SEO Strategy to Increase
Blog Traffic
SEO Strategy is necessary when blogging for money since it helps increase blog traffic. (You can also read my post Get Traffic To Your Website which touches on the subject of traffic).
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it is doing things that the search engines like. They include keyword research, keyword placement and links.
Anybody who is building a website or a blog should learn about seo and implement seo strategy. Yes, even the bloggers who don’t blog for money.
Not everyone who blogs likes the idea of blogging seo but I can’t imagine a blogger who wouldn’t want to increase blog traffic.
All blog owners want readers. And the more traffic there is the more readers there will be.
Why am I stating the obvious?
Because there are people who seem to be oblivious to it. They’ve never heard of it, never understood it or refuse to pay attention to it.
I know such people that I’ve met online.
Online Friendship
Here is an example of two people I’d never met in the flesh but became acquainted with them online and now we’re friends.
Both are blogging and both had been happily posting without regard to search engine optimization.
When I gently pointed out to them the fact, Jose from Notes On Blogging happily embraced it and went all out to learn everything about SEO and implemented as much as he could right away.
Ed (not his real name) on the other hand stubbornly refused to do anything differently and said he didn’t want to bother with keywords and just wanted to be himself.
I’ll let you guess who gets more traffic, comments and online friends.
Helping Fellow Bloggers
Many people are helping their fellow blogging enthusiasts.
I too want to help as much as I can and whenever the opportunity arises.
It’s always exciting to find new friends online through the existing ones.
When I saw the post on Petra Weiss blog encouraging bloggers to help her online blogger friend I didn’t pass the opportunity and took action as many others have.
I was intrigued by the text link Oes tsetnoc leading to Petra’s friend’s site.
The link above which you can check for yourself has to do with webmaster seo contest. You can read the post about it by clicking on the link. I found it interesting.
I have fulfilled the request placed there here and so can you if you are moved by it.
Learning and implementing seo strategy to increase blog traffic will help you as a blogger whether you’re blogging for money, for fun, online friendship or any other reason.
Why do you blog?
Do you do SEO?
Leave a comment.
.
Authored by Vance Sova
Subscribe to Vance Sova.com by Email
Filed under: SEO Strategy, Blogging Tips
Thanks for the support Vance, and also for the email alerting me to the fact that commenting was “broken”, it should be now working again, SY
.-= hospitalera´s last blog ..Thanks again! =-.
Vance Reply:
December 6th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Hi SY,
You’re welcome. Thanks for letting me know you fixed the plug in. It was acting very strangely.
I’ll visit your site now to see if it’s behaving normally again.
Vance
Hi Vance,
I don’t do much seo with my blog at the moment, it’s something i have to work on maybe i could get some tips off you some day.
Cheers,
Nick
.-= Nick Brosnan´s last blog ..What Ive Been Doing =-.
Vance Reply:
December 6th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Hi Nick,
Thanks for being honest about your meager seo efforts.
I would suggest that you start with your next post instead of some day.
You can get some tips anytime on this blog.
If it’s not here right now ask away and I’ll put it up shortly if I have the answer and if I don’t I’ll find it ASAP.
Vance
Thanks a lot, Vance, for mentioning my blog in your post!
Yes, I am trying to learn as much as I can on SEO, at least what can help me increase traffic to my blog. According to Website Grader I’ve gone from an initial 69/100 grade a month ago to 83/100 as of yesterday.
But apart from the grade, the new concepts you learn and the new acquaintances you make along the way are well worth the effort. I have started to receive visitors from other communities now, expanding my relationships beyond the Alex Jeffreys fellowship (of which I’m a proud member).
Best regards,
Jose
Vance Reply:
December 6th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Hi Jose,
You’re welcome and you deserve a mention for taking action on seo.
You are obviously progressing along nicely and contributing to other people through the info on your blog.
You are also ranking for some keywords in Google between the first and second page.
Getting visitors from before unknown places and getting to know them is no doubt the benefit of well done seo.
Vance
Hi Vance,
thank you so much for mentioning my blog on your site, thus helping me with SEO! 😉 Also thanks for helping SY in her SEO contest “oes tsetnoc” (http://hospitalera.com/oes-tsetnoc/)- I know she does appreciate it very much.
