How to Measure the Success of Your Blog if You Don’t Have a Huge Following
When you start a new blog, it can be overwhelming. It certainly helps to have goals in mind on what you want to achieve for your blog so that you can measure its success accordingly; whether that’s to tell your story, offer advice or build a community.
The success of a blog is not a one-size-fits-all. So it is important to have a vision in mind which you can use to track your progress and ensure you are moving in the right direction.
It can be difficult to navigate through all of the advice out there for starting a new blog. But if you have been going at it for some time it can get a little disheartening when you are not seeing the results you were hoping for when you started.
I hope this post can offer some insightful tips on how to measure the success of your blog when you don’t have a huge following or if you are a new blogger.
Disclaimer: This is a guest post by Olivia from Vacation Pending. It is a delight to be writing this 2-part series alongside Sheri (Aisles of Life). Please be sure to check out part 1 of this series by Sheri here – if you haven’t done so already!: How to Make Your Blog Seen When You Are A New Blogger
How to Measure the Success of Your Blog if You Don’t Have a Huge Following
- Engagement
Typically, the main way to measure the success of your blog is through engagement. The most common metrics that are analysed being view count, followers, comments, likes, returning visitors etc.
While these are all incredibly important stats to review, the number of visits your blog receives doesn’t necessarily determine how successful your blog is.
When you have a smaller blog, too much focus on the numbers will make you feel like giving up and could even lead to you developing health issues. Instead, focus on how your readers interact with your blog.
If you have a handful of loyal readers who engage with your content, that is far better than having a huge following with little engagement.
If you are struggling with engagement, try to pose questions in your content, experiment with different blog topics within your niche, and gauge the responses.
The WordPress community is a great place to network and build relationships with other bloggers and engage in guest posts like this one!
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- Skills you have learned
The skills you learn through blogging are an often overlooked factor when measuring the success of your blog. Take some time to reflect on the skills you have learned and how your blog has helped you to grow as a person.
In all likelihood, your blog is something you have built from scratch. Presumably, you have had to learn how to build a website, write a blog post, conduct research, manage your time, promote your blog on social media and find other bloggers to follow and collaborate with.
Even if these things appear basic there are still lots of small wins to celebrate.
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- Putting out meaningful content
If the content you are putting out there has meaning to you, your blog is already a success in itself.
Having a passion for the topics you choose is important because it helps shape your identity as a blogger. The passion will be reflected in your writing and readers will be able to pick up on your authenticity making it more likely for you to gain a loyal following.
If you haven’t found your community yet, remember it can take time for your blog to find its feet. Once your audience becomes more established, you will then be able to tune into more of what your readers want from you.
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- Hitting your weekly/monthly blogging goals
You might dream of someday reaching a certain follower count or being able to make your blog your full-time job. But none of that would be possible without having weekly or monthly goals to aim towards.
When you first start blogging, those big milestones can feel so far out of reach. It’s vital not to forget about all the small steps you have taken to make your blog what it is today; all of which have enabled you to learn and grow so much along the way.
Setting realistic weekly and monthly blogging goals that are also achievable is an excellent way to focus and motivate yourself to get your blog where you want it to go.
You can then measure the success of your blog based on your ability to achieve your blogging goals such as; the number of posts to publish, number of words to write, sticking to a blogging schedule, skills to learn, type of content you want to publish, the value you want to deliver to your readers, growing your audience on your blog and social media, etc.
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Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, loving what you do, the community you have and the people that come back to read your blog every week are what is important.
Sometimes we can pay too much attention to the metrics and think that is the deciding factor on whether our blog is successful or not.
All blogs have something unique to offer, and eventually, your hard work, patience, and consistency will help you reach your goals. So hang on in there and don’t give up.
Note from Sheri: I had a great time collaborating with Olivia on this series. Please check out her blog, vacationpending.com. I’m sure you will love it as much as I do.
