I Was Lost But Now Am Found. Thanks, BlogFrog

Some days, it frightens me that people are allowed on the information superhighway without a written test and some sort of skills assessment.

For the past year, I've been reading and blogging and trying to promote my blog various ways, and although my Google Followers count has increased, it still isn't very high, and, oddly, whenever I check my Feedburner stats, it appears that no one is reading my feed.

No one.

According to Feedburner, I have seven subscribers most days, never more, although some days the number drops lower, as low as two or three. And of those "subscribers," no one is actually reading a thing. When you've been blogging (off and on) for the better part of a year and the best number you can manage is a seven, and no more, suddenly, it doesn't feel like a terribly lucky number.

Truth be known, it feels more like a taunt, especially since right under the number, every day, is a little exhortation from Google to Monetize All That Traffic Up There!

Um, why? So I can buy a cup of coffee ... someday? Because even that modest goal seems overly ambitious given that growth in the price of a cup of coffee is probably going to be greater than my readership growth, despite my best efforts.

I'd create a spreadsheet to document that, but nobody would read it and I'd end up even more depressed.

So the other evening, I was poking around over on BlogFrog and trying to figure out why other people appear on my widget but I never appear on theirs*, I discovered a help board post inquiring why someone's Blog Feed on BlogFrog doesn't update properly. And a very helpful person replied explaining that if you use Feedburner to process your blog feed, then you have to enter your feed URL into the "Post Feed Redirect" settings in Blogger. This incredibly helpful person included pictures showing exactly what needed to go where, for bloggers like me, who are capable of writing, but not reading.

I followed the instructions, and Lo! My blog started updating on BlogFrog. I am guessing everyone who clicked the little "Subscribe" button on my blog suddenly got a feed, too, because the next morning, I broke into the double-digits on my "subscribers" and not only that, they actually read stuff.

Lots and lots of stuff was read!

For those of you who found me and kept coming back, somehow**, in spite of my technological epic fail, thank you for coming - if it wasn't for you I would actually have been talking to myself in a public place. Allow me to express my gratitude by buying you a cup of organic, free trade, shade grown, artisanally roasted genuine Seattle coffee next time you are in my area.

Hopefully soon, the little exhortation to "Monetize all that traffic up there!" will feel less like a taunt and more like a temptation.


*My computer doesn't like cookies, but I've now explained that it's OK to eat them after a well-balanced meal.
**how?