Breaking the Stats Addiction

I'm always surprised at the number of bloggers I come across who are addicted, or are quickly becoming addicted to their blog's statistics. (Statistics addiction- try pronouncing that.)

A blogger will start a new blog, and is excited about the writing part of it for a while.. but then the initial excitement begins to wear off and soon enough, the blogger becomes more focused on how many people are visiting and where they're coming from, and little by little, more by more, they become addicted. Before you know it, there's a fine line between "just checking your stats" and "you're addicted- knock it off!" It's an easy habit to get sucked into.

When this happens, I've noticed that the quality of the 'addicted' blogger's content begins to drop, and sometimes, so does the rate at which they publish new posts. It often seems that the blogger has lost sight of what he or she originally started blogging for.

Ever feel that?

Here's something to try (if you think you can hack it, and you don't actually have to be addicted to your stats- it's a great exercise for everyone):

Stop tracking your blog's stats. Stop obsessing over how much money you're making. Forget all that junk. Just get out there and read new blogs (along with your usual reads, of course), chat with some new bloggers, and pour your heart and soul into whatever it is you're writing. Do it for a week.

You may find that when you finally do check your blog's stats when the week is over, they're much better than when you were compulsively checking to see if they'd changed.

It's all about priorities. A lot of people tend to lose sight of what's most important (content, readers, and visibility) when tempted with something so addicting as statistics. They become so engrossed in the whole idea that they begin to hide behind it. Just get out there and blog as if Google Analytics, or FeedBurner, or whatever stat tracker you use religiously, doesn't exist. It'll make a world of difference.

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Comments

[Center Parted]

Wise words there. I too had initially gotten caught up in checking my Google Analytics page during the first couple of months of blogging (and needless to say, was thoroughly disappointed with the numbers -- or lack of!)

After a while I figured just doing my thing and visiting other blogs is so much more fun than staring (and fretting) over some dots on a chart.

Good post, great messsage!! :)

[Bryn Youngblut]

Very very true. I actually went to one of my sites I had some affiliate offers on that I'm still setting up and haven't sent any traffic too yet and I randomly checked the stats to see hundreds of hits all from search results...I wondered where those extra leads/sales were coming from on the random campaigns...I guess I'm saying is I didn't focus on them daily and refresh constantly. It's nice to see a surprise every once and a while.

I'm still addicted to my main blogs stats though, I like to see what people are doing and how they interact so I can improve things.

[manodogs]

This just has to be aimed at me, huh? ;c) If it wasn't, then you are psychic!

I was just talking about this the other day: I used to spend basically hours (sometimes entire days!) working on a single post - researching it, rewriting, and so on.

A few years back, during the whole blogging "boom," I became aware of all these stats things, PR, sponsored posts, etc., and I jumped into it with both feet. I did really well for a while, and then I got so involved in checking my stats and trying to improve my penetration and exposure and backlinks and blah that I literally took some time off recently to reread some books and magazines on writing, as well as some of my better content.

I still check my daily stats like a dozen times, but that's down! I am focusing far more on enjoying what I do and checking out what others are writing.

[Clark]

Be right back. I gotta go look at Google Analytics.

[Jim]

I agree. I've seen good friends who blog get drawn into the stats game. I just use them to see if I've gotten that elusive reader from Botswana yet.

[K.Fields]

I for a short time got addicted and then after a while is seemed that I would feel so disappointed every time I checked, sooooo... I decided to quit looking all the time and concentrate on networking my blog instead.

Then I became addicted to networking because it takes so much time and you have to keep being present at the different networks or your blog is forgotten very quickly.

That got tiresome too!

Now... I just concentrate on my blog content, read other blogs and comment if I feel like it. The pressure is off and I am enjoying writing a post again, and working on my blogs appearance.

All this happened within the past 7 months of blogging.
Thanks for this post! :)

[GaryJay]

I have to say this post pretty much sums up my blogging experience todate. I started back late last April---and your so right, forget the stats, okay ya can peek once in awhile, and just concentrate on finding new blogs to read, and comment on, as well as maintain the list of blogs one has already listed and found interesting.---amazing how fast one's traffic grows when out leaving comments on others blogs.

Gary (old dude)
http://threescoreplusten.blogspot.com/

[pchi]

I love the mere act of writing so even if I don't get that many hits... not so much income, i'll still try to share my thoughts

I think I am starting to get into that addiction thing

thanks for the reminder, I enjoyed it

[Ryan]

Looks like your true, Very nice post. :) Thank you. you saved me, or else i wouldn't have realize it myself. I've repost your post in my blog, with a reference link. :)

[Andy]

I am trying to do this, but it is so tempting.I am currently still experiencing good growth so my stats are fun to watch, but you are right, they can get very distracting.