Thoughts on Blogging: Hits, Traffic, and whatnot

by Kevin

I have been thinking about blog traffic a lot today. Why you ask? Well, because of a link in the Corner and some residual traffic from a Mickey Kaus link in Slate, today has been the busiest day (meaning most hits) in the history of my blogging career (or at least since I have been keeping track). This is already the busiest month ever as well, despite there being a week and a half left in the month. In other words, in terms of traffic things couldn’t be better. But . . .

(There is always a “but” isn’t there? You didn’t expect this to end without a little naval gazing or abstract thinking did you?) What I find interesting, and a little frustrating, is that for the most part these hits did not come from bloggers interacting with what I had posted. They didn’t come from people agreeing or disagreeing strongly with something I said. Instead they came because I happened to make a couple of quick posts on hot topics and got linked in a prominent spot at just the right time. Getting an early and intriguing link in the Corner leads to thousands of hits but the vast majority of those people quickly clicked through without spending more than few seconds. A couple of people left some comments. When I bashed the New York Times and got linked by Glenn and then Mickey Kaus, again thousands of hits and very little feedback or conversation. Mostly just people clicking through to see the end of the link.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. I am grateful for the links and the hits – it makes life more interesting and gets my blog out there to more people. I just wonder how “sticky” this page is these days. What will be left when the ocean of hits subsides? How many of these visitors will come back later to check in? How many of these people will add me to their blogroll (if they have one)? What do you think? Is it better to build a readership through a commitment to quality over the long haul? Or is it better to just be lucky and topical? These type of questions have been bouncing around in my head today.

What I suspect is that the recent success has revealed my shallowness. At the recent blog bash in Cleveland I found myself talking about hits and traffic. I was embarrassed when I realized that the people I was talking to weren’t really that interested in the topic. I realized that, in contrast, I was absorbed in the issue. I tried to laugh it off but it was too late – I knew and they knew that I cared a lot about how many people visited my blog.

So. What does all this mean? It means I still haven’t found the balance between writing for me and writing for hits. I want the best of both worlds. I want lots of hits and to be respected in the morning. But since I am not a professional writer or a person with a lot of time or discipline, that is not likely to occur. What I am going to try to do is just be me – post about what I care about, what I find interesting, what I think has meaning, and let the hits fall where they may. That doesn’t mean I won’t promote my posts or try to write about interesting stuff in hopes that people read it, it just means I am going to try and keep my hit whoring in check.

Anyway, If you are visiting this humble blog via a link from somewhere else, welcome and please take a look around – heck maybe even leave a comment or two. And thanks for visiting.