Don’t mistake the title of this post to be snarky or sarcastic because it is neither.
It is not supposed to be heard as whining or any sort of complaint either. Think of it as being more of a simple observation.
An observation based upon my own experiences looking at my email inboxes and the unread mail that flows through them.
There is only so much time in the day and lately it seems to be sucked up by a million bigger and more priorities than the newsletters in there.
So I wander over to the inbox and take a hard look at the things I am receiving to try and determine what can be eliminated.
Optimize and prioritize so that we can maximize.
Sounds so sterile and impersonal doesn’t it.
Not nearly as exciting as writing an open letter to my boss complaining and or thanking him/her for all that have.
Not nearly as interesting as providing a list of the best tools to use for XYZ or the 26 funniest Siberian clowns either.
You see I write not to get rich or famous but because I like doing this and that makes everything that comes with it much easier.
I don’t worry about how many readers or followers I have or how many comments I don’t get.
Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like more but if I don’t get them I won’t get crazy.
I am too busy thinking about walking through fields to get crazy. Never hurts to take a nice walk, good for the spirit and the body.
How About Those Cows
Some people love cows but I am not one of those guys. I don’t hate them, but I am not the guy who looks at the cow and thinks about how cute they are.
If anything I look at them and wonder if they make a tasty burger or steak.
You might wonder if or how this relates to blogging.
You might wonder if it is tied into Mitch Mitchell’s post Misleading Titles, Disappointing Blog Content.
I am glad you asked because the answer is yes, yes it is related to it.
Mitch’s post reminded me of a discussion I had with someone about ways to increase traffic and notoriety on blogs.
I told them that commenting on other blogs and or linking to other blog posts was one tool you could use for doing so.
Fact is, those are probably my favorite tool(s) because they help build relationships between you and other bloggers and that is the best way to build a readership.
Note the word is build, people would rather you build than look at them as being a stepping stool to something else.
They don’t want to feel like those cows up above would feel feel if they knew I was wondering what they might taste like and not whether they would make good companions.
Other Ways To Generate Traffic
You might wonder if I am able to recommend other ways to generate traffic and the answer is yes, I can tell you about other ways.
Build relationships with other people on other social media channels and you’ll find that people will share your stuff, sometimes they’ll do it without you asking them to.
Or you can always engage in some newsjacking. You can pick a current event and get people to pay attention.
Something like Ted Cruz is Donald Trump’s Love Child might work even better than you can imagine.
Cruz is 45 and Trump is 69, so all you need to do is is say Carly Fiorina (she is 61) got impregnated by Trump when she was a teen and you have one hell of a story.
Hell it is the kind of craziness that you can sell to people and if not to people, well maybe TMZ or the National Enquirer.
That would be a heck of a lot more interesting than another post about why you should or shouldn’t write for SEO or some other piece about how to be a better blogger.
Well, better than the ordinary ones, or so I would think.
What About You & Medium?
Yeah, I knew someone would ask me why I am using Medium if I said I don’t care about traffic.
The answer is simple, I said I don’t need it, not that I don’t want it. Not to mention that you will rarely see me say I am uninterested in testing out a new tool, especially if I think it will help me become a better writer.
Ask my kids how many times I have told them to remember there are many paths to success and multiple ways to do things.
Hell, ask them how many times they have seen me roll my eyes when some millenial writes about how it is impossible to become a gaziollionaire because the best apps and greatest companies have been developed and or thought of.
That kind of nonsense is ridiculous and my life is proof of it.
When I was 12 no one talked about video games becoming a billion dollar industry. Nor did they talk about a day when everyone would walk around with computers in our pockets called smartphones.
Social media would have been understood as watching television or a movie in person with someone else.
Dear Teenager
That leads to my final thought for this post.
Dear teenage son of mine, you don’t have to worry about knowing what you want to be today or even wonder if you’ll have figured it out by 25.
You just have to be willing to work hard and keep your eyes open.
Your old man knows things and if you are smart you’ll listen to some of those every so often.
