1 Warning Sign about Becoming Blogger Stat Obsessed

I checked my LinkedIn replies recently.

After responding to all comments and giving all Likes a hearty thumbs-up, I noted something.

Engagement seemed way light for that stretch.

Notice my use of the word “seemed.”

Engagement appeared to be quite light for those few days. But appearances may be illusions and not necessarily reality, truth or 100% accurate for that matter.

I dug a bit deeper into LinkedIn notifications 3 days later.

Wouldn’t you know that a handful of other old, dated notifications came up that did not appear 3 days prior?

The reason for the miraculously appearing notifications does not matter. Perhaps LinkedIn experienced an honest glitch.

I could care less about the seeming error and certainly do not write this post to condemn an excellent, credible, professional networking site.

I simply want to remind bloggers not to obsess over statistics because metrics can and do become inaccurate.

What happens if you change your blogging strategy based on inaccurate statistics? What if you change tactics based on fake stats?

I spotted at least 4 extra notifications on doing a tiny amount of digging, per my LinkedIn experience above. Seemingly light LI engagement became less light after observing the increased Likes and comments.

Focus on the Process, Not the Outcomes

Stat-obsessed bloggers focus heavily on outcomes.

What if the outcomes that you obsess over are false?

What you’re doing blogging-wise may be working far better than false metrics indicate. Never mind the fact that stat-makers possess various agendas, some perhaps genuine but others less than genuine.

After a rare stat-checking session recently, I observed backlinks pointing to Blogging From Paradise differing by thousands of links depending on the backlink-checking service.

Who do I trust?

Every backlink-checking service wanted something from me to continue with the process, minus 1 free search or so.

Some wanted my email address. Others wanted me to pay up.

If they deeply desire my business, how can I trust their service to be accurate? Depending on their approach, some may inflate or deflate my backlinks deliberately to make me feel lacking or highly successful. I could offer my email address or sign up based on the manipulated numbers to pad their subscriber base or pockets.

Most of these individuals are credible and intend to be helpful.

But why would I trust their stats as being 100% true when the numbers vary, and these folks never seem to give without expectations, always attaching strings, making me further question their numbers?

Everybody is entitled to run a business via any model or strategy, but when the squeeze is on, the likelihood of the numbers being off or inaccurate is high, too.

Stats Are Just Numbers

Stats are just numbers on a screen.

Bloggers interpret numbers in a million different ways.

Digging too deep into numbers, “analysis paralysis” robs you of the time you should be spending creating detailed content and building strong relationships with readers and fellow bloggers from your niche.

Check Stats as a Quick Indicator, Not a Sustained Process

I recently drove 62 hours in total from New Jersey to the Colorado Rockies, then back to NJ.

I spent a few seconds checking mile markers as a quick indicator as to our location.

I never pulled over to the side of the road to spend 4 hours analyzing a mile marker.

Treat blogging statistics similarly. Peep the numbers as a quick indicator. Either keep moving in a successful direction or analyze potential mistakes and corrections.

Never spend hours looking at numbers on a screen. Ask professional bloggers for guidance; they can easily spot and correct your blogging mistakes. Pros also discern much from blogging metrics after carefully observing your blog.

Some pros may help you for free. Other pros may sell an eBook or online course for guidance and correction. Yet other pros may require you to hire them in order to block off their time.

Value your time. If your statistical analysis doesn’t yield swift results, simply work with a pro to allow them to analyze your metrics and offer guidance.

Creating and Connecting Patiently Takes Care of Your Metrics

Every hour you spend staring at blogging statistics is one less hour you spend on writing and publishing detailed, targeted content and engaging in genuine blogger outreach.

Metrics like traffic and blogging income grow slowly but steadily in response to bloggers who publish in-depth, targeted content and build strong blogging relationships patiently over the years.

Sticking to the basics for a long time almost guarantees that your statistics will grow substantially over the years. Will you obsess over ever-increasing statistics? Heck no.

Will you trust quizzically low blogging statistics or social media metrics when you intuitively know that your long-term work yields far more traffic, comments, social shares, and income?

No, you will not.

I always sensed various social media notifications to be a bit fishy from time to time based on the heavy volume of targeted creating and connecting I do on social media.

Seeing those 4 notifications recently appearing to fall through the cyber cracks suggests that I’m generating far more engagement on that platform, in reality, than I had assumed based on some less-than-reliable notifications.

This is why you need to trust your intuition and the blogging process above metrics spit out by any site, network, plug-in, or tool.

Statistics can and do err, but your intuition and the fundamental process of creating and connecting never do.

Trust your gut.

Follow the fundamentals for thousands of hours spanning years.

Blogging success will find you.

About this Guest Blog Author

Ryan Biddulph offers smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise Dot Com.