When Your Blog Blows Up

Y’all. My blog blew up.

You blew it up!

Can you read that number? 1,096. And we’re still counting. This morning we were at 1,300+

This post resonated with more people than I ever imagined.

Thank you.

Seriously, thank you so much.

When I read Samantha Pugsley’s thoughtful article, my heart dropped. Something didn’t sit right. I tried to go on about my day, but I just couldn’t. Inspiration nagged at me. Write. And so I did.

And you read it.

And commented on it.

And shared it.

And pretty soon I had to catch my breath at what God had done.

I want you to know that I rarely look at my stats. I do like to check my analytics every so often, just to assess the state of the blog. (And it’s become second nature by training at my Web marketing job.) But I’m not about the numbers. I’m about creating content for you. Through looking at pageviews and site visits, I have gotten a sense of what content you most enjoy. A trend I’ve noticed is that my most popular posts are the ones where I am incredibly honest. Painfully transparent. The ones in which I wear my heart on my sleeve. Can’t lie, it hurts. It’s downright intimidating to be so open. But you know what? In our airbrushed world a bit of honesty is like breathing fresh air. If that’s what serves you well, count on me to keep writing.

A serendipity would have it, ‘Blog Blow Up Day’ was also the day I had been asked to discuss blogging at a local writer’s group. I talked about Emily Freeman’s idea of building a bench, rather than a platform. And, specifically, how linkups can be a tool to create community. (If you’d like to check out my talk, I’ve embeded the slides below. Or click here to view them.) You, my friends, make this community possible. Without you, I would have no words to share about how an online community is created. Thanks again, for being you.