Summer Sorensen

The other day, I had an inexplicable, exponential spike in traffic to this blog.

I’m talking about an almost 8x jump in a single day. See stats.

This is a more normal week for me:

The best I can tell is that my blog was linked to by another media outlet. One with a much bigger audience than mine. I did some homework to see if I could figure out which, but that info is very hard to come by.

I’m grateful. Free traffic is what all marketers and content creators dream of.

But it got me thinking about some larger lessons to be gleaned from the occasion. The one that stuck is:

The importance of consistency.

I’ve been blogging for 18 years. 18 years!

99% of the time, a post gets whelming results. Not many views, rarely a comment. And that’s ok.

The fun thing about putting content out there with a little SEO strategy is that it sometimes takes years for a post to gain traction. Ok, so that’s not exactly fun.

But here’s what is: I find that some posts start getting regular traffic, seemingly out of the blue. But it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes hundreds of “overnights.”

Being a content creator is wild.

Why be consistent?

It’s essential that whatever you’re trying to do, you do it regularly. Not once, twice or a dozen times, then give up.

No. Do it as regularly as possible.

That applies to any hobby, skill or discipline you want to grow in.

You never know when you’ll get noticed, and something will happen that makes your work worth it.

Spoiler alert: if it’s something worthwhile you’re doing, it was worth it all along–even as you crank out post after post that no one sees.

Now let’s be real. My getting a random day of 1584 views on my blog doesn’t change anything for me. No one reached out to me for a book deal or even a podcast appearance. I still haven’t made a single penny from my blog in these 18 years.

1584 views are a drop in the bucket compared to what’s required for a monetized blog. But it’s “viral for me.” And I’ll take it.

My motivation for blogging.

I started this blog in 2008, when blogging was cool. My motivation was simply to have a platform to share my ideas that was a permanent home for my words to live, not to vanish after a few days like a social media post.

Over time, I realized there was an opportunity to make money with a blog. If I’m being honest, I wanted that. I thought getting paid for writing my opinion would be a pretty rad side job.

I still wouldn’t mind that. But the original idea remains intact — sharing ideas — whether I ever see a dime from this blog doesn’t really matter.

The irony.

I just talked about consistency, but I haven’t been consistent lately. I’ve been chasing other goals the last few years and not writing here as often.

But that doesn’t negate the work I’ve put in over all these years. Those words are still lingering on the internet, waiting to be found by someone curious about a topic I addressed.

So the point remains…consistency pays off over time.

My consistency from 2017-2020ish accounts for the vast majority of the clicks I get to this site every day, from all over the world.

What does this mean for you?

You surely have a goal you’re trying to achieve. Maybe you want to learn to play the guitar, cook the perfect omelette or lose 30 pounds.

Taking consistent action towards those goals will get you there, one tiny step at a time.

You might not be good enough to play guitar in a band yet, but practicing for 10 minutes a day will mean that you’re ready for that, maybe even in a year.

Those pounds aren’t going to melt off in a month (at least I hope not; that would be unhealthy), but going for a walk every day and cutting back on a carb-loaded vice will get you there before you know it.

You get the point.

Progress happens in the quiet, insignificant moments of showing up for yourself, even when no one notices. Stay consistent when the results are slow.

Even this blog traffic spike isn’t objectively a big deal or game-changer. But it’s an indication that someone noticed what I’m doing. And that’s encouraging to me.

So as you go out and face the day, have the courage to be consistent and insignificant. You never know what could happen or who you will inspire.

Thank you for reading!

Cheers,

Summer