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Are you obsessed with watching your blog stats?

Posted by on 28th Mar 2010 Blogging, Productivity 17 comments

Things Take Time (TTT) and it is one the hardest things to understand while blogging for obvious reasons. Almost all of us at some point of time have watched our blog statistics to get a minute-by-minute idea of how many visits our blog is garnering as analyzed by the various statistics plugins and Google Analytics or StatCounter. It is certainly an enjoyable exercise and one which is hard to resist given the immediate gratification it brings. Here are my views on why worrying inordinately about your blog statistics, hits and blog traffic is not a very good thing to do.



Don’t waste your precious time

Time is money. Many bloggers spend a lot of time watching those stats (often real-time) and getting a lot of satisfaction or tension. More often than not it is tension because everyone wants as many hits as possible and one is rarely satisfied which is normal human behavior. Statistical analysis of your blog(s) once in a while are necessary and desirable but spending a lot of time with it not advisable.

It also gives you tension

You are not getting what you want unlike your rival whose traffic and PR is just shooting upwards! You will only accentuate that painful feeling (aka tension) if you do not control your obsession with your blog’s traffic. Remember, Things Take Time (TTT). Ask any established and successful blogger and they suggest you to concentrate on content and quality more than traffic analysis. Traffic will follow sooner or later. Why torture yourself by thinking about it incessantly?!

You will compromise on quality

Blogging is not just about numbers and hits. If you worry about traffic and blog stats all the time you may end up writing for search engines than human beings. Blog for human beings not for bots. Build your credibility first traffic later. As a matter of fact, traffic is a concomitant of good content and will chase you and your blog though it may take some time.

Slow and steady wins the race

Many successful bloggers today are not fly-by-night online entrepreneurs. They worked hard with their blogs and exhibited a high degree of perseverance. “Between saying and doing many a pair of shoes is worn out,”  is a popular Italian proverb. So work more on your blog and less on your stats.

Worrying in moderation is fine

Moderation in all things! As they say you can eat whatever you like as long as it is in moderation. The same sentiments apply here. Do not ignore your blog stats and do not let it get the better of you. Wise bloggers know how to maintain the balance. Be wise and not otherwise! :)

17 comments - Leave a reply
  • Posted by Robyn from Sam' on 28th Mar 2010

    This is very true and I find myself checking my stats all the time although I know I need to slow it down. I guess its just the excitement of a new blogger.

    Thanks for the reminder.

  • Posted by Craig on 28th Mar 2010

    I too suffer from this… Thank you for smacking me. Once a week ought to do it for now.

  • Posted by Peter J on 28th Mar 2010

    Good point, if you focus to much of your time on watching your statistics then the quality of your posts will reduce. Even if you don't get heaps of readers, it looks better on your blog if you continue your posting.

  • Posted by Ryan Cowles @ Metaco on 28th Mar 2010

    I'm glad Google Analytics only refreshes every 24 hours. That allows me to just check once daily, analyze, and then go about other business. If it updated every hour, I would probably be doomed, haha!

  • Posted by Kiesha @ WeBlogBette on 29th Mar 2010

    Yeah, this is an addiction I had to go to rehab for – it really is the biggest time waster, and yet there are moments when I just have to know how things are going. I know that regardless of how many times I look, I really have no control over things – yet there I am, like clock work – wasting time, when I could be writing.

    So that's what I do, when I feel the urge to check stats, I only give myself permission to after I write. Let me tell you, that sure cuts down on a lot of those meaningless stat checks ;-)

  • Posted by Indian designer on 30th Mar 2010

    Sure stats make you worry to the point that cheking stats again and again leads you to develop OCD. Call it compulsion or inner drive, but wont this compulsion force you to find more ways to bring traffic to your blog?

  • Posted by Harsh Agrawal on 31st Mar 2010

    Initially I used to be a big fan of watching my site stats..but now these days… I'm no More fond of it.. Though I keep track of weekly growth…

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  • Posted by liverpool driving le on 18th Apr 2010

    Yeah weekly checks for me as well- life is too short. More interested in conversions to sales/calls than monitoring site visits

  • Posted by jerr on 20th Feb 2011

    thanks for the advise. this definitely applies to me.

    jerrlife.blogspot.com
    My recent post Blue Valentine – Cindy and Deans Love Song

  • Posted by jerr on 20th Feb 2011

    thanks for the advise. this definitely applies to me.

    jerrlife.blogspot.com
    My recent post Blue Valentine – Cindy and Deans Love Song

  • Posted by jerr on 20th Feb 2011

    thanks for the advise. this definitely applies to me.

    jerrlife.blogspot.com
    My recent post Blue Valentine – Cindy and Deans Love Song

  • Posted by jerr on 20th Feb 2011

    thanks for the advise. this definitely applies to me.

    jerrlife.blogspot.com
    My recent post Blue Valentine – Cindy and Deans Love Song

  • Posted by jerr on 20th Feb 2011

    thanks for the advise. this definitely applies to me.

    jerrlife.blogspot.com
    My recent post Blue Valentine – Cindy and Deans Love Song

  • Posted by jerr on 20th Feb 2011

    thanks for the advise. this definitely applies to me.

    jerrlife.blogspot.com
    My recent post Blue Valentine – Cindy and Deans Love Song