Certainly, buddy. And thank you. I think my process just goes to show you how we all can unfold through our blogs.

Liz,

You already know how I feel. But for everyone else, thanks.

Congratulations for giving yourself a gentle hit on the head with a foam rubber 2 x 4 to remind yourself what you are really about.

It is a pleasure to see you continue to emerge.

Thanks for all you do.

Stuart Baker
http://www.consciouscooperation.com

Exactly. Thanks for posting this comment as you did.

What appears to me is that are two mindsets bloggers take. One is that you need to focus on stats and build those stats any way you can. The other is for those who want to use their blog for conversation and relationship building.

Now I don’t think the two are exclusive. What I do think is that bloggers who think traffic make choices about traffic first, then their current readers second. That’s not to say they don’t care about their readers. It just seems that they put getting new readers/traffic ahead of the needs and wants of their current readers.

What I’m learning is that I want to focus on my current readers and grow traffic by first taking care of their needs and wants. My traffic has steadily grown since I began by doing this very thing. I expect that to continue – even increase.

Neither, I feel, are wrong. It’s just more a point of your intentions. Sounds like this should become a post.

We learn from them and they from us. It’s a relationship worth sharing and worth protecting, worth building a business on some would say.

Sure, it’s the way I’ve build a good percentage of my traffic. And it’s a way I feel benefits everyone – you, me and both our readers. I like it when everyone wins.

I’m with you on where I going to put my energy. I really don’t want to spend time on crap shoots. I’d rather create great content, engaging conversations and mutually beneficial relationships.

I too prefer consistent traffic over superficial traffic. I do post my articles to reddit, stumbleupon, delicious etc, but I do that hoping that out of the 600 new visitors 10 would return to regularly read my blog. But to have them stick, your content should be of good quality, and that’s where I’d rather put my energy in.

First off, thanks for reading my blog. I’m here for the people who read my blog and I don’t take that lightly.

This is why I don’t want to continue with memes like this that are just about driving traffic. I trust that readers will find me in all the ways they have so far – which is through relationships, conversation and good content.

Really, I’m fine in however my readers come. But I’m not traffic-centric – I’m reader-centric. So I want my posts to be for my readers not just for the growth of my blog traffic.