You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow. Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here. -Mark Schaefer
This month marks the fifth anniversary of {grow}. No navel gazing ahead, I promise!
But I would like to discuss what I consider to be my greatest blogging achievement because I think it will take you by surprise, and perhaps create an interesting discussion.
First, let’s look at {grow} by the numbers at Year Five:
- I have published about 1,500 posts, not all of them mine of course.
- These posts have generated more than 30,000 comments, most of them mine … as it should be.
- Of those 30,000 comments, I have only deleted 10 legitimate comments because they were threatening somebody or were otherwise hurtful/unprofessional.
- In terms of community engagement, comment provider Disqus reports {grow} would be in the top 1 percent in the world.
- My blog has had more than 6 million page views. The number of page views I get in less than a month exceeds what I received in the first two years in TOTAL. See? Have patience. Have faith!
- Nearly every business opportunity I receive these days comes directly or indirectly from {grow}. Hurray for the home team.
Blogging is also the most fun part of my job. If I could figure out a way to do this full-time and make money I would probably do it. Connecting with readers from all over the world is challenging, educational and inspiring.
So I have come a long way and yet none of these represents my biggest blogging victory. Here it is:
I have never published a post that I regret.
Does that sound weird?
The {grow} community is awesome, kind, and supportive. But it is also super smart, vocal and discerning. It takes some courage to take a stand on important ideas and issues every day.
I have not always been right, and no post has ever been “perfect,” but I can confidently say that I have never published a post that was such a total screw-up that I wish I could take it back.
The closest I ever came to blogging disaster was when I published a “draft” by mistake. It was late at night and I was tired and I pushed “publish” instead of “save.” Boy was I surprised when I woke up the next day and the thing had already been tweeted 50 times! But even that worked out OK.
Maybe you think that is a weird achievement but I am proud that I can say “Five years of blog posts and not a stinker in the bunch.” I am happy with the body of work so far. I would not change one thing.
If I can keep that track record intact for another five years, I think that will be very satisfying indeed.
I would appreciate your thoughts on this. 1) Have you ever published a post you regret? 2) What are you most proud of about your blog so far?
Illustration: My family at the beach
