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How Many Blog Visitors is A Lot of Blog Visitors?

Remember back when it was newsworthy that Ashton Kutcher beat out CNN to first hit one million followers on Twitter? That was exciting in the moment, but once that flag was firmly planted in the ground, it became a race to see who could gain 10 million followers (Lady Gaga). Or a race to see who could go from zero to one million the fastest (Charlie Sheen in two days). And I’m sure we’ll one day be reading a news story about the first person to reach one billion followers.

Billion is the new million.

This idea has been on my mind because Google+ just hit 90 million users, and back in December, Britney Spears was the first person to hit one million followers on the site. Cnet’s bitter grapes assessment of her win is that “it seems likely that Spears only made it to the million-follower mountaintop first because folks like Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber aren’t on Google’s social network yet.” After all, Lady Gaga has over 18 million followers on Twitter. Surely she could snag more than a million on Google+.

Forget discussions on what these numbers mean — we all know that people subscribe to blogs, subscribe to Twitter feeds, like things on Facebook and then tune out any message coming towards them (truly, how many of Lady Gaga’s followers actually read every single one of her tweets and how many catch one here and there?). The numbers are impressive and they’re fairly meaningless because we can’t measure how many people the words reach and influence.

What I am more curious about is the shifting number goal.

When I first started blogging, I thought 100 readers for a post sounded pretty damn good. I certainly didn’t have 100 people in my day-to-day world that I communicated my point-of-view with on a regular basis at the same time. One cousin may know my thoughts about X and a friend may know my thoughts about Y, but we all traded pieces of information in these small, personal amounts.

What writer didn’t dream of being an opinion columnist for a major newspaper and reaching a multitude of people at the same time? And blogs were just opinion columns, with less editing.

So 100 sounded good. And then I wanted 200. Then I heard about people who had 1000 readers and that felt like a goal to hit. Then 3000. I’m aware that 3000 is an odd choice, but it felt like a threshold number to me at one point. When I first started blogging, there weren’t a ton of non-bloggers reading blogs, and getting 3000 people to read a post felt like you had major reach, at least by blogging standards. But would you say that 3000 daily visitors is a lot of people now? It all depends on your point-of-view: some would do anything to get that sort of traffic and others would freak out if their hits dropped that low; but I think we all can agree that 3000 visitors isn’t newsworthy. Not when Perez Hilton gets about 3000 visitors in the time it takes him to sneeze.*

I’m not speaking about personal goals because we all know that we set a new one when we reach the first one. I’m talking about collectively, as a society, what numbers impress us. What numbers mean something. And yes, I think we have a different standard for celebrities or blog sites with major funding vs. everyday people and personal blogs. And in reality, I’m not even all that interested anymore in what celebrities or major sites can achieve because their success is driven by elements outside of the social media world.

I’m talking about what numbers impress you when it comes to a regular person starting a blog and gaining readers, or setting up a Twitter account and gaining their first followers.

What is the threshold where once they step over that numerical line, you start to think of them as a well-known or popular blogger? What is the number of Twitter followers a regular person could have that would make you say holy shit?

* I don’t know Perez Hilton’s traffic stats nor do I know how long it takes him to sneeze — if he’s a one and done, or one of those staccato sneezers — but I think I’m making a semi-safe assumption.

Photo Credit: Wayne Large.

Cross posted on BlogHer.

40 comments

1 Eggs In A Row { 01.23.12 at 12:15 pm }

Hi from ICLW!

I don’t really follow stats more than “how many do I get a day”. It keeps me from going crazy. 🙂

2 Curly Sue { 01.23.12 at 12:32 pm }

Not interested in Twitter in the least, but for blogging I’m kind of a simpleton. If I see that a person’s post has been visited by even a hundred people, I’m seriously impressed. I don’t know how much traffic Stirrup Queens gets on an average day, but I think of your site as the Grand Central Station of IF blogs. From here we readers can jump off to any number of other sites!

3 Mic @ IFCrossroads { 01.23.12 at 12:55 pm }

One of my posts got close to 700 views and I thought that was insane. My Creme de la Creme post this year is rivaling that 700 number thanks to its insane placement on the list. I could have never imagined!

4 Daryl { 01.23.12 at 1:08 pm }

Forget 3000. I’m ecstatic if I hit double digits more than two days in a row! And I have no idea what “popular” bloggers get. They’re so out of my league.

