Marking A Milestone

~ beetleypete

At 10 pm last night, I noticed that I had 7,001 followers, according to WordPress stats. The total is made up like this.

WordPress Blog Followers. 6605
Email only followers. 45
Twitter Followers. 351

Total, 7,001

Whenever I exceed another 1,000 followers, it is my habit to celebrate that with a blog post announcing my good fortune. I last did this when I reached 6,000 followers.

Somehow, I feel this is the right thing to do. Not only marking off the significant moments in my blog, but also thanking the followers.

But of course, as we all know, this is only ever a number, and does not relate to the popularity of my blog in the real world.

Around 35% of those followers have never read a post, or left a like or comment. They have only followed me in the hope of selling me something, leaving a link to their own site, or hoping to be followed back.

On a good day, this blog might get 600 views. Most days, it now gets between 400-500 views, as long as I have posted some content.

Even the most popular blog posts will rarely get more than 50 likes, and perhaps 45 comments. The majority of those comments come from people who have followed my blog for more than five years, and are in regular contact on a daily basis.

My reckoning is that I actually have around 700 real followers, or 10% of the stated figure. I’m not complaining about that, as they are 700 of the best followers any blogger could ever hope for. And I suspect that if I ever reach the figure of 8,000 followers of higher, it will be those same loyal stalwarts who are still around, liking and commenting.

And for that, I thank you all. And of course send you my best wishes.

77 thoughts on “Marking A Milestone”

  3. Pingback: Marking A Milestone – Kreativ Solo

  4. Once again I salute your numbers, but more importantly I thank you for the ever available advice to new bloggers. My blog gained followers because of your needed advice in the beginning. Thanks again.

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  12. Missed this one Pete. Congratulations on 7,000 and growing! I finally passed 1,000 a while ago but feel as you do it doesn’t represent ‘true’ followers. I agree with your 10% assessment and a smaller number who more often view, like &/or comment, like you my friend. 😊 And I am happy for all of them.

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  13. Real followers are where it’s at. Glad to be one of the 700. Today I’ll sign off in true beetleypete form.

    Best wishes,
    Pete

    (I can actually get away with this since I’m also Pete.)

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  21. Congratulations, Pete. Not only is your blog great, your regular readers/contributors have great blogs also. Too bad WP doesn’t wake up to the fact you are one of their brightest stars and listen to you on Classic versus Block.
    That number is truely amazing!!!

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  22. Congratulations Pete….thanks for sharing that insight…I notice that most of my comments come from a small core of people, and nothing drives me crazier than having a friend tell me they like the blog…I ask them why they don’t leave a comment or “like” the post and they always say they never do that – it’s that shadow following…I get that all the time on Facebook as well…not really helpful for determining if posting stories is even worth the effort

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    1. Some just don’t stick around, Sam. Others never intended to follow, and just wanted a ‘follow back’. But having between 600-900 ‘genuine’ followers is very pleasing, nonetheless.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  27. Congratulations on another milestone, Pete. And I agree with your reasoning with the actual followers. Still, a big number is a big number and cheers to that – it’s a result of your dedicated wonderful work! Take a bow.
    Love from us on the coast and a big pat for Ollie,
    Dina x

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  31. Incredible. I still have only 38 on Blogger plus about 30 on my WordPress mirror site. I think follower numbers are partly related to frequency (and of course quality) of posts, and followers then begat followers. But 7001 – you’ll be in demand as an ‘influencer’. Awesome! (sorry)

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  32. Congratulations, Pete, from a new follower who actually does read and enjoy everyone of your posts. I discovered your blog through Kim (By Hook or byBook), who also used to blog on my favorite erstwhile blogging platform (BookLikes, which collapsed earlier this year under an onslaught of spammers). Being a new follower, your “alphabet“ series of posts came just at the right time to get to know you (just a bit), and I absolutely loved the idea!

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