Yesterday I posted about the time I celebrated 500 followers. Today it is two years exactly since it was posted and I remember it like it was yesterday. I was delighted to have received this news and to try to visualize 500 people reading my posts was pretty cool even if a little difficult to do. But to visualize it makes it more real to me. On a screen full of text and numbers it can be easy to disregard such numbers. WordPress alone has over 75,000,000 sites according to online sources, I mean how are we supposed to comprehend such a number!?
I remember some of the very first followers I ever had. You know who you are, I still talk to some of you every day and it is fantastic. When we are talking numbers in the tens it is much easier to take in, however fun to think about. What I sometimes imagined was sitting on my computer at home and having ten people listening and watching me as I chatted away and typed up a post. I mean that is pretty nerve-racking to have ten people listen to you. I hated it during presentations in school and even as an adult in meetings. Presenting to an audience is not my thing.
So yes, imagine ten people listening to you read your blog posts out loud in your home, suddenly it doesn’t seem like a small number anymore.
I visualize everything. The views, the visitor numbers, anything that turns a number into a picture to help me analyse what’s going on. And before you know it, all that hardcore blogging pays off and you have 500 followers looking forward to each post. Amazing. I’ll add here what I posted in the link above when this notification from WordPress came my way back in 2017. It certainly shows how significant this number is.
Again, thanks to moth dad over on Twitter to help with this visual. Now I admit, we have to space everyone out a mile to get the distance, but 500 is still a very large number. It doesn’t seem so with the ridiculous follower numbers we see some people have on Instagram, however some people are just freaks. I mean another way I think of how significant 500 is, is this. Imagine you were sentenced to 500 days in prison, or told it would take 500 days for your WiFi to start working again. Or if 500 wasps were heading to your home or your team lost by 500 points. All will ensure sheer turmoil, and this gives me a nice little boost for the day.
But anyway, back to the map. If you have 500 followers, this is how far they would stretch if a mile apart. Supposing Brexit didn’t cause a problem at the border that is. If you don’t quite have that number of followers yet that’s cool, as 500 views works too and is a nice number to aim for moving forward.
My best month ever views-wise was January 2018. I hit 10,877 views for the month, visitor numbers were half this. But lets go with the 10,877, you know it’s our blog so we can make those kinds of decisions. We’re now talking about a small town population here. One with at least five pubs, there’s always one you just don’t go into as an outsider if you want to come out alive. One of those sized towns. Instead of seeing a number I see a thriving community, I see actual people all doing their own thing and living their own lives. Imagine that, a small town following what you do online and talking about it in the local fish and chip shop as they wrap the chips in the newspaper with your name as a headline.
I am providing the stereotypical British village/town visual for everyone, but I am sure you have figured that out by now. Feel free to change this for your local village setting.
And then, lets increase the statistics timeframe to one year. In that same year of 2018, I totalled 57,140 views and 23,961 visitors. But again lets go for the larger number. Why not? It gives me an added boost to see the glass half full. Now lets imagine we are walking up the steps of a football stadium and step out to this view…
This is the Vicente Calderón, a 54,907 seater stadium in Madrid. If these blog views were people, this venue would hit full capacity. Think of the noise this amount of people would make. The atmosphere and the buzz. Amazing. Now I know none of us are going to be sitting in the centre circle of such a venue with such a crowd simultaneously, that’s not how blogging works. But I just wanted to share how I visualize the numbers over the years. From a room full of people to a stadium full of people. Wherever you are on the scale, keep moving forward and keep watching your blog and community grow. My community is amazing and I have been very lucky to meet and talk to so many cool and interesting people through this site.
I hope this was helpful, even if a little weird, hopefully both. But we need weird or we are doomed.
Thanks for reading, and let me know if you do anything similar!
Featured Photo by Eric Perez on Unsplash
Meeting Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash
Village Photo by Stephen Oliver on Unsplash
Stadium Photo by Liam McKay on Unsplash
Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!
