One question, one goal… eventually makes its way into a bloggers mind; Is my Blog a Success? The answer is not as simple as you may think.

For each blogger success is measured differently. For some, and I believe many, the number of hits or visits a particular blog post receives, or their blog overall is the key. For others it’s the number of likes a post gets. And others it’s the interaction or the comments the post receives. These are some of what my friend Hugh over at Hugh’s Views and News has included in his end of year post, How Do You Measure The Success of Your Blog Post. Hugh is one of my oldest blogger friends and if you want blog tips you should visit his site. Where I have reclined in my blogger’s chair over the year to the point of becoming comatose, Hugh has flourished. Our ways and thoughts differed at times on how to blog but we both agreed we knew what we were talking about. Although perhaps that last sentence almost makes no sense at all.

I don’t usually do a end of year post, or at least have not in years. I once was a successful blogger, or at least I was in the eyes of metrics and when I was dedicated to the endeavor. Blog tips, writing, poetry, humor. You name it and I wrote it. Give me a topic and 20 minutes and I’d have a 1000 word post with images published. Anything to drive traffic to my site. And it was nice seeing all those big numbers. But over time as I changed how I blogged I noticed a few things. One was not as many of those visiting were here for my posts as much as for what I was doing for theirs.

Now that may sound a bit of a duh type reason, but I’m not talking as in how my tips helped them, although for many they did. I did a lot that would promote other blogs each week, to the point I eventually burned out on blogging and am now the shell of a blog you read before you.

But I am a happy shell. I realized that what I really wanted to do with my blog was make it be useful. I’ve started people on their haiku poetry journeys to the point of publishing books. I had writing challenges that influenced or inspired people to publish books of fiction. And I think that I lived by example in doing all of the crazy blogging while writing a historical fiction novel Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling. A 4.5 out of 5 star reviewed historical pirate adventure using true historical figures and events as models for those in the  story.

I don’t have as many visitors or likes as I once did but the truth is you can’t really use those as measurements. You don’t have to visit a post to click like. Just click like in the WordPress Reader and never read the post at all. For my posts that can be tricky as I write haiku poetry so you can actually read it in the reader, and my other posts are prompts with the words in the title. Yeah, I could change this up and force the visit, but why?

I don’t know how many people use my prompts for their poetry as they don’t need to link back to my prompt posts to write a poem. But I do like to think many people do. I continue to have new people follow my blog each week. I also have the random new person comment a real sentence in response to a post.

And the final measure of success?

I’m still blogging and writing and surviving this world that isn’t the same as it was when I started in 2014 as an amnesiac loner who had chronic pain. I’m still those things but the world has changed.

For blogging tips visit Hugh, or maybe even some of my old tips. Hugh is quite active in his comment section so you will get to know him.

Ronovan