Important Changes on StrongLifts.com
Feb 17th, 2008 by Mehdi Tags: StrongLifts.com
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StrongLifts.com is 9 months old. A lot has changed since this blog went online May 1st 2007. Especially during the last 2 months. Traffic has increased at a phenomenal rate:
- 155.000 visitors & 420.000+ page views during the last 30 days
- 6000+ daily RSS subscribers
- 550 forum members, posting 200 comments daily
All things that I wanted. I’m grateful you people keep visiting this blog, post comments, subscribe to the blog, download the eBook, spread the word by stumbling articles, etc. Thanks, really. I couldn’t do this without you.
Current Situation. Until now I answered each single question I received:
- Comments. Including new ones in reply to posts written 6 months ago.
- Emails. 6000 subscribers & 5000 visitors/day, guess how many emails.
- Forum. 10.000+ comments, 2800+ by me.
Check the 110+ comments in reply to StrongLifts 5×5. You’ll find the answer to 90% of these questions in the FAQ mentioned at the bottom of StrongLifts 5×5 post. Here’s a comment in reply to How to Easily Get 1g/lbs Protein Daily:
I’m 74KG, so how much protein will I need??
One email I received this week, one line nothing more:
Could you contact me I find it really difficult to gain muscles
The Problem. I worked 5 years customer service. I know that some people, even if you give them an extensive manual that answers all their questions, will ask you questions before reading the manual.
I can’t change people. But I can change my approach. Because my current approach doesn’t work. Here’s why:
- You’ll find an answer to most of your questions by reading StrongLifts 5×5 eBook & searching the blog.
- Questions like the how to gain muscle above: can’t tell what you’re doing wrong without knowing your stats, training program, diet, etc.
- This becomes a ping pong game where we both end up exchanging comments/emails, increasing the amounts of questions I receive daily.
Waste of time for you, because you have to wait for hours before I come back with answers you could find by searching the blog. Waste of time for me because I have to copy paste the same answers over & over.
During the last weeks I spent 4 hours per day like that. This gets in the way with writing blog posts, marketing the blog, tweaking the blog, educating myself, working out, and I don’t even talk about taking time to relax.
I hate people who laugh at other people because they ask “dumb questions”. There are no dumb questions. If you don’t ask, you don’t learn. However I’m one guy, and you’re thousands. I can’t keep up with you.
The Changes. The new approach will group tasks so I can process them all at once. More efficient than answering questions at 3 places. This will reduce the amount of work I get & lower the process time. Therefore:
- Emails. I won’t reply if you don’t stick to the rules explained here.
- Comments. I won’t reply to off topic comments or older than 7 days.
- Forum. I’ll answer questions there. Click here to register for free.
This rule applies to everybody without exceptions. Don’t take it personally if I don’t reply to your emails or comments. Use the Forum. Great atmosphere & lots of knowledgeable members who walk the talk. Some threads:
- How Does Your Job Affect Your Workout & Diet?
- What Motivates You to Do All of This?
- Richard St John’s Secret of Success: 5 Words He Forgot
I’ll continue improving the blog to make information more accessible. I’ll also continue using emails/comments to write new articles and rewrite old ones. I rewrote these 3 articles based on the questions I received:
- Shoulder Dislocations: benefits & technique better explained
- Post Workout Shakes: avoiding clumps, dextrose vs. oats, etc
- Deadlift: new deadlift video, added relevant links, shortened copy, etc
People often think you need willpower to achieve goals. You don’t. The trick is to remove what prevents the achievement of your goals. Don’t take it personally when I don’t answer. Remember I’m one guy, you’re thousands. Thanks.
Tired of the way you look? You want to build muscle & lose fat while getting stronger? Click here to download my 52 pages 100% FREE eBook.
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Congratz for the subscriptions…I bet even after this post u will still keep getting loads of email
maybe you will have to get some employees soon
even though the whole blog in itself is a big FAQ, I would suggest to add a FAQ section, listing all those questions returning everyday. I know it’s a lot of work, and you might already be working on it, but I think for many people it’s easier to see all the regular questions on one site - linked to the adequate article - than having to think of the question themselves. At least that happens to me, I see a question by someone else, that was also lingering in the back of my head but never came to the front, e.g. the barbell weight question -> http://stronglifts.com/forum/discussion/503/what-about-the-bars-weight
and since most people are lazy and don’t mind looking at page 2 or 3 of a forum or their google results, this could probably reduce the number of repeated questions (ignoring the constantly rising number of readers).
however, big thanks for the site and keep up the good work!
@Harsh
Yes, but now I’ll just delete them as explained.
@helm
Working on a FAQ already, better overview of the content of the blog (something better than current sitemap). It’s a lot of work indeed, so it will take time. Thanks for the feedback helm.
Well at least it’s a good complaint Mehdi!
congrats on the numbers and I’m sure you could recruit a few people to help out if you had to.
Thanks Mehdi for all your hard work. I love this website.
Just wanted to thank you for the hard work, I by coincidence have been visiting the site and subscribed to the emails 2 months ago myself, and have seen just how busy it has been - the results in myself have been fantastic! I agree with what you have written good luck with the new format
This proves how helpfull and encouraging this program is Mehdi. Like everyone here, thank you for the site and keep up the good work.
Go, Go, Go ! ! !
so how much dough are you making now?
I was always surprise at how many comments you made in the forums and still managed to frequently make new and exciting blog posts.
Your work ethic is an inspiration in itself. Thanks for all your hard work.
Congratulations on the success! I love watching your subscriber meter up there go up. It seems to be going faster and faster. And, Mehdi, thanks for your hard work. Your honesty, integrity, knowledge, and generosity really make a difference.
Thanks for the great articles, comments etc! Keep up the excellent work!
@All
Thanks for the encouraging words everybody, appreciated.
Congratulations on your success
How are you making this business profitable though
New Reader here
+1 to your RSS subscribers!
I love your site..i’ve been trying the basic 3×5 from bodybuilding.com forums and it’s been great so far..it’s basically the same just a little more basic than what you require…i’m following it with great results in strength and size so far
keep up the good work i’m looking forward to more of your posts!
Mehdi,
if you don’t already use one, a text substitution program like texter ( http://lifehacker.com/software/texter/lifehacker-code-texter-windows-238306.php ) would make life much easier. So, instead of writing “thanks for the feedback” a million times, you type “th” and the sentence is automatically filled in.
That’s an INSANE amount of growth in 9 months. It just shows the quality/useful content that you have put up over that time. Congrats on your successes!
FT
Congrats, Mehdi!! I’m always amazed by your great content and all the great help you’ve provided to many individuals.