5 April { 01.23.12 at 2:22 pm }

I don’t have a lot of people who read my posts. I don’t have many twitter followers. I have less than 70 followers on my blog and even less than that on Twitter. To me, the thought of having 100 people read my words in a day is mind boggling. The thought of 1,000 readers or followers is mind blowing.

6 Elizabeth { 01.23.12 at 2:24 pm }

I start to notice a blogger or blog name after I come across it on three or four (or more) different blogs – but more so if I see it in different circles. Like, there are clusters of bloggers who all read each other – which is totally fine, I think it’s great actually, forming a micro-community (like some churches form small groups for mutual support within the larger congregation), so you’ll see them referencing each other – but I first heard of the big-name bloggers like Dooce and The Bloggess after coming across references to them across different little micro-communities and realized they were Popular. For me it’s not so much about the number as it is about the wide-spread referencing. Although the numbers thing is kind of interesting too but I’m not a numbers person – I get really easily confused by adding or dropping a zero, numbers bigger than 1,000 are kind of meaningless to me – so I’m not a good person to gauge that kind of thing. But I guess I’m impressed by bloggers who get upwards of 20 comments on a post, and readers? I guess I have a pretty low threshold; I’m impressed by a personal blog that has upwards of 50 regular readers. Anyone who has over 1,000 has rock star status in my eyes!

7 Katie { 01.23.12 at 3:13 pm }

I very rarely look at hits on individual posts (in fact, I’m not sure I ever had until just now after reading this). Most of mine – according to Blogger, average around 500 hits. Some are upwards of 1,000. I’m not entirely sure that Blogger’s stats are accurate, though, because on some posts where I have a LOT of comments, the views are very low. Unless it just means that a greater percentage of people felt compelled to response. 🙂 I mostly look at daily/monthly hits, and I don’t even look at those very often. I think the most hits I’ve ever had in a month is like 12,000. It’s hard for me to gauge what’s a lot and what’s not, mostly because I don’t know how much traffic other blogs get.

8 Hurdles of Life { 01.23.12 at 3:22 pm }

I think I am still a simple blogger.. I blog because its an outlet. If I had 100 followers, I’d probably want 500 followers. I have more people who “LIKE” my Facebook Fan Page than who “FOLLOW” my blog.

I’d rather have the comments and then interaction, than “Followers” or “Likes”… so when I get 5 or 10 comments on a post.. I am giddy and over the moon. Because then it becomes more than me talking into space.. its a conversation!! 😀

9 jjiraffe { 01.23.12 at 3:46 pm }

Aha. GREAT QUESTION. According to my husband who’s in the media biz, no one is “big” unless they get at least 300,000 unique visitors a month. That’s if you want to create a brand for yourself, monetize traffic, etc.

I think that kind of traffic is impossible to achieve unless you create some sort of community aspect to your site or were one of the first bloggers to ever to come upon the scene.

I got over 500 hits on my Faces of ALI post. I was completely thrilled about that, since it’s raising awareness of the ALI community. My goal is to get 1,000 hits on the next one, coming soon.

10 HereWeGoAJen { 01.23.12 at 5:03 pm }

A lot of blog hits is always about 300 more than I am getting at the current moment.

I do sometimes look at my Twitter follower number and think “holy cow, I can’t believe THAT many people think I am interesting.” And then I get stage fright and can’t think of anything to post for days.

11 It Is What It Is { 01.23.12 at 5:06 pm }

I have zero interest in Twitter, tweats, or how many followers any one person has. It is a measure of nothing of value in my book.

I have 200 FB friends and have actually considered whittling that down to those whose lives I really care about and who I care that care about mine.

I’ve been blogging for two years and average between 50 – 75 people reading an individual post. I have wanted to see that number get over 100 only because there are sometimes I really would like some feedback or have a dilemma (like now with either recently finding my birth mother OR embarking on a donated embryo cycle after 2 1/2 years away from ART) and I think having 100 folks read a post shakes out more commenters.

So, there, I’ve set it. 100 regular readers is my near term goal.

12 Her Royal Fabulousness { 01.23.12 at 5:59 pm }

Twitter messes with my self esteem (blog-wise) so I only partake occasionally. It seems like bloggers who are into twitter are on ALL THE TIME and I just can’t at work. So, I’ll probably stay pretty unpopular there 🙂

Like pp, I start to notice blogs when they show up on blogrolls of other blogs I read. When they have about 100+ followers, I know it is a serious blogger. I am really hoping to hit that number soon. I’m about half way there.
I try not to obsess about my blog stats, but it makes my day when I get a new follower. I get all giddy.

