with the community. I genuinely love the book blogging community and enjoy sharing tips and resources to help others, and in that regard, this feels very on brand. I am sorry if this post comes across as bragging, it isn’t my intent but I know that I cannot dictate how people react to this or any post.
This post is full of tables and graphs, and wherever possible I provided the insight I’ve gleaned from the statistics. This post isn’t meant to be a “How to Grow Your Blog” guide, but rather a deep dive into how my blog’s grown over the year and how you can apply similar methodologies to your statistics. But I’ve rambled enough, let’s get to the data! 📊
Blog Statistics
My blog recently turned one year old on March 4th, they grow up so fast! *sniffles* I’ve been tracking my data for quite some time, and now I have a year to analyze! 🎉
365 days | 84 book reviews | 245 posts | 220,909 words
When we all start our blog there is a bit of a learning curve as find our voice and carve a place out for ourselves within the greater blogging community. We all quickly learn that the way to get noticed is to interact with other bloggers because the bulk of your traffic isn’t coming from Google searches that lead to your book reviews!
I moved to WordPress from Blogspot in March 2018 and started following a couple of book blogs. That first month was a lot of me trying to figure out what I was doing and what I wanted my blog to be, with little to no engagement. But I was hooked, and I kept at it. I remember adopting a rough posting schedule in April of last year, and that consistency & blog hopping habit to interact with other readers slowly began to direct more traffic over to Reader Voracious. I was over the moon!
Let’s talk about stats baby.It was in May 2018 that I decided to dust off my unused and neglected Twitter account as a way to connect with readers and hopefully promote my blog. I’ve never really liked the platform personally before, but I had experience running work accounts. I fell in love. I quickly became a super fan of Twitter and had another way to interact with other readers! I was building friendships within the community — which is why I started my blog to begin with — and it exposed me to a number of amazing blogs I might not have otherwise come across as well.
The late May/early June timeframe is really when I started to feel like I hit my groove with my content and had a personal voice. I had built a personal brand and it was at this point that my blog started to see steady and consistent growth monthly. In looking at my post data, I can attribute this to two things: a post of mine going somewhat “viral” on Twitter and my consistent, daily habit of blog hopping. If you learn one thing from this post it is the importance of genuinely engaging with other people’s content. I’ve never prescribed to the “Follow for Follow” mentality and choose to keep my follow list small. I make an effort to read every post on my WP Reader because I like supporting others – and I also make an effort to return comments when I have something to say.
No one likes feeling like they are talking into the void; we all want to have our content read by others, so it is really exciting as the monthly views increase over time. As with my monthly views, the same trend can be seen in relation to my follower growth over the last year as with the general views.
I can’t speak to why those of you who follow me chose to hit that button, but I want to say thank you again! It means the world to me that I am fortunate enough to share my passion of reading with so many readers, and I really enjoy getting to know you all! I sincerely hope that I continue to create content that you enjoy reading.
Now that we’ve looked at the super macro view of my statistics… let’s dive a little deeper to see what information can be gleaned!
Engagement Based on Posting Day
Like Joanne sings in Seasons of Love, “🎶 measure your life in loooooooovvvvveeeeeeeee 🎶,” I measure my life in love. In the world of blogging, for me love is engagement.
Likes, comments, and social shares are where it is at, friends. You can have all the followers in the world, but what if they don’t engage with your content? To some degree, a lot of that lies in the habits of your followers: their timezones and blog hopping patterns. Looking at your statistics can help identify the habits of your audience.
For instance, when I first started blogging all of my posts went up at midnight Pacific Time. But I noticed that most of my views come from the United States, and most Americans aren’t blog hopping in the middle of the night (props if you are!). I started A/B testing posting times and found that between 8 and 9 a .m. Pacific was the sweet spot for my audience. (Although I am testing a noon Pacific posting time this week!)
📝 Related Post: The Ultimate Social Media Guide for Book Bloggers
Another thing that I have noticed is the cyclical nature of my views, which to me means that my followers are not blog hopping daily. Which I get because sometimes I wind up hopping every 2-3 days in bulk (although I prefer hopping on a daily basis). This is also evidenced when your notifications show a person liking and commenting on your most recent posts in bulk!
📝 Related: I’m conducting a survey on the blog hopping habits of book bloggers for a follow-up post. I’m interested to see what the community at large does and how that correlates to my stats. Please take 3 minutes to complete the survey here!
So while seeing the averages for my views, likes, and comments for every day of the week is really interesting in terms of planning which days of the week I will post, it didn’t give me the full picture I was hoping for. The subsequent chart based on this daily data is below and makes it look like my reviews are the most viewed type of post… which isn’t the truth, unfortunately.
