500 Followers on My Blog: An Occasional Blog About This Blog

~ A Dude Abikes

Since starting ADudeAbikes.com on WordPress January 1, 2016, I had no clue what I was getting myself into. At the end of 2015 I had just obtained a cell phone and biked about 3,000 miles. It began as a way to document my journey — both figurative and literal. And I suppose I’ve accomplished a few things. Sometimes I like to look at those statistics and reflect upon it all.

A total of 501 followers and 2020 stats thus far on ADudeAbikes.com

The milestone of 500 followers is an important one to note. I’m very grateful to those who follow and especially appreciative of those who read it. Many people follow and then forget it, or if I don’t follow, they unfollow. Some of them are not legitimate bloggers, either. That’s okay; I’m not doing this for followers, although it would be nice if more people read what I’m writing. Posting three times a week does not seem like it would take a lot of effort, but it does. Some posts about a bike ride or aspect of cycling tend to go easier and faster than others.

The more challenging posts are the more personal essays exploring topics and thinking out loud (like my recent On Resilience: Biking Through Life and the Pandemapocalypse). Those can take quite a while to do and then redo several times. They’re never perfect, either. Adding links, photos, sometimes reading and a little research, and the bike rides that go into having something to write about certainly take time and effort as well. Time is money and so far I’ve spent plenty of the former and not made any of the latter.

That’s been okay but increasingly nowadays, it’s not okay. Making this blog (and this blogger) financially sustainable have to become a priority. That may mean less blogging, and more editing my book. If you’re new, I’ve written a memoir about my journeys 2016-17. I enjoy blogging but since I alternate days between this and the book, the book is taking a while. So another reason to blog less and work on the book more. We’ll see about that.

My best day ever on December 18, 2019

Back to promotion for a moment. One day in December, I texted the link to a post to a number of friends. My brother sent that to someone who put it on their Facebook page. Usually I’m lucky to get 25-50 views on a day I post, and less on the day in between posts.

On that first afternoon of that person’s post, I got about 140 views, and over 1,000 the next day. That proved to me the power of social media, which I still manage to eschew. Again, I’m not really interested in having numbers of followers who don’t read my blog and I’m shy about doing self-promotion; it seems like bragging. And I do plenty of that. But if I want to grow my audience of readers I will have to spread the word through other channels.

My blog stats 2016-present

There’s a lot more to say and for me to learn. The most important thing to tell you about blogging (aside from yes, blogs still exist and are a thriving area), is true for all forms of expression. The creation is not complete until an audience absorbs it. That’s to say thanks again, Dear Reader, for being here. I hope you find things worthy of your time and attention to come back. Maybe you’ll tell a friend — or 1,000.

  • What do you enjoy about this blog?
  • How do you think can I improve it?
  • What topics do you want me to address?
  • How would you suggest I make it sustainable?

Thank you for visiting me on WordPress or at https://ADudeAbikes.com.  Feel free to add your Likes and Comments and to Follow the blog through WordPress if you have it, or by email.  Contact me on the About page with any questions.  Please feel free to Re-blog and Share as long as you give credit and the permalink to this post.

© 2020 A Dude Abikes. All rights reserved.

22 thoughts on “500 Followers on My Blog: An Occasional Blog About This Blog”

  1. Agree with much what you said here. I began my blog as a means of processing my grief….which is why my departed wife plays a central role in almost every post. I didn’t care about followers at first, but after 30 years in an inner city classroom, each comment or realization that i was being read began to help me feel relevant again! 500…wow!

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  2. Reblogged this on Semiología de la Comunicación and commented:
    … ./¨Mi sentir…, sobre lo definido adudeabikes. ( Tus sentimientos y consideraciones). Sobre este mundo de relaciones entre nuestros vecinos y demás comunidad. Con permiso y es la primera vez, que así me dirijo a un compañero, de forma más personal…, si te sirve de algo; decir: en mi caso intento en esta ¨Casa¨, hacer las cosas lo mejor posible, con el mejor amor posible, con la mejor intención posible. Y no espero nada a cambio, es decir hacer bien una labor, y agradecer la confianza ¨externa¨, que en mi caso estoy muy agradecido a muchos vecinos. Es un inmenso placer sentir que alguien agradece algo, que alguien te pueda felicitar, pero nada más. A donde personalmente he llegado es gracias a estas consideraciones, y es imposible contentar a todo el mundo. Por tanto, -mi máxima- ¨haz bien, y no mires por quien¨, sin esperar nada a cambio, solo que el fruto de un trabajo, se convierta en una aprobación; esos son los méritos, que los demás depositan en una persona. Las medallas en pecho son otorgadas, no se compran, ni uno se las pone así, mismo. Por tanto y con todo respeto, trabajar, trabajar y´, trabajar sin nada a cambio, solo la maravillosa respuesta de un vecino, que de las gracias, si quiere, o que valora un trabajo, participar…, y no mirar otras cosas. Haz bien y no mires a quien. Saludos, buen día y salud.

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      1. I have three blogs of which one is inactive. I also manage six Facebook pages and contribute to four others. . All are bike related and all I do is copy and past the URL of my WordPress blog. Everything fills in automatically. Easy peasy.

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      3. Actually two of my blogs are inactive. One was a name change from fairhavenroadie, and the second I merged onto WordPress from another blog site.

        I’m the only consistent writer of local bike events. I post to local bike Facebook pages (mostly advocacy groups), that had very little traffic because of a lack of posts. I usually post a link to my blog which works out well for all of us.

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  5. Congratulations! I can relate to your experience with social media. One day, the blogger Fat Cyclist, mentioned my blog on his and readership shot through the roof for a week. Best of luck on your book and keep on blogging!

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