Would you like to guest post on Aisles of Life too? Send me an email at aislesoflife@gmail.com.
For a rookie blogger such as myself, this post was invaluable. The advice on analytics in particular was much appreciated!
Focusing on the stats when you are new will most likely discourage you. I’m glad to hear you liked the post. Thank you so much for reading, Anthony!
It’s so true that what you learn from blogging is a factor that a lot of people ignore, as important as it is. Nice post.
Blogging is indeed a great teacher! Thank you so much for reading, Joanne
🙂🙂
We think it’s not the best way to look for success when blogging. More important is having fun and learn from blogging. Success in the blogosphere means nothing as it has no consequences and it’s usually short lived.
All the best
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
We really should remember to just create content and have fun! After all that’s the reason most bloggers start their blogs in the first place, before they get sidetracked and start stressing and only focus on the numbers. Thank you so much reading!
Very well explained Sheri..
Content remains the most important aspect of blogging.
Stay blessed always
🙏🌹🙏
I won’t claim ownership of these awesome points! My friend Olivia from vacationpending.com wrote this post.
But I do agree with you. Content is the backbone of a blog and its quality, relevance and impact on the reader is one of the most important metric when measuring the success of a blog. Thank you so much for reading, Jas, and stay blessed too!
🙏🙏
I don’t have a huge following, but I think of my blog as a success because of everything I’ve learned so far. It’s been great!
Your blog is a success! And to add another reason why it is, is the impact you have on your readers. I have learnt so much from your blog. Thank you so much for reading, Ang!
Thank you Sheri! That means so much to me 🙂
You’re welcome🙂🙂
This post was very helpful! Thanks ✨
Thank you so much, Daiana!
Great post for beginners and veterans alike 😊 I really liked the emphasis you put on celebrating your small wins and setting realistic goals. It’s indeed easy to get stuck at just looking at number and the things you don’t have (comments, likes), instead of what you may have gained (such as skills in organization, planning, research etc.). Thanks for sharing!
Very true! We tend to focus on the numbers too much, but they aren’t everything. You do gain a lot through blogging including in-depth knowledge on various topics, a chance to express yourself, doing something you love, various skills, and friends from all over the world and these should also count for something. Thank you so much for reading!😊
This is great for newbies like me. Thank you.
Thank you so much for reading, Jamie! I’m glad you liked the post.
Excellent post! I really like number two. I feel this is often overlooked.
When you look back at the amount of new concepts you’ve had to learn while starting and managing a blog, it pays off in many different ways.
It opens up job opportunities, allows you to experiment more. It’s great.
What do you think is the most valuable skill you’ve gained from blogging?
Thank you so much for reading, Kyle! I’ve had to figure out so many things by myself on this blogging journey and I have learnt so much that I can apply in my life. But the most valuable skill I’ve gained would be content writing and editing, which is what I had hoped to improve when I first started this blog.
What is the most valuable skill(s) you’ve gained?
I would agree with the writing. But the marketing of my blog and the growing of a community, and the skills that have come along with it, have been the best.
I was completely clueless in this area prior to my blog. Still kind of am! But I’m trying haha.
That’s so good to hear. We truly underestimate the power of blogging when starting out
I felt reassured after reading this. I don’t get much engagement – just some likes here and there from people that follow my blog. I felt reassured knowing I am being a consistent writer and that I’m enjoying the content I’m writing.
Any engagement is engagement and your blog is already a success if you love what you are doing and know you made an effort. Thank you so much for reading. I’m glad the post was helpful❤
Thanks for your advice. I was almost quitting. I started blogging about three weeks ago and it has been tough, but I get going because of people such as yourself. Really appreciate. Really.
Don’t give up. You’re just getting started. Thank you so much for reading, Blessings Bob Matongo, and I wish you all the best on your blogging journey
Thanks, Sheri. Keep up the good work.
This was a nice reminder to take time to reflect on what blogging means to us personally and the impact we’re actually really hoping to achieve — thanks for sharing this!
