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I’m very excited to say that if you’re reading this, ViperChill has now passed the 10,000 subscribers mark. I’m actually writing this sentence (not the post) on March 11th 2010 sitting on a feed count of 4,717 subscribers (I’ll explain this later). In my monthly posts I often say that I don’t have any goals for the site, but if I’m totally honest, hitting the 10k subscriber mark was definitely one of mine.
When I ran PluginID I wrote a blog post after hitting 5,000 subscribers as that was a huge achievement for me at the time. I decided to refrain from that here at ViperChill until I reached 10,000 subscribers which I think finally puts this blog on the map. I’ve managed to grow this site by over 9,000 subscribers in 9 months which is quite rare in the blogging world. Here’s how.
I first want to say that I never actually reached 10,000 subscribers. My feed jumped from 8,500 to over 11,500 according to Feedburner. At first I assumed it was a bug, but it has stayed this way for over a week so I’ll assume everything is working as it should (Feedburner usually drops, not increases). In the rare case that this is still actually a bug, the message I’m sharing here would still be very much the same, so I’m totally fine with that.
I also must stress that the reason this blog skyrocketed is not rocket science. I’m going to share a number of principles here – some which may or may not be new to you – but there are really no secrets that anyone has been holding back from you. What it takes to grow a blog today is still very much the same as what it took to grow a blog two, three, four or even five years ago.
As always though, I like to think I have my own unique take on things.
Put Importance on the Things You Don’t Do
In many blogging guides the authors always seem to focus on the things that you should do. Remain consistent, pick a popular niche, have a great looking theme, write remarkable content, and other similar advice is often thrown out there. These aren’t bad suggestions, but you can’t only focus on what you do.
The things you don’t do are also, very, very important.
To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, allow me to cover some of the things I won’t do:
- Write about internet marketing news
- Publish a post before I’ve re-read it 2-3 times
- Link to websites or products with an affiliate link
- Write short posts with little substance
- Claim to be some kind of guru or expert
- Accept guest posts from other writers
The first point is probably the most important because your blog is nothing without your content, so what you don’t publish is just as important as what you do. There are tons of blogs in the marketing space that cover news far better than I could. Similarly, in regards to point four, there are lots of blogs that will write quick tips to help you get the information you want fast.
I believe I could have had success in either of these routes too, if that’s the angle I wanted to take.
I don’t think using affiliate links would have hindered my growth at all, but it is something that makes me stand out in an industry where everyone is looking to get-rich-quick from their audience. The reason I don’t use affiliate links is simply because I want people to be able to trust my suggestions without thinking I’m just doing it for the money. This leads back to my core focus which I mention later in this article.
Is there anything you could stop doing that would help your blog grow? Have a think about that one.
Put Yourself Into Your Work
Every unique feature I implement in a blog design tends to get copied. Do you see the RSS section in the top of the right sidebar here? Those exact images (some of which I made myself) were saved by a blogger and added to their own sidebar without even changing the file-name to make it less obvious. They aren’t just a small blog either; they have over 1,000 subscribers.
My yellow “connect” section at the bottom of all posts – with custom “Tweet?” icon – was also directly copied by someone who regularly comments here and writes about making money online. And, since I started using the “little white men” in my post graphics I have started to see them all over the blogosphere.
They say imitation is the highest form of flattery so I’m not going to hold any grudges. The point I am making with this though – and the point that most bloggers miss – is that these things are not what make me successful. They’re just one example of me putting my ideas and my creativity into the finished result of this blog.
Hopefully for a while I’ll still be the only blogger with an about page titled “What the F***?” 
.
It’s not just my design where I try to do things a bit differently; there’s a lot about my content that you won’t find on other blogs. It’s fairly obvious that I write very long, in-depth posts so those help me to stand out in the internet marketing space as that’s quite rare. I’ll also only publish something if I’m really happy with it. I’ve deleted numerous 2,000+ word posts because they didn’t meet my quality criteria.
I don’t think that long posts are what make this blog successful; it’s more that I’m doing something different and providing value to people who want information packaged like that. I promise there are more non-readers than readers who would never want to read content this long. The key to my content, in my opinion, is that I write in a very personal style.
