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The Slow (Feed)Burn and How Patience Wins on the Web

Quick growth is often seen as an indicator of success on the web. But in my experience, hardly anything that grows fast does so without strain and stretch marks. The quick growth often forces your hand to implement before you can strategize. Then you waste time trying to fix mistakes brought on by speed, hopefully before the hoopla surrounding your launch dies down and everyone leaves for greener pixels. I wonder why slow growth isn’t popular on the web? Too boring for us? Not immediately measurable?

Here’s my subscriber stats from when I started using Feedburner in November ‘07—current:

No huge swells of change, no massive influxes of traffic. Not very exciting, is it? Just a slow, (surprisingly) steady uphill climb which enables me to (hopefully) build long-term relationships with fine people like you. Nothing flashy. Nothing newsworthy. Not even a lot of traffic* in the grand scheme of things. Then again, sustainable relationships take time, effort and hard work, and those things aren’t nearly as sexy as big stats.

But they’re way more valuable.

*It would have been easy to prove the point without the actual stats numbers, but why bother trying to be something I’m not? Transparency is valuable, too.

Sun 08.24.08

Tagged: An Entry, Business, Marketing, Web Culture

There are 4 comments on this post. Add your own comment.

    Quick growth is often seen as an indicator of success on the web. But in my experience, hardly anything that grows fast does so without strain and stretch marks. The quick growth often forces your hand to implement before you can strategize. Then you waste time trying to fix mistakes brought on by speed, hopefully before the hoopla surrounding your launch dies down and everyone leaves for greener pixels.

    I’m quoting you in my next “Online Strategy” meeting at work. Hope you don’t mind.

    said Casey

    at 7:01pm on Wednesday

    What do you mean “Somethng I’m not” ? You have a growing readership that’s about to break 800. Eight hundred subscribers to your feed? Holy moly.. I don’t know what you may have thought about pretending to be but that seems rather hugely awesomely high to me!

    said Michael

    at 11:16am on Thursday

    Michael, I get the occasional email/conversation that involves people thinking I have way more traffic than I do. I’m not sure where the misconception comes from, but I thought this was an appropriate place for full disclosure. I’m completely and totally happy and overwhelmed that this many people read what I write — it’s clearly insane and I feel mostly along for the ride.

    said Joshua

    Why thank-you.

    I think you’re a mighty fine person as well, Josh.

    said Shawn Blanc

    at 8:51pm on Friday

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