Thank you so much for reading, Molly!
Thank you for sharing this! It’s really helpful as a new blogger😊
Thank you so much for reading, Hannah! I’m glad you liked the post❤
Reblogged this on VACATION PENDING and commented:
I recently collaborated with https://aislesoflife.com/ for a 2 part series about being a new blogger. This is Part 1 for How To Measure The Success Of Your Blog If You Don’t Have A Huge Following. I hope you find it useful!
This information was so appreciated. I’ve been writing on my blog since 2015 and even though anything I post might get 2 or 3 views (6 is really a good day!), I try to focus on the fact that I’m keeping my writing muscle limber, and try to be satisfied that my posts are meaningful to me, even if almost no one reads them. I guess it’s more like a diary than a blog…
If your content has meaning to you, you’ve already succeeded. And having even one view, like, or comment should count as a win. It shows that someone was interested in reading what you have to say. Thank you so much for reading, Kelly.
Nice blog!
Do visit to my blog and follow it if you like.
Have a nice day 🙂
Thank you so much for reading❤
It’s my pleasure dear ❤️ do visit to my blog hope you like it.
Oh my God, this post was written on my birthday, does that show some significance🤭? Thanks for the tips though
Perhaps it’s a sign that your blog will be successful😊. Belated happy birthday and all the best in your blogging journey ❤️
Thanks a lot
I have only started a blog about growing bonsai and I was only doing it really for myself , so I was happy when I could see people from all over the world reading it . May I ask , do I need a website or page too ?
You already have a website and I’m happy for you that it’s doing well. I don’t know much about bonsai, but if you want, you can create pages or categories if you usually deal with different topics regarding bonsai trees like here https://www.bonsaiempire.com/ Your posts will be more organized and easy to find on your blog. Nonetheless, you can still create simple pages like the Home page, Blog, and About.
Thank you so much for your reply . You have spurred me on to learn more about what I can do . I didn’t know I had a website , see , I really am a novice , and thank you for your encouragement 😊
😂 Most of us have had to learn these things along our blogging journeys. I’m glad I could assist, even though in a small way. Wishing you all the best with your blog♥
You know, when I started my blog like a year ago, I wish I knew all of this. I lost motivation plenty of times and ended up staying in the same place for a full year because I didn’t measure the right metrics. This post sums it up well but I’m glad I see things differently since then.
Thank you so much for reading! I’m glad to hear you have a better perspective of blogging now. I’m sure now that you are blogging consistently you might have noticed some growth on your blog.
These are really valuable insights, thank you for the post!
I also really try not to focus on numbers at all, though sometimes it’s nice to see some numbers instead of none, if you get what I mean😅
I know😁 We can’t really ignore the numbers completely. They make us feel good and validate our efforts and writing skills. But if we don’t have a big following or a lot of traffic, we have to remind ourselves that though the numbers are important when measuring the success of our blogs, they aren’t the only metric that matters.
Amazing stuff! Thanks for the golden nuggets!
Thank you so much for reading, Robert! I’m glad you liked the post
love this. its not all about having a big following but whether the small wins and the people you meet along the way.
Blogging has made me meet so many awesome people and learn so much! These small wins should count. Thank you so much for reading, Helen!❤️
“Having a passion for the topics you choose is important because it helps shape your identity as a blogger. The passion will be reflected in your writing and readers will be able to pick up on your authenticity making it more likely for you to gain a loyal following.”—So true. If you write what you’re passionate about, it’ll seem less like work.
Exactly! And another good thing about writing on a topic you are passionate about is that you are less likely to run out of ideas or become bored with your blog. Thank you so much for reading!♥️
This is such a good reminder that numbers isn’t everything! Thank you for sharing. My biggest win in my blogging journey so far is putting content out consistently! I also really like what you said about all the skills you acquire as a blogger. Yep, I’ve had to learn so many new skills for the blog!! Haha… 😅