I’ll Be Your Stat Whore
Someone called me a ‘Stat Whore’ the other day. It’s not the first time I have been called that in the internet world and I assume it isn’t always a ‘term of endearment’. Most likely it’s someone thinking that I shouldn’t spend so much time ‘figuring out what works’ on blogs. Someone feeling like I shouldn’t really care about what my Twitter Grade is, or how many hits I am getting on my blog. I shouldn’t care because that’s not what blogging is about. That’s not what social networking is about. It’s about just being yourself and expressing who you really are right? Nope.
Here’s the reason I’m a ‘stat-whore’ and you can say it’s bad if you want. I’m a ‘stat-whore’ because the artists I work for need me to be. They need me to know what’s connecting with people, they need coaching, they need to know if they are doing things right or wrong. They don’t want to turn their blogs into offensive marketing pages and neither do I. They don’t focus on the ‘numbers’ so I need to. And here’s what that does. That enables them to ‘blog well’. Are you seeing a theme?
I don’t see being a ‘stat-whore’ as a bad thing when it comes to doing something well. I don’t see an issue with it when it makes your product better. When it ruins the authenticity of something, that’s when you should maybe step back from the stats.
Thoughts?
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i agree with your thoughts.
now, i’m amazed anyone would lump you in with the group of bloggers who spend more time trying to get linked to than they do actually blogging…
you’re not one of those bloggers at all.
which is why i like your blog.
no matter who you are or what you do, someone will always be there to try to discourage you.
we love what you’re doing. we love skorinc.
I think it depends on WHY you blog. We started our blog as a fun thing to do and it’s taken us on a whole new adventure. NOW I watch the stats. I think it’s awesome and very interesting to see what brings in people … where they come from … how they interact the most.
Does it change the way we blog? Probably not, but I still like seeing that we have readership from all over the world. It makes me feel like what we’re saying and doing is worth the effort.
If we help one person feel like they are not the only one wondering where their answer is … then we’ve done what we set out to do
– but I’ll STILL be looking at the stats to see how that one person found us too – haha.
The first year or so that I blogged I didn’t even know I could know my stats…lol!! Oh the innocence of that time.
Now that I am actively trying to promote a culture of literacy, I check my stats about once a day, but I am more a slave to my subscriber count. Yes, I care about my stats but only because I am hopeful that my blog resonates with others and that if I am reviewing books those reviews are getting read.
But I agree..if you hit publish…you are definitely hoping someone will read.
Yo. Is this in response to my latest post???
Probably not, but just in case… I do think you are a dirty, dirty, smokin’ hooker.
Just kiddn. I think its important. I’m just jealous that I can’t get into all that stats and twitter business. I’ll probably have to change all that, but that’s why I’ll hire you in a few months, hopefully! Truth is, I can’t seem to do it on my own, and I sort of suck at it. And here is where someone like you – someone who does it for the right reasons – has something unique and valuable to offer.
Three cheers to the stat-whores who bring business and goodness to starving artists…
I’ve never even checked my stats. If I had tons of money to throw around, and I needed to promote a band or business, I would hire you. I blog for no particular reason. Do I like it when people read and comment? Sure I do. But there are plenty of entries where no one commented. Should I go check and see if anyone actually read those? Probably. Yet I don’t.
I definitely agree with you.
When you said something about caring about how many hits you get on your blog and caring what your Twitter grade it, I almost laughed. Because that’s EXACTLY how I am. I’m definitely a stat-whore. Although you definitely have more of a reason to be one, seeing as you’re partly responsible for helping the careers of the professional musicians you work for. I mean I use my blog to express myself or whatnot but I think a big reason why I really like blogging is because I get to meet new people, get opinions/advice from those people, and promote things/people I like. But I can’t do that if no one reads my blog, right?
Nope not bad, just the reality check no one wants to have if they aren’t doing well (that’s why its not a term of endearment)
For you, its a good check (the ROI) of doing business….if you’re successful it’s like wanting to know how profitable you were. When I make money I like to count it
…when I loose it, its easier not to look.
Grateful you have such a natural bent to the numbers, because they matter, especially if it people you’d like to reach. I hope to have you “whore” for me soon enough.
