It’s been a fantastic 4 weeks and I honestly can’t believe that a month ago I started a new season of life where I’d spending the vast majority of my time writing blogs as a full time blogger.
But let me be clear: It’s not a lifestyle of leisure, relaxation, and a 4-hour work week with a full-time salary! It’s a lot of work and I have to “hustle” just as much as I did (probably more now!).
Take for instance what I did this past month: I published (across all of the properties I manage) 409 blog posts and wrote 106,460 words! In other words, I was not relaxing in the south pacific on my yacht sipping sweet tea imported from my mother-in-law’s restaurant!
Not yet anyways… *smile*.
This blog, specifically, had the following statistics:
- 35 blog posts with an average of 668 words per post (total of 23,375 words).
- Each post had an average of 16.3 comments with about 569 words in each comment and an average of 2.3 trackbacks.
- 571 comments made for a total of 19,944 words!
I think the last bullet is the most impressive and the community that we’re growing here is extremely encouraging. It’s you guys and the growth of a new type of digital tentmaker (I believe we’re creating a movement!) and the community around this paradigm which keeps me up at night! And to think that this is only the beginning!
So, what have you come away with in the last month here on TentBlogger? What have you learned, what do you think we need to do better? Let me hear it (because I’m really listening!)!
Hello! I started following you on Twitter about the same time you started your blog. I’ve enjoyed how relavant your material is. Really! Though I’m a tumblr nerd…
thanks nick! tumblr is a great place to blog, no doubt about that!
Please allow me to be the first to say, congratulations!!!! Keep up the good work.
kerry,
thanks for your support! can’t wait to meet up with you next time you here in the ATL!
Kerry’s booth at Catalyst was the #1 hit me thinks. Every time I went past to say hello there were like a gazillion people trying to win a t-shirt or a mountain bike. : ) Well played.
seriously, that was a cool one.
Wow John! You’re definitely Chief Energy Officer. Over the past month I’ve discovered many helpful tips about how to create a powerful blog. Specifically: (1) getting rid of heavy plug-ins, (2) how to create a subscribe page, and (3)how to find a blog buddy.
Not necessarily something that needs to be done better, but a follow up post perhaps….”How To Create A Vibrant Blog Buddy Team”
Keep hustling!
great blog topic. i’ll have to think about that one…!
Well for one, I’m encouraged to blog more. I’ve never had a consistant blog or consistant comments, visitors, etc, but that doesn’t keep me from blogging. Also the fact that I’m not on a paid host, doesn’t keep me from blogging either. Thanks for the awesome tips on blogging John. It’s really helped, both on my personal blog, and my radio station website too!
Sweet! glad i could serve you in that way brian! and glad you’re a part of this community!
Those stats are amazing, John. I know you came into this with a well established online following and connections, but it is so cool to see the numbers.
I come away from this past month of interaction at Tentblogger with a greater drive to do this thing, a dream that is taking shape (shared it with my wife in detail at lunch yesterday and she said, “You can do it. You’ve got what it takes.” I’ve got at least one fan. lol) I also have been pushed to take the first steps toward self-hosting and my frequency of posting has begun to increase because of my enjoyment, not because I have felt pressured. I am also gaining an understanding of some of the techniques and tech knowledge that I need to be successful.
Thanks for what you’re doing and for providing this community for growth and learning. I’m one who is benefitting.
randy,
love that your wife supports you in this! it’s challenging and my wife has got my back all the way!
honestly, with this site you have really encouraged me to get back in and start it up again. With new blog post, new ideas, and new dreams
ha. you’re a dreamer… will you execute? i think you’re getting better at it.
no i am a doer
oh. i see.
This site has been a blessing from the sky. I mean, wow. It has encouraged me so much to explore even more of myself. Finally did my first vlog! Thinking about some new ideas to write and stuff. Getting together with a buddy to do more videos.
I been able to add people from this very site (your commentors) in my twitter. Why? because I know they are like-minded people with a similar background and belief but most importantly they are tentbloggers with a heavy passion to blog.
Tentbloggers is a tribe and your leading the way. Thanks for everything
We definitely need to make shirt ( TENTBLOGGERS!)
yes. we’ll have to plan for getting some of those!
Congratulations! It’s great to see you right in middle of God’s will. So cool.
I think one of the biggest take aways for me is what you wrote when you started all this. You don’t have to have a great blog design to make a great impact. Something like that.
Some of the other things I am picking up. Add value to people. Connect with others. Build friendships. Establish trust. Be you and have fun with it. Keep pouring yourself out.