My excessive use of “I” and “me” aren’t to satisfy my ego, but because everything on this site is from personal experience. I only blog for one person, and that’s you. The conversational style of writing is very easy for me and I like reading posts in this way, so that’s why I write them. There’s nothing more to it than that.
Although I would love to have this skill, I can’t tell you how to put yourself into your work. That’s because if I did, then it wouldn’t be you. Don’t be afraid to show the real you in your design, your writing style, or the way you connect with your readers and your industry online.
Some people might not like how you express yourself, but you’ll maintain a greater connection with those who do.
Stay Humble, But Think Big
If you read the bullet-points further up you’ll notice that one of them said “Claim I’m a guru or expert.” You won’t be able to find one sentence in the 70,000+ words I’ve written here that even hints at the idea. Other people may think of me as one, and that’s not a bad thing, but when you get to the point where you start thinking of yourself as one then a few things start to happen:
- You’re too worried about taking risks in-case they fail publicly
- You make it much harder for people to connect with your writing
- You put a divider between yourself and your audience, which is never a good thing
I remember reading an interview with actress Jennifer Garner where she was asked how she feels about all of the praise that she gets. Her response was something along the lines of: “I don’t listen to the good stuff because then I’d have to take in all the bad stuff too.”
I try never to put people on a pedestal because at the end of the day, we’re all just humans. It’s this mindset that will help you to never put yourself on a pedestal ether. Nobody is really “better” than somebody else. When I was in Amsterdam I met two of the girls from my favourite TV show in the UK, Hollyoaks (very blurry pic). I just joked around with them like I would any other girls and I could tell they actually appreciated it.
Yet, just because you are “just another human,” it doesn’t mean you can’t achieve very big things. I hid my age online for a few years because I thought it would hinder me from getting internet marketing clients, but I didn’t let my age stop me from thinking I could make thousands of dollars per month helping companies succeed online.
If you’ve been following this journey from the start then you’ll know that ViperChill is just a case study to show you what is possible. I didn’t specifically aim to grow this blog so fast so quickly, but I knew I could do it because I think big and work hard.
“If you think you can or you can’t, you’re right” – Henry Ford
Remember in the intro I mentioned how I was writing that sentence in March? It’s not a lie. I simply had the belief that this site would grow to a large size, even before I was half way there.
I didn’t get lucky on the way or have some famous blogger teacher me the ropes. I simply thunk (thunk should totally be a word) big, knew what I needed to do, and started doing it. We aren’t cut from a different cloth so there’s no reason you can’t do exactly the same.
Be Selective About How You Spend Your Time
Although ViperChill is now one of the biggest internet marketing blogs in the world, it’s really towards the back of my mind in terms of priorities. I love writing here and I love seeing the audience grow, but I spend only one or two days per week actually doing anything for the site.
My other activities – buying and building niche websites – simply takes up far too much of my time. It’s how I make my living, so I need to dedicate most of my attention to it. Because I only spend a few hours per week working on this site, I have to be very selective about how I do spend my time.
The most important thing I can do, by far, is work on writing an article. That is what keeps the blog going and it is the reason I have almost 12,000 subscribers in the first place. Everything besides this is secondary. I’ve had to make my contact page pretty uninviting because I was spending so much time answering emails that I never had the chance to even write posts.
Besides writing posts, the second most important thing to me is participating in the conversation. I’ll always personally reply to at least 30-40 comments on each post (sometimes 100+) because I believe that if people take the time to comment then they deserve the time for me to give a response.
If I had more time I would be more active on services like Twitter, leave comments on other blogs and try to build better relationships with readers, but right now my schedule just doesn’t allow that.
If I only gave you 5 hours per week to work on your blog, what would you spend it doing? With that question your mind should instantly zone in on the things that you believe are important to your blogs’ growth. If you aren’t spending most of your time doing those things, and instead spending more time on sites like Twitter, then maybe it’s time to change things around.
Have a Clear Focus on How You Want to Help People
As I’ve mentioned in a few posts: I only write on topics I want to read about personally and I will write as much as it takes to really cover a topic in-depth. Although I do only write on subjects that pass my personal interests, I do have a clear focus which helps me dictate the direction my posts go in.
