Friday Linky Love

Thanks for the link!

On the whole traffic discussion—I tried the traffic-only schtick and I'm off it. I'd much rather have more subscribers that actually read the content instead of just hit the page and leave.

Of course, I loved your post.

That's the point I was trying to hit on. I think once you focus on the real subscribers that care and they read the content, the rest will follow. Although it's not always organic, I think it's a fantastic way to get going and that's a true success story.

Thanks for the links. However, I disagree with the gentleman's opinion who said "Only Losers Focus on Traffic." Traffic isn't the only thing you should focus on, but it's definitely a critical metric on the web - however many people visit your site for whatever reason - a small percentage of them WILL sign up, install a widget, click an ad, inquire about business, etc. Big traffic, more success by the numbers.

Focusing on quality traffic is important, tho. I've noticed that when a piece goes viral on Twitter, it only averages around 7,000 visitors BUT they leave almost as many comments as the mob of 35,000 that Digg sends me. I attribute this to the content being directly recommended to be people's friends who they trust - rather than people "randomly" surfing a link on the home page. People are more engaged.

@Brett, thanks for your insight. I think what Jun was saying when he wrote the piece was best outlined with these points:

* Getting a lot of traffic is NOT a business model
* Focusing on traffic, rather than building community, will ultimately lead to a failed startup

I liked that he said DONT ONLY focus on traffic, it wasn't that all of traffic is horrible, because inevitably, everyone knows that traffic moves a company, a blogger, etc.

I think this an interesting conversation and it might be interesting to also see what Jun has to think over on his blog post directly: http://www.junloayza.com/startup-tips/startup-tips-losers-focus-on-traffic/ Thanks, Brett!

I read through his blog post, but as a web traffic developer, I disagree with some of the things he said.

The biggest one:

"Rarely does my traffic significantly increase after the spike. Inflated traffic like Digg, Stumble, and from Google just do NOT stick."

Done repeatedly, temporarily surges in traffic can have big effects, in aggregate, over the long term. Look at a site like Cracked.com or WebUrbanist, ICanHazCheezeburger, etc. Their community was built by spike after spike of traffic from viral pieces. Some who dropped by for a second, liked what they say, and kept coming back.

My goal for this year is to break 1,000 subscribers - and I don't know an efficient way to do it without driving traffic as much as possible - and THEN building community from the new people that show some kind of interest. As an independent publisher I don't have the manpower or resources to do one-to-one outreach or "reader reward programs"... so I focus on driving web traffic and will take all I can get. I agree it's not "everything" but it's not for "losers," either.

@Brett I strongly believe in the power of community towards traffic growth but I still think that focusing ONLY on traffic isn't the only way to consider success.

I also think that people might lose sight of the other important aspects besides spikes in traffic, those websites did well because of their content and what they began to cultivate as well.

Again, I'm just the messenger providing these links that are intriguing to me. I think this conversation would best be suited for the writer himself, Jun. He's very smart and I think you would have an interesting conversation with him.

Thanks for the Friday Linky Love!

Of course! It's a great thought and conversation that you've begun to generate.