You know, it’s strange, I was writing that bloggers should help each other out, and my post has not been re-tweeted yet, even though there is a big tweet button at the end. How is that for being helpful to each other? I think the first thing you would do after reading a post like that was hit the “Tweet” button! Or am I just expecting too much? 🙁
Very nice post, and to let you know, I always try to find keywords to do proper SEO once I know what my next post is going to be about. I’d say about 80+ percent of my blog posts have been keyword optimized.
.-= Petra Weiss´s last blog ..Bloggers Help Each Other Out…. =-.
Vance Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Hi Petra,
You’re most welcome. I like your blog and think that it deserves to be discovered by more people who would like it if they had the chance to find it. Plus you are very helpful to everybody so why not give a little back to you.
I’ll have to use the tweet button on your blog too. I haven’t done it so the rebuke includes me too. I think that a lot of people just never notice the button, like me, or they don’t want to take the time to press it. If they don’t have the button on their blog they may not pay any attention to it. And some may not want to help others.
Thanks for letting me know that you do SEO. I think it’s great. I’m doing it too and have still a way to go perfecting it.
Thanks for commenting and I look forward to your next visit here.
Vance
Vance – I saw your comment on Kristie’s site so I thought I’d drop by and check out your blog.
Initially I was blogging to bring into to my subscribers that I felt was helpful. While I will always keep that in the forefront of my mind I am now doing what I can to build my little “community”.
BTW, did my post on the plug-ins help you out with your issue?
Michelle @mmangen
.-= Michelle Mangen´s last blog ..Leveraging YOUR Power Through Twitter =-.
Vance Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Hi Michelle,
I’m very pleased to meet you here, welcome to my blog.
I may decide to join your community one day. Your post on the plug ins did inform me about some plug ins I had no idea existed.
But my issue was with a plug in that you don’t have listed there and probably for a good reason. It was preventing me from posting new posts.
I went ahead and placed a comment under your plug ins post.
Thanks for commenting and please do visit again.
Vance
Hi Vance,
SEO is something I know a little bit about, but I sometimes forget all about it when I’m writing my posts… I’ll have to take some time and learn more about it at some point, right now I’m trying to just focus on list building.
I’ve also made some very good friends in the Internet Marketing niche, and all from plain simple blog commenting!
The main reasons I blog is because:
a.) I’ve grown to love doing it!
b.) To help others get started in Internet Marketing, Blogging, etc…
c.) To build trust and friendships with like minded people.
d.) So people (including myself) can look back in years to come, and see exactly how far I’ve come in my journey from newbie to Internet Marketer.
e.) To inspire others.
Great post Vance, I enjoyed both reading and replying to it!
Paul
PS- I remembered to use the KeywordLuv this time, thanks for reminding me. 😉
.-= Paul Lear@increase alexa rank´s last blog ..The New FTC Guidelines for IM, Blogging & Affilates, and How It Affects You! =-.
Vance Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Hi Paul,
It’s good that you are aware of SEO and want to learn more about it. I think that alone will show in your posts. Later you can learn more and tweak things when you’re ready.
Making friends through commenting is great, isn’t it?
I like your reasons for blogging. Thanks for your comment. I’m glad you enjoyed reading this post and replying to it.
I always enjoy reading your comments and posts.
Do use the keyword luv it helps. I hope you’ll consider installing it on your blog.
Vance
Hi Vance,
The very nature of blogs, WordPress in particular, helps in SEO. So just the act of posting fresh content on a regular basis actually is a form of SEO unlike non-blog platforms.
I very seldom worry about keywords in my posts, at least not on RodMacbeth.com. My other blogs, yes, but their nature is more just to make money.
However, I always make sure to use “All In One SEO” in every post.
Cheers,
Rod
.-= Rod Macbeth´s last blog ..The Key To Life =-.
Vance Reply:
December 8th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Hi Rod,
Your comment is always quite unique which I appreciate. I think you are right to a certain degree on this.
What I mean is that if you post frequently and always have fresh content the search engines will keep on indexing your pages more frequently. And they will put your fresh pages up in search results for a short time.
But this placement is only temporary until the longer term bots place you in the overall hierarchy of all the websites.
For more enduring placement closer to the top for any particular post page you’ll need a good SEO.