My goal with this website is to help people make money online and build remarkable websites. You can view them as one thing or you can view them separately. Either way, the vast majority of posts are written with this aim in mind. I’m telling you this because I think it’s very important that you have your own focus as well.
- Do you want to make people laugh?
- Do you want to help people get out of debt?
- Do you want to keep people up to date on news in the X industry?
- Are you going to try and give the best stock picks?
Whatever it is that you blog about, it’s very useful to know what it is that you want to help people with. This simple vision will help you flesh out all posts, come up with new ideas, and find the right audience for your blog.
I don’t even think good blogging advice anymore is to “pick the right niche”. I think “know how you want to help people” is far more effective.
Thank You!
The only reason I can say I have over 10,000 subscribers is because you guys took the time out to subscribe (it’s free!) to the RSS feed. I sold PluginID when it reached 6,500 subscribers so I’ve never grown a blog to this level before and therefore I’m really excited about the future. Although there have been quite a few haters on this journey and I’m sure there will be many more, the support I’ve received from you all has been amazing and it’s the reason I keep coming back with new articles.
I hope I’ve gave something back with the articles I’ve posted recently; especially with this one. I didn’t want to overlap ideas and I think it fits in nicely with the post on growing PluginID to 6,500 readers. Although I simply can’t reply to all emails, I do make sure I read every single comment and will continue to do so, so please keep them coming.
It has been a fun nine months. Thanks for joining me on the ride!
P.S. If you’re reading this in Google reader, could you please click the ‘like’ button just below this sentence? I’m running a test and curious about the results (which I will share here).
RSS Subscribers: 
Yesterday the feed count was 11,797 subscribers and today it’s down quite a lot. The source that had increased dramatically (Netvibes) now seems to be on normal levels, so this may be the true count; I really don’t know with Feedburner these days.
Although I’m impressed with other Google services, they really seem to have neglected this one.
Either way, the message of the post is the same, so I’m still going to let this go live in 50 minutes.
Agreed, Feedburner seems incredibly unreliable, and I’m not sure why they can’t figure out a way to get a more accurate count. At any rate, even if you’re not technically at 10,000 yet, you’ll probably be there very shortly…
Thanks Eric, I think so too!
Long-ass posts that are packed with value is why this blog keeps growing. I dig.
“If I only gave you 5 hours per week to work on your blog, what would you spend it doing” is the EXACT mindset you need to have in this (or any) business.
Thanks Dave. Couldn’t agree more
Congrats on your milestone! Oddly enough, my about page is About… But I have a WTF? item where I explain what my blog is about. I thought it was funny when I discovered your blog a few weeks ago (via Oscar Del Ben, who also gave strong points in favour of buying your ebook, which I did) and… your About was a WTF! I think you are about to break 12000: 11737 as I read this. Go on!
Ruben
Copycat
Thank you Ruben!
Congratulations Glen! You definitely deserve the fast growth you’ve been experiencing here. Your writing (here and back in the PluginID days) has always been bookmarkable and inspirational.
As for Feedburner: every day my feed count changes by 1-2k. It’s a fun rollercoaster.
Hey Karol,
I’m a big fan of yours so I appreciate the kind words. Yeah Feedburner fluctuates like crazy; I hope Google can fix it!
Congrats Glen on an awesome achievement. I have been quietly lurching on your blog for a while now and have always admired the value you provide to your audience.
Here’s to your next 10K subscribers! I have a feeling they will come 10 times faster than the first 10K.
Post ‘liked’ in Google Reader. Curious to see what little test you are running…
Thanks Duane, awesome to see 14 people have ‘liked’ it already. When a post gets a lot of likes it shows on the main page of Google reader so I’m interested in seeing if that drives a lot of extra traffic from the service. If so, it could be another way for people to promote their blogs.
Appreciate the support.
Hi Glen,
Epic post man! and Congrats on your readers breaking the 7,000 and 10,000 barrier!
I really learned some excellent points through this post.
“Don’t be afraid to show the real you in your design, your writing style, or the way you connect with your readers and your industry online.”
I agree with this statement, as sometimes people just mimic/copy other successful people’s style/design etc.
“Whether You Think You Can or Can’t, You’re Right”by Henry Ford This is actually my all time favorite quote! I like it a lot, as it has a very deep meaning.
