Mind the Beginner

As you probably noticed my posting frequency is still a bit lower than usual,it;s because the topics I’m currently writing about (and reading about) are quite tough to get to grips with. In a comment on my last post John Bardos pointed out that:

In the west, it (Zen) has been co-opted to mean “simple,” but I don’t feel that really encompasses the idea.

Take a look at zen habits for instance. Although on the one hand you could say that there’s a lot on the topic of Zen there, on the other hand in a nutshell Leo’s blog is about “simple productivity”. It’s a really tough nut to crack but if you’re really interested in Zen I recommend Alan Watt’s book, The way of Zen. My brother-in-law let me borrow his copy a while back (along with Raymond Smullyan’s The tao is silent) after he got wind of my interest in Zen. Although those who know do not speak Alan did manage to explain things in writing.

But this is not why we are here right now, it’s Saturday and so it’s time for the weekly update.

But first, I’d like to introduce a new number in place of the Average number of pageviews this week. Instead I’m going to give you the average numbers of pageviews a day this month so far. In my last weekly update I calculated an average of 163 a day for the entire month. As long as the number is larger than that my blog is growing. The number is a bit more stable and so gives a better representation of the current status of my blog. So here it is:

Average numbers of pageviews a day this month so far: 191 (period 8-1 till 8-7). Actually a bit larger than expected, very nice.

Number of subscribers to my RSS feed: 77, again, a nice leap here. Even though I feel I’m slightly letting you down by not writing so often. I guess it really is quality over quantity here, exactly how I want to be blogging. I don’t just want to churn out blogpost after blogpost just to say something. I’m a firm beleiver of “If you have nothing to say, don’t open your mouth” and apparently you appreciate this. Thanks!

Where the traffic is coming from: Absolutely no surprises here, although my blogpost ranks on the second spot in google as I’m typing this. Just search “minimalist living” in google. Good for 30 referrals a day by Google. Thanks you Google.

What I have done this week to get my blog bigger and what I learned: Again, absolutely nothing. I’ve been reading a lot and getting up at dawn to go fishing for several days now. It’s very relaxing I can tell you, even though I don’t catch a lot. Getting up this early and heading off into nature is something I should have done a long time ago. Yesterday I caught my first pike (Esox lucius), ever… a whole 33cm of fish with sharp teeth. I hope many more will follow. Call me crazy but I’ve dreamt of catching this type of fish for years. It’s a childhood dream that finally came true at 26 years of age. And here she is:

I did learn something from fishing already. As with all things, don’t expect huge results the first time, everything takes practice and patience. Growing this blog is exactly like fishing. It’s hard work and it takes dedication. But in time the results get better and better. You’re going to catch bigger fish either figuratively or literally.

It’s Saturday again, tempus fugit… Just think with me a bit here, this is my 15th weekly update and I didn’t even post an update every weekend. I’ve been blogging since March 13th, it sure feels like yesterday and I stil very much feel like a total noob/beginner/greenhorn or whatever other names you have for someone starting out. These weekly updates are the only form of “proof” I have that I’m not a total novice anymore. Although this blog is small, it’s not tiny anymore. I was looking at the pageviews today and realized that I didn’t do anything to promote my blog today and still I got over 200 views today. I must confess I’ve been busy this week and so the number of posts was low again. However, in my last blogchallenge I mentioned a new source of inspiration. In the end, two of you found the right answer and so get to tell me a subject I’m to blog about. The contest was for the first three, so if you have a subject you want me to blog about and get a linkback and eternal fame and glory to your blog, check out last weeks update and answer the question.

It’s on to the numbers now

Average number of pageviews over this week: 168, slightly lower than last week’s number, I blame the lack of posts this week.

Number of subscribers to my RSS feed: 73, brilliant!

Where the traffic is coming from: Seeing as I haven’t promoted my blogposts through su.pr or other channels traffic is very diverse. Most of the traffic somehow seems to go directly to my blog nowadays and the biggest help is a Google. Nice SEO traffic so it seems.

What I have done this week to get my blog bigger and what I learned: Just as last week I’ve hardly invested any time in promoting my blog but the visitor numbers are still the same. If I spend some more time promoting I’m sure things will go up again.

I’ve learned that some of you really do care how things are going here and participate almost daily. I’m getting more and more mails, requests, tweets and comments (okay, maybe not this week) than ever before. It’s so much fun I can hardly believe I did this. I’m just writing what I think and you’re reading it, en mass. Sorry If I seem a bit monotonous in this but every week is a new surprise for me and every week again I sit here typing with a huge smile on my face because of all this blog.