Engagement Based on Post Type
If you follow me on Twitter, you will know that this post got delayed by a day because I got an idea during the final editing of this post and spent another 5 hours on data compilation. This section is that reason. I got to thinking about how much my data shows that my daily views is largely due to when people are hopping, and so the Engagement by Posting Day chart was a little misleading. So I pulled a CSV file of all my posts and their views from WordPress… and went through to add likes and comments for each one. From there I was able to create a Pivot table and dive deep into the data.
I simplified my Pivot table for the purposes of this post, and it is worth it to mention that while I subtract out my own comments from the Daily Engagement by Post Category section… I did not here because I honestly couldn’t will myself to do it.
Reviews again appear to be the highest viewed and engaged with, but that has more to do with the fact that it’s the largest category represented at 86 posts. My reviews, over the last year, on average:
- 65.72 views
- 36.74 likes
- 18.43 comments
Whereas my overall averages for all of my posts for the year are:
- 105.30 views
- 41.38 likes
- 26.30 comments
The most notable trends that I saw were in terms of the types of posts that have the highest views (guides and features) and really points to how book blogging isn’t just about writing reviews these days. It’s about being a part of a community, sharing ideas, and conversations. My first guide was Edelweiss 101 and honestly came to be because I needed to figure out how the heck to use that site and figured I would share the information with the community. Same with the Book Blogger Spreadsheet templates: I made them for myself and thought I would share with others. But this ties into who I am at my core: a person who is highly organized and enjoys making guides/processes.
I am not suggesting that you run out to make a bunch of guides. Some people really thrive with writing discussion posts, others make amazing lists of recommendations based on representation, others create Buzzfeed-style quizzes for their followers, or write in-depth research pieces on the different genres. The opportunities are endless. I encourage you to write things you would want to read and that you are excited to create. What that looks like will vary for everyone, but for me — it’s that passion spark coming through that gets me to follow a blog!
It is also important to note that I noticed a general uptick in engagement in the last 3 months as my follower count has grown, which is a natural progression to expect. If I were to only take the averages for the last six months (and eliminate the couple months that I talked into the void), the averages would be significantly higher. The lesson here is to keep doing what you are passionate about, your engagement and followers will grow as your blog does!
Some Final Thoughts
I’ve talked a lot about how blog hopping and consuming other bloggers’ content is my favorite part of blogging. If I can give you one piece of advice if you are starting out or just wanting to take your blog to the next level, it is to interact with other bloggers. There is no greater thrill than getting a thoughtful comment on a review or post, and I believe in putting out into the world what you want to receive. But don’t approach it like an obligation; read and comment on the posts that genuinely interest you. I attribute any success that my blog’s had with my blog hopping habit and the fact that I do it because I enjoy it rather than out of obligation.
Ultimately, what works for me and my audience here might not work for you. You may have increased traffic statistically on different days of the week, have greater engagement on different types of posts, and different interests as well! One thing that I didn’t really touch on in this post is the role of social media and a deep-dive into those statistics. I am open to doing a social-focused follow-up post if that would be interesting to you, just let me know!
We all have something different to share. I happen to be really, really Type A and come up with a lot of organizational tools to help others. I like figuring things out and writing guides. I feel strongly about boosting the voices of others. Your strengths and passions are going to be totally different, and whatever they are I encourage you to explore those passions on your blog. Posts that are obviously made with lots of love resonate with me deeply, and I think it’s that authenticity and love that makes people want to follow a blog.
I hope you found this deep dive into my statistics and the lessons they taught me interesting! It is my hope that you will be able to do some of your own analysis behind the scenes if you want to, and I would love to see more people talking about this: stats aren’t a dirty word!
Additional Reading About Blogging Statistics
- Pages Unbound conducts a semi-annual book blogger stats survey and the 2018 results were released in last fall. This gives a good idea about what is average and demystifies a lot of what we all assume about “big blogs.”
- Be sure to read Vicky’s Stats Transparency post, because she is the reason I got the courage to work on this post and she was so brave in putting it all out there!
- Marie @ Drizzle Hurricane Books wrote a really fantastic post about the Truth of Blogging Stats and how they matter.
- Drew @ Sarcastic Enigma ran a Twitter poll asking about average views for book reviews, which received 338 responses, and posted his findings. This reiterates that the bulk of us are all in the same boat.
Thanks so much for reading!
I’d love to hear your thoughts on statistics and if you’ve noticed any interesting trends while looking at your data! Next week, I will be posting a discussion follow-up to this post: should we let our statistics dictate our posts?, which I am really excited about!
As a final note, this post was originally going to include a dive into my Twitter statistics, ARC approval ratios, and a look at where my traffic comes from but ultimately cut them in the interest of space. If there is interest, I will do a Part II of this post to include those areas and provide a more complete picture.
