Mind the Beginner

Introduction period at University is over, I start next Monday. As announced in a previous post I wouldn’t do a weekly update last weekend. Well, things got a bit worse, I did only one blogpost this entire week! I could apologize, but I thought better of it and wrote a blogpost on the power of silence. Nice way of solving the issue don’t you think?

The month is almost at an end and just a few minutes ago I reached a new all time record. I was planning to have more pageviews this month than last week and I just passed that number with one whole pageview! So again, another month of continues growth on my blog.

Let’s have a look at that first number first. I’ve got some bad news that I’m keeping for the end of the blogpost.

Average numbers of pageviews a day this month so far:176 (period 8-1 till 8-28) A number that’s significantly lower than my last update but at the same time is a bit higher than last month’s average. With only 49 hours to go until the end of the month (according to my pc) I’ve managed to reach the goal I set myself. The goal of having more pageviews than last month. Although not a huge increase it’s growth and so I’m content.

Number of subscribers to my RSS feed: 85, Not my all time record (that was 87 on August 19th) But the 100 subscribers will be here by the end of September and you know what that means :)

Where the traffic is coming from: I’m feeling more and more that this part of the update is useless. There hardly ever are any huge sources of traffic, most come through google and others through blogs all over the place who refer to me. Everyone please do spread the link, it’s the single most effective way to help other bloggers out there.

What I have done this week to get my blog bigger and what I learned: Another useless item on the weekly update as I’m not actively doing anything at the moment, I’m just writing what’s on my mind and comment on other blogs from time to time. I also keep using twitter although I’m rarely really there. I usually autopost on twitter. Seems unfair somehow, I really should become more active again. But that’s going to claim resources.

Which brings me to my bad news: I quit Project Mojave. For one simple reason, I currently don’t have the resources to participate and with a new semester starting in two days I doubt I could invest as much time as I wanted/needed to. I will be back there when the time is right, but for now I just don’t have enough resources to spare. Time to cut my losses so to speak.

Well, that’s the weekly update again. Next month will bring me my long awaited goal of 100 subscribers. I’ll transfer the blog to it’s own domain then and I’ll need to find a new goal, how does 500 views a day sound?

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.

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.

Saturday is here again and so is the weekly update. Yesterday was the 12th of June, which means I’ve got one month left to reach my goals of either 500 pageviews a day for seven consecutive days or 300 subscribers.

Well, I can tell you I no longer believe I will reach those numbers within a month, but I’ll get close. Somehow I don’t believe I’ll get my domain after all, the guy who has it hasn’t responded to any messages for a while now. It’s almost as if he’s dropped of the face of the earth or something. It won’t stop me however. Here are the numbers of this week:

Average number of pageviews over this week: I was hoping to give you a nice number that was slightly higher than last week. The number of pageviews has been quite steady after all. However, with help of @Victusfate my pageview numbers exploded. He put my Stoic series up on some social media sites. The results are staggering. I woke up Friday hoping to see some 30 pageviews, the counter was already on 158. Mostly through Reddit where my Stoic series ended up on the top of the list of hot topics on philosophy. The average number this week is 147  with a  range of 273. Insane…

Number of subscribers to my RSS feed: As you might have noticed I took down the RSS feed counter. The low number was likely costing me subscribers. I’ll post it back up when I go over100. The number right now is 40. My prediction of one or two new subscribers every day didn’t seem to come true. Oh well, lesson learned.

Where the traffic is coming from: More traffic is coming through twitter, some is also coming here through blogcomments on other blogs as well as my blog being mentioned on other blogs. The huge spike on Friday came from Reddit. Although that traffic won’t stick, it’s exposure and will inevitably get my blog out there more.

What I have done this week to get my blog bigger and what I learned: I’ve started looking more into using the social media to promote my blog. I was quick to jump on an opportunity to get a “beta tester” status on Stumble’s new service Su.pr and will be using that to promote my blog from now on. What it does is simple, it creates a short url just like tweetdeck, but at the same time that short url can be tracked and stats will be given for it. (How many clicks, most active time and thus best time to publish them.) The added bonus is that the url wil automatically be submitted to Stumble. All in it will drive more traffic even if just by showing me the most effective time to post. I’ll be experimenting with this over the next few weeks and I’ll let you know.

I’ve added the possibility to subscribe to a feedburner Email subscription on my blog. So far the only person receiving those mails is myself (After all, I need to see what I send out right?) But I’m sure more people will subscribe by mail. I’ve also edited the “Subscribe” page to show these two options.

There is a new button below the RSS feed button on the main page. A way to submit my blog to various social media sites which will hopefully drive more traffic this way.

Last but not least I’ve given my “about” page a small makeover. Mostly cosmetic (I’ve moved my picture), the most significant change is that I have defined my niche more tightly “Lifestyle design and personal development with a Zen twist.” I think this is exactly where I am with this blog. Do you agree?

Another week passed and my blog is stabilizing.

Although things are slow the roller-coaster ride of pageviews is becoming less bumpy.

Average number of pageviews over this week: 81 within the range of 71-88. This trend has been here for at least a week now. I can expect roughly 70-80 views a day, every day now. I’m happy with that, very happy. Let’s see if this Saturday and Sunday we can keep that number up.

Number of subscribers to my RSS feed: I added a counter to the left side column on my page last week so you can see the number every day. It’s now at 42 and on the slow increase. I get one or two additional subscribers almost every day.

Where the traffic is coming from: Some traffic is coming from the “thank you” page accompanying the digital nomad survey. Other than that it’s all over the place as usual, more and more is getting here through search engines. Roughly 25% of visitors get here through search engines now. I’ve identified what the popular topics are and I’ll be sure to implement that knowledge in further writing.

What I have done this week to get my blog bigger and what I learned: I’ve started a five part series on Stoic psychological tactics and so far it really seems popular. It certainly made people sticky which was one of the goals (at least, if we’re talking in blogging tactics). There is also more interaction and I’m seeing new names in the comments which of course is the best thing I could wish for. I even get some tweets about it which is great.

A short blogpost this time, there isn’t so much to tell. I feel the wildly varying pagesview numbers I had in the beginning is stabilizing and now is getting ready for the slow and steady growth.

I’d like to share a last set of numbers. The numbers of visitors in the first three months:

• March: 145
• April: 1673
• May: 2904

Totally unrelated but also a part of progress: I’m working more and more on Project Mojave, slowly homing in on niches I like and can commit myself to although there still is a lot of brainstorming and statistical analyses to be done.