OK, I’ll admit it. I check my blog stats compulsively and too often. It took me a week of being out of town to realize just how often I checked. And how little difference it made.
You can check your blog six times a day, but it won’t make a difference. The numbers are just a report. And then it hit me-it’s an empty activity that makes us feel informed, up-to-date, and important. Just like checking emails and phone messages. Until you act on them, it doesn’t make a bit of difference.
WordPress gives you daily, weekly and monthly stats. Of course I checked all of them. Here’s the interesting fact: while I was chewing my nails over the rise and fall of daily numbers, the monthly numbers are on a steady rise.
And the follow-up question: what could I do with the time I saved if I didn’t check the stats? Here is my comparative list:
- read 150 more pages of a mystery novel, or
- read a whole issue of Art Calendar or Cloth, Paper, Scissors, two magazines that are connected to my art, or
- write down several ideas in my journal and develop one of them, or
- write another chapter for the book
The point is that compulsive number checking doesn’t help me be a better artist/writer. The others do. Time better spent.
Notice the difference between writing a blog and simply compulsively checking the stats. Writing helps me be a better writer. Checking stats does not make me a statistician. Lesson learned.
About the Author: Quinn McDonald is a writer, certified creativity coach and trainer in business communications. See more of her work at Quinncreative.wordpress.com