It's Not About the Traffic!

Arrrgggh! Copyblogger is propagating the whole school of thought that blogging is just about getting more traffic. They have even published a how-to guide. Well, I am here to tell you, it's not.

Blogging is about a desire to be part of a community of like-minded individuals. Traffic is its byproduct. You can choose to be an active member or a passive one. It's your call. However, I guarantee if you regularly add value to the community, your traffic will grow. That's why earlier today I suggested using tags. But don't get into blogging just for the traffic and, going a step further, don't pay a lot of attention to your traffic data. I don't nearly as much as I used to. This was one of my key learnings over the past year.

See, anytime a blogger thinks blogging is just about getting more traffic then I really question why they're in it. I lose my trust in them because I think they're baiting me (which in this case, Copyblogger did). What's more, I certainly don't see any need to establish a closer bond by opting into their feed.

My suggestion is that if you're blogging solely for building Web traffic and Google Juice, go build a Web site and advertise it on Google instead. Blogs are about being part of a community. Join it, add value to it, but don't focus on the traffic.

Comments

[John Cass]

Steve, your right, blogging is not at all about traffic. Even pay per click campaigns are not about traffic but about reaching your most relevant customers online. Blogging is just the same, except instead of a webpage, even one that's very relevant. With blogging you have the ability to build a relationship with your reader, through the ability to dialogue between the blogger and the reader. Blogging is more about relationships than traffic.

[Brian Clark]

Steve, you obviously didn't bother to actually read the report. The report is *exactly* about creating content that has exceptional value to readers. And saying traffic doesn't matter is the worst type of ivory towerism.

But thanks anyway.

Also, weren't you the guy that pulled the "I'm reading nothing but blogs for one week" PR stunt less than two months after you started blogging in 2004? What value did that add to anyone but you?

[kevin]

Blogging is about whatever the author thinks it's about. What you think blogging is all about isn't necessarily what someone else thinks it's all about. Which is the beauty of it.

Oh, and this is the third time I've attempted to leave a comment on your blog. They've all been censored in the past so I don't expect you to post this one either. Speaking of community... ;-)

[Nathan Weinberg]

First rule of blogging: If your purpose of blogging is anything other than passion for the subject, you will fail at that purpose.

Corrolary: Blogging for traffic, fame or money will fail, because those things come from passion, not from trying to get those things.

Reason: Passion results in good blogging. Good blogging results in traffic/money/fame. Bad blogging, which is blogging without passion, results in nothing.

[Daria]

Blogging is no more no less, but the effort to build social networks and social capital. The important factor, in building social networks is reach, understood as the degree any member of a network can reach other members of the network.
We are all blogging in order to build our own social networks and capital, no one can deny it, but we are all have different reason for building that social network and implement different ways of reaching our goals. From my experience in media agency I do also know that you need build traffic (this has various forms) if you want to get people's awareness. People must first see your product, message, blog, whatever before they can find out if it is worthy to read, then you have the basis for building the relationship. I fully agree with you that adding value for the community will increase the traffic.
Steve, you wrote also:
"Blogging is about a desire to be part of a community of like-minded individuals" - for me the most beautiful characteristic of Internet is variety, that people are different, think differently - that's inspiring. :-)

[Maxine]

I absolutely agree that blogging is not about the traffic.
I was amazed at how quickly I moved from being completely new to blogging (Dec 05) to having made a few fantastic contacts of people who have blogs and opinions that are interesting and stimulating to me. I have found it a wonderful experience. You actively don't want to have masses of people in this category as you can't cope with it all, and as a result stop "really thinking" about what you are writing.
Half a dozen is about right (if you have a day job, a commute and are a parent ;-) )
I am not in it to make money ;-) so that's maybe where the traffic comes in. But I can't emphasise enough what a breakthrough blogging has been to my quality of life, and how quickly I could find blogs and people that have overlapping "niches" to my own.

[Shrikant Joshi]

I agree with Brian. It seems to me you haven't read the report properly. Step out of those ivory towers, Steve.

Blogging today is increasingly about traffic. Nobody would write a blog for PR purposes if there wasn't any traffic.

Among the Capit-A-list bloggers, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. If you are blogging for product PR, what will you do without traffic. Rely on the quirks of the A-list bloggers?

