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Wendy Piersall Shares her Blog’s Tipping Point

Posted By Darren Rowse 19th of May 2008 Miscellaneous Blog Tips 0 Comments

Today Wendy Piersall from Sparkplugging answers my question of about when her blog had it’s Tipping Point.

This is actually a difficult question for me, because there were several tipping points. The first one was the first link I received from an A-List blogger – you. It opened up a lot of doors for me. But obviously, links from A-List bloggers can only take you so far, and can’t really act as a tipping point in and of itself.

Thinking back, it would be an obvious answer to say that when I switched from a blog to a blog network was the major tipping point. But in reality, I was already the top blog dedicated to working at home before that. So I can’t really pinpoint one singular tipping point as “THE” thing that happened to put me on the map.

Instead, there were small, but important, tipping points that worked together along the way:

  • The day I changed my editorial decisions from what I wanted to say and based them instead on what readers wanted to read as determined by analytics and reader feedback
  • Winning a ticket and going to Elite Retreat, allowing me to meet and work with some seriously talented marketers
  • Announcing that I landed a writing gig with Entrepreneur.com based on my previous blogging track record
  • Speaking at my first blogging conference, SOBCon ’07
  • Changing to a blog network in September ’07
  • Changing from eMoms at Home to Sparkplugging in April ’08

Honestly, any one, or even any two of these things wouldn’t have likely been a singular tipping point. It’s the fact that I worked incredibly hard to reach continual milestones, never ‘resting on my laurels’ so to speak. And even now, I’m still thinking “OK, mission accomplished on name change and network expansion. What’s next??”

OK, so there you have it, I think I found it while writing this. The tipping point comes daily when we ask ourselves “What’s next” while simultaneously allowing ourselves to take credit for a job well done. :)

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Many times when tipping point comes as an avalanche, you go down just as fast. It’s much better and healthier to grow in small increments. Hey, if you improve 1% a day, it’s 365% per year. and even 1% a week will give you 52% yearly growth.
    Way to go Wendy!! Congratulations…

  2. I love the way Wendy concluded the post – a good tipping point for those haven’t reached ‘the tipping point’ yet….

  3. This is a great post. Just shows that big tipping points are really a culmination of smaller tipping points. Congratulations!

  4. Wow, you said, “The tipping point comes daily when we ask ourselves “What’s next” while simultaneously allowing ourselves to take credit for a job well done.”

    This question is great but could also be scary for many. Learning how to take credit for a job well done is worth learning. Given the fast pace world some of us live in, this discipline is golden and worthwhile.

    Thanks!

  5. It’s always interesting to read about how others got to where they are and how and where they’re going. Great series Darren and great job Wendy!

    Persistence definitely pays off. Now I just need to learn to be persistent! :)

  6. Wendy your blog is one of the top. A blog network can improve traffic flow. Thanks.

  7. hmmm… can I read more? :P

  8. Good information and great series!! This point:

    >> It’s the fact that I worked incredibly hard to reach continual milestones, never ‘resting on my laurels’ so to speak. <<

    really rings true to me.

    Great job,

    Barbara

  9. Really interesting perspective with some great insight.

    My thoughts are about whether a tipping point is made or happens. I am about to change things up at my blog, and wonder if I will look back and see it as a tipping point or a signal for exiting or something else entirely. Do our efforts alone create tipping point for blogs, or is it a combination of context and our intentional actions, or do they happen if we are in the right place at the right time without our help?

  10. Really interesting perspective with some great insight.

    My thoughts are about whether a tipping point is made or happens. I am about to change things up at my blog, and wonder if I will look back and see it as a tipping point or a signal for exiting or something else entirely. Do our efforts alone create tipping point for blogs, or is it a combination of context and our intentional actions, or do they happen if we are in the right place at the right time without our help?

  11. Wendy:

    Nice to see you here as a guest writer.

    I can say that my tipping point was meeting you at SOBCON08 and having dinner with you and Lorelle on my last night in Chicago. That was awesome!

    I continue to watch you grow and expand with delight. It’s great to see you take risks and leap forward into the unknown (like changing your blog from emomsathome to sparkplugging).

    You go girl!

  12. Nice one, Wendy.

    Your point #1 is it in a nutshell for me and should be for every one wanting a growing readership.

    A big kudos to you Wendy for giving us a genuine (ie: not another get rich, work from home rubbish) outlet for the home business sector.

  13. Thanks Wendy for sharing your thoughts as it really give new bloggers like me a continuous motivation and a direction to take.
    Thanks problogger team for giving us an avenue to seek tips and learn new techniques.

  14. Wendy’s points are spot on. The same can be said for any business. The tipping point comes not from one thing, but from a series of decisions and actions that lead you to success.

    Too many bloggers and business owners are looking for the one big score that will put them over the top. Concentrate on doing a little every day to make yourself more successful and you will get there.

  15. The day I changed my editorial decisions from what I wanted to say and based them instead on what readers wanted to read as determined by analytics and reader feedback

    This sort of seems like it’s sort of selling your soul for hits. Or do you try to balance it out? Like some posts to keep #s up so you can actually afford to post the stuff you want to say?

  16. Kim – I guess if you’re doing it purely as a business then you have to give what the readers want.

    It’s standard magazine practice that’s coming to blogging. If you really want an “internet magazine” and all that comes with it (readership, advertisers etc) then it’s really the only way.

    The challenge I guess is merging the two – can you do both? Can you mashup the blogging ethos (personal opinions) with a more structured editorial direction based on the wants of the readers?

  17. @Miguel

    Glad to see you picked up on the importance of that last sentence. Indeed allowing myself to take credit for a job well done is still sometimes harder than anything I do in business! And yet, I believe it to be one of the most important of all.

    @Kim,

    I actually saw my decision as the exact opposite. Instead of feeding my ego and preaching, thinking I knew what was best, I listened to my readers and gave them what they wanted, rather than what I thought they should have. But regardless, I have never stopped writing from the heart.

  18. I was really glad to read that Wendy didn’t have just one tipping point but rather several. I think that’s realistic. I like the point about being linked to an A-list blog and that only taking you so far. When I was linked to the NY times I couldn’t depend on that link alone. From there I take it somewhere and do something with the link, the traffic and the opportunity. I know I would love the chance to meet major marketing gurus and learn from pros, I think that could help anyone. Finding this blog and Wendy’s blog/network really has been helpful to me. Hey, maybe that’s one of my tipping points! LOL!

  19. Wendy,
    I am very new to all of this and I hadn’t heard of your blog before. I clicked over there and wow! I wish I could just sit here all morning and explore, but alas, that will have to wait.

    Your comment about patting yourself on the back is very timely; I just posted about our (my anyway) addiction to self-improvement, and wishing I could give myself more kudos for what I have achieved and do well.

  20. You never really know what or when the tipping point will occur. However, one thing you can be sure of, there will be no tipping point without hard work.

    Live From Las Vegas
    The Masked Millionaire

  21. Cathy said it right there – “Too many bloggers and business owners are looking for the one big score that will put them over the top. Concentrate on doing a little every day to make yourself more successful and you will get there.” ….this is so true, and pretty much what Wendy shared re: her tipping point being a culmination of actions she took.

    Congratulations Wendy!

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