Then that page can be found by a total stranger who puts in the keywords you optimize it for even moths after you posted.
Of course if you want only your fresh pages showing in search engines than you don’t need to bother with seo that much.
Using the All In One SEO plug in in Word Press is of course a must for every blog.
Vance
Hey Vance,
From my days building websites I know a little about SEO but haven’t really implemented much into my blog as yet. There’s some really great plug-ins that do a lot of the work for you (which is always a nice bonus).
I’ve enjoyed the blogging experience so far, it’s been great meeting a bunch of decent like minded people and most of the time it’s a lot of fun!
(I say most of the time because those little WordPress quirks and mysteries drive me CRAZY sometimes – had a weird one today when ALL internal links stopped working – I’ll be blogging about that soon)
Thanks for the heads up about keyword luv – I’ll be checking it out and checking back over here soon.
Rob
.-= Rob Bradley´s last blog ..My First Video: Building a Blog Based Business =-.
Vance Reply:
December 8th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the comment. It’s good that you know about SEO. Whether you want to implement it on your blog is up to you.
If you blog frequently and don’t care so much about your individual posts being found through search engines after a while then it’s cool to not bother with it.
This is just my opinion which I also expressed in reply to Rod’s comment just before this one.
No matter what you do as long as you enjoy blogging and meeting people that way I think it’s awesome.
I’m curious about what caused your internal linking to stop working.
As for the keyword luv plug in it is working well for me so far. I see you didn’t take advantage of it.
Maybe next time. Look forward to your checking back.
Vance
Rob Bradley@build a blog based business Reply:
December 9th, 2009 at 7:56 am
Your right when considering the longer term chances of blog posts being found through search – maybe I need to get a bit more active with this rather than just relying on the plugins 😉
Trying the KeywordLuv plugin again…
Rob
.-= Rob Bradley@build a blog based business´s last blog ..My First Video: Building a Blog Based Business =-.
Vance Reply:
December 9th, 2009 at 10:17 am
Hi Rob,
Thanks for saying I’m right. I like to hear that, ha ha.
I think it makes sense because the search engines rely on keywords to find things.
If you know how to do it it certainly can’t hurt to employ some seo.
This time you used the keyword luv. Good show.
Vance
I definitely don’t blog for SEO but I implement it on my blog. Speaking my mind through my blog, I need to extend it to as many readers, and unless I don’t use SEO, it is not possible. 🙂
Vance Reply:
December 10th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
Hi Walter,
Welcome to my blog and thanks for your comment.
I appreciate that you don’t blog for seo but you implement it.
I think that’s all one needs to do.
If you mean by not blogging for seo that you aren’t blogging for that reason. It can be implemented without being obsessed by it.
What I’m trying to convey in my post is that one will be helped by being aware of the importance of seo and its implementation and you are doing that.
I hope that more people who aren’t are going to see the light after reading this or at least will get the idea and will act on it soon.
Vance
Hi Vance,
Glad you enjoyed the “Brianstorming” post on my site – and , having seen your own site now, I very much hope that you’ll soon be joining the Blogging community at http://www.blogengage.com/.
Please remember to add me as a friend if you do – and maybe join our BlogEngage promotion campaign too. Brian is building a brilliant community there that I think deserves a lot of support
Very best wishes
Will
P.S. SEO is hugely important and you’re doing a great service here ( many website owners are , I’m sure, “oblivious to the obvious” )
.-= Will ´s last blog ..Brianstorming =-.
Vance Reply:
December 11th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Hi Will,
Thank you for the comment and for endorsing my view on seo.
I’ll check out the Blog Engage community today and if I do decide to join I’ll add you as a friend.
Vance
I blog for the enjoyment of it. It didn’t start off that way as my first ever blog came to life because I heard it would make my website more noticeable, the rest is history.
I don’t apply all that much SEO. I shove some keywords at the end of the post and thats about it.
What I do that seems to work is do a hell of a lot of commenting, starting virtual online relationships, and that seems to be working fine so far.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..A Recap On My Hottest Poems =-.
Vance Reply:
December 11th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Hi Sire,
Blogging for the enjoyment of it is great.
Even though you don’t apply that much seo you still do shove some keywords in. So you do some of it.