Remember the numbers on the monthly visits? I’ll give them once more, now with July added. I’m shocked….

1. March: 145
2. April: 1637
3. May: 2904
4. June: 3598
5. July: 5053

That’s 163 views a day, every single day and a huge jump at the same time.

Okay, it’s not the 500 I was planning for by far, yet. But we’ll get there in due time.

I’ve been thinking about productivity lately and how I’m slowly getting swamped with everything I have planned, promised and things I just have or want to do. The simplest solutions are often best and I’ll be shopping for an elegant whiteboard large enough to keep track of all the important things, a giant to do list as it were and a place to store quick notes. *flash insight* I have a big mirror in my room, I don’t need a whiteboard, a whiteboard marker will do just fine. The simpler solution is better indeed. Combined with a proper calender (Google) I think I’ll get back on top of it all in no time. Thank you for your patience.

Okay, so here it is again back by demand. I skipped number 13 and now it’s on to number 14. With further distractions here are the numbers:

Average number of pageviews over this week: 171 without going “viral” this week. So they’re real numbers. Last time I had 230, but that was with a huge spike in there. They didn’t stick, obviously.

Number of subscribers to my RSS feed: 68, yesterday it was at 69. That’s 10 more than the last upate. If this trend continues I should reach the 100 in a month. (And transfer my blog to it’s own domain as I told you in my previous post.)

Where the traffic is coming from: No surprises here as well, the usual suspects are getting me traffic. Stumble, Google, Twitter, other blogs. They’re all pitching in to make nice numbers.

What I have done this week to get my blog bigger and what I learned: Well, the biggest lesson is trying to stay focused is hard. I haven’t done much with Project Mojave for weeks now and I haven’t been online much. I could say “I’m going to do it this week” but those are just words on a screen. No, it’s action hat’s required and so action it will be.

I actually havn’t done anything actively to get this blog bigger. It’s slowly growing by itself. I think I’ll have another look at all the info I got through the 31DBBB challenge from problogger and see if there are little gems in there I can utilize to make the blog grow just a bit faster and get more sticky traffic.

I’ve also learned something valuable concerning good vs bad I’ll b sharing in a blogpost next week, so stay tuned.

Well, there you have it, the weekly update is back on Saturday. The new goal is 100 subscribers and after that I’ll hunt for those 500 pageviews a day. This topic isn’t exactly about zen, or lifestyle design or personal development for that matter. That’s why I write it on Saturday, a slow day on blogs in general (and Sunday is my day offline). This ongoing topic is to show you the process behind this blog, and to give you a more personal look at me, the grandma guy behind the screens as far as you don’t get it through my blogposts.

I’ve found an interesting new source of insiration by the way. I’ve quoted from it once via twitter so far in the last days. Here’s a challenge for you: Find that tweet and either send it back to my by direct message or (if I’m not following you yet) send me an @ tweet telling me I should follow you because you have the answer. The first three people to get it right get to tell me a subject they want me to write about and I will do so, along with a linkback to their blog (always nice to boost your technorati rank)  and everlasting glory.

Good luck, and spread the word about my blog. As a last note, is it wrong for me to shamelessly ask you to linkback to my blog if you have a blog yourself?

[update]

Alan Perlman found it, two more to go…

Ralph Carlson found it, who will be number three?

[/update]

As you might have noticed, I didn’t do an update last weekend and wasn’t planning to do one this week because they were there for a reason and that reason is no longer applicable. So far nobody protested but I wonder if there are people out there who really liked them and want me to continue them for the time being.

Although I no longer have a true goal seeing as the end date for the challenge has passed there is always something to learn, something to strive for and at the moment it’s a self-imposed goal of 100 RSS subscribers. As soon as I reach this number I’ll transfer my blog to it’s own domain and put the feedburner counter back on the site.

If you’re wondering where that number is right now, last time I looked it was 69. Only 31 more to go before I transfer.

Well, that’s it for the challenge. Now onto a different subject. The comments I’ve been getting here really are amazing me. To be honest I never thought it would even get this far and still more and more people are flocking to this blog. I’m at a total loss for words with all this… it’s awesome. I can clearly recall the day I was jumping with joy over 50 pageviews to my entire blog in a single day. Nowadays I get that number on a single post. Don’t compliment me about it or anything or things will start to go to my head.

Here’ what will be happening the next few weeks:

If there is a demand for it I’ll keep doing the weekly updates on Saturday for the time being.

