I used to be thrilled with thirty or forty hits on my blog. Yes, I would be bummed if it was six or seven, but I was easily satisfied at surpassing twenty and nearly orgiastic if I exceeded fifty.
But not since WordPress.com freshpressed one of my blog posts. In the first week of highlighting, that post got 2,500+ hits! With traffic hitting – and hopefully reading! – came additional attention to some of my other posts which led to my blog surpassing the 10K mark this week.
I was pleased that it was a post that explicitly referenced Unitarian Universalism. Some of my posts don’t. I felt like maybe there was some baby evangelicum happening: spreading the good news of the UU gospel.
Thing is: I’m pretty sure it was the title that drew them in.
Sex sells. Kink sells. In my defense, the post was of substance – c’mon: who would deny that raising bi visibility, a discussion of the fluidity of sexual expression, and the exploration of heterosexual privilege is serious stuff? Yet who knows how many of those hits resulted in someone actually reading the text once they noticed there were no pics of titsnass or leather or threesomes?
It raises other questions for me. Questions of a more personal and spiritual nature. Questions of ego and intention.
This modicum of success with my blog brings out in me an endearing giddiness and an annoying narcissism. My mind creates arbitrary markers of success: “This post got 50 views!” “This post was shared on FB by ___ people!” “UUWorld referenced one of my blogposts!” Etc. I seek confirmation and praise from my family (who are kinda done with these outbursts.)
My beloved husband, good Buddhist that he is, lovingly mocks this striving. He reminds me that though the blog has its purpose, and in the small of our world is “important,” size doesn’t really matter.
The post just prior to this one is high on my list of personal favorites so far. I love the setting. I like its interfaith subject and the spirituality. I like the writing. I kinda ~ modestly ~ think it’s deep. How many hits?
Exactly 38.
I think it could speak to many people who have not yet read it. However, the title, though apt, is clunky. And definitely not sexy. So it’s not so likely to get all that far.
Carey Niewhof is a Christian minister who blogs. Quite successfully. He recently put together a post entitled, “8 Reasons Most Churches Never Pass the 200 Attendance Mark.” I read it, found it interesting, and even shared it with the deacons at church I serve.
It is one blogpost that almost didn’t get written – one he had thought about on and off for years and even while writing it, didn’t feel particularly jazzed by it. He nearly gave up as he was writing it. Still, he did finish it. Here’s a letter about it he wrote to his subscribers (of which I am one):
I had no idea that it would become the most read post I’ve ever written. It had over 17,000 Facebook shares in the first 48 hours. (If you shared it, by the way, thank you!)
What’s strange to me is that I actually like the post I wrote yesterday on love better. It has less than 100 Facebook shares. You just can’t predict or control these things. (October 3, 2013; careynieuwhof.com)
The lesson Nieuwhof draws from this is that we – you – should do the thing you aren’t sure you should because you don’t know what will come of it and you don’t know whom it will touch.
I get that. People have approached virtually, leaving comments on my Vanilla Partner post, letting me know that it resonated. People have come up to me in person, coming out to me as bi sisters in the world.
There are other lessons here:
- Write it.
- Write it because it keeps showing up and wants ~ needs ~ to be written.
- Write it not for the fame of a few thousand (or tens of thousands) hits or shares, but to honor that urge for something needs to be made manifest.
- Write it whether you think it will be embraced by others or not.
- Don’t write it with the big numbers in mind, because they might not come.
- Don’t not write it with the small numbers in mind, because they might not come.