Blessings
Hey when you got skills you got to use them, right?
H
It’s not for your line of work. I’m sure the bands want to know that it’s money well spent. Personally, it freaks me out a bit that you can tell my server, where I’m at, the type of computer I’m using, what time I came to your site, how many times I’ve visited, how many pages I looked at and how long I was here for! The last one is bad one to go by as I leave tabs up all the time.
Hi there, I know your day wouldn’t be complete without a comment from me. Oh, wait, there are 10 people ahead of me! Does the fact that I’m #11 make me feel any less likely to leave a comment? Apparently not! Even with nothing to add, I still have to comment. Numbers are important. Your clients want to know what is working & what isn’t. That’s your job and you seem to be pretty good at it. Keep doing what you do.
Totally agree with you. Because of your business, and what the artists need from you, it would be dumb of you not to be trying to find legit community and draw readers. I like learning from you.
You ain’t no ho, Brody.
I think if you want to do what you do well, then knowing what kind of impact you are having is essential to that, no matter what it is. When we are doing something to have an impact beyond this world then it is even more important to know if we are effective at what we do.
Your clients are not only in business, they are doing something to impact peoples lives in a real concrete way. By ensuring that they are having the most impact that they can through this medium you are supporting them in the best way you can. I do not think that checking the stats to ensure the most people are visiting their sites is any different then finding ways to invite people to any other ministry event!
I used to work for a web design company.
In that line of work, I worked with, and for, some REAL stat-whores.
I don’t think you are even close to that level.
It’s one thing to use the stats to “game” the system. “How many copies of AdSense can I run in my pages and get credit for them?” “How can I stack the content of my pages to manipulate the AdSense ads that show up?” Oh yeah, I don’t see AdSense on your sites.
Being a stat-whore is about making money, and for you, it isn’t about that. Sure, you are making money from it, and its important in that respect, but you have hit the nail on the head. You aren’t a stat-whore becuase it will make you money, you do what you do becuase it helps your clients. Sure, ultimately, doing what’s right by your clients will make you money, but from everything I’ve seen, you are doing it more becuase it’s the right thing for your clients. And that is certainly laudable in this day and age.
I guess there is arguably a “good stat whore” and a “bad stat whore”, but frankly, I think there should be two terms. Stat-Monkey maybe, but not a stat-whore.
$0.03 worth. More if you pay by the byte for your internet…;)
Mike. I liked that you used the word “laudable”, and thanks for your $.03. Everyone else, I appreciate your kind words.
….and no Seth, you didn’t offend me with your post.
Statistics! After working in the manufacturing and quality assurance world, there is no better substitute. Quantification is certainly the step to understanding how something is doing, where it is going, and how can you make it better. I don’t know who originally stated this, but it’s a favorite of mine…
If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it … if you can’t understand it, you can’t control it … if you can’t control it, you can’t improve it.”
Works with widgets, blog stats, etc.
I like statistics, statistics are my favorite…
I think in your line of work, Brody, you HAVE to be a stat… um… monkey. (Great term, Mike!)
I don’t have a problem with it.
given that my daughter (who is two months old) gets better stats then i do, i can hardly care about stats. i don’t blog to get more fans though, i do it just to entertain and keep people up to date that care about what goes on in our lives (and i am terrible at it). you, though, people are paying to do way more than what i do and to not suck like i do, so i hope you remain the dirty whore that you are. plus, it’s fun to be able to say i know the dirty blog whore brody…
ps-we called your kids “the harper boys” the other day… funny
I don’t know. I think I prefer the King James – Stat Harlot. Just change your background to haev a reddish hue, and your there, man.
No, it’s you job, Brody, to look at these things. If I were selling toasters and hired an ad agency to advertise them, I would expect the as agency to check on how its working. Same with you and SkorInc.
Personally, I check stats. There’s really two things I look at – the ratio of page views to unique visitors (are people coming back, or is it drive by visits) and the search keywords that bring them to me.
I prefer “monkey”..
his Mom
Woot!!! #600 and I coin a new term for Brody all in the same day
It’s OK, I’m a stat-monkey too.