The impetus for my original post on being a writer v. a blogger was people's seemingly mindless quest for traffic. Or in 1.0 language: "eyeballs." Coincidentally, the blogosphere has been rampant on this very topic in the last few days, so I'm going to give my point one last push with the support of some great writers who blog as one of their many channels.
Blogging - or any web endeavor - does, of course, require traffic to be successful, I'm not denying that. But what kind of numbers define your success? As Robert Scoble recently posted, it's tough to win at the traffic game. Especially when Fred is already 45 million visitors ahead of you.
Yes, measuring is important and numbers on the rise tends to be good news. But not so fast. As Seth Godin points out, we should really be asking the questions "Who?" instead of "How many?"
It's a vital nuance.
We've entered the quality over quantity era of web traffic. And it's sometimes a tough pill to swallow.
So, how do we measure who? It's a question that perhaps only few marketers have really answered. What about Nike Plus? They most likely answered the who question before they answered the how many question. Ultimately, if you get the "who" right, the "how many" will follow. It's just a matter of having the guts to shift your lens. Or, more precisely, sell that shift up the chain. Or maybe sell it down the chain. Just don't sell it down the river. This concept is one for the ages.
Photo: Burning Image