“Have a clear focus on how you want to help people” This is very important. As without this focus, you are unlikely to be very successful.
And regarding the feedburner stats, there was a blog post over at dailyblogtips, that mentions this issue. The title of the post was ‘What Is Going On with the Feedburner Stats?’.
Nabeel
Hey Nabeel,
Yeah, Diggy sent me that post so it looks like a few people were going through the same thing. With their usual bugs though it reverts after a day or two, but this has been the case for over 10 days now…
Really glad that you liked the post
P.S.Post ‘Liked’ in Google Reader! Hoping to see the test results!
Nabeel
Thanks Nabeel!
Congrats Glen,
10k RSS readers is a huge milestone and I’m only 25% there, but time and persistence pay off. By the way feedburner sucks, I recently removed the counter and put a manual counter which I update frequently (say every 100 new subscribers).
Hey Oscar, thanks buddy!
You had a great first year. Especially for being in the cluttered personal development industry. I think I might do the same thing if it keeps acting up and just put a static image there.
Glen,
A huge hearty congratulations on your accomplishments. That is absolutely fantastic. I can take away many tips and pointers that you have provided here and I thank you, for what you have already given so far.
Brandon
Thanks Brandon,
I’ve always appreciated your comments over the last few months. I hope things are going well your end!
Hey Glen,
Awesome congratulations man. Really Great work. You really deserve it bro.
Thanks for sharing this great Post.
~Dev
Thanks Dev!
Congratulations on ViperChill’s meteoric rise Glen!
It’s obviously testament to your great writing style and talent for communicating with the masses. I can’t even remember how I came across this blog but the fact of the matter is I always return because I know there is great value in what you write and I always eagerly await your next posts.
You’ve also replied to a couple of my emails which I greatly appreciate because I know how busy you are.
The greatest achievement in my opinion though is not making thousands of dollars a month, or having 10,000 subscribers (as awesome as both those things are) but remaining humble, personable and passionate regardless of all this much (deserved) backslapping.
Keep the good stuff coming!
PS – Come on dude, Hollyoaks is pure trash! LOL
Haha. I just like it for the hot girls
I really appreciate your comments Fro; they’re always so much more than just a ‘great post’ response.
Thank you!
Soo valuable, I luv your writing style. It’s awe-some.
Your style is both – valuable and remarkable, and that’s why you dominate soo big. I’m going to reread this post again. You and DoshDosh have a remarkable and concise writing style that taste like cool strawberry cream on a hot summer day. There’s lots of inspiration I get from you, especially when writing posts with goood copy. Create insane value, and serve it in your 100% unique flavor.
And hack away all the unessential stuff.
Keep rocking the digital spheres.
Thanks Mars,
Your writing reminds me a lot of Alex from UnleashReality.com (a good friend of mine). I think you might like his work.
Congrats Glen. I will tell you why I keep coming back to this blog, there are no pretentions. I don’t feel like you try to dumb your content down, but you also don’t try to go over everyone’s head just to look cool. There is a lot of great stuff here, but as someone who is really just learning all of this, i don’t feel like an idiot when I’m reading. So cheers for that.
Also, since I write in the personal development niche, I am keenly interested in your experiences with PluginId.
Wow, thanks Joshua!
Nice to know what keeps you coming back here. Thanks for the comment.
Hey Glen
I really agree with the bit about putting yourself into whatever you do (not you personally, but every one of us), it really does come across and I think people do have more respect for you after seeing the real you in your writing or whatever. There are so many fakes out there, or people trying to hide who they are, that honesty and transparency is definitely a good thing! The rest of the post is great too!!
Unfortunately I’ve been away from the blogging community for a few months as I have had other things to focus on, but now I’m back and looking forward to reading all your posts that I missed and hope to start growing my blog again!
Thanks for writing great content!!
Hey Elyse, you’re welcome.
Thanks for the support, and welcome back to the blogosphere!
Regardless of the actual number, it’s quite an achievement, Glen. Congratulations!
You totally deserve all the praise you get. Keep up the fantastic articles you provide us.