💖 If you like the work that I do here at Reader Voracious, consider fueling my latte and black tie addiction by buying me a ko-fi! ☕
Let’s go on another adventure together!
I’m still trying to get a handle on understanding my own stats better. For me, my ‘top 5’ posts tend to get the most interaction, but, the good reading habits tag post had 231 views, which, well, is crazy! Especially, because tags and memes don’t typically get much traffic for me. I do hope I can hone in on the stats and maybe use them to my benefit, I filled out your survey and was glad you shared this post, I really loved it (and it made me feel better about how I’m doing as a newer blogger)
Thank you for writing this post. As of late of have become seriously obsessed with my stats to the point that it makes me feel like what is the point sometimes.
And I know I should not feel that way but it is hard not to. It is just hard when sometimes something you think will take off does nothing and nothing for me is like 15 hits and then something you think is a throw away gets like 65 hits. I also dont get the Instagram thing at all. Some one suggested it and it seems like a ton of work for a lot of likes, no engagement and no effect on the number of followers.
Like you said, I am so much more a Twitter and a blog hopper. That is where I am most authentic. And it ticks me off that certain places are like.. make sure you like and engage in two posts.. I do it, honestly, because I like doing it. And on a lot of days? It is the only human contact I have. I love the blogging community. And interacting with all of you. I do it because I want to not becaise an app or forum says I have to.
Believe me I needed this part time job but the only thing that sucks is having to respond now and then waiting till I come home. But I respond authentically when I can to posts I feel I can offer to.
Anyway I really appreciate everything you said. I dont think you are bragging. Forgive my language but you work your ass off. And that isnt to say that I or anyone else doesnt but I see what you’ve done and you help a lot of people. And there are others with as many followers as you who dont engage and it kinda sucks but you still do and you are still willing to do these kinda posts.
Ok sorry for the novel but really wanted to say thank you and kinda throw in my two sense. Dont know what to do with Instagram. Maybe like you said I should just stick with my passion although Twitter doesnt necessarily seem to be growing my following either. Lol
Thank you so much for your comment Susan, and I know how hard it is to not become consumed about the numbers. For me the way that I stay grounded and unobsessed is to have fun — this is a hobby and everything I write is because I want to. I value the conversations I have on my posts with others, and I am fortunate to have built an audience that chats with me. But I can relate to having posts not perform as well as you anticipated, it happens to all of us. Just remember that blog posts are evergreen and you never know when things will pop off.
I personally don’t bother with Instagram; my account is my personal one and I post on it when I feel like it. Working in the digital communications space, I know that the Insta & FB algorithms really work against the creator and favor those that post frequently, at least once a day. It’s too much work for me to want to dedicate to it, so I don’t.
Thank you. Like most things in life I know everything you say is true and I know it would be easier to accept if I had more relationships in my life. The lack of family and close friends makes the few things I do invest in very intense emotionally. Logically I know you are 100% right.
You mention things like algorithms and I don’t even know what you are talking about lol. Someone mentioned IG themes to me today and I cracked up… I have theme.. what theme. I barely remember to throw in all the hashtags. And I only have time for it daily because I don’t work. I don’t know how anyone would do it with a full time job. Not all of it like you said anyway. I may not be on IG long. I agree it doesn’t seem to pay off. And Twitter has always been natural to me, something I know. That and my interactions on my actual blog (which have been growing a great deal and that makes me very happy) take up time with investing in.
Thank you for the advice and guidance as always!
I’ve heard that top 5 lists and the T5T/T10T memes do really well view-wise, but I don’t participate in them so I wasn’t able to draw any conclusions beyond what I’ve heard anecdotally. YAY for the good reading habits tag! I’ve noticed tags and wrap ups do fairly well for me, too. But I do them sparingly so who knows.
Thanks for filling out the survey, Haley!
I agree that it takes a little while to find your footing in the blogging community– I think it took me a year to get an idea what I wanted my blog to be which is a long time but Iwas busy and the timing worked for me!!
Yes I think genuinely engaging with other bloggers is great and I really enjoy it!!
It is so lovely to see your blog growth over time and you did so well!! You should be proud of yourself and it is great to see!! And the amount of content you put out is impressive *round of applause*
Yes I don’t think reviews are my most popular type of posts either but I completely agree with you about writing what you want to read and excited to write– I think that is so important!!
I would be interested in a post to do with social media and statistics!! 😊
I think this was a really interesting and lovely post– and you worded it beautifully!! And I definitely think we should talk about stats more!! Thank you for taking the time to create this!! I loved it!! ❤
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment, it means a lot to me! From what I have seen, most bloggers take some time to find their voice but in my case it was a very rewarding process. Reviews definitely seem to be the ignored post type, Drew did a survey last week and most people get less than 100 views on them. Sad because they are my favorite posts.
