Should I Attract Traffic or Should I Hold to My Values?
I’m a big fan of Phil Gerbyshak. I’ve never met him in person but he writes like a real nice guy. So, even though I’m not much for follow the leader, I have recently tried to plug in one of the strategies I think Phil uses quite successfully. Phil devotes a certain amount of time to what I call “seeking.” He actively searches out authors he doesn’t know and reads their work. If he likes it, he comments. If not, he moves on. Phil has built an impressive network of friends this way.
So, a couple of days ago I decided I would try the same technique. I’m not particularly skilled at finding unknown authors so I enlisted the aid of Blogexplosion. After your register and fill out a topic survey Blogexplosion takes you to sites that match your interest criteria. You can also earn points while visiting which you can utilize to bring visitors to your own site thus building your traffic. It seems like a great networking idea.
What I discovered was, there aren’t many authors out there who write for the same reasons I write. So, there aren’t that many folks to network with. As a result, I concentrated on comperable design and at least similar topics.
What I found out was, there aren’t many middle class conservatives who are writing positive content out there. There is a huge arena of those spewing hate and disharmony from both the conservative and the liberal courts but very little positive.
What do you think should we follow the path of mainstream media “if it bleeds it leads” or should we hold to our values and write for the niche market of those who wish to make a positive impact?
January 31st, 2008 at 12:23 am
I think you should write what moves you and don’t stop till it doesn’t move you anymore.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:54 am
You are most probably right. Thank you for the comment.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:00 am
can’t you do both? I do - and I haven’t noticed someone with horns and goats feet offering me money for my soul.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:35 am
I don’t think I can do both.
January 31st, 2008 at 3:04 am
Reg - I think you can do both. The key is to authentically connect with others that inspire you. Blog Explosion is one avenue, but who knows what type of traffic you’ll get.
You’ve built a little network of blog friends, now leverage that and meet more folks.
Follow the folks on your friends’ blog rolls and say hello when the urge strikes.
Balance the 80% of writing against the 20% of commenting, but tip it to 60/40 and comment MORE with more value. You have TONS of content here, you just need folks to get to know your worth.
Tell you what…e-mail me a never before published personal development article for Make It Great!, and a never before published productivity, organization or management article for Slacker Manager, and I’ll share it with my readers. That’ll be 15000 subscribers between the 2 blogs I write, and I’d be happy to have you as a guest author. Write a great byline with great content, and you’ll get readers for life.
Or keep up with Blog Explosion…and you’ll get who knows what.
Up to you.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Oh, Yeah ~ what Phil said!
It works: I am a faithful reader of Karen Hanrahan’s Best of Mother Earth blog, and when she mentioned you, I followed her links back here.
A follow-up question to ask yourself, re: Attract traffic or stick to my values? is “What is the intrinsic value of ‘Traffic’? What would having lots more people see my words do for me?” and “How would compromising my Values for the sake of Traffic add anything to the world?” (Bet you can tell, I’m firmly on the “we don’t need or want any more hate and disharmony” side.)
I haven’t seen any entries yet that call out your political or social values, but I’d bet they’re well-reasoned, mostly calm, and nuanced, not black-or-white-dammit-there-is-no-grey-or purple.
BlogExplosion will expose you to folks who resonate with that, and folks who don’t. That’s okay. Just make like a duck, and let any negative vibes roll off your back; block the senders, if you have to. Even if they rant in their own blogs about it, it’s doing the viral marketing thing, and getting exposure for your ideas and services.
Phil’s traffic (and Karen’s, and others you link to/comment on) will probably already relate to your message, and spread the word, too.
That’s also a GoodThing!
Use all the channels you want to, but *Don’t* compromise just for the sake of eyeballs.
Bright Blessings!
Karen J.