Karen
Thank you Karen,
I’m pretty sure you’re one of the few people who were around from the start. I hope things are going well with your site
Big congrats to you Glen! You do such a great job of focussing on *what matters*. That’s what keeps me coming back. It’s pretty simple. You focus on being as helpful as you possibly can, and people pay attention.
Keep up the great work.
Cheers.
Thanks John! Great to see you here
Glen, congrats on your success. I just found out about you a few weeks ago through Third Tribe, but I’m watching you and what you do…
Hey John,
Nice to discover how people found me. Thanks for sharing that. I hope you’re enjoying the site
Looks like it might have been a bug because it’s back down now. But either way you have still done amazing with this blog in a short amount of time! Getting as many subscribers as you have, regardless of the true number, is a feat most people will never achieve. And this is a very useful post as they always are. Thanks bud!
You’re welcome Trent, I know you’ve watched most of the growth so it’s good to have you with me on the journey.
It’s good to be on the journey!
Glen, nice post as always.
I definitely borrowed the idea of your footer RSS/Twitter widget but have modified it consistently over the past couple months.
I appreciate your blog and information, keep it up!
Jeremy
Thanks Jeremy
Have they resolved the issue with FriendFeed affecting all FeedBurners by doubling their real amount of readers?
Other than that, BIG grats on the huge following!
Hey Jim!
I don’t know about that issue, but I know Friendfeed does count towards the overall Feedburner figure. The area of growth for me was mostly Google Reader and Netvibes.
Congratulations to you, but I have to say that I feel like the real winner here. I get such incredible value from your posts, and your writing style makes me feel like you’re talking to me and not a big crowd.
Thanks for all the good stuff you put out into the world. I appreciate it.
Very kind of you to put it that way, Jean.
You’re welcome. Thanks for the thoughful comments that you leave!
I knew you would make it past 10k in a matter of short months. Yeah the end of May was a quick guess, but I wasn’t that far off! Congrats on taking it big Glen, great work.
You are too right (as in pointing to the truth) about topic selection. It really does have to be something that is going to help people anymore. It is the fastest way to 10,000 subscribers, readers, clients, and/or friends.
P.S. Love the white figure people, have tried SO hard not to incorporate them somehow. I can only imagine the feedback and questions you’ve had about them
See you around Glen, thanks again.
Glen, first, congratulations! You are doing incredibly well and I can see how your subscriber rate is growing–you provide content unlike others. Your posts are captivating, to the point where I don’t want to rush through them. Sometimes I even have breakfast or a snack while absorbing your posts. You deliver quality like no other blogger that I’m subscribed to.
This post is epic in its own way–you created it before you actually hit your number, showing all of us what believing in yourself and working hard can lead to.
Enjoy your accomplishments and thanks for enlightening us
My time has never been wasted reading VC.
That’s funny Moon, I usually eat breakfast while reading his posts too. I actually usually have time to get a cup of coffee too, haha!
took away many things from the article, but especially:
- Don’t claim to be a guru or expert—> sometimes I do this. Very frustrating that I can’t stop calling myself an expert
Seriously, I like your thought process on this one.
- How exactly do you want to help people? —> great question. I want to help people get to wherever it is they wish to go. It’s such a fun ride.
- If you have 5 hours per week to work on your blog, what would you do? —> another great question. I am currently trying to grow my blog, so I would say spend 2-3 hours writing one quality article and then 2-3 hours engaging with people offline and online. Just a guess
I usually write short posts, but I mixed it up this week and wrote a 3,000 word plus monster. If felt good, real good
~Mike
Great article of what I have read so far. I run a tech blog that is a small niche to say the least but wthout great content and regular updates you are done before you started. Although my objective is not to make money with my blog I think you advice still rings true.
Cheers
Chris
Glen, Thanks so much for this post and all your other posts. I sometimes find myself discouraged with the small size of my blog, but this post and numerous other posts always encourage me. You have the great ability to help me stop focusing on subscriber counts (yes even though you give good advice on how to increase subscriber count) and refocus on what’s important – helping people! And if I only help 10 people instead of 10,000 so be it, those ten people are better off and I’ve made the world a better place.
Keep it up!
Congratulations Glen! This is really a great achievement. There is no doubt your writing style is very good and you are really focused and you are doing all the things that you mentioned in your post. I doubt even if somebody else was doing all those things, he or she will be able to replicate your success. Can you give us any idea about the secret element that makes you so successful?