You’re very welcome!! It’s nice to hear that other bloggers take a while finding their voice too!! It is shame because they take a lot of time and work. I enjoy reading reviews too!! But I like writing my reviews so even if they don’t get the most views I will still do them!! 🙂
Great post! First of all, I’d like to say how brave you are for doing this! It takes a lot of courage to display what you have achieved for everyone to see!
I think I’m still trying to find myself in the blogosphere. I started last year(in April end) as well but I think I really didn’t pay much attention to it until this year. Last year I was all over the place and had a lot of things going on at once-starting off at a new school choosing my subjects, etc. but this year, I’m learning more and more about what it truly means to be a blogger.
I think my discussions get most views and comments? I’m very opinionated and have a lot of GIFs to convey what I mean to say.
That said, I’m not too sure because I never have enough time to look at my stats and review them other than a brief glance at whatever WordPress gives us.
I’d like to end by congratulating you on growing your blog and coming so far!
Thank you so much, Jayati! I was really nervous about posting this… when I first started working on this my stats were different and I’ve had a lot of anxiety about coming off as bragging. But we need to start somewhere I suppose to get the convo going.
YAY for being opinionated and discussion posts – and gifs are always fun! WordPress’ stats are kind of lame and tbh I wouldn’t recommend people go to the level of tracking I did for the purposes of this post — it wasn’t fun and I’ve since stopped ahaha.
Hey, it’s your choice and if someone says that you’re bragging, I’ll go punch them, okay?
Haha, I’m horrible at tracking things and usually forget midway. Anyway, it’s all really cool – how you tracked it and analysed it.
Maybe you should continue since you have done it for so long!
This is such a great, detailed post!
This was a very interesting post to read! But I am a little be saddened that what we consider “successful” bloggers has to be measured by statistics. I think we should broaden that term “successful” to anyone who is content and happy with his blogging.
I 100000% agree with you, and I am sorry if I wasn’t clear enough about that in my post! I definitely don’t measure success by views or followers, but really by having amazing conversations with people & enjoying what I do. I honestly loved blogging when I had 3 followers, and love it now!
It’s hard to not get hung up on the numbers, but I do hope that maybe if we stop stigmatizing statistics maybe it won’t be the default benchmark of “success.”
Great post! Some bits that struck me:
“unlike other blogging niches our audience is other bloggers” – woah! I never thought of it that way, but that is true, we are our own readers.
“I encourage you to write things you would want to read and that you are excited to create.” I try to live by this as best as I can, and curate my blog with the things I like of blogs!
“I attribute any success that my blog’s had with my blog hopping habit and the fact that I do it because I enjoy it rather than out of obligation.” YES! Less Duty, more Love!
Thank you so much for your comment, and I know what you mean – I never realized that the bulk of our audience are other bloggers! Once I did, I started thinking more about the kinds of posts I would like to see and writing what interests me… which works out.
Sounds like a win-win! 🙂
It’s so true about blog hopping being one of the best ways to get traffic. I recently started doing more and not only have my stats increased, but I’m enjoying myself more because, we all know, getting a good comment is the best thing ever 💕
I completely agree with you, there is no better feeling than a wonderful comment & striking a conversation with someone new!
Wow, such a detailed post! Congratulations on doing so well in your first year!
Personally I get frustrated sometimes because while my followers are going up up up, my page views and likes … aren’t. So I have a lot of followers who aren’t really reading my posts, which is a huge question mark for me. But most days I just shrug it off. Stats aren’t that big of a deal to me, I’m doing this mostly for my own enjoyment and to make friends. 🙂
I wish I had more time for blog hopping. I always spend more time reading other folks posts in the summer, but job + school + kids is really bogging me down from reading people’s posts as much as I would like to. :/
I hear you on the frustration, and one thing I have been trying to figure out because I am an analytical person is what gets people to follow and drill down into the blog hopping behavior. Anecdotally it seems not many people are blog hopping off their reader or at all, and in that case it is hard to cater to those follower behaviors.
Hopping takes a lot of time, and lately my daily habit has been more of a weekly one.
Okay hang on, so if you read something in the reader it doesn’t show up in their views? That seems like a huge oversight on WordPress’s account, especially since I don’t even LIKE reading in the reader. But getting to their actual blog takes like, three extra clicks and wait times…
YUP. Those Reader referrals you see in your site stats are actually the views from people clicking to a post from the reader. I just CTRL+click the little arrow icon en masse and go through tabs to hop. Annoying and bizarre, tbh.
