Traffic, Your Blogs and You

Recently I have had friendly debates with more than a few people about the nature of blogs.  Many people look to blogs as a means for making money — and there is nothing wrong with that — but I hear the same comment time and again — to make money, you need attract traffic.

My usual reply is: if you want traffic you had better work with great writing.  Usually the people who seek this advice are not writers, but rather Internet marketers, some of whom do read this blog, and I’d like to explain my answer in more detail.

If you want traffic, or better still if you want to increase your traffic to your blogs, you need to write well.  I’ll even add that you need to consciously decide how much work you are willing to do to make your blog better.

I have to admit that since Jane came on board, this blog has taken off. We have more than doubled our readership, and the writing has improved — not to mention that we do get a lot more traffic now.  I am not saying this just to pat myself on the back, but to emphasize my point:

Increase traffic?  Sure, but improve your writing at the same time.  If you can, get someone else to look over your blogs before you publish them.  Editing is what makes writing easy.

I think if you think of traffic statistics not so much as search engine results but rather as the number of readers paying attention to you, you will be better off.  People are smart; they know what they are looking for.  There is a place for blogs, and the better ones will shine long-term as long as their writers are willing to put in the work to edit them.

Did editing and more editing help?  Yes, it did, and it has made a huge difference in what my readers think.  It has increased traffic to my blogs and it has improved my writing.  In fact, this is one of the only ways you can make money with your blog and, by extension, with your books.  You need to attract a steady stream of traffic and that will take you far.

It is all about traffic, your blogs, and you… Most importantly, it’s about improving your writing.