Doing a lot of commenting does work well. Exactly what we are doing right now.
I appreciate your visit and look forward to your next one.
Vance
Hey Vance,
I have to say SEO is something I always forget when I am blogging. As I just write with the flow, it’s only after seeing posts such as yours that I think I should have done a bit better.
I blog to try to teach new things but also to share my results with different methods of marketing, all except SEO of course 🙂
It’s also a good way as I think Paul said above to see how far you have come along in what you are dong.
.-= James Howard@Alex Jeffreys Coaching Program´s last blog ..Alex Jeffreys Coaching Program =-.
Vance Reply:
December 14th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Hi Jimmy,
I’m glad that my post reminded you of seo. Writing with he flow is the way to do it and you can incorporate some seo too.
But don’t feel bad or anything like that. You are aware and not oblivious to it so it will come. The good thing is that you are writing and doing other methods.
You and Paul are very kind in commenting on my progress. I’ll work harder to deserve what you say now and to continue to deserve it in the future.
Vance
Seo is something that I just do, something that comes naturally to me, granted I had / have to learn the nitty-gritty techno details, but the concept itself: Keywords, content and back links was something that made sense for me from the beginning. Perhaps because my first internet related venture, and still major source of online income, was to sell image licenses via online stock libraries. If you don’t keyword your images properly, they don’t get found and they don’t sell. Kind of the 123 or ABC of Internet Marketing and / or SEO, really. Or perhaps I just find SEO and the SERPentines fascinating, like a snake charmed by a snake charmer – the seo expert. Enough babbling like a bumbling band of baboons, dobrou noc, SY
.-= hospitalera@blogging´s last blog ..How not to win a SEO contest =-.
Vance Reply:
December 15th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Hi SY,
It’s good to know that you are one of the seo experts.
If you read some of the comments here, there are still quite a few people who neglect seo. Recently I read a free course on blogging and it does mentions seo as one of the 4 things to do but I was surprised that it was listed in the 4th place.
Mind you the blogger who wrote it is so famous that people look his blog up zillions of times per day.
I’m intrigued by your mention of selling image licenses via online stock libraries. That’s something I know absolutely nothing about.
But putting keywords your images makes perfect sense for them to be found, just as it makes perfect sense to put them in your posts and blog so that they are found.
I see that you have a new post that I should check out.
Thanks for commenting.
Vance
hospitalera@blogging Reply:
December 16th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Oh no, not an seo expert, just an seo enthusiast! The word expert loads too much responsibility on my poor middle age shoulders 😉 SY
.-= hospitalera@blogging´s last blog ..How not to win a SEO contest =-.
Vance Reply:
December 16th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
SY,
Seo enthusiast it is then.
An enthusiast can be an expert though, while many an expert is not necessarily an enthusiast.
What of all of the so called financial experts, the economic experts that are wrong more often than not?
They don’t seem to take their responsibility too seriously and call themselves experts anyway or allow others to do so.
I think you are an enthusiast who has a considerable expertise while remaining modest.
Vance
Hey Vance,
Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment. As a result of your comment I was introduced to 3 new blogs that I also left comments for – yours, Petra’s and Hospitalera’s. I was a day late to help out with Hospitalera’s quest to rank high in Google. I hope they did well.
As for SEO goes, I don’t plan keyword selection very often when writing posts. I know how to do it (can always learn more) but find that it’s time consuming. I do have a plan for 2010 and that’s to write and schedule posts in advance – that way I can have a theme and apply better seo
Nice to meet you Vance
.-= Luca Di Nicola´s last blog ..So Many Deals – So Little Time =-.
Vance Reply:
December 16th, 2009 at 9:57 am
Hey Luca,
I enjoyed stopping by your blog and it’s great that you decided to visit mine. I appreciate your going over to Petra’s and Hospitalera’s blogs as a result of reading my post.
Your plan of writing posts in advance and scheduling them in 2010 and applying better seo sounds good.
Having a few posts written in advance is a great idea that I’d like to implement too.
It would relieve the pressure at times when other things come up and writing another post is due and time is lacking to be doing everything at once.
It would also help when one is traveling and posting is very difficult and when one needs to take a break from the computer.
Nice to meet you too Luca.
