WARNING: this is a “Wah, poor me!” pity-party post.
Some of you may be wondering where I’ve been for the past 2 months.
Yes, I’ve posted very little here on the blog, but I also have not sent out any thought-of-the-day emails either.
One thing I can say that I HAVE been doing, is I’m still sending out about 5 quotes per day on Facebook and Twitter. If you’re following me on one of those platforms, great. I hope you’re seeing me show up on them.
(if you don’t see me on Facebook, just go find my page and then “Like” a few my quotes; I *think* that will make my quotes show up more often in your feed)
One cool thing I can say is that I surpassed 100,000 followers on Twitter FINALLY…although…big whoop. A fat lot of good it’s done for me!
I’m bumbed out.
I’m perturbed.
All the work I’ve done over the years…seems all for naught. Sure, I’ve helped some people and I sometimes get some positive feedback. But if less and less people even see my site, especially when I compare it to my previous levels of success, I get depressed.
I USED TO get 5000 to 7000 visitors per day. That translated into 14,000 to 20,000 pageviews per day. That was awesome. I was getting close to seeing ways to turn this into a full-time job.
But now I’m down to like 1500 visitors which translates to about 4000 pageviews per day.
It rips my heart out to write that line!! What part of the equation am I missing? Why does Google hate me so much? Should I “produce better content”? How do I do that? Should I write a great blog post every single day? Should I branch out and write for other blogs and promote myself more? Should I send out review copies of my book of quotes to blogs and other sites?
Getting beat up doesn’t feel good. Instead of working hard to revive this site after 2 months, most nights I just avoid the computer.
Of course, I read great quotes every day that remind me I should get back to work. Like this one I posted today:
“A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.” -Elbert Hubbard
<sigh>
That means I better go practice what I preach. Ok, here goes….
thanks for your thoughts. I love them!
HI, i think you have changed a working method. In the beginning your quotes were easy to forward to friends, thats what made you so popular. Please go back to the method you were using.
Tlou, I do still have that older method. Just send a blank email to sayingsdaily@aweber.com and you’ll be signed up.
Hey keep it up! You helped me move across the world from the middle east back to my home London; start up a new life meet my now partner, buy a house and get fit!! All in two years!!!! THANK YOU!!!! xxxxx
Wow, Paul…you need to tell me/us more about this journey you’ve taken. If you see this reply, please do share some more details.
Hello Sean. Sorry you are depressed. I pray that our Heavenly Father will bless you and rturn you to normal so you can continue sending out these e-mails. They make great reading and are uplifting.
God bless
Kind regards
Alan
I read and am reminded of my favourite quote and mantra:
“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” ~Albert Einstein.
Greetings Shaun.
Perhaps it is not you, and certainly it is not the content of your site. Indeed, I have found no site that I enjoy more or read more often. In my case, when our college in session and our students return for the fall semester, I begin coming to work every morning at about 5a.m. This give me a great opportunity to get my thoughts in order and prepare for the day. This is when I generally go find you. The same goes for my wife since she likes displaying many of your quotes for the kids at her school to read when they come into the cafeteria. So during the fall and spring semesters, we tend to seek your site out routinely. But during the summer, we tend to be gone. Camps, rallies, meetings and a great deal of travel keep us on the move and away from our computers.
Now that fall is back, so are we. We love your work and have grown quite fond of you. Thank you again for what you do.
Thanks, David! I’m fond of you too! I hope to keep providing you with good content for years to come.
I truly enjoy your quotes and have missed them. However with the changes I am not able to get onto facebook and twitter from work and I used to received your e-mail with the link to your website and would receive great messages every morning to share with others. Sorry, but after being in front of a computer all day when I go home I stay away from the computer. I truly appreciate your quotes for inspiration! Please keep up the great work!
Thanks Shannon.
I really enjoy the quotes you post. I usually have two or three of them posted around my cubicle to keep my spirits up. With the changing of the seasons, maybe a new idea will surface to get more followers. I can’t get Facebook or Twitter at work, so I just have emails sent to me and check your website. When I first found your website, I just searched “Happy Quotes” on Google. If I remember correctly, your website was one of the top websites on the page. Now your website doesn’t show up in the top 10 websites. Maybe that’s an avenue you could pursue. How can you get your website be listed on the top ten Quotes websites for a Google search? Maybe you could purse Bing.com. You can do it!
Yeah, part of the problem I think is that I got hit by Google’s first Penguin update. I believe I’ve cleaned up the cause and I’m waiting for the next update. But in the meantime, I really haven’t been getting any new content out there or new links from other sites. That’s probably killing me!
HI,
Yes, I have wondered where you have been. I’m sorry to hear about your predicament. I’ve received your thought for the day for quite sometime and looked forward to it. Since you had to change to an alternative email delivery method I have not visited your sight often. The new email format is not appealing and I don’t like facebook or use twitter. I’m wondering if there are many people like me which would somewhat effect your numbers. I realize that you are at the mercy of the provider that you use to get out your message; therefore, the format of the message is determined for you. Nothing you can do about that. Anyway, in deference to the work that you do I’ll make an effort to visit your site regularly. No doubt your numbers will be back to normal in no time!!!!!