It’s bigger than blogging, really, it’s ways we should be doing life. Keep going!
sweet! that’s great greg. definitely the design can wait. that’s easy to fix… content is something entirely different….. and needs to happen today!
Great first month! You have so many great ideas, I love reading them all!!!
terrin,
glad you’re here!
Love it. Great community and resource here. I think that last bullet is really where it’s at. It’s not just about numbers (followers, subscribers, etc)… it’s about engagement. I’d much rather have 1000 committed and engaged community members than 10,000 who just lurk or worse, barely pay attention.
Wrote a post about it (although I have a huge gap in the post from the top image to the actual text that I am trying to figure out how to fix): http://www.danieldecker.net/engagement-matters-more/
i think you got it fixed!
Well…i’m loving this and especially the sense of community that I am feeling. However it would be great to somehow encourage this to the next level.
In my mind unless you have a very large group of very focused people a forum is not the way forward, but some way to up the level of community engagement would be really awesome. I suppose in some ways I thought that the #tentbloggers hashtag would take off a little more – oh well!
hmm? a forum?
getting people to use the #hashtag is something new. people haven’t taken it up…… yet!
Loving this blog and the sense of community. It’s great to see a blog built from the ground up… I’ll be coming back every time you post and looking forward to seeing this site/community explode!
thanks vicky! it’s just getting started….
congrats !! inspiring
thanks dinu! glad you’re here.
You are a MACHINE. Are you sure, you aren’t really a SWAT team operating under a single name?
Hah! Let me double-check……….. …………….. ………….. ………….
Yup!
My thoughts exactly. I think John needs to change his personal Twitter handle from @human3rror to @NOThuman3rror (not human being the key). He IS a machine, even for a full time blogger. 409 blog posts across all properties =’s about 13.6 posts PER DAY on a 30 day average month. Wow. Even if I had the time I don’t think I’d have that much to day. : )
That much to SAY. Woops.
figured.
hah. thanks daniel! it’s a lot of work and i want to make sure people know that… i want to demystify this “problogging” thing… it’s a job, like anything else!
In the past month:
- I have realized that blogging is about creating and fostering community.
- Unless you go public with your goals, you probably won’t execute.
- Design < Content
- Less is more
- You go "further, faster" with a blogging buddy or team
- It's okay to start small and "evolve"
SWEET! love the further faster… andy stanley fTW!
Ok…so it looks like having a blogging buddy is definitely a plus. I thought I would probably be able to overlook that one, but obviously it is important to pursue.
Soooo….anyone out there looking for a “blogging buddy” to encourage you and to be a sounding board and, of course, to do the same? I’m a full-time pastor and part-time blogger, but looking to make them almost one in the same.
…or a team blogging buddy team that would have room for one more?
ah. that’s kinda of neat…
tweet your need out with a link to a blog post. do that until you get one.
Will do…thanks!
Randy, great to see your enthusiasm. I’ll reach out and offer you a guest blog post spot on my church marketing blog if you are open to it. Send me an email or DM me on http://www.twitter.com/godvertiser
Guest blog posts on other people’s blogs are a great way to find new readers for your own blog. Basically you are getting access to dimwit else’s hard work of building up a community and “list”
Yet so many people pass on an invite for guest posts thinking that it is a waste of time or doesn’t fit into their goals.
In fact, other TentBlogger fans are invited to write a post for http://www.Godvertiser.com (including the grad poobah of TentBloggers himself, although he is one of the few that doesn’t really need help in finding more peeps for his blogs!)
Kenny Jahng
guest blogging is definitely a great traffic generation strategy. you’ve got a lot of tips!
I have actually had more prolific bloggers agree to post on my blog in the past so that there was a bit of a reverse connection. The opp to guest blog on a site that has high traffic will be much greater, though. Thanks, John & Kenny for the encouragement.
Awesome! Thanks for the invitation, Kenny. You’ll hear from me immediately!
You have set a standard for quality, consistent posts. If time isn’t an issue, what’s a reasonable amount of posts per week for a TentBlogger?
i would say 2 to 3.
So interesting to catch up with your early days as professional blogger, John!
Okay, I’m late to the party, but I have to say that you’re probably the first guy I’ve come across that writes more than me! I have 5 blogs and write all the content on 4 of them. Part of me thinks about stepping even that up some, while the other part of me says “Stupid, make other money while doing this, and then when you’ve got a nice pot of cash stored away go for it.
And I think I will! Good going!
at this point i’m sure you write more than me.