Every Blogger's Worst Nightmare

The More Space project is coming along nicely. I can't believe that in a couple short months we'll have a book to show for our trouble! Trouble's a bad word--this truly was, at least for me, a labor of love. I got to write about my favorite topic--authenticity--as it relates to business and to me personally.

Seeing as I'm all about being/acting/smelling like the real deal, I felt like a fraud today when the project manager of the More Space project asked us to answer a series of questions for promotional purposes, such as: when we started blogging, why we started blogging, our daily blog traffic.

Screeeeech! Stop the presses. You want to know my blog traffic? That's like asking me my age, my bra size, my favorite sexual position. Hell, I'd rather answer those questions before revealing my blog traffic!

My immediate email response was, "...I’m feeling mighty niche-y these days. Should I put an ad out in The Times or just post some naked pics of myself to get my numbers up?"

(Cheers to co-author Rob May, who replied: "Keep that idea on the backburner just in case the book doesn't sell!")

Here I am, someone on the founding team of a freaking women's conference, moderating a freaking session on lettin' loose on the blog--it's not about the traffic baby!--and I can't throw out a few numbers? What the hell is my problem?

Several of my More Space colleagues offered up their numbers, "on a good day," (the equivalent to putting down your high school weight when renewing your driver's license, but at least they responded), and they trounced mine.

I wrote back: "As IF I’m going to humiliate myself by sharing (my traffic). I thought it was good until the boys threw their numbers out. Now I’m having inadequacy issues. How does that go? … 'It’s about quality, not quantity.' Now I’m resorting to clichés ... "

I think the bottom line is, though I'm a woman who doesn't want to be judged by the number of clicks to my blog ("Half of em are from Google anyway," Rob said of his, I think, to make the rest of us feel better), despite the discussions I've had with myself about maintaining integrity and accepting my niche, I wanna kick ass just like everyone else.

I want to have fame and fortune, starting from my humble beginnings with TypePad, and moving into TV, movie scripts, a Carl's Jr. ad, dating Tom (more on THAT in the next post), and yet not getting bothered for autographs in Starbucks, or nabbed for People's Worst Dressed issue when I walk through airports without wearing any foundation. 

I'll tell you anything ... ANYTHING! I'm 32 years old ... my birthday is next Thursday ... I'm a 36B cup ... missionary style, occasional variations ... I'll tell you anything, just please ... PLEASE don't ask me about my blog traffic!

Comments

[Rob]

Posts like this are why you are the coolest, Jory. Traffic presents a dilemma because to get a lot of readers you have to post something that lots of people are interested in. But I think the average person's interests suck. Think about it, if you were a talented musician, would you sell out so that you could be as popular as Brittany Spears? It isn't worth it. To be a popular blogger, you almost have to write about politics, and you have to do a lot of self-promotion. When I started blogging, I knew that choosing business as a niche would limit my traffic. But I would rather post about something I love for people who love it too. I'm happier that way.

You are a great writer, so think of your blog as one of those undiscovered gems that is only found by the type of person that really appreciates what you do.

(Another dirty little secret about traffic - when I was at 200 visitors a day, they averaged almost three minutes a piece at my site. Now the average is 50 seconds. So more people come by, but they obviously don't see much to stay and read.)

[Dustin]

Another thing to consider is your blog is more of a weekly magazine rather than a daily newspaper. I don't visit here as often as I visit Tom Peters' or Seth Godin's blogs. They post nuggets at least daily, sometimes several a day. Your articles are more substantial, but less frequent. I wish there were better ways of qualifying "traffic." Number of RSS feed subscriptions? Mags and rags rely more on subscription #'s than publications sold. More apples-to-apples that way. I'm checking out FeedBurner myself to start tracking RSS subscriptions.

I agree with Rob. You're a great writer Jory. I love how you not only make me think about business, but stir the soul as well. That's rare.

Rob - 200 visitors a day? That was bad? I aspire for that. :) I look forward to the day I can say, "Back when I was at 200 visitors a day..."

[Jennifer Warwick]

Don't change a thing. You are a great writer, and as the others have said, I come to your site when I want to think, and to really look deeply at something. Your blog is like putting on grown-up clothes instead of sweats and leaving the house for a nice meal... I go to TP.com when I want a quick pick-me-up, or to be distracted for a minute by something shiny and clear my head... Maybe instead of visits you should count total minutes that were spent reading your great stuff :-)

[Gwen]

Hi Jory,
I have to agree with Justin. I love your blog because it does make me "think about business while stirring the soul." I think a lot of blog readers are out there for a quick hit of political intrigue or news. I prefer (and I think you'll find there's lots of us out there) blogs that push me to think in a much more meaningful way. Thanks for the always great writing.

[Jenna]

Jorge,
B-cup...are you sure? Of course I should not compare you to myself, that would not be fair. Good blog.

[Troy Worman]

I started blogging, because I love to write, but blogging is more than writing to me. Blogging is building relationships as well.

It is hard to build relationships with sound bites.

This is why I read Jory. While everyone else is framing their brands, Jory is building her reputation.

36B. Hmm.

[genevieve]

A timer would be a much more sensible measurement. This is not the kind of blog where you just read one thing then shoot off. It's a long, warm, richly human conversation, and you should measure your traffic in appreciative comments as well as time spent by visitors and frequenters.
The rest of them want to piss against the wall, well let 'em.

[Jeremy]

Not sure if you check your Technorati profile regularly, but considering that Pause has only been around for about 10 months, this number of links and linkers is really impressive:
http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jorydesjardins.com%2Fpause%2F

I also don't know why you started the blog in the first place, but I suspect that it wasn't to build a huge audience. You're achieving something much better: resonance.

[steve]

Jory -
Always fun to read your blog and invariably have a laugh taking in your perspective. Keep going...

I'm more intrigued as to the "traffic" those 36Bs are getting. Jesse?? We'll have to chat soon mate ;-)

As I said, keep going always a pleasure to read.

s

Three phrases should be among the most common in our daily usage. They are: Thank you, I am grateful and I appreciate.