Three Months and Still Going Strong
Jun 11th, 2007 by msdanielle
Ms. Danielle has officially been up and running for a solid three months now. And let me tell you, it feels like much longer because blogging consistently presents a range of challenges for anyone just entering the field. For myself, my biggest challenge in keeping up this site has been finding the time to write in between my 40-hour per week job, driving 2 – 3 hours every day in traffic, and my (steadily-declining) social life. I’m not the type of person to just throw up anything onto this blog either, so I end up taking a lot of time to write each post, maybe more time than I should sometimes. I take a lot of pride in what I publish, as it’s an online representation of me. So I make do, and my one piece of advice for anyone experiencing the same challenge is this: When you don’t feel like writing, just write. Breaking through those writing blocks will make you a stronger blogger and each time after when you reach another block, it won’t be as difficult to overtake.
FeedBurner
With that said, my rankings to date are satisfactory, when considering everything from readership to traffic. And also considering that this isn’t a highly targeted niche blog. I’m very proud to say that I’ve crossed one threshold recently that I’ve been eagerly awaiting. My goal of attaining a readership base of at least 100 was reached on Monday, June 4th. Woohoo!! To think that 100+ people are now reading this blog proves to myself that I am producing quality content that others find interesting. Your readership number will guide you in how you’re doing overall as a blogger, as drop-off rates indicate the interest level of your readers. If you are a blogger, keep in mind Darren Rowse’s readership poll that found the top two reasons why people unsubscribe from a blog are 1. too frequent posting and 2. not posting frequently enough. Posting fives times a day can be just as detrimental to your blog as posting once every ten days, in some markets. And on that note, if you’d like to subscribe to my blog now, just click here and choose your method of subscription. I try to post about once every 1 – 3 days, so I promise I won’t inundate your reader with content, which I know could result in number 1 of above.
Technorati
As for my other metrics, my current Technorati authority is 395, and my rank is 8,797. How did I do it? With the help of other bloggers and a little online marketing. 395 indicates that there are 395 other blogs that link to my site. 8,797 indicates my actual ranking among the 70million+ blogs that Technorati is tracking. Getting your site out there through community interaction and getting others to link back to your content is good SEO. If you forget how to get people to link to your site, just remember this first and foremost, Don’t publish poor content. No one wants to refer a friend to a mechanic that knows nothing about cars. Similarly, no one will link back to your blog if they don’t consider you a good resource in one way or another.
Alexa
My Alexa ranking today stands at 92,938. This is a bitter sweet accomplishment, since I had the goal of reaching under 100k, knowing all the while that Alexa rankings don’t really mean much concretely. I could put it this way — my blog is ranked 92,938 out of the millions of web sites that are tracked by Alexa, through methods of tracking that are skewed and inaccurate, and most likely not a true reflection of my ranking, but for lack of a better source, will have to do. So…relatively speaking, it’s pretty good I suppose. At least it’s not ranked in the millions anymore!
The Next Three Months
I’m hoping that in the next three months I’ll be able to better focus this blog, consistently publish interesting quality content, and keep gaining in my readership. I’m realizing that unless you’re aggressively seeking monetization, you don’t have to worry too much about these statistics. As I’ve mentioned before, the most important thing is that you’re constantly moving forward and making progress. Keeping this in mind, all of the statistics I’ve listed are an improvement from a month ago. Thank you to everyone who’s read my blog, left a comment, or subscribed to MsDanielle. It’s because of all of you that I keep this thing going!
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Congrats on the milestone, Ms. Danielle. I’m almost envious of your Technorati and Alexa rankings ….
I look forward to reading your future posts
HA i read the title and wondered if you were talking about a celibacy vow… glad it’s not that.
do people do that these days?
@jason – hope you’re enjoying your coffee as well!
I don’t do it by choice at least..
Danielle, you’re doing a great job with your site and have offered many lessons for me with my site as well. Even though we share a blog birthday, you’ve progressed much more quickly than I have with my blog and I congratulate you for that accomplishment.
I’ve had my “anniversary” post on my to-do list for a few days now and I am hoping to get it out there in the next day or so. Like you, I’ve had a steady increase to my rankings although on a bit slower scale. This last month I tried to focus on reaching out to more bloggers via various social networking sites and had fun doing it.
Keep up the great work and thanks for providing us with the great content!
thanks derek. i’m waiting for your update…didn’t see it today.
i saw your list of sites, i recognized some of them but a lot of them were new to me. how did it go? great job on your networking goal!