As soon as the number of subscribers reach 100 I’ll make short work of transferring this blog to it’s own domain and of course will let you all know so you won’t miss a post. I’ll be choosing a slightly different layout. I’m currently using a two column press row theme, I’ll change to a three column version of this theme so I have a bit more room. Yes I’ll be using that room to promote some things, a domain of your own isn’t free after all and I’d like to break even. Forgive me for this high-treason but it’s the only way I can manage. I will be selective however and promote only stuff I feel good about. (Think certain eBooks and affiliates) The last problem I’m struggling with is a discontent with the current categories on my blog. They’re to fuzzy around the edges, and need some sorting. If you have a good idea about what the categories should be please do let me know.

Last but not least I’ve had a few mails requesting certain topics. Your mails have been read an the topics will be handled soon. Keep those mails coming! I love reader input.

Some time ago I started a blogchallenge. My challenge was to grow my blog by 1600% in three months, which ment the following

• OR I have more than 500 pageviews a day for 7 consecutive days.
• OR I have more than 300 subscribers to my RSS feed

This challenge is the reason why I’ve been writing those weekly updates you’ve come to expect every saturday. The deadline for the challenge was last monday and as expected, just extrapolate the numbers in the weekly updates and it was very clear. I didn’t reach either number. Things went slow and even backwards a times. Maybe I hexed myself by choosing the snail theme for all the updates. (You did notice didn’t you?).

Subscriber number is hovering around 60 and pageviewnumbers are a roller coaster between 100 and 450 a day (rough estimates)

So, am I now a failure? I’ll leave that to you to decide. I’ve learned so much these months and have been reaching more people every week. A few have been around since I started and have been commenting on a regular basis either through twitter or on this blog.

The challenge is over, although I still want to reach those goals. I was planning on transferring this blog to it’s own domain but someone bought it, this was what actually started the challenge, he would give it to me for free is I made it. There is one huge problem however, the guy who bought it seems to have dropped off the face of the planet so I can’t get the domain I wanted. Although this does suck a bit it’s not the end of the world. I will reach those numbers, and beyond.

I’m currently on vacation but when I get back home next week I’ll start working on several things:

1. Getting this blog on it’s own domain
2. Writing more posts (of course)
3. Project Mojave, I’ve been slacking A LOT
4. The blog side-project with CN & LP
5. Buying a new computer (A desktop windows system)
6. Picking up the guitar
7. Something I haven’t done in 10 years: go fishing
8. Prepare for university
9. Writing guestposts for several blogs and hopefully receiving some as well (hint!)
10. Finishing that “bucket list” I talked about a while back

I’ve got a lot to do and as always so little time to do it in, good thing I have a “black belt” in productivity and am a master of the upside down swan. So if I seem busy I’m actually not, or am I truly busy and not to be disturbed…

I would like to thank everyone who has helped me to get this far. Thanks for all the diggs, retweets, linkbacks, comments, stumbles and what not. This blog wouldn’t be the same without you!

Although I’m officially on vacation and so working a little less on my blog things still keep getting better and better. I even found the time to write this weekly update again. If you’re wondering where I’m at right now. I’m not going to disclose my exact position but I reached: “51.39943, 4.21195” within twelve minutes of leaving the front door to go running. Take the numbers and paste them in Google Earth. If I had a rod with me that spot would make for some great fishing. I’m still on the fence about buying a rod.

Now you have the numbers for my aproximate position let’s have a look at the other numbers:

Average number of pageviews over this week: 230, An insane jump from last weeks 142. I hit a new record yesterday with 465 pageviews. The rest of the week was hovering around 120-160.

Number of subscribers to my RSS feed: 59, I still need to be pinched. Before you know it I’ll go over 100 if we keep going at this pace and as I’ve said before, when I reach those numbers the feedburner counter is going back on my front page.

Where the traffic is coming from: There is still that single blogpost that keeps generating traffic through Google. For a few days it was even on the first page of Google results, right up there with blogsposts on blogs like zenhabits. To bad it dropped back though, can’t find it anymore within the first ten pages. But what a rush that was, seeing your blog up there. Now to analyze what I did to get there and replicate that strategy.

The big spike yesterday was again caused by su.pr. As soon as someone writes a review for stumble numbers shoot up. Add a few retweets and another spike is created. So please, write a review on the normal blogposts (not the weekend reviews..) and help create those spikes.

What I have done this week to get my blog bigger and what I learned: The only “lesson” this week was “What a rush to get to the front page.” Now let’s do that again.
I have another set of numbers I’d like to give you, these represent the real growth of my blog.