13 smiling scar { 01.23.12 at 6:28 pm }

I think I count things in term of comments and in terms of stories I remember. Back when I was on blogger, I got really into the whole checking the analytics thing — I loved seeing new sections of the globe light up — but now on wordpress, I just occasionally look at all-time clicks: 12,606 And try to imagine what it would sound like to hear that many clicks.. then my brain starts imagining physical, book pages flipping over. And I somehow feel warm.

But really, I think of the specific bloggers whose stories I can’t forget. Half seem to have moved on… but those are the numbers I count. I think if I saw huge numbers, I’d panic.. I’d just panic, and my anxiety would take over, and I’d never write again!

14 TheStorkDiaries { 01.23.12 at 7:09 pm }

I don’t usually notice or think about numbers when I realize a blog is popular. Instead, I will notice blogs that appear on many other blogger’s blogrolls. That name may be repeated 5 or 15 times and if I am curious enough I will visit. With this being said, a catchy title always piques my interest. I can also tell blogs are popular by looking at their URL, whether it is a wordpress/blogger mentioned in the URL. If it is listed as yourblog.com, I gather that the person has enough traffic to rationalize paying for a URL.

15 Jules { 01.23.12 at 7:24 pm }

I have 300ish followers on Twitter, but most are advertising one thing or another. As for blogging, I don’t have many at the moment, but don’t really mind. Back in the day when I was IF blogging, I had a few followers & followed a few personally. My google reader then got out of hand, because I was subscribing to everyone who sounded interesting, but I wasn’t actually reading up on everyone & even drifted from those I cared about before.

IMO, it’s not about the amount of people, but the quality of your audience & whether they interact or not. You may have 1,000,000 subscribers, but only 1,000 interested readers & those are the ones that really count.

16 a { 01.23.12 at 9:09 pm }

I don’t pay attention to numbers – there are a few faithful people who seem to read and comment on my meanderings. I think that’s very nice.

The only thing I notice about those popular bloggers is that the longer it takes me to get to the comment box, the less interest I have in leaving a comment.

Twitter…does not interest me in the slightest. I just imagine it like a constant barrage of words that makes it difficult to separate out the funny and interesting and thought-provoking. Media overload, is what I think it would give me. So, I don’t think there is anything about Twitter that would make me say holy shit.

But then, I’ve never been interested in the popularity contests.

17 Justine { 01.23.12 at 9:27 pm }

I’ve been trying Twitter lately and am hopelessly lost. Random people follow me, and I don’t feel like I have anything useful to say. Then again, does Lady Gaga, really?

As for blog posts … geez, if I ever got 100 comments on a post I think I’d fall off of my couch in shock. 😉

18 Jay { 01.23.12 at 11:54 pm }

I’m definitely not ‘big’- I have relatively few followers (still under a 100) and I get all warm and fuzzy inside when I acquire a new follower but sadly, does not happen too often, and nor do I get many comments.

What does seem big (though its actually not) is the # of pageviews. My blog (which is still relatively new) has had over 50,000 page views. Now I AM looking forward to passing the 100,000 mark, still seems insane that I can set that as a goal!

Plus, thanks to making my blog Google-searchable, I get visitors from all over the world (thank you, feedjit!), something I find really cool.

19 Jay { 01.24.12 at 12:05 am }

I’m definitely not ‘big’- I have relatively few followers (still under a 100) and I get all warm and fuzzy inside when I acquire a new follower but sadly, does not happen too often, and nor do I get many comments.

What does seem big (though its actually not) is the # of pageviews. My blog (which is still relatively new) has had over 50,000 page views. Now I AM looking forward to passing the 100,000 mark, still seems insane that I can set that as a goal!

Plus, thanks to making my blog Google-searchable, I get visitors from all over the world (thank you, feedjit!), something I find really cool.

20 marwil { 01.24.12 at 6:55 am }

I am more impressed by the number of comments on posts rather than how many followers the blog has. But the more followers the more comments I guess..