The length of your comment stream is much more important then feedreaders
I’ll take readers that are part of the conversation over readers that just consume anyday…
Good Job!
Glen congrats bro.
Really cool to see you growing so fast and really making a difference in our lives with your excellent content. Keep it up.
I can’t believe how many subscriber you got in such short itme period. Very impressive. I also appreciate your values as well. There are so many cloned blogs out there that people don’t realize that they are just jumping from one copied blog to the next, with the same affiliate content stapled in the upper right hand corner.
I agree that people are much better off to develop their own small business model, create their own information products and create their own voice so that their customers know they can only go back to that one place if they want to be entertained or educated in a certain way.
-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
Congrats on getting to 10K. It shows how much value you give to your readers. I’m excited, to see how high you can go. Good luck.
Phenomenal success, well done! I’m thinking part of the reason is that Internet marketing tips are so sought after online. But maybe you disagree? Could Viperchill have grown so fast if it was about knitting tea cosies and the target readers weren’t social media smart so never hit the Digg/Stumble button? I’m thinking maybe but it would have been tough. But it’s not just about the topic – your years of experience online and blogging helped set you up for speedy success here and you’ve done a brilliant job. Congrats G:)
Congrats Glen..I’m excited to see where you go next myself, your blog is one that I deeply respect, for all the value you provide and the help you offer people. So good for you, I’m sure things will only go sky high from here.
Warmest
c
Congrats on 10k, and I concur what others have said: your posts have a good deal of value in each one (if we take the time to read them), and I personally look forward to reading each one.
Now about that Google “like” button. I wish Google would make the star at the top have the same value as the Like. For some reason I always remember to go back up to the top to click the “Star” on posts I like, but I rarely think about the like at the bottom. I think it just blends in far too well with the blue bar that it is resting in, or maybe I just don’t look that closely because it’s so small. Either way, I’m interested in your tests.
Congratulations! I really learnt a lot from this article. You have shared your own experience to us. I prefer to read the article with own experience than the theoritical article. The experience sharing is more applicable than the theoretical one. Stay humble but think big! I should hold this as one of my principle in blogging too. Thanks for your sharing!
This is no easy feat and I’m honored to have seen it grow like this. Here is to the next 10K dude!
Well, my blog launched 3 days ago – I’ve only got 3 readers :p so fluctuations for me yet
Of course, I don’t offer advice or anything similar for my (hopefully one day) audience, so some of your advice I can’t really implement – but some of it I can, so I’m hoping to see some growth. Some of the things you do here I might end up copying/implementing (I’ll leave off the What the F page though, as well as the images
), but simply because they make sense if you think about them for a bit – and yes, its my little form of flattery – what can I say.
Congrats on breaching the 10k mark though
Congrats Glen! With the amount of work you put into things, you are bound to receive something in return. You have noticed that things pay off now, haven’t you? Keep thinking big and be humble the way you are. I’m guessing this growth might be expontential, what do you think?
I have started a site of my own, finishing the final design and need to start creating some content. It’s mainly related to Artist/Product creation, promotion, distribution and live performance. I also see one of your goals is to open a club, I’m sure that a lot of people would love to learn more about it. How about we have ourselves a cup of tea over at Lalala Music once we’re ready? Keep up the awesome work!
Cheers
Patrick
Hey Glen,
I’m a big fan and love reading your posts. I know you are doing things a little differently here, but isn’t it a little hypocritical saying you won’t accept guest posts when this is a way in which you have grown viperchill yourself?
If the blogs I guest posted on were doing me a favour (and getting nothing in return) then I guess you could say that. Yet, they’re looking for fresh content and happy to link back to people in return. This isn’t some one-way win situation. Both sides get something out of the deal. I don’t allow guest posts, so I don’t get free content that I don’t have to write myself.
I hope that explains things.
Really great post Glen!
Congratulations on surpassing the 10k mark.
I could get the message of this post is “think big and use your time wisely”.
Thanks a lot for the great post,
-Onibalusi
Yep; I think that’s a great summary.
Thanks Oni!
