Another Milestone on the Blogging Road—Are You Marking Your Accomplishments?

by Edie Melson 
@EdieMelson

Today is another big milestone in the life of The Write Conversation, and in my own blogging life.

And truthfully, I think it would be a shame to let it slip by without acknowledging it. ESPECIALLY because it wouldn't have happened without you all (my readers) and without my amazing columnists.

 Yesterday’s post was number 2000. So that makes today, 2001.

I just need to take a minute and let that sink in. 

When I shared this information with my husband, his comment was, “That’s just over 5 years of posting. I thought you’d been at this longer than that.” (Yeah, it seems that way to me too. LOL!)

Actually he’s right, and he’s wrong. 

If I’d been posting 7 days a week from the very beginning of this blog, it would only be 5 and a half years. But I didn’t start out sharing a post a day. I started slow—giving myself a chance to succeed—posting only once a week. 

The first post on this site went live on December 11, 2009. 

Those early posts were rough. And many of you may think I’ve long since taken them down. But the truth is, as bad as they were, I’m proud of those first posts. To me, they represent my public claim as a writer.

I knew I had a long way to go. But I also knew to get there, I needed to start.

I’d waited until I was polished and perfect . . . well . . . I’d still be waiting. 

Funny thing is, that’s what the first post is all about. I wrote about Mastering Your Dream. As much of a beginner as I was, I still knew that getting where I want to go takes work.  

Enough about me.

The title of this post says what I want to focus on—helping you mark your own milestones—in blogging and in your writing life.

Just by reading this blog, you are taking time right now to invest in your dream. You’re making the effort to learn and grow as a writer. You’re reaching out and encouraging one another as we come together to follow the path set before us. 

Here are some things you need to be marking:

• Your first post: There are a lot of folks out there who haven’t gotten past the fear of failure and actually published the first post on a blog. You did, and you deserve to celebrate!

• Your first 10 email subscribers: Ten is a number you can work with. It’s a diverse enough group to begin to spread the word. Do not despise small beginnings.

• The first time you stick to a schedule for 6 weeks: I’m always educating bloggers about the importance of keeping on a regular blogging schedule—publishing posts on the same day, at the same time, every week. If you’ve done it for six weeks straight, that’s something to brag about. A lot of life happens over the course of 6 weeks. You’ve kept blogging a priority, in spite of the insanity.

• The first email you get about a typo in your blog post: This may seem like something to be ashamed of, and I’m definitely NOT advocating slopping writing. But the truth is, we all make mistakes. If someone cares enough to make you look good, you’re in a good place.

• The first request you get asking if you accept guest bloggers: If someone thinks enough of your site to ask if you accept guest bloggers, that’s definitely something to celebrate.

• The first request you get asking you to be a guest blogger: Again, your blog has been read and what you’ve written has been found valuable. This is another reason to celebrate.

• Getting 100 unique hits in a month: This may seem small, but it’s really not. One hundred people have stopped by to see what you had to say. That’s a definite milestone. You should also celebrate 1000, 1500, 2500, etc.

• Getting an email or comment about how much your writing impacted someone’s life: This is why we’re doing this. It’s so easy to get caught up in the numbers and forget that they’re not really numbers at all—they’re people.

• Comments on 5 posts in a row: It’s hard to get the right mix of subject matter, open-ended questions, and blogging magic to get comments on every single post. If you’ve gotten them on five posts in a row, you’re doing a lot right.

• The 1-year anniversary of your blog: This shows real commitment. Don’t look back with an eye toward what you did wrong. Look at what you did right. Build on the positive, otherwise you’ll discourage yourself into a bad case of writers block.

• Getting more than 10 comments on a single post: Pay close attention when this happens, it means you hit a nerve with your audience. Build on what works.

• Getting a comment from someone telling you they were referred to your blog: This means your audience is sharing your blog. It’s a big deal and important to celebrate.

• Your 100th blog post: Writing 100 blog posts means that you’ve published around 65,000 words (probably more). That’s almost an entire book. You have proven you can do it and it’s time to celebrate.

SPECIAL NOTE: These celebrations won't come in this exact order. Healthy blog growth isn't linear. Here's a blog post I wrote about How Fast Should My Blog Grow. 

These are the things I celebrated, and encourage others to make note of. What would you add to the list? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

TWEETABLES

Another milestone on the #blogging road - are you marking your accomplishments? @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Celebrate your #blogging progress - @EdieMelson has a list of things to look for (Click toTweet)

Oh, in case you’re curious, below are some links to the earliest posts, along with the stats (and you should notice I didn't even know enough to use images to illustrate my posts). They're untouched. I've left them just as they were when I first put them up.

Monday, December 11, 2009

Page views before today: 40

http://thewriteconversation.blogspot.com/2009/12/mastering-your-dream.html

Monday, December 21, 2009 

Page views before today: 21

http://thewriteconversation.blogspot.com/2009/12/writers-path.html

Monday, January 25, 2010 

Page views before today: 12

http://thewriteconversation.blogspot.com/2010/01/writing-for-internet-discussing-and.html