Upstream. A Mohawk Valley Blogzine.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

2,158 Visitors. Part 4 Of 4.

Was there any lasting effect on Upstream’s traffic after jumping from 55 visitors to 2,158 on Feb 7? While Upstream’s daily average has improved, it is still shy of the 100 mark. It’s obvious that most people who stopped by to view the Muslim cartoons were not interested in Upstream or the Mohawk Valley.

It seems to me that you can approach blogging in two ways. The first way is to make increasing traffic to your blog your paramount concern and make content secondary. It’s probably not that hard to increase the number of visitors to your blog, if you make that your primary goal. Not only are there a number of gimmicks you can use, but you can increase it simply by being as outrageous as you possibly can. You can start a blogbloid and become the Jerry Springer or Howard Stern of the blogosphere.

But the kind of readers who would flock to such a blog are not the kind of readers that I am looking for. That leaves making content primary and increasing traffic secondary. By focusing on content, I believe Upstream will get the kind of readers I am looking for--readers who love and care for the Mohawk Valley and Upstate New York, readers who don’t just stop by for a quick look and then surf on to another blog. I want readers who are voyagers not voyeurs, readers who are willing to make the trip daily with me--upstream from Albany to Utica.

2 Comments:

  • As far as I am concerned you are doing a fine job and certainly keeping me interested.

    By Blogger threecollie, at 3:47 PM  

  • Dan, I read lots of blogs. I read friends' blogs to see what they're up to (I have lots of friends, and my friends have lots of friends, so it would be quite unwieldy to call one another daily to update one another on the minutiae of our lives, but we can blog about it). I read strangers' blogs if they are interesting because I'm interested in other people's opinions on all kinds of subjects.

    And since Albany Eye posted a link to your blog, I've been checking in here regularly because I'll always find something interesting, whether it's your thoughts on the topic du jour, a movie review from your son or reflections on teenage life from your daughter.

    Long story short, you have a great blog even when it isn't being a rare source of information the whole world wants to see (i.e. the cartoons). So don't worry about attracting tons of readers. Just keep doing what you're doing. If you blog it, we will come.

    By Blogger niicelaady, at 6:40 PM  

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