The Brag

I just gotta brag here. I’ve just blown my stats outta the water!

Goals

My goals for the blog at the beginning of the course was to

  • Increase views & visitors to a minimum of ten views and five (visitors) per day by August 2016.
  • Find sites to pimp my blog by the end of June 2016 (in order to maintain a steady stream of visitors and views).
  • World Domination
  • Win the Nobel Prize for Blogging

Branding & Growth

There were three days of the Blogging: Branding & Growth course.

Day 4: Analyzing Your Stats

  • Looking at the posts that got the most hits told me several things:
  • The posts that I pimped in some form or fashion, got the most hits.
  • Posts that were timely and linked to an event in the news. The posts that were time-sensitive but weren’t timely didn’t do as well. And posts that addressed issues in general but weren’t about an item in the news, didn’t do as well.
  • Posts about psychopaths, Bernie Sanders, and Internet trolls did well.

EzekielStephan

The Death of a Toddler & Psychopathic Behavior

 

BirdieSanders

Sanders & Minority Influence

 

NeverGiveUp

The Cost of Quitting for Bernie Sanders

 

Trolls

Trolls from the Dark Side

Day 6: Explore a Social Network

  • I had started out pimping my blog on a favorite website’s comments. I was inspired by Wonkette and wanted to contribute to the community. I still make references to my blog posts in the comments but have to obliquely refer to my profile page where the link to the blog is.
  • When thinking about using a social network, I chose Facebook by default. It was the only one I used and understood. But, I joined several pages that share my interests, and posted links to the blog in my comments as they applied.
  • I started posting links and announcements in the Blogging Community Chat

Day 7: Commenting to Attract Followers

  • I started making a concerted effort of using the Reader and especially using the tag feature to find blogs similar to mine.
  • I then started reading and commenting on blog posts.
  • I’ve been a bit shameless about inviting people to read specific blog posts, but there you are.

Gratitude

  • I really am very grateful to the WordPress team who organized the courses. For a procrastinator like me, structure helps. And, the different topics have been very helpful.
  • I am very grateful to those who have read my blog. I am amazed by the number of countries and continents — all except Antarctica, but I’ll get there eventually — where visitors have come from.
  • I am very humbled by all who have commented. There is no praise more gratifying than someone taking the time to read what I’ve written and be moved to comment.

Thank you.