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Blogging for traffic - where to draw the line?

We all want traffic. Traffic gets us cool stuff, noticed by PR and (if you have them) money through CPM ads.

But where do you draw the line? Do you blog FOR your traffic? Or do you keep your niche focused and engage with your audience? I have seen some bloggers discover the "easy traffic" of stumbleupon.com. They will create blog posts that are written specifically for Stumblers who "thumbs up" their post and bring more traffic. These are usually one time visitors who are on their blog for about 30 seconds.

I just want to discuss and hear your thoughts. Do you blog to get traffic? Do you blog and do your best with keywords, twitter and facebook and get traffic with your content?

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Permalink Reply by Crystal Jigsaw on June 27, 2011 at 7:02am

That's a really interesting question. I think we all like to increase our stats and followers but it's always good to have loyal readers. I've been blogging for 4 years and many readers from back in the early days are still coming to read my blog today. That's what I call loyalty. The ones who just visit for 30 seconds are just as welcome however, because I blog for an audience. For me, if no one visited my blog, however long it be for, there would be no point in blogging at all.

Very thought-provoking question.

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Permalink Reply by Annie Shultz on June 27, 2011 at 3:07pm

I agree with you Crystal. I want to make the "googlers" and "stumblers" welcome too. But what do you think about brainstorming a post with the intention of purposefully getting 10,000 views from stumbleupon? Personally, I prefer to blog for my audience first and then use keywords and awesome photography (for those 30 second browsers) to increase the value of my post - not the other way around.

So what I am saying is, don't you think it is more valuable to your readers and make you more credible as a blogger if you write solid content instead of fluff that is written solely for the pageviews? I think so. But I am totally wanting to hear other points of view!

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Permalink Reply by Pepper on June 27, 2011 at 8:50pm

I've been to a few talks and chatted with a few big time bloggers and they all say the same thing. It's not really about the #s it's about the interactions. This is so true. My blog is low in numbers but I have really close blogger friends and I have good klout. People listen to me because I listen to them, I share things that are interesting and relevant, and I share things about them.

And the fact is that PR companies are starting to see this. They are realizing that some of those blogs out there with high numbers have inflated their numbers by playing games like if you follow me I will follow you. This does not create a true follower it creates a number. You have no real relationship or pull with this person. They are not interested in your opinion just the number you give them.

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Permalink Reply by Laura Vivoni on June 27, 2011 at 11:26pm

I think this is a very interesting topic, I have been blogging since February 2011 and I am still trying to figure out how to get viewers. I do want followers and a lot of people to view my blogs, but the thing I find most rewarding is when people write comments and engage with me. I really want to get more of that, but I have yet to find a good way to get loyal people, what is the secret to that?