New to this site? Click here to visit my About My Blog section
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Happy blogging,
Sam
Haha you made me look at my list of followers lol l have 63 😁 l didn’t realise that, I actually only thought I had maybe 8.
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Well there you go, you vastly underestimated your fanbase! Isn’t it great when we know our work is being appreciated more that we think? It really helps me to find motivation 🙂
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Difficult to comprehend….you’ve come a long way, Sam.
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Thanks Pat, and whenever I look at my older posts I always see your name. You have helped me to get where I am so thank you, and I will keep thanking you forever more!!!! 🙂
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I can’t say I try to visualize my numbers, but then again; they’re so paltry compared to yours it wouldn’t do me much good to visualize them. To the future though, excellently written!
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Well my post was aiming to make any kind of following look and feel awesome, as someone (whether it is only one person or a group) appreciating our work is great. Don’t forget, this is a hobby for most of us, so having someone appreciate what we do outside of our normal working routine is amazing!
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You have a very interesting way of visualizing blog stats. One way I’ve thought of my subscriber count was by comparing it to the number of students I teach per day–about 130. That number had always felt overwhelming to me, but I guess I’m now getting used to teaching 6 classes of 20-30 students. Anything over that number blows my mind.
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It sounds like you visualize it in a similar way! And I have always thought being a teacher sounds terrifying… so well done on standing in front of such numbers!
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I don’t have a lot of followers but I don’t post so I get it.
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Posting frequently and consistently grows a following. But it depends on what you want. Some people want to blog and that’s it, and as long as the blogger is happy, that’s all that matters 🙂
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Not weird. You did it perfectly by the right law!!!
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And the wonderful thing is what I am thinking, I am getting to read it too! Thanks for posting! Have a great time!
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Thank you Sneha! I am pleased you liked the read. I hope you’re having a great weekend 🙂
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It resonates with me!
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Yup, a great weekend for you as well.
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Wow that’s some great viewing stats well done.
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Thank you, I really appreciate it!
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I like how you visualise your stats. If WordPress Discover blog should visualise their followers like this, that means they’ve got a (small) country following them! How cool is that? It’s nice to have a large following, especially when you have an engaging community.
Since my followers are very few, I don’t visualise them much. But maybe I’ll start doing that the moment I hit the 500 followers mark.
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That is right! I only click on the discover button once in a blue moon, although I don’t quite understand who the discover people are exactly and how they amassed so many followers they are doing an incredible job xD
Imagine having a following larger than some countries?! Madness.
I love having a community to talk to every day. And don’t start at 500, start now! It is awesome to have followers following you, feel that good feeling and send that feel good spirit out there in your posts. Your blog will soar like an eagle I am sure!!
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Wow, what a great post⭐️I visualiz myself and do meditate. I have faith in this and whish and dream about my blog will getting something good and come out there… I’m a new blogger,almost a year now. I don’t have a lot of followers, but if I get your example I can do it⭐️ Thank you for sharing and I can read it, you are amazing🌸
Have a nice day and must it be filled with joy🦋
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You are a newbie! And I didn’t engage much when I was a year old on my blog, so good on you for getting out there and chatting with other bloggers. You are doing the right thing much earlier than I did!
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You are a role model, your blog is great🌸Thank you so much for letting me take part in it⭐️
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The door is always open for you!
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You’re so wise, thank for your lovely words⭐️
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Very true Sam, when we look on the paper couple tens or hundreds of people may not seems so much but in real life all those people reading your blog it is a lot. As you said imagine being in front of a large group reading your blog or even in front of a full stadium. Seems scary but is the way to success. Maybe in the future it will be the equivalent of reading the blog in front of a national television. Every single person reading our blogs are unique and every other person joining in, is the road of success.
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It truly is the road to success. And thinking of how many people we may eventually reach is a great way to find motivation to grow!
Thank you so much for your comments 🙂
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Getting 500 followers is a big thing. I get excited everytime somebody follows me. Thanks for helping with the visualization. It made lot of sense to me.
