But it isn't just about numbers. It's about people. Hopefully some of the new followers we all gained will stick around long enough to become friends. That was my hope when I conceived of the whole thing.
For those of you that do want to hear some numbers, when I first starting thinking hard about followers and blog traffic, or at least when I wrote The Follower Project, I had about 750 followers. That was just over a month ago. I now have 920, which is an increase of 170, in a few short weeks. That seems like a lot to me.
I remember it taking months to get to my first hundred followers. Anyway, Friday's post also got over 100 comments. I have never had that many. I love comments, and I think they're a good gauge for how successful a post is. After all, visitors are nice, but if what you wrote doesn't earn a comment from them, it might not have been all that interesting.
On the other side of the coin, I visited over 285 blogs over the weekend, and commented on and followed every single one. If you're wondering why the official linky list is now reduced to less than 250 blogs, it's because Ninja Captain Alex had to remove some spammers, commercial blogs, and people who just didn't take part in the blog fest.
Speaking of Alex, I would really like to thank him for helping me make this happen. Yes, it was originally my idea, but Alex did most of the work. He made the badge, he managed the linky list, he brought his army into the fray. Thanks Alex! And thanks all of you, for signing up, taking, part, and visiting, commenting on, and following each others blogs. There were a few really special moments when people were shocked to see how many new readers we sent them.
I guess that's it for now. I've got a lot of writing that needs to be worked on, and I'm hoping to take some days off blogging this week, but we'll see what happens, since I'm a bit of an addict.
67 comments:
Haha! You won't stay away for long! :o) Was fun. Didn't get to as many people as I'd hoped, but tried to spread my wings to the newbies! :o)
I'm still working way through the participants' list. It was a great blogfest!! Big thanks to you and Alex for hosting it.
Thanks for organizing this. I could not follow as many blogs as you added but I did start following a lot of new blogs. Many I've seen in comments of blogs I follow, like Jessica, but hadn't gotten around to following them.
Awesome how many followers you've been adding.
It was a wonderful blogfest. Thanks to you and Alex for making it happen! It's hard not to be addicted to blogging. Definitely should take some time off and spend it with loved ones. Have a great day! :)
Wow! Wonderful numbers. I knew you'd be busy this weekend. It's awesome.
Aaaaand ... I totally missed this, because I haven't been blogging on Fridays and, for sheer survival reasons, have been tuned out from Wednesday mornings until Monday mornings. This sounds so awesome, Matt, and I'm glad, though not surprised, that you and Alex brought so many people together.
I got to as many as I could. Found some new blogs to add to my reader. It was fun. Great idea. :)
I thought it was like blogging Christmas- in the sense that I was more excited for people to visit the blogs I linked to than my own, and I'm always more excited for the Christmas gifts I give than the ones I receive. Thanks for hosting!
Your blog fest definitely worked. I started picking up little bursts of followers on Friday and Saturday, and I couldn't figure out why (nowhere near what the participants got, but enough that I noticed).
Later, I found out one of your fest-participants had given me a shout-out and driven some new traffic my way.
It was a great idea.
:-)
Of all the blog-hops that are going around, I'd say this one was one of the most successful. Thanks once again! (And nice to meet you :) )
I visited quite a few, but not all. Not yet. Good job Matt (and Alex too!)
Thanks, Matthew! Glad you saw such a big surge from the fest. And Gina said it well - it was like Christmas.
I'm still trying to catch up on the blogs that commented on mine. I was surprised at how many new followers and subscribers I ended up with. And how many great new blogs I'm now following.
I didn't know you could delete the spamming links. Christina Lee was responsible for the linkie thingie for our blogfest earlier this year.
Alex has an army? :D Good work, my friend. It was a lot of fun~ :o) <3
i'm happy about how well this turned out for all the participants!
now, get off the internet and work on that writing, good sir!
excellent fest! and i'm still trying to get around to more =)
So glad the blogfest was successful for you!!
I love the blogfest :-) I had a wonderful time meeting new people who arrived at my blog and I'm still going through meeting new people (I'm a slow blog commenter these days.)