I’ve loved it man. I’ve never joined or commented before but I’m loving every post! Thanks a bunch and keep it up!!!
Hi Dan,
Thanks for posting your first comment. I’ll do my best
Congrats Glenn, although right now it’s showing 4k to me, I noticed yesterday that was 11k and couple of weeks ago was near 8k. Something is wrong, it doesn’t matter, what matters is your good work.
Thank you Ric!
LOL, now it is really Down to 4k.^^
But the best examples for the Feedburner problems is Copyblogger.
Yesterday the Feed Stats showed that Copyblogger has 117.229 subscribers and today Copyblogger has 0 Subsribers. If it were not bad for a reputation of a Blog this would be really funny.
I think it is bad. I receive emails from people asking “What happened??” whenever the count drops, as if I wrote an article that a lot of people didn’t like. The service really is erratic.
Glen,
Congrats on everything you’ve accomplished. IF there’s anything that really stood out to me, it’s that you chose to spend your time on really high value activities. I’ve noticed the more I do that, the faster my blog has been growing. You’ve served as a great role model for so many of us and given us so many great ideas to implement and learn from. Thanks for sharing.
Hey Srinivas,
You’re very welcome. Thanks a lot for your support!
Hey Glen
To me it’s a no-brainer why your blog has had this success. Your posts provide a lot more value and they’re a lot more in-depth than most other IM blogs out there.
All these 300 word long blog posts named “How to increase traffic” or “Three different ways to make money with your blog” has already been done so many times and most bloggers just don’t seem to realize that they’re writing exactly the same stuff that thousands of other bloggers have already covered only that they just put it in a slighly different way. There is only so many ways that you can write in two sentences that blog commenting is an effective way to get traffic to your blog.
I understand that the length is not necessarily the most important thing but how can you put out 3000 words of good valuable content on a subject when other bloggers get writer’s block at 400 words and just can’t come up with anything more to write on the subject?
Do you just spend more time researching, studying, thinking and writing than they do? Any tips?
Victor
Thanks Victor,
I’m sure other bloggers could write just as much content if they wrote 5x less of those shorter posts and put it all into one. Notice that I don’t write here very frequently
Thank you for a very informative post. And congratulations…
Congratulations on your milestone Glen! You really deserve this. I know a lot of blogs, but this one of yours is different. You really provide useful information here.
Keep it up!
Regards,
Gary
Glen, your humble, no BS approach is what got me. Still can’t believe you don’t sell anything on such a successful blog, but that just adds to your credibility. Looking forward to news on the $1 million project. Thanks
Hey Glen
feedburner disaster has struck over you
by the time i’m reading this it has shown your feed count to about 4500
Hi Glen,
I think everyone’s said “it” I am always glad when I stop by Viper Chill.
One word, Quality!
What stood out to me in this post was:
10k subscribers on 9 months…
Average 70-100 comments per post – coming from a LOT of other high quality sites
Yet you post 1-2x per week?
Quality Content! Thanks for making this site free and the info easily accessible.
Take Care, Mike
9000 subscribers in 9 months – I would call it TOTAL SUCCESS
Keep up the good work!
Martin
Hey again Glen,
Anyway, I was using a software, one that you created an affiliate site for (& took down recently because of copycats). I see now why. I stumbled upon a very, very similar site that seemed to be almost copying yours and ranking higher than yours.
First, Happy 4th of July (Wait, you don’t celebrate that
Keep up the great work here at VP. Are you thinking of updating CL at all? Anyway, always looking forward to your posts. Lots of fun to read them!
Ah forget those few haters, they’ll always be around! Go on and have fun with your writing – I’ll enjoy and I’m pretty sure thousands of others will, too.
Take care,
Tobias
particluarly like the point ‘think about how you are helping people’ – never thought of it this way before.
It’s a great feat Glen. I hope I can replicate the same for my site as well.
That’s an excellent post. I’m always on the lookout for high quality content and this post is really good. If confirms my choices and way of blogging and growing my business, the angle I’ve chosen. Thank you so much for sharing such thoughts with us.
Fantastic post Glen that mentions some very poignant facts about what it takes to succeed, but in typical ViperChill Style you have inter weaved THAT message into a great post about subscriber counts.
Awesome Glen.