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I am pleased it made a lot of sense, I was worried haha. 500 followers is a very big thing. It is a huge group of people that appreciate something, and there must be a reason for that.
Thanks for your kind words!
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I agree on that…. they have similar point of view or experiences
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I love the way you’ve visualised your successes. As a relative newcomer I’m at 35 followers and I’m grateful for every new follower. For me it’s an illustration, or evidence, there are some people out ‘there’ who are interested in what I’m producing. Onwards and uowards to 50, 500, 5000..
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Agreed Nat. It is certainly evidence that your content is worthy of keeping track of and potentially being inspired by. Keep it up and keep blogging!
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Great feat buddy.All the best.
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Thank you! Really appreciated. I hope you are having a great weekend!
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Love this, it’s definitely cool to think about when you start visualising the numbers!
On a seperate note, very jealous you got to visit the Vicente Calderon (if your photo?). I didn’t realise they were knocking it down until quite late so didn’t get the chance to actually see a game there.
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Oh no they knocked it down?! I had no idea! My photos in this post were from Unsplash, a website I highly recommend as all images are professional and free to use 🙂 I linked in the post to each photographer and never claim to be my own, but every now and then I love to use a photo that may fit my post better than my own photographs 🙂
Thank you for the kind words, I am pleased you enjoyed the read!
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Unfortunately! Although I thought it had already happened, it seemed like they only started demolishing this month.
I’ll keep unsplash in mind for the future. Thank you!
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I loved this post! So much to learn. I m still relatively new to blogging
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Thanks Sneha, glad you liked it! All the best with your blog, keep at it and I am sure it will do well 🙂
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Thanks a ton
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You’re truly amazing!
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Wow, thank you so much! I appreciate your words of support, have a lovely weekend!
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Also Sam, could you possibly tell me a few ways on how to increase followers on my blog. It would really help.
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Engagement. Ensure that you are reaching out to other blogs, because if you don’t they won’t know you’re there 🙂
Consistency. Blog frequently and whatever the frequency, be consistent so your readers know when to expect new content.
Do this lots and you will see an increase in traffic and engagement on your blog!
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Thank you Sam . What areas you fancy most ? As a hobby what you prefer.
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No worries 🙂 And sorry I don’t quite understand, if you are referring to what hobbies I have writing is probably the main one right now, as well as amateur photography. But please correct me if I am wrong about what you meant!
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Do you read on these religious topics that I sent or you else what are the other areas you fancy..
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I am not religious, so I am not really into religious writings however if it is of benefit to a non religious person like me then I will read it!
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Interesting
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Thanks for reading! I like to think interesting is a good thing xD
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Yes it is. I never thought of blog stats in this manner.
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Fantastic! I did the same thing like you, visualizing my stats to see which countries ever visited my blog…though it’s not as much as your views & followers ;).
It’s just so exciting to know that my blog already reached those far away places, and I make a wish that someday I can travel to all of them…
Well, please take a look at my summary stats for 2018 here 🙂
Thank you!
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I think looking at stats is great because it shows how far we have come, and that people are enjoying our blogs! I will take a look now 🙂
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True! It such an accomplishment and make us want to do better and better 🙂
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And your stats are great! Your blog is growing and it’s awesome 🙂
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It’s interesting to visualize blog stats! I also dislike making presentation in front of people. But blogging is fantastic! Thanks to blogging, I can share information and make friends from all over the world. It’s such a fun journey online.
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It is incredibly fun. And a lot less daunting than presenting to so many people in front of us! It gives more confidence to people like us, haha.
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Exactly! To some degree, Internet really helps me a lot!
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Great to hear!
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I was travelling down viewing the beauty of stream of unending harvest of paddy lands in the low lands ; until I reach to the coolar higher mountain tops ,where I fell in love with a beautiful village and that of the land scape, that no photographer could explore and explain. The folks spoke like angels , walked like angels. looked like angels. they treated me so well,on the last day I fell down on their feet to say the last welcome.
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