Or build your own traffic?

I think I would prefer the latter...

[David Meerman Scott]

People have different goals for blogging and building an audience is most certainly one of those goals, Steve. If only a handful of people were reading Micro Persuasion, would you still be blogging?

Other blogger goals could be getting more recognition in the marketplace, finding a job or consulting work or speaking gigs, creating fodder for a print book and yes, even "being part of a community". However, if a blog has no goal, it usually won’t get written in the first place, so I like Brian’s e-book on how a blog can fulfill just one possible goal.

However, I do agree with you: There’s no doubt that if a blogger’s goal is to build traffic, it will only be successful if the blogger is, as you say, part of the community and adding value with some great content. It the blog is a stinkeroo no traffic will be built anyway. But I see nothing wrong with having an ultimate goal.

[Mike Sansone]

At every blog launch, the blogger has in the back, middle, and forefront of their brain the subject of traffic. It's human nature. "Who will read my blog?"

Reading reports such as Brian's gives a new blogger a guideline so they can focus on the conversation.

Reading a Chilton manual to change my alternator doesn't allow me to enjoy the experience of driving the car - which is what it's all about.

If reports found on Copyblogger or "Hacks" found on MicroPersuasion allow us to get behind the wheel confident our passengers will enjoy the ride - Thank you both for providing a guide.

Just as I'll continue to point to Steve's "Hack Tips," I'll also continue to point to Brian's report.

[Mary Anne Davis]

Thanks for your post about traffic. I agree with you, especially for someone like myself, who is blogging about something sort of out there. World peace, making stuff and selling it. I am interested in the alternatives to the mass market available through the internet and blogging. Seth Godin talks about relationships vs. googlejuice and I herehere his sentiments.

[Darren]

I have to say that when I read Brian's report that I didn't get the impression that he was writing that it was all about traffic. In fact I thought what he'd put together was a great resource for bloggers who were passionate about their blogs but who were interested in finding a few more readers.

I don't see a problem with finding more readers for a blog any more than I have a problem with an author wanting to find more readers for a book or a company wanting to find more customers for their product.

Of course I'm also a believer in wanting to blog for more than just big readership but I don't see blogging for passion and wanting to build readership as being mutually exclusive.

Perhaps the report by itself could be seen as 'propagating the whole school of thought that blogging is just about getting more traffic' but as someone who's been reading copyblogger for a few weeks now I'd have to say that within the context of that blog it's not the message that I see there. Maybe there could have been a bit more explicitly said in the report about other aspects of blogging but I took it as a report with a focus that was not claiming to say everything there is to say about blogging, but which was hoping to answer one topic on a narrow aspect of writing blogs.

just my two cents worth.

[Marcus Heiger]

Question 1)
Did you read the report?

[Jim Logan]

Of course we all want more readers of our blogs, as does any author. We all want more traffic. If not, we’d all write diaries or keep personal journals. We all want readers, subscribers, comments, links, and everything that follows those measurements of success. Whether for ego or profit, we all want more traffic. And every blogger knows exactly how much traffic they have.

The report Coypblogger offered has a lot of value. It's a practical guide with information people can use and advance. He took the time to write it, wrote it well, and offered it to everyone for FREE. In exchange he hoped people would discover his site. What a great idea! Offering value in exchange for readership is the purest form of gaining audience.

[Amy Gahran]

Hi, Steve.

I agree, blogging is not a numbers game. However, I do pay attention to my site stats as a key part of my content strategy. It helps me to see which articles are most widely read. That helps me plan for future coverage, and for updating earlier popular items.

Just one perspective,

- Amy Gahran
RightConversation.com
Contentious.com

[Serge Lescouarnec]

Steve
I think audience builds over time. Personally I post regularly to my blog 'Serge the Concierge' because I enjoy writing. Some posts are more popular than others but this is the fun of it to see what gets read.

Thanks for the post on Technorati Tags in Posts.

I put it to the test with my Edgeio Ad.

Have a good day.

Serge
Business Site:
http://www.montclairconcierges.com
Blog:
http://sergetheconcierge.typepad.com

[Mike Street]

I agree, it's not about traffic it's about having fun. I love my blog and I don't get that much traffic but I've posted about 350 post so far and I have no planns of stopping just because writers in Slate say blogging is over