I’m hoping to get my update out today. I’ve been falling behind on my posting schedule as I had wanted to get the update out on Friday or over the weekend but I was busy burning things.
oh man… how are your fingers btw?? maybe you’re behind bc ur little fingertips are sore typing? and did you make sure your co2 monitor is working. seriously, that was really scary reading about your story… you just never know when a little mistake may cost you everything.
I’d like to blame it on the fingers but they are doing much better. It wasn’t so much the fingertips really but down between the first and second knuckles.
I’ll have to ask the Mrs. if she tested the CO2 monitor before she set it up. Probably a good idea, huh!
Way to go Danielle. Maybe someday you can help me out improving my weblog PR and technorati rank
A quick (and cheap) way of improving PR and Technorati Rank would be to use some ViralLinks. After just two days, my page rank and authority have sky rocketed
Amazing accomplishments for just three months of blogging, Danielle. Congratulations on all of your statistical success
Congrats on the three months! My three months went by without any hoopla, but eh whatever… Your site though is great, I keep coming back right? So keep up the good work, and , Congrats on the Alexa under 100K!
thanks mike and kristofer!
everyone – go check out mike’s blog at http://www.lovesickalien.com/ and kristofer’s blog at http://www.kristoferbrozio.com/
and leave them lots of comments bc they’re rad!
Okay you officially rock, Danielle…lol. Thanks bunches for the plug
dudette, you are officially bigger than I am (blog-wise and height-wise I’m sure) and you’ve only been around for 3 months! Kudos to you!
A big CONGRATS. Those are some very good statistics for a 3-month old blog. Keep on keeping on.
Congrats Danielle!
I’ve been reading your blog more often than I was … it’s getting better all the time. Which is always cool to see. Keep up the great work!
@dieselfire – how’s it goin gf?? thanks for the kudos!
@goldy – thanks man! are you the blog patriarch yet??
@shane – thanks for the feedback. it’s interesting, i was starting to think it was falling off, as i’m writing less industry stuff and more random stuff. always good to get feedback!
Congrats, Danielle.
I’m jealous. Sub 10k Technorati and sub 100k Alexa…two of my highest-priority goals. 
Great Job. I love this new blog. It’s an addiction. I’m so addicting to reading. Even right now, before mine own blog is up. So I pretty much read your whole BLOG LIFE STORY from the beginning of March. Good useful info. I’m utilizing time stamping right now. Then I ran into John Chow’s site and read his whole 59 page PDF on how to monetize it. Man is a marketing genius. Thanks again.
http://www.oceducationcenter.org
thanks prija!
that’s so crazy that you read my whole blog and john chow’s ebook all last night! you crack me up dude. feel free to call me anytime you’re having a wordpress issue. can’t believe you don’t have any friends that do web dev.
thanks for your support, man! i’ll be hitting up your blog ALL THE TIME
time stamping will be a life saver. all i can say is, good luck…
@derrich – thank you so much for your support. i try to keep up with the derek/derrich/derrick trifecta as often as i can! don’t worry too much about alexa. and t’rati is only dependent on links. maybe give away something
your ratings will sky rocket. but do concentrate on your readership, i think that’s the best measure of how your readers enjoy your blog, which should be the most important part. making money is the after affect of having an already successful blog 
Maybe another Bloggers Tourney?
[...] is now officially 3 months old. The pink blog site has had some terrific graphs of improvement in terms of ranking. Its in no other way but up! I don’t remember from where I got to her blog, but after digging [...]
Congratulations on the impressive numbers for your 1st three months. You accomplishments give me something to target, only 2 months left.
Be Well,
Tyson
Danielle I just came upon your site this week and I check it everyday now, you have a lot of good topics and congrats on 3 months!
thanks, tyson and bob! it’s been good seeing you guys here and having your feedback.
@derrich – i think the concept was great. it could be any kind of tourney, i suppose. maybe you can have a best article tourney, where ppl vote for their favorites? or most inspiring blogger tourney? i dunno, but it proved to get you some great results!
[...] made an appearance on my Dashboard and I have to give her props for the success she has had in the first three months with her blog. She went on to thank her loyal readers (count me in that group) and provide some [...]
[...] to head over and check out Ms. Danielle’s blog. She has an exciting and extremely informative new blog site that she has created from the ground up. The site is super successful and she will tell you what [...]