On a personal note, which is none of my business but that won’t stop me, when depression interferes with your ability to do your work you might consider seeing a doctor. My best wishes to you. Pam
Thanks Pam. If you want to get back to the older email format, you can subscribe by sending an email to sayingsdaily@aweber.com
But my traffic isn’t so much a question of repeat visitors; it’s rankings in Google. Either way, thanks for your feedback; I’m glad to have you on my side. 🙂
Hi Shawn!
Hang in there! Every quote you send always seems to come at the right time for me. “Things become more difficult the closer you get to your goal”, right?!
You’re doing a good thing here. “Never, ever, ever give up”!
Hugs,
Angie
Thanks, Angie. Last time I felt like quitting and throwing in the towel, there was a big turn around shortly thereafter. I’m sure that will happen again!
Okay, now I’m rather perplexed. I thought the only email from you was via noreply+feedproxy@google.com. As I continued going thru my emails I came across another email from you via sayingsdaily@aweber.com which is the format I like. In my first response to your post I was referring to emails via noreply+feedproxy@google.com. I guess I should get off the noreply+feedproxy@google.com. list so as not to confuse myself in the future. Hope to hear from you regularly now. Thanks, Pam
Pam, the feedproxy one is simply an automated mailing of my blog posts. I was going to completely shut down my normal emails, but at the last minute, I compromised because a LOT of people were having trouble with the feedproxy/feedburner one. So…yes, the “sayingsdaily” is very similar to the OLD thought-of-the-day I have always sent out.
Its only natural to get caught by the blues, we are but human,right. What make us powerful beyond measure is the ability to recreate our experience. The ability to wake up and dust our feets for the race ahead and the fulfilment in saying: ‘Yes we made it and even beyond that which was contemplated’. And it isn’t the followership that gives us the thrills as we start in each journey of motivation but, the fact that we can at least put a smile to that weary waning heart, we can give strength to that faultering endeavor, we can reiterate a course of focus to that confused mind, we can transform, with the power of direction, that wondering soul. And please don’t forget you have all the ability you will need and require in God, the Almighty One.
Very well said, Ninka. I needed that!
I think you are being too hard on yourself. People tend to go for new things and then slowly go off looking for other new things. It is just the way it is. I understand getting burned out. You should only be doing this if it is fun. Yes, you are touching a lot of people (you only need to have an affect on the life of one person to be successful) and you never will know the affect or how you may change the life of one person. Maybe yopu gave someone the courage to go one more day and that changed their life. Don’t sell yourself short and enjoy life.
Thanks Bob. I’ll keep your comments in mind whenever I get down on myself. Keep on, keeping on?
I personally love your web site and positive words of inspiration in an otherwise crazy mixed up confusing world. I to attempt to inspire it forward via my facebook at steven striker and my twitter posts.
Lets face it…times are extremely challanging and complex these days. I believe the more people that we touch positively the more possibility we can create for those less fortunate.
Please don’t give up on your dreams I believe in you and continue to be inspired by you…beautiful people like yourself are very hard to find.
To begin to think with purpose is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment…. Much love STRIKER
Thanks Steve!
I love love love your quotes!! Keep going, Keep going….:) Thanks for all that you do!
Sorry to hear you are feeling down – like the other comments I have always really enjoyed reading your quotes & content but stopped receiving them when you changed the format, despite ticking all the right boxes to keep getting them – or at least I think I did! Sounds like some kind of technical hitch rather than a drop-off in interest. Please keep going – you are one of very few blogs that I read & you should definitely keep going – you always brighten up the day even in the cold, wet UK!!
Thanks, Helen…but no, it’s not due to the big email list I used to run. On that one I shut down, I only had 33,000 subscribers and only about 1000 people would visit my blog whenever I’d send out a mailing. My drop in traffic is only due to one thing: lower rankings in Google. All I ever do is read up how to “fix” my site…so one of these days I’ll figure it out. 🙂
I have missed you and glad to see you are back. I use your quotes 90 % of the time in my emails to my Agents everyweek as they normally set the theme for the week. Thank you!
I’ve missed your quotes lately, wondered why. I have a folder where I save especially meaningful (to me) quotes. Unfortunately, with jobs, life, etc. it’s impossible to keep up. Reading e-mails is one thing, but now everyone wants us to “like” on facebook, go to another site, whatever. I’m looking at ways to spend less time on the computer, not more-we all only get 24 hours a day. Yours is a message I want to keep. I enjoy reading your messages and they help. Possibly my situation applies to others also. We can’t keep up with everything and there’s way too much wanting our attention right now, and we can’t “like” it all. Personally, I don’t do facebook or twitter, and rarely even respond to e-mails unless absolutely necessary. Will continue reading what you write.
Thanks Jean. Yes, I hear you! I’m trying to cut down everything I do online…just to focus and squeeze some more living out of life.