Thank you for having the courage to post this! This blog is a real inspiration to me. 🙂
Thank you so much!
Kal this post is one of my favourite things I have ever read!! You’re amazing and your blog is amazing xxx
😭😭😭
Thank you, once again, for writing such an amazing and informative post. I am honestly still slightly gobsmacked at the development your blog has gone through in just a year. Ngl (seeing as we’re talking about transparency), I am a teenie little bit jealous I am totally happy for you and I think it really is a testimony to your commitment to helping others, creating supportive & unique content, and friendliness towards other bloggers.
One thing I’ve learned and that’s really changed my blogging is to try not to care about stats at all. Even when I was using them to try to grow my blog, I found that the stats were making me really anxious and I ended up caring more about stats than about enjoying what I’m doing. Now I’m perfectly happy to chug along doing what I do without paying much attention and focusing instead on the amazing friendships and relationships I have with my followers <3 (although, again, ngl it's nice seeing my follower count increase slowly but surely)
Honestly… I am also kind of gobsmacked. Thank you for being honest about being a teeny bit jealous and if the situation were reversed I would probably feel the same way. Back when I first decided to write this post my stats were very different, but I decided to wait until I had at least a year’s worth of data to discuss. I hope you know that I LOVE your blog and your value is not in the number of views or followers you have.
I am glad that you stopped worrying about the stats though, I think a lot of people can relate to the anxiety and obsession of it. Your passion and enjoyment shows in your posts, and that follower count will increase in time! Now that I got my year of data all analyzed, I am happily no longer tracking my statistics, and it feels great. I am here for the friendships and people, and no amount of metric data can attest to that.
Thanks for your comment and support, Avery!
I’ve learned interaction with others is vital and it used to overwhelm me until, as you mentioned, I began interacting and commenting on those posts that resonated most with me. My biggest struggle is trying to maintain a stable viewership, which is definitely impacted by the posting frequency and the subject diversity. At least from what I’ve gathered. I think there is a huge stigma surrounding sharing stats. I know I don’t do it often because I will admit I’m insecure and embarrassed about having low stats, and I’m afraid of being judged for it. But normalising that conversation, again as you’ve discussed here, is very important in helping smaller bloggers like me to not feel such discomfort and fear of judgment.
Posting frequency definitely does appear to make a big difference as well, at least in terms of overall views. I post 5 days a week, so that’s a lot of content hitting the reader for people when they are hopping. I think even more than that is being consistent — if a blog posts once a week that is fine, but if they skip weeks and don’t have a hiatus notice? I probably won’t follow.
Don’t feel ashamed by your stats! We all start in the same place and honestly, I think the majority of book bloggers have similar stats if the recent surveys can be any indicator. I do agree though that there is that fear around sharing statistics when you see yourself as small, and that is definitely why we need to talk about this more.
This is a wonderful post. Thank you for taking the time to collect and present all of this (really interesting!) data and to share it with the community in order to help us. I know I need all the help in the world, since I’m a slow learner when it comes to blogging, but hey, I’ve gotta start somewhere! I learn so much from posts like these, so I really, REALLY appreciate this.
Interacting with other bloggers is probably my favorite part of blogging. It’s fascinating seeing what other people are reading and what reading that material means to them. I’m really introverted on top of being socially anxious, so being able to chat with people on the blogs is all the fun without any of the pressure, which is fantastic (plus, you know, books!).
Thanks for helping us out! 🙂
We all start at the same place with basically no knowledge on blogging, so don’t stress about it! I was in the same boat when I first started and it took some time for me to figure things out, a little. I am still learning though and definitely do not know all the answers!
I also love interacting with other bloggers! It is why I created my blog.. I wanted to have friends to talk about books with. I hear you on the social anxiety, too.
Thanks for your comment & I am glad you found the post useful!
Congrats on one year!
I love seeing your stats!
(www.evelynreads.com)
Loved this post! You’ve done so well. ☺️
Thank you 😭
To be perfectly honest, I think that stats are something that you track a lot when you’re a newer blogger and then stop paying attention to as you blog for longer. And this makes perfect sense. I remember in my first couple years of blogging, I checked my stats all the time and I tried to figure out what attracted more attention. When you’re first growing an audience, you need to be conscientious of that. You can’t find a place in the blogging world without being intentional about growing your platform, because you’d just be talking to yourself. Now that I’ve been blogging for over six years, I’ve WAY relaxed on paying attention to stats. I check them every once in a great while and I try hard not to fret about them at all. I have that luxury, though, because I worked hard at it in those first few years. And I’ve already built those habits that helped me build my audience in the first place—I wholeheartedly agree that engagement is key. Looks like you’re doing the right things and it’s wonderful that you’re sharing your wisdom!