The number of pageviews a month:

March: 145 (I started this blog half way trough March)
April: 1637
May: 2904
June: 3598
July: 1787 so far

Although I don’t believe I will reach my goal of 500 pageviews a month before the 16th of July I’m very happy with all the progress that has been made and all the awesome people I’ve come in to contact with. You know who you are. As I won’t be reaching those numbers any time soon I think it’s time for me to just transfer the blog to it’s own domain somewhere in the near future (this month) and build from there.

A last note: I’ve started another blogging project together with LP and CN. It’s really in it’s infancy at the moment (Only two blogposts, both by LP) so I won’t disclose exactly where it is but it’s going to be great! All three of us are aspiring online entrepreneurs and we’ll be sharing our experience so far. Did I mention all three of us are taking part in Project Mojave?

Saturday sneaked up on me again. Had a long night celebrating my girlfriend’s graduation. Talking with friends and listening to music. It’s warm here (somewhere around 30 degrees Celsius) and I’m writing this while the neighbourhood cat is purring at my feet while sitting outside in the shade.

Average number of pageviews over this week: 142, another rise from last week which had an average of 141.

Number of subscribers to my RSS feed: 56, someone pinch me. I still can believe I went through the 50 barrier and even though I haven’t been very actively promoting my blog this week numbers are still going up.

Where the traffic is coming from: I get between 20 and 40 hits every single day on a certain blogpost I did. It seems search engines really like this post. The sources of traffic are the usual: su.pr/stumble, comment son oer blogs, incoming links, the few forums I frequent and twitter. Nothing special but in ever increasing numbers.

What I have done this week to get my blog bigger and what I learned: I got a mail this week from the publishers of a book on Stoicism I used to write my five part series. It seems my blogposts infringed copyrights and I’ve been asked to either rewrite the blogposts or remove them altogether. So far I’ve done some rewriting but I don’t have the book where I’m staying right now so I can’t check to see where things should have been cited. I’m going on a two week vacation tomorrow, taking the laptop with me. It will be another two weeks at least before I can get my hands on that book again so I can imagine getting another mail that I’m not acting fast enough. So be it, can’t change that anyways.

That’s about all the lessons for this week, I’ve been so busy with all sorts of things  that I’ve hardly had any time to get on twitter or work on Project Mojave. Vacation isn’t going to help either so don’t expect me to be online every single day for hours on end. I will however keep up the posting schedule of 2-3 posts a week + the weekend update and moderating this blog. Don’t worry, I won’t desert you. Keep stumbling the blogposts and telling everyone about this blog. I keep seeing new names in the comments and can’t stop smiling about it. Thanks everyone

Time flies when you’re having fun. It seems only yesterday I was writing the last weekly update. Well, here are the numbers again. I’ve heard from various sources that they appreciate these updates and are looking forqard to them every week. The end date of the challenge is slowly coming closer though and the person who has my domain still hasn’t shown any signs of life.

Average number of pageviews over this week: 141, a steady increase as every week. What more to say, I’m happy.

Number of subscribers to my RSS feed: 51, awesome! For the first time since this blogs conception has the number of subscribers gotten out the the forties and into the fifties. A huge morale boost I can tell you. And I was already happy.

Where the traffic is coming from: The only single source that I can identify is stumble. Through using the shortened url’s generated by su.pr my blog gets stumbled more. And because of this I would like to ask you a favor:

Dear readers,

If you visit this blog through twitter (As in, you use the short url’s I supply there to see the latest blogpost) you will not only see my blog but a stumble toolbar at the same time. Please, please hit the “thumbs up” or “I like this” button on the bar, it’s in the top left corner. If you’re the first to do so you’ll have to write a short review. Doing so will help get more and more traffic this way. so more people can enjoy this blog and join the community.
I’d really appreciate it you guys (and girls), please help this blog grow.

Thanks!

What I have done this week to get my blog bigger and what I learned: The biggest change this week is actually a present I got. A new header for my blog showed up in my mailbox and is now proudly being used. Thanks again! Finally my niche is easily recognizable on the front page. I’m a total noob when it comes to photoshop so I couldn’t have made one myself. (Both my desktop and laptop can’t even run PS, they’re both old.)

Something else I’ve done to improve my writing is get a model M keyboard. This blogpost actually is the first one I’ve written on this keyboard and I must say, it’s a deafening joy to type on this plastic monolith. To bad I can’t plug it into my laptop.

