It’s becoming a common occurrence on forums and emails that people seem to be chasing social media. Another that has been around for a while is obsessing over optimizing for Adsense. Before that it was jumping on the latest SEO tricks.
Notice a trend here?
What happens to a blog when your attention is on Google, Digg, or your bank account more than it is on your audience?
I think you can imagine :)
There is nothing at all wrong with wanting more traffic or to generate more revenue. What would be a mistake though is to give it more attention than it deserves.
Our audiences are hard-won and need care and attention to grow.
You know the funny thing? Very often when you focus on your audience, the search results, Social Media votes and revenue follow …
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Yeah, I jumped on the AdSense and SEO bandwagons before too. I never got very far into it though. I just figured out that that’s not the way to go (although you need to know about these things and how they can help you). If you want to know how to generate users and revenue for you blog, just see what the best are doing. They are creating quality content.
I’ve watched a few of these site grow into what they are now (I’m particularly impressed with WPDesigner.com because I’ve seen it from the beginning).
So go, create quality content. Blog about something you enjoy.
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What a relief to read this! You know, I’ve discovered it is MUCH less taxing mentally, too, to just be myself when I blog.
Those that have the same interests will somehow, someway come upon or stumble upon my blog and/or I theirs sooner or later.
Yes, it does take visiting others and getting at least the basics of SEO in place, but I no longer sweat it over just HOW much time I spend on those things.
Blogging for the sake of blogging is much more gratifying to me now.
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Google and Digg don’t know who I am, so I might as well concentrate on my audience. At least they leave me comments. And comments make me a happy girl! :)
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Heh, Digg do know who I am but don’t like me very much – one out of five diggs get through without being buried immediately ;) I would much rather focus on the people who DO like me :)
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Audience does matter, and can make a difference. Still it’s nice to know people from the corporate world and the common people world can look up, see your name, and pay attention to your every word. :P
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Thanks for the important reminder. This morning I was thinking about how I can serve God better…it’s certainly not by doing my will. So, although I don’t know always the specifics of what He would have me do…I know chasing after “quick fixes” and “easy money” is not the answer either!
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@Ronin – It certainly is nice :)
@Alexander – Quick fixes are rarely the answer ;)