While I agree with you to a certain extent, but I do feel that what you said is a little dismissive as well. I can only speak for myself, but I am an analytical person that works professionally with statistics and metrics. It is how my brain works, and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon. That being said, I also agree that the lessons gleaned from deep dives like this into statistics matter less once you have built your dedicated audience.
I’ve already stopped paying attention to my stats beyond just looking daily. I started tracking these statistics back in September when I decided to work on this post, and now that the post & analysis is finished I am no longer tracking daily views & the types of posts that I make each day. I didn’t really enjoy feeling the need to record that level of detail (especially since WP stats are cruddy), but I wanted to be able to do something like this for the community.
Thanks for sharing your perspective and reading my post!
So sorry if I came off as dismissive!! After rereading my comment, I can totally see how it sounds that way, and I sincerely apologize for that. I more meant it to be an encouragement that once you’ve worked hard and established an audience you won’t be forced to put so much time and effort into thinking about your stats if you don’t want to–I didn’t mean for it to sound like I was looking down on doing so. (I paid LOTS of attention to it in those first years and I think it was very valuable!) And certainly, I should have acknowledged that there are (lots of) people who are more statistically-minded than me who really enjoy diving into the numbers and will want to do it for the long haul.
You’re right that there’s a big stigma against discussing numbers in book blogging, and you’re broaching an important topic, so I doubly apologize for my careless wording and the fact that my comment seemed negative! (Wish I could take it back, but I know life doesn’t work that way.)
Thank you so much for your apology, and I am honestly sorry I was so defensive in my initial reply — I was having a bad day, but that isn’t an excuse. I definitely get where you are coming from though! I actually stopped tracking my stats once the 365th day came around and it feels nice; but I also recognize that I am fortunate to kind of have an idea what my audience comes here for already. xoxoxox
Cool post, and wow, some serious analytics! 😀 Didn’t expect any less from you though <3
I have similar stats, but i never really looked at them in so much details. It's true tho, that interacting with others will generate even more chat 🙂 I used to follow some bloggers because i liked their content and used to comment, but they never replied. I still read their stuff, but nowadays don't bother saying anything. 😀
Awww thank you, Norrie! 😭 Glad you agree this was on brand, hahaha
It was really neat to go through and track everything for a year, but it was also a lot of work and something I am glad is behind me now that the analysis is out in the world!!! I also stopped commenting on certain blogger’s posts when I realized they never replied. I know I get behind sometimes but to never respond makes my heart hurt.
Please never ever ever change, I love and admire everything you do so much.
Talking about statistics isn’t easy, I never really had the courage to share everything down like you just did and I found this so amazing and SO informative, too, so thank you so much for that! I love how you talk about interacting and genuinely interacting with people on the blogosphere, because that’s so important to me too and I love what comes out of it, too, friendships and chatting about books and everything else and, in the end, these things matter to me way more than all the statistics in the world.
I think it’s so important, like you said, to focus on what we love and what makes our heart grow bigger, in a way, because it really shows in our posts and that’s what makes me want to follow, comment on a blog post and so on.
Oh and thank you so, so, so much for sharing my post, this means a lot <3 <3
Awww thank you SO MUCH Marie, you are so sweet and I ADMIRE YOU! 😭😭😭
I’m glad you found the post & my thoughts on stats informative, as well. I was REALLY nervous about this post but ultimately I think it is important. I just hope others can glean similar information for themselves, if interested!
what no 😭 you’re too sweet 😭😭
I get the nervousness, I’d be so nervous to post something like that as well -most likely why I haven’t, haha-, but you did SUCH an amazing job with it and from what I’ve seen had such great feedback, too. I hope that this will inspire people for sure <3
Thank you so much, you are too incredibly kind!
I’m so glad you posted this. To be entirely honest, one of the reasons that you are among my favorite bookish blogging friends is because you don’t only talk about books, but you also make a huge, noticed effort to give back to the community! I don’t remember how I found your site but I know that you have helped me in a lot of ways (that you likely don’t even realize!!) when it came to growing my site and working on finding my own niche. Being open about your stats and methods that work for you just adds to the growing list of ways that you are SO helpful! I am so happy (and proud) that your site has been doing so well. You truly deserve it! Also- I took the survey; I hope it helps! ♥
*blushes infinitely* Thank you so much for your kind words, Brittany! They really mean the world to me and I am so glad that my efforts to help others… help. If that makes sense? I am honored to be a part of your journey, but you are doing all the hard work!
You’re more than welcome!! It’s always nice to hear when you’ve helped someone and I wanted to let you know that you’ve certainly helped me!! I’m glad to have stumbled upon your site!!