Well, that was the update again this week. I hope you’re all enjoying this blog and the updates as much as I am. Thanks for visiting and do come back every few days or so to read the latest blogposts. Have a nice weekend everyone. I can already tell you what the next blogpost will be, it might not be for everyone but I’ve had the request to describe what “Lifestyle design” is. So on Monday I’ll going to give a few definitions I use a lot here and explain them. After all, you have the power to influence what I write about. Thanks for the question and keep them coming.

Another week has come and gone, another weekly update is in order. I’m getting more into the routine of blogging, so I’d better watch out for the “routine-trap” and keep the quality high. I have no idea yet what I’m going to write about next week but I promise you, it will be great!

Average number of pageviews over this week: 120. If I wouldn’t count yesterday all the days of the week generated more than 100 views. I can clearly remember the day that I was exhilarated that I had over 50 views a day.

Number of subscribers to my RSS feed:It’s at 44 today, but I’ve seen spikes reaching a bit higher over the week and I regularly see that the link to my feed has been clicked so the number of subscribers is rising. Thanks Sarah Mae for suggesting that I remove the subscriber counter while I have few subscribers. It’s definitely working although you might not see it if just looking at the weekly numbers.

Where the traffic is coming from: I’ve been using su.pr to promote my blogposts through twitter. This has contributed a lot I can tell you. The blogposts I promote this way now get traffic not only through twitter but through stumble as well, almost doubling the effectiveness. My name seems to be getting out there more and more. My blog’s name even gets searched with google. I’m regularly wrapped in conversation with people I used to thing of as unreachable to me. Also, I’ve done a guestpost over at Sudeep’s blog and have gotten several links back to my blog from Carl over at Slacker Reform. I really do think he’s putting out some serious quality blogposts. If you haven’t visited his blog yet here’s a link: Slacker Reform
I’ll be looking into doing more blogposts and I need to get back to commenting more on other blogs, I’ve been a bit lazy this week.

What I have done this week to get my blog bigger and what I learned:There have been some changes to my blog, mostly subtle. I deleted the feedburner subscriber counter. It will be back up when I reach more than 100 subscribers. I’ve also deleted the “Copyright” page. Somehow I didn’t feel it was adding anything and it has been weeks since someone looked at it. In it’s place I’ve created the Teapot Flow page. If you haven’t seen it yet please do take a look. I like the photo in particular.

Yesterday I actually learned something very valuable while I was running. (Did I tell you already? I’ve taken up running, I’m running almost an hour every other day and have been at it for about three weeks now.) I can to the insight that I currently have something very valuable in hand and that I better act upon it while it’s still in my hand. Before you know it the moment is gone forever. I could tell you all about the insight but then I would have to talk about seeing a cloud dragon with wings of light holding a golden orb. In short, you’d tell me I went insane. Also, it’s not very zen-like to see things that aren’t there. Let’s keep it at a very strange cloud formation with a setting sun strategically behind it. My highly active imagination did the rest.

Well, it’s a short update again but as things are going I’m very happy with the progress. Not only with my won blog but with a few other blogs that started out roughly at the same position I was three months ago. It’s good to see them having success and being there to witness it.

The weekly update is here again and by just looking at the numbers it hasen’t been a great week:

Average number of pageviews over this week: 70

Number of subscribers to my RSS feed: 21 (very nice!)

Where the traffic is coming from: Again it’s mostly from problogger but twitter is pitching is as are the blogcomments I’ve posted elsewhere. I think it’s getting a bit more stable now. The initial hype is over and now I have to work even harder than before, jut to keep it up.

What I’ve done this week to get my blog bigger and what I learned: I have added a lot of people on twitter in the hopes if getting to know more of my readers. A lot is defined by going from 158 following to over 400 and doubling my followerd to over 250. As I said last week I havn’t jumped on every blogpost at probloger anymroe and I don’t think it has caused my to much traffic I musts say. Most traffic is comming from the forum, not the blog comments. I’m also working on a collaboration of bloggers and it’s growing, we have about 10 members at the moment and it’s still growing. Somewhere this week I’ll be posting my plan in how I would like this collaboration to function. So stay tuned and hang on to your hats. This is going to be a wild ride.

Another post comming this week will be ” What’s in my bag” . I’ve always loved these things and I just have to do one of these. (I’m a regular at the EDC forums after all) Besides, I saw one the other day at The simple dollar and wrote in the comment that I would be doing one too. I have to keep that promise. 

Have a nice weekend everyone.