Vance
Hi Vance,
I still have no idea about the SEO stuff. I just used the keyword luv tool! Cool. 😎
I still don’t know what keywords I really focus on on my blog yet either. Because my blog is still in development and at the moment I am focusing on online training I have mainly focused on those types of keywords.
I do have All in One SEO installed and use it for every post. I did notice that once I installed the plugin and started using it my ranking improved.
Hope all is going well. I had better get back to the studying! 😳
Jacinta 😀
Vance Reply:
December 21st, 2009 at 10:54 am
Hi Jacinta,
From what you wrote I think that you are doing some seo.
You also used the keyword luv which helps a lot. At least you are aware.
Focusing on online training keywords is great if that’s what you write about.
All in One SEO plug in is a must and you have it and use it. Wonderful.
I applaud you for studying so hard. I study a lot too and sometimes maybe too much at the expense of taking action and putting what I learn into practice.
If you can, and I need to take my own advice on this, put into practice everything you learn right away instead of studying more.
Maybe you are doing this already. If that’s the case just keep on doing it.
All is well with me and it will be even better as I improve on putting into practice what I’m learning right away.
Thank you for visiting and commenting. I’ll have a look at your blog shortly.
Vance
SEO with blogging is very, very, very important. Did I say very? If you don’t want to increase traffic and/or readers don’t worry about SEO just run off at the mouth and see what happens.
.-= Cary Bergeron´s last blog ..Google Adsense Website For Sale – $4000k+ Monthly Profit =-.
Vance Reply:
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:55 am
Hi Cary,
Your emphasis on the importance of SEO is strong and you did say very several times.
So I take it that you do it yourself. It definitely is worth the effort. Thanks for visiting.
Vance
Hi,
I think this is really such a nice article on seo because it gives the information about the miracle field. This is really a great source of information.
Anyways keep it up with your valuable thoughts.
Vance Reply:
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:12 am
Hi Rocky,
Thanks for visiting and saying what you did if you really mean it. Is SEO the miracle field?
I never heard that expression but it could be I guess because when done properly it may become a sort of a goose laying golden eggs.
Vance
Hi Vance,
I’m so glad I found your site. I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can about SEO, etc. I’m very much the novice, but Desperately trying to change that 🙂
I bookmarked you and will be a regular visitor, I’m sure.
Thanks for all the helpful advice.
Natalie
Vance Reply:
December 31st, 2009 at 10:28 am
Hi Natalie,
I’m so glad you found me. It’s always nice to hear that what I write is helpful and you are most welcome to visit as often as you like and comment.
You can also ask questions in your comments on the subject of seo or whatever the post you read is about if you need to and I’ll try to give the best answer if I have it and find it if I don’t.
I like to help and I’m still learning too.
Vance
Vance Reply:
January 10th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Hi Natalie,
I want to let you know that I fixed the comment subscription plug in – it didn’t work properly because I made a mistake setting it up.
The discussion has now moved mostly to my most recent post which is also partly about SEO since it’s about getting traffic and links with comments.
I invite you to check it out and join the discussion.
Vance
Hey Vance,
I’ve enjoyed reading your several SEO related posts, as this is something i am getting into heavily now when setting up niche blogs.
Get your SEO right and it can provide you with a steady stream of free traffic every day. Like you Vance, i firmly believe that if anyone is serious about blogging, or making money from any kind of website then they should invest the time to learn as much about SEO as possible.
It is not something that you can just upload a WordPress plugin and it does it all for you. To get your sites properly optimized and ranking for chosen keywords will take some learning, but once you understand the concept then it can open the door to hoards of traffic.
As always Vance, an extremely well written and informative post. I’m looking forward to reading more these great posts.
Hope you’re well Vance, sorry i didn’t get to meet you in Vegas, but hopefully one day as it will be a real pleasure to meet you.
Thanks,
Paul
.-= Paul Hooper´s last blog ..How to Plan and Stay Focused =-.
Vance Reply:
February 25th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Hey Paul,
Thanks for the comment. I’m glad you enjoyed my posts on SEO.
It’s always nice and educational to read your comments.
If you get to read this reply, I’d like to visit some of your niche sites to see how you approach them.
As for the importance of SEO I find that a lot of people virtually ignore it