21 Angie { 01.24.12 at 6:55 am }

I have no idea what is a lot. Someone told me that you can start making money through ads on your blog when you get 200 visits a day. I don’t have ads, but that is kind of the register I have for enough. I have never rarely gotten 200 visits a day. I don’t think I ever used that as a judge of my blog or worth. I do find, though, that comments are more meaningful. If I have started a dialogue, then I feel like that post worked. Did that make sense? xo

22 M { 01.24.12 at 8:03 am }

Um, I have no idea how to check how many hits others receive on their posts. Am I lame? I only recently figured out how to check my own stats, so I feel like I’ve grown exponentially in the tech-savvy world. LOL! For me, having 100 followers is pretty darn awesome….when I see other bloggers reaching upwards of 1,000 I feel almost intimidated responding to their posts…they’re super popular to me. Honestly, though…even though I know how to check my stats now, I probably won’t do it often. Probably protecting myself from some inferiority complex or something. Ha!

23 missohkay { 01.24.12 at 8:16 am }

I was talking to a friend the other day who is aware that I have an anonymous blog and she was totally floored that I get about 15 comments and about 400 visits for every post. I think I’m a good size though – the more traffic, the more evil commenters that come around 😉

24 Steadfast Warrior { 01.24.12 at 8:56 am }

Having just recently come back from a blogging hiatus, I’m happy anyone comments at all! I’m just getting back in the groove at the same time as I’m starting up a business so the balance needs work. But I’d be thrilled with 100, or 300 unique visitors to my blogs and Facebook page. I can’t even imagine 1000 at this point. Perhaps a far, far off dream…

25 April { 01.24.12 at 9:04 am }

As soon as I read your title I thought about 100 visitors a day. That would be a nice ego boost if I had that many more than a couple times a month, but I’m happier with my core of followers who comment consistently. I never wanted or expected to be ‘big,’ at least with my infertility blog, so the comments are way more important.

26 Mina { 01.24.12 at 9:30 am }

I chose not to look at numbers, I think I would get depressed if I thought about them too much. I am glad I got from no comments on my posts week after week to at least one comment everytime I post these days.
Tweeter never caught me. I do not get it. It is like my old mind cannot wrap itself around the need or usefulness of it. So I don’t use it. Nor do I follow anyone on it (duh, if I don’t use it!).

27 unaffected { 01.24.12 at 9:36 am }

I’m anti-twitter, so I have no feedback there.

I’d always like to have more views, more followers, more comments. With that being said, sometimes I can’t believe that people even read what I write. It’s humbling.

28 Eve { 01.24.12 at 10:58 am }

At this point numbers mean nothing to me. A few comments make me happy, though. Blogging is a true means of therapy for me, and I am better for it. Coming from a blog that was better-read to almost no-one, it is refreshing in some ways. I think what means the most to me is when someone comments that something about my words has changed their own experience. That truly is my goal. I don’t attempt to fund my blog …and thus it is making personal connections – even if a small few, that keeps me going.

29 Mrs Green Grass { 01.24.12 at 12:34 pm }

I am THRILLED when I get over a hundred visitors in a day. That’s happened like 3 times. I also felt very accomplished when I got over 10 followers, now I have 20 and I love it. I’m a relatively new blogger and am really writing to create a community of shared issues rather than promote anything so I’m just super excited when people keep coming back!

For me a big blogger is anything ober 50 followers…my standards are nice and low.

30 Queenie { 01.24.12 at 3:20 pm }

Do numbers matter? I tweet for work and have loads of followers, but I generally assume none of them pay any attention to what I’m actually saying. I think in this modern era of media overload, actual resonance is thin. I think the thoughtful comments you get on your blog every day (which tend to number less than 40, I’m guessing) are a much better gauge of what is really important than how many people may click over for a minute, because the ones who take the time to leave comments have invested in you.

31 MM { 01.24.12 at 10:53 pm }

I am no where near a popular blogger. I get AMAZED when I get more then 5-10 views and that is usually only with IComLeavWe! Speaking of which..Happy IComLeavWe! Thank you so much for organizing this every month!
MM

32 Esperanza { 01.25.12 at 12:35 am }

I have to admit, I can get caught up in the stats game. I’ve rarely gotten over 200 hits on a day and I can’t seem to figure out how to see how many times an actual post has been viewed. I have to admit, seeing how many hits other people get can really surprise me and make me feel like I’m never going to gain readership. The idea of ever having 1,000 hits on one day is absolutely insane to me. I just can’t fathom it.