I can't wait until the next blogfest! Thank you and thanks to Alex for putting this together.
Yay!!!!! You and Cap'n Alex deserve a nice cold beer each! :-) Take care
x
i think it was a GREAT blog fest. I didn't get to everybody, by any means, as I kept following rabbit holes... follow their recommendations and their recommendation, and so forth, but I think I am following about 50 new blogs, and a little at a time, they seem to be following back. I've had my first jump in followers in a while.
Well done, both of you!
I'm still working my way through the list, too, which is why I've left the link up on my blog.
Found some fun new blogs to follow and gained a few as well. I'd call it a success - great job!
This was great. I'm still visiting blogs and following and commenting. I've found so many new blogs through this blogfest.
You can add another follower to your stats now. Trying to keep up may become an exercise in madness for you since it looks like you do a great blog. Thank you for conceiving this idea. I have struggled with how to connect with other people on the blogosphere and thanks to Rusty being nice enough to point my way made some connections. Thanks again.
Up to 150 on the list now, so well on my way there. Was just a little over 100 followers at the beginning of the month and now at 177 or so, so did work wonders, nice to see the many blogs out there I never would have seen too.
I'm hoping to really check out the ones I added and organize them on my google reader this week. It will be interesting to see who sticks around. :)
Thanks Matthew for hosting this. You should do it every year. I met so many great blogs this weekend. The spammers were a little annoying so I'm glad you removed them. Thanks!
I've found loads of interesting looking blogs, and more to check out still. Thank you for this. Same time next year? :-)
It was fantastic; you and Alex are fantastic; and it's not a bad addiction, is it?
I'm posting my own experiences at the fest tomorrow--as well as trying to visit a few more blogs today. Then I'll be lifting a great big glass of champagne to toast Alex and you for a job well done.
This was a great blog fest - I found some great new blogs to follow (including yours!). Thanks for coming up with the idea and congrats on all the success!
Great work Matthew--you were all over the blog world.
I also like your grounded thoughts. It is about transitioning visitors to friends in that I am connecting with and learning from others.
Congratulations on attaining your goals! The blogfest was a little overwhelming for me but I'm a little slower on reading blogs so I'll be working on the list at my own pace. You and Alex blaze through hundreds of people pretty quick.
Man, you must have spent the whole day blogging to get to that many . . . OR you just have a lot better internet service than me *grumble, grumble*
I would definitely call it a successful blogfest. Kudos! And yeah, I think 170 in a month is a lot, too.
That WAS an awesome blog fest. I didn't get to every single one yet, but it sure was fun getting to know a bunch of new people and follow some wicked-awesome blogs.
This was my first blog fest, and now I think I'm hooked. :) It was great fun.
Looking forward to the next. :)
Thanks for a great blogfest and I'm awed that you got to so many and commented. I went round a lot of blogs (and their rec's) and it is sooo time consuming! Enjoying it though so hope you keep the links up for a while. Congrats on gaining so many followers, I think I got about 10 which is fab for my small blog :)
This was a great idea and even though I didn't gain any new followers, I'm hoping to build it up over time. I plan to play catch up on the list you posted because I was away this weekend enjoying my birthday bash...lol.
Blogfest was a great idea, and I liked that you and Alex visited so many, and commented as well. Thanks to you guys.
I'm a little surprised that the list included no-shows and spam. Someone always wants to spoil the fun.
I gained new followers and joined many blogs I hadn't seen before. I also checked a lot of the recommendations that bloggers listed.
Must be Yoda wisdom, you have. Alex, too.
You had an amazing brainchild with this one, Matt. I wish I could have gotten to the blogs, but time restraints this weekend hindered my participation somewhat. Glad you increased your follower count, and helped many bloggers increase theirs, too!
Thanks for doing this Matt! I'm nowhere near finished visiting blogs, but I'm going to try to get to as many as I can. And right after you left a message on my blog, I added the GFC widget, so people can join my site. Thanks for the tip!
Great work by you and Alex!
I'd say it was a huge success. And I have a lot of blogs to visit.