I’m in love with this post! And, to be honest, your entire blog. Thank you so much for sharing, it is very clear how and why your platform has grown like it has! Looking forward to everything you go on to put out 🙂
AHHH thank you so much!!!
Thanks for including my post.👍📚
Of course, it was perfectly timed to add additional data to my claims!
Thank you so much for this post! Personally, I am not ashamed to share my stats as I normally share them on my monthly wrap-up. However, I know how uncomfortable this could be to many because it can really appear as bragging. I think sharing stats should be normalized though. There’s nothing wrong with sharing them imo. It’s one way of opening up to your followers and it can also serve as a way to accept your blog’s progress (no matter how small this may be).
I’m so happy that you had a successful blogging year, Kal! Keep spreading bookdragon fire my friend 💕
I love that you also share your stats, and I hope more people will feel comfortable to share as well. Thanks so much for your comment, love you!
Yes, we definitely do need a lot of transperency when it comes to this community! And I love that and I love that you are talking about it. You’ve actually inspired me for a video idea now and I will definitely quote your post when I film it. Congratulations on a year of blogging! And yes, I think interacting with other bloggers and the community is the main part to building friendships but also cementing your love for blogging. It’s so so important <3
😱😱😱 I can’t wait to see your video, how cool this post sparked some inspiration for you! It’s interesting because views are publicly available on Youtube videos, which is another layer that I didn’t think about until your comment. I think that may play a part in opportunities from publishers trending more toward the booktube side than blogging, but also they tend to get more views overall.
Friends are the best part of blogging and I will never tire of saying it!
Well done on such a well thought out and detailed post! I can imagine it was nerve wracking posting this but you’ve explained it so well and without bias.
I agree with this statement – Everyone’s blogging journey is different and statistics do not measure a blogger’s worth.
For me statistics don’t measure a bloggers worth and I personally think the interaction I get from my posts is the best thing. I would rather have more interaction from a few followers than low interaction with many. That’s where my focus is at. BUT… that being said I do sometimes feel like I am shouting into the void and with more followers/ visits/ views comes the potential for more interaction and discussion so at times I feel like I am on the self-doubt carousel.
At work my colleagues laugh because I say ‘data is the foundation of the organisation’ and by that I mean – data and statistics and analysis tells a story of its own and leads to potential action. For that reason I am inspired to do a deep dive into my own statistics and take from it what I can in terms of my content. Whilst I don’t subscribe to changing content fully to meeting audience demands I do believe in supply and demand. If an audience enjoys and wants more of a particular type of content and it generates more view and therefore discussion then maybe there’s a lesson to be had in supply 😉
Looking forward to your next post about it!
Thank you so much Gerry, I was REALLY NERVOUS about putting this all out there but I felt it was important. I am really fortunate to have the audience that I do, you all are wonderful!
I totally agree, I am more of a quality over quantity person any day of the week. The interesting thing is that even if you have 1,000 followers, that doesn’t mean that each of them read all of your posts. Not by a long shot – for me it is about 15%. I still feel like I am shouting into the void but I know that I enjoy writing my posts — and they are evergreen too… for some reason my witch book recommendation post from October is still popular? LOL.
I’d encourage you to do a deep dive into your stats, it is really interesting! My discussion post about stats and dictating content is going up any minute now and I am excited to hear your thoughts on that one!
I understand the nerves because I think I would be too but for different reasons. There’s potentially the perception that if someone has ‘good’ (bearing in mind ‘good’ is subjective) stats and numbers that some people may think that the person is being transparent for bragging rights which I don’t think is the case because I like seeing how people how grown/ their struggles/ their achievements because it launches something others can learn from.
My nerves would be because my numbers would be considered ‘low’ and so people may think, ‘what’s the point of sharing the stats, why are you even trying to blog?!’ but I need to get over that.
I think I’m very interested in the level of activity people feel they get, someone could have 2000 followers but 20 interact but another person could have 200 and 20 interact so the interaction rate is significantly different. I also am interested in if there’s an average % of interaction that occurs so it doesn’t matter how many followers you have (2000 or 200) you will on average have a 25% ‘interactivity’ rate of likes, comments etc. Of course the more followers may result in the more interaction and so that may be a ‘reason’ to get follower numbers up.. or not. Who knows!
It’s interesting you say you have a 15% read rate – I’m very interested in looking at mine now and even asking others how they do but I don’t know if that’s too personal a question to ask.
Dang, you’ve got me thinking!
I’ll look out for that post as it will be an interesting read no doubt. I’m about a day behind at the moment (standard) so I may not be able to get to it until tomorrow but I shall read with a cup of tea and a biccy!