Lately I’ve been getting a lot (relatively for me – that means one or two a post) of comments from people I don’t recognize. That has been fun. I always wonder how they have arrived at my site, as I never participate in ICLW anymore (no one ever seems to visit the parenting after IF sites so I just stopped participating as I felt it was a very one sided exercise for me – not that I blame people – I totally get it) so I don’t know how people would stumble upon my blog. I’m always so curious about that. It’s also fun to have new commenters because then I go visit new blogs and add them to my reader. I’ve added ten blogs in the past few weeks and it’s been fun to follow new women on their journeys. After a somewhat stagnant few months of blogging it has been a nice reminder of why I do this.

33 Mali { 01.25.12 at 9:23 pm }

Actually, with the exception of this blog, if I’m looking for new blogs or communities to join, and I see they already have a lot of followers, unless I find the writing and issues absolutely riveting, I’m turned off. I look for quality of writing and discussion, not quantity or popularity – and that’s how I feel about my own blogs too. I love the people who read me, and they’re people I enjoy reading too. I’m not in it for the numbers.

And anyway, there are (apparently at last count) 176 million blogs in the world. The average number of readers per blog is 4. Anything more than that is a bonus! I blogged about it here. http://aseparatelife.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/are-you-reading-me/

34 Sarah { 02.13.12 at 4:56 pm }

THIS is how backed up on blog reading I am. I am just now reading this. But I found the comments so interesting!

For me, a really big post gets around 500 views, according to my blogger stats, which I just cannot decide if I trust. According to blogger a big day gets 700 page views, but according to site meter a big day is 350. So… *scratch head* But still, based on this, if I have a single post with a thousand views, it would feel like a big deal. Or a day with 1500 page views. I would do a little “people like me!” dance. in my head.

That would be it for me personally. But when does a blogger feel like they are actually popular? I would say averaging 10,000 views a day. Then you have moved into that other category from regular person who blogs to “blogger”.

35 n00bblogger { 11.27.12 at 1:26 pm }

I just sstarted blogging and its my first blog.

I have a minimum of 500 visitors per day.

Maximum per dayis 1800 visitors.

Would that be considered a decent amount?

Im a n00b with blogs.

36 Suzi { 12.11.12 at 8:39 pm }

Interesting read, hey any person reading your Blog is great, offline marketing, ie, word of mouth is underrated when it comes to Blogging don’t you think?

37 Open Business Mic { 06.14.13 at 4:35 am }

In our case, we started six months ago. I did an infographic that shows how many visitors we had. If you are interested, check it out on: http://openbmic.com/2013/06/13/infographic/
It’s cool to show this info in a visual way. Enjoy!

38 rustam { 02.24.14 at 8:08 am }

As for my blog, average number of visitors is 300 per day. But once I had peak traffic of 3000 (!) users per day. After that day the number declined down to 400 and 300 again. I don’t know why, may be a link to ay blog was posted somewhere on high traffic website.

39 Shawn L. Bird { 03.25.15 at 1:49 am }

I was at a blogging workshop at Surrey Writers Conf (a biggie in NA) and was told a publisher doesn’t consider anything less than 10k followers as notable. So that was my goal. It took me a little over a year to build from 444 to 10k. Then I relaxed for a year! Tonight I will turn over 14k. My blog isn’t monetized, but I post a poem every day (I had 450 posts in 2014), I think that is crucial. If there isn’t something new to bring visitors, they won’t come. I visit and comment on other blogs regularly. I consider that 15-20 mins of my day part of my networking strategy. It’s fun, too, because it builds community. Poets are generally rather interesting folks. My most popular day saw 9,100 visitors; I can’t imagine topping that! That day I was posting on teachers’ strike information and I had over 3k shares to Facebook. Things were a little insane! It was completely unrelated to my usual blog, though.

I have a few posts that have topped 10k views. I have a few posts that are several years old and still get visitors, which I think is better, because it indicates longevity. Blogging isn’t my life. I’m not selling anything (well, you could buy my books, but my blog has no ads that I get revenue from). I work full-time, I’m in grad-school, and I’m actively writing novels aside from the blogging, not to mention community service and family. It takes me about 5 mins to update each day, and maybe 5 minutes to respond to comments

40 Cordelia { 11.02.15 at 3:56 am }

I just started my first blog and a couple of my articles got 1700 views each. I didn’t know if that was a lot or not, but it seems that way for me. Maybe not bad for a blog in Alaska.

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