Your fingers must be sore from all that typing!
I'm glad you did this and spread the word for so many. I hope more people became aware of your blog and all the good you do and that other bloggers see an increase in awareness as well!
For me, comments are nice, but I understand people are busy. I don't sweat it if they visit and don't comment. I myself visit a lot of blogs and don't always comment...I can't. There are just too many blogs I follow and too many people I connect with. I try to do my bust by using all platforms to connect, and sometimes that means linking and sharing, not commenting.
At the end of the day, content is what draws people to a blog, and so I doubt you'll have any trouble continuing to grow your subscribers.
Happy Monday!
Angela
It was a fab idea! I met some new people and followed some great new blogs, so thank you.
I was out of Internet coverage and missed that blogfest. It was a good initiative, will join on next occasion >;)
Cold As Heaven
Holy Crapola--my head (and fingers) hurt, mostly for you (some, for me)!! NICE and I am also not surprised it was successful!
It was a great blogfest and you're uber popular for a reason!!! :)
Well done, Matthew and Alex! Now go relax for a while :)
Well done, men!
And whoa! 285 blogs visited! That's hardcore dedication!
It was a fabulously successful fest--I'm still making it through all the blogs!! My reader runneth over.
Thanks for hosting Matthew! So much fun and I think I've made a few new friends, so lucky me!!
Well it sounds damn successful! I'm still meeting people. So many new blogs to click on, it's like having a bookshelf full of shiney new dust jackets just waiting to announce themselves.
My weekend was chaotic so I didn't get to visit as many blogs as I wanted to. I'll still be visiting some more when I have some time! It was a great time!! :)
I love, love, loved that we had the chance to ring the bell of some awesome, but unsung, bloggers. Thanks so much for the opportunity Matt!
Wow, you hit a lot of blogs. Did you remember to eat?
I had issues with Blogger last week so I didn't do much but get frustrated.
I didn't get to visit that many, but many new bloggers visited me. I was even stunned to see my blog mentioned a few times.
Thanks to you and Alex for hosting it! Good for you, getting to all those blogs over the weekend. That's awesome. :D
Thank you Matthew and Alex. I enjoyed blogfests for the challenge and meeting people and I think I am making one or two new friends from the Pay It Forward.
Wow, I'm impressed you made it to all the blogs and thrilled to see you among my new followers. This was very cool. Thanks to you and Alex for putting it together.
I do love it when a blogger becomes a friend!
I enjoyed it immensely, thanks for conceiving the idea. I was an 11th hour sign up, but totally thrilled that I did.
Matthew, you and Alex are Monumental Men of Rocking Awesomeness.
I got to over 200 blogs. I am still working through the list.
You guys have certainly earned some time off from blogging, but don't stay away too long.
It was a great idea, Matt. Thanks so much for making it happen!
Wish I could of taken part in this.
I'm still way behind on browsing the linky list. Thanks so much to you and Alex for putting this together--it's been great to meet new bloggers.
Thanks for putting it all together. While I didn't visit anywhere near even half the blogs on the list, that doesn't mean I still won't shimmy through more this week. So far found some great blogs, including yours.
You and Alex did a good thing in setting this up, I'm glad I had the opportunity to participate!
Thanks so much for the blogfest! I couldn't have picked a better one to participate in for my first blogfest. Such a great idea!
I have to say a HUGE thanx to you and Alex.
The Blogfest was an awesome success. I thought I'd give you a wee bit of feedback from my side. BB (Before Blogfest)I was on 494 followers and over the weekend I jumped to 534 - thats 40 followers! That normally takes me at least 6 months to rack those kind of numbers up.
Anyhoo thats not the best news, the brilliant news is that I'm now following about 30 new really awesome bloggers and I visited over 50 of those blogs over the Blogfest weekend!
I loved this Blogfests! Now I have stax of brand new faces on my Google Reader.
So late in commenting on this, but I thought what you guys did was incredible. You are a pillar of this blogging community and I'm glad my path crossed with yours. I've learned a lot and made some great new friends. Thank you!
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