If you’ve read my very first post on this blog, you’ll know
that I actually attempted to start blogging a couple times prior to
establishing this blog (and my other blog) but ultimately shut them down
because I viewed them as failures. Failures because they didn’t get the views I
was hoping for. And that’s why they failed so quickly: I was in it for the
views, not to promote some sort of cause or idea.
What I didn’t explain in that post was why I chose a name
that was not my own. Most people have blogs under their own name, and actually,
my first two attempts were done under my name. I still own the URL rights to www.dkhundley.com because A) I never know
if I’ll want to use it again in the future and B) It only costs me $12 a year
to sit on it. If you try going there, all you’ll get is a simple, poorly
maintained Wix-based site.
Anyway, my choice to give my blogs names that don’t have any
variant of “David Hundley” in them was very intentional. It’s my way of saying
that this blog is not about me. It’s
not to promote me, nor will I ever do something only for views.
I’m pretty honest with the ultimate goal of both my blogs: I hope you’ll come for the content that
helps you and stick around to read the posts about faith. Aside from
directly serving in a church (which I do), I see my blogs as a way to help
connect folks to a re-imagining of faith that you might see as outdated or
irrelevant. If you come to my blogs just for the content you like and skip the
faith posts, it’ll disappoint me, but I do genuinely hope you find benefit in
all the content I share.
Don’t get me wrong though: I’m still going to promote this blog. Just because I’m not in it
for views alone doesn’t mean I’m not going to promote the content. I want to
help you, and I really do hope everything I have to share does just that. So,
making the choice not promote this blog would be a disservice to you. (And as douchey
as that sounds, I say that in the most humble way possible.)
In the spirit of transparency, I do see value for personal
gain from this blog, too. I have used it as a means to show people that I am
constantly developing myself and show my willingness to help others. But here’s the thing even with that: I don’t mention views. Mostly because
it’s not necessary, but also because I have very low views. (They’re climbing
but at a rate that a snail could easily outpace.)
I’m so concerned about transparency that I have shared every
single way I promote these blogs. As a reminder, here’s what I do:
- I post 3-5 times a week on this blog and 1-3 times on the other. Those limits are self-imposed so I don't go insane.
- I tweet once and only once per post, and I use three or four hashtags I think are relevant. I never retweet nor favorite myself. Even that time when MKBHD retweeted me and drove over 5,000 views to one of my posts, I still didn't retweet that post. (Oh, and sometimes I use pretty pictures!)
- Twitter bots that comb through users and follow anybody / everybody in the hopes for a follow back absolutely disgust me. You will never, ever find me using them.
- I post once a week to LinkedIn with a specially created graphic to correspond to the post, and I use a handful of hashtags there when I post the article.
- Mostly for my other blog, I do sometimes use my personal Instagram account to share some new post. (And only once each time.) Oh, and more hashtags.
- I don't promote at all via Facebook or Snapchat since I don't have accounts with either.
- Only twice ever have I posted to a forum within the company I work for, and I was very, very cautious about that. Not sure that will ever be a regular practice.
So yeah... that's all I wanted to share today. I ran into some recent circumstances that made me feel the need to reiterate this thought, so I'm sorry if you were hoping for something better! I'll be back tomorrow with my review of Mindless Eating. Come back to check it out! :)
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