I am also REALLY INTERESTED in the average rate of interaction now. I think you should look into it, I am sure people would respond anonymously in a survey! It would be easy enough to ask for the number of followers, average post like, and average post comments and hammer out some percentages. I think that would be interesting AND may be more of a meaningful conversation in relation to statistics within the book blogging community.
I love this post so much! I totally think we should be more open about stats. When I first started out with reviews I had no idea what the average stats were or tips for working on certain aspects of engagement. I think if people were more open then it would help!
Thank you so much, Lisa! I hope that more people will start being open about their stats moving forward, I think it will alleviate a lot of that newbie anxiety and shame we all feel!
Exactly!
Kal , this is my personal favorite post of yours next to Edelweiss series!!! I totally agree on the points you placed on bloghopping and interacting. (I usually bloghop regularly but exams have kept my saddle). I can totally imagine the pressure of posting and coming teansparent about your status and its really really awesome you did this❤. Have more great achievements ahead!!!!!!
😱 Dany that is such high praise, THANK YOU! I’ve been not as consistent with my hopping either, I tend to be 3-5 days behind now. Life happens and I know everyone appreciates the hops when they get them!
Thank you SO much for posting this. I think sometimes I see bloggers pretend they are doing better than they really are–which makes everyone else feel failed. Kinda like the ‘fake it to make it’ mentality. BUT, they never discuss their stats, etc, and then in private conversations, you sometimes learn that all their talk is kinda BS. (Not everyone, though.) They just pretended to be doing wayyyy better to make money off affiliate links and get their “pro” blog tips posts read. It kind of shocks me, but definitely exists. Meanwhile, newer bloggers are comparing their success to these bloggers having no idea what is going on and ready to give up. Looking at growth and learning from stats is so important. Success doesn’t come overnight, and you only really want to see the progression over time. On a different note, can I hire you to analyze my stats? Lol
YUP, I totally agree! I think there is an assumption that 1,000 followers = 1,000s of views on every single post. The thing about statistics is that you can splice them in different ways to tell a story — it is easy for me to say that I get 4k-5k monthly views on my blog, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to views on my reviews (which is what a publisher wants to hear).
If you are serious about that analysis question, I am open to it LOL!
Amazing post, Kaleena!! Thank you so much for having the courage to share this post with us! I know how scary it can be to talk about statistics, but I think that this is definitely something that we should discuss more openly in the book blogging community! Also, it’s amazing to see how much your blog and statistics have grown over the past year! You’re such an incredible individual, and I’m so happy that many others realize what a lovely human being you are, Kal! ❤️❤️
Thank you so much for your comment, Kelly! It is sosososo important for us as a community to be more transparent, and I hope more bloggers will follow suit! (and thanks so much, it is really exciting and humbling to see the growth my blog had over the last year!) ILY! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
this was such a great post! i deifnitely think i need to follow less so that im hopping to content that interests me a lot more! 🙂 that way i can possibly do ym hopping dailiy instead
I have been thinking about following less to keep my Reader more manageable. Daily hopping is great at my level, but if I get behind at all it’s a nightmare to catch up. A part of me wants to just start using feedly but effort.
Awesome post, Kaleena!! I love all the work you put into this. And wow, for only blogging for a year, I’m super impressed. Honestly, my stats are very similar to yours and I’ve been blogging for 8 years!!! LOL. Keep up the good work!
Aww thank you so much, Tammy! I look up to you so much so it means a lot to me!
Wow, it’s not at all awkward, Kaleena but a real inspiration to other budding bloggers and starters like me to one day reach a stage when you can have the guts to show you stats and they seem decent enough to be shown😉😉😄😄
It was great reading your post!
Aww thank you so much for your kind words, Himani! Glad you enjoyed the post!
Ya! It was something different.
I really loved this post, Kaleena, thank you so much for taking all the time to share your insights with us! ❤
Thank you so much for reading and commenting, Cailin!!!
I love looking at our stats and seeing what books. Unfortunately a few months after starting our blog we took a 3 month hiatus because we were not get able to juggle both school and blogging, so that skewed our stats a lot, especially since we were still very small. Right now we’re still in the process of figuring out what works, but it’s nice to see that improving our blog and blog hopping more often definitely helps!
I agree, it is really fun to see what kinds of things works! I am totally an analytical person at heart and it is tough to turn off. Hiatuses are important and I am glad to hear you put your school first. The thing with blogging is it will always be there and you can always (re)gain traction. Blog hopping definitely helps with building an audience and making friends in the community!
I love stats and this blog post is a really great reading for me. I&m not a book blogger but I can agree that no matter what your niche is, interacting with other bloggers is key!
I also love stats! It’s so great to meet another kindred soul, hehe. Thanks so much for visiting!