The Curse of the Popular Post
Have you ever watched the movie About A Boy, with Hugh Grant? It’s a really sweet little movie. In it, Hugh (you’ll never believe this) plays a kind of rotten fellow. He’s never had to work a day in his life because his father wrote a Christmas carol that took the world by storm. It made his father filthy rich. There was just one problem with this character’s father. He didn’t like the song that made him famous, and he spent the rest of his life trying to create something more famous and more fabulous. You certainly don’t get the feeling that Hugh Grant’s character got to know his father really well, and his father certainly never succeeded in being anything other than a one-hit wonder. One hit was just not enough.
You’re working too hard to not reap rewards
Let me tell you a secret people don’t often make crystal clear as you create your WordPress or Tumbler account. Blogging is a LOT of work. So much work. Your senses are always waiting for inspiration to strike you. You’re reading, you’re commenting, you’re writing and then scrapping and then wondering if you can undo the scrapping. You hit “publish” and bite your nails like your life depends on it. You stress. Are you promoting too much? Too little?
And for all of that, when you first start and for a long time after that, you get nothing from other people. Your blog sits there like your posts are in the storage room in the Louvre. Nobody sees it. Nobody points and says, “Wow.” It just sits there. You check all of your checklists. You’re doing everything right. No comments. No traffic. Then, just when you’re about to toss in the towel, you get your first real comment. You reply. Now you have a post with 2 comments on it and oh, that looks so much better than a goose egg.
So what do you do for your next post? You dissect that post with the 2 comments. “What did I do to get that person to say something? Was it the subject? Was it how I wrote it?”
Your mission doesn’t matter anymore. Your objectives? Pssh. You got a comment. On the next post, you want to get two.
Don’t Lose Your Head
This past week, I experienced something new. I wrote a post over at pushingsocial.com and it became the most popular post I’ve ever written. I started picking at it. “Why did this do so well? How can I replicate this?”
Then I remembered something.
I’m not here to get tweets and clicks and comments. That has nothing to do with why I pour all of this hard work into this blog.
I’m here because I want to help you get into this conundrum!
Success is a drug. Just say no.
Getting accolades and appreciation for hard work is always nice. Literally. I can’t think of a time when you would say, “Um, please don’t thank me.” Well, and really mean it. However, you need to have a conversation with yourself. Is that REALLY why you’re here?
For me, comments are a way of measuring how I’m doing. Traffic is a way for me to know if I’m helping more people or not. Tweets are another way I measure if my posts are resonating. But I’m here because I want to help you.
One day, you will have a post go bonkers on you. Yes you will. Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can. It’ll be a post that you may not expect. In fact, it may be a post that you almost didn’t write or that you almost threw away. People will go crazy over it, and you’ll sit back and say, “Huh. I could get used to this. How do I replicate this experience?”
Don’t fall into that trap. Be ready for it. Be ready to keep your head on your shoulders. Success is nice, but it is not the end. It’s a tool to do something else. Make that something else count.
Make sense?
Image by Wayne Roddy. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/mavnntc
22 Comments
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Margie,
Couldn’t agree more…yet not. Impact is some crazy function of story times reach. If we can help someone…lead to a new thought…help one person reach their goals…then we want to help two. Your “one comment not as good as two comments” first reaction is a valid subconcious proxy for the number to whom you contribute. And that’s why, to me, pleas to ignore hits, comments, tweets, etc. fall as intellectually right on target…yet slightly hollow.
Looking forward to connecting again,
Ken
Ken Rosen
Performance Works
http://www.PerTalks.com
Hi Ken,
There’s definitely a difference between receiving comments from your target audience versus receiving “nice post” comments from people who just liked that one post. While it’s possible that some new people might come to know you via one exploding post, most often it’s the people who stick with you post to post that are your true audience, and therefore they are the ones you need to work for.
Thanks for your comment!
My blog just turned 2 last week. I’m going to post about it on Monday. I can’t even begin to describe how many hours I have poured into it. How many times I have paused before publishing, have waited to see if anyone read it, or tweeted about it, and have wondered what kind of crazy comment might come down the pipeline.
But I love it. Really love doing it. The numbers are a nice way to know whether or not you’re adding any value to what can be a very crowded space. I cannot say, “If just one person gets something out of my blog, I’m happy.” Not true. If just one person read my blog, I would quit.
But the traffic continues to grow, so I know my thoughts have some impact. That impact is the feeling I love – knowing that someone out there values what I think.
I’m going to reference this post in in, because you nail the feeling way better than I could have described.
Paul
Thanks so much Paul.
I wish someone had told me when I first started blogging what an uphill climb it all can be – and the pressure never really lets up, it just changes.
It’s not a bad thing, and it should not deter, but I think a lot of people would avoid feeling disheartened if they knew that *everybody* struggles.
When I started blogging, I had a blogroll that was about 15 blogs long. I started in January of 2009, and by the middle of 2009, almost all of them had stopped blogging. Some of them were prominent figures, too. (Matter of fact, the only three remaining from that original list are still on my site.)
But the thing is that (I think) we welcome it. We don’t mind the pressure. If anything, the completion of a post, no matter how long or short, is a success. And that’s worth the effort right there.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ian M Rountree. Ian M Rountree said: RT @MargieClayman: The curse of the popular post: http://bit.ly/faXz4J […]
This post really hit home. Last spring I wrote a short little post that I really didn’t give to much thought to – it was an homage to a customer service experience I had and my kudos to the person (a solopreneur author and speaker) who had gone the extra mile.
I saw my analytics spike – as I was on the page I hit refresh and it jumped, I hit refresh again and it jumped – and went on that way for three days. After the initial thrill – seeing those numbers for the first time whew! – low followed high. I realized these weren’t my readers, these visitors were devotees of the person I had written about. By day three I was thinking “I want my blog back.”
In a way, blogging is like the sports competitions where you throw out the highest and lowest scores from the judge and average the rest. The lesson is that these things will happen and as you point out the guiding star needs to be your purpose/goal for writing.
That’s a great point, Dawn.
Certainly not to be unappreciative for when a big name throws attention your way, but those occasions aren’t necessarily what will keep you going in the long run. A lot of times, if I see a post tweeted out by a “big name,” I’ll click over, give a quick read, and see if I’m interested. If I don’t know the blogger real well and if the post isn’t my cup of tea, I’m not going to invest a whole lot of time in building a long-term relationship from that point. And I know the same thing happens when one of my posts gets tweeted out.
You always need to keep your goal and your voice front and center – that’s where your true audience is.
Margie, you always put a smile on my face. I’ve had one very popular post, and others that have one or two comments.
I think sometimes that my friends get the “guilts” if they don’t comment. Other times I think I’m just writing for my own self.
For years I wrote a Creative Corner Column in Target Marketing Magazine. It was a monthly 1200 words deal and I did the illustrations, etc. I wasn’t really sure anyone read that either.
One day I walked into a Convention Hall to do a speech. I said hello to people in the audience and one man shook my hand and said, “I read your column in Target and learn so much from it. Thank you!”
He made my day! Someone was reading it…Hurrah! That’s how I feel about my blog. if I teach one person one new idea…well, that’s just fine. In fact if I keep someone from making one of my mistakes…that’s great too.
Great point, Lois.
We are all spoiled by this online adventure. We as writers think we should always get a tally of who we are affecting and whether that’s good or bad. But factually, you just never know the whole story. When someone comments, or when someone actually tells you that your blog helped them in some way, well, that’s the gold, isn’t it? 🙂
Dear Margie –
I am loving your site.
What you describe here happened to me.
Over two years ago, I wrote a post called-
When Your Husband Has Died – A survival guide.
I thought it was a helpful post. Honest. Not one of these spiritual things that say God will take care of you etc.
It has over 1400 widows on it. It is now a forum. I raely comment on the post because they take care of each other. One woman was about to commit suicide and they all jumped in.
She is now helping the others.
They are from all over the world.
I stand in awe of what I inadvertantly did. Not a religious person, it seems that in some way it was divinely inpired.
The pen is indeed mightier than the sword. We never know where our words will go.
Just a PS
This is the link to the post, if you are curious.
http://www.personal-growth-with-corinne-edwards.com/when-your-husband-has-died-a-survival-guide/
I just checked. It has 1488 comments.
I am not putiing this on to promote. It has enough as it is.
You have really created something amazing there, Corinne. That is a beautiful gift that you gave to struggling widows everywhere – and I’m sure many men visit there because a lot of the same feelings would exist after losing a wife. It epitomizes popular and useful, all in one fell swoop.
And my extremely belated condolences to you. ((hugs))
Dear Margie –
One man did log into the widows post and asked why there wasn’t a place for widowers.
Anybody out there want to write a guest post for me on that?
What I know about widowers is that they do not stay alone very long. If you don’t show up with a tuna casserole the day after the funeral – they are already in a meaningful relationship.
My theory is that it has to do with laundry.
Margie,
True story success can be a challenge! Brings us back to why we are doing this in the first place. I appreciate the fact you really do manage to keep your feet on the ground.
thanks
Joe
Thanks, Joe. It is interesting to experience the ups and downs of this Social Media game. And by “interesting” I mean crazy. It definitely teaches you a lot about yourself though, so in that way, I guess it’s a good thing 🙂 Yay roller coasters.
Margie – Count me as one of your fans. A blog is not an end, but only a means to an end. If your goal is to be the best blogger in the world, what value have you passed on to others? What value have you received from others?
At the end of the day, a blog is a way to communicate with others. And that is something you do very well.
Fred
Well thanks, Fred. I take that as an extremely high compliment coming from you!!
I agree – in this space, and maybe in general, just saying “I’m the best” doesn’t really have any meat to it, and I can’t imagine it really sustains a person. To say “I helped people” seems a lot more meaningful and long-lasting. At least I hope so, because that is the way I’m going 🙂
Hi Margie,
Refreshing thoughts here. When I started blogging a couple of years ago, I was a sucker for comments. I thought it was the ultimate purpose for blogging (aside from passive income), then both became not so important for me anymore when I realized that it’s not the soul and the sole reasons why people blog (though for most they primarily are). Then becoming famous, there’s just endless of reasons that sprout from nowhere.
You see, it’s like following the latest trends in technology and trying to get them in your hands, the latest model, etc. You’ll get exhausted – both physically and financially.
I guess it’s alright to always strive better than you already are, but it’s always important not to be too hard on yourself. It’s always important to still be grateful that happened and always aim to be greater. If in case you miss it, still be grateful at some point you’ve done your part.
Also, if in anyway you see people benefiting from whatever you do, I guess no amount of money, fame or comments will compensate or be greater than that.
It’s great to have stumbled upon your blog through your comment on Danny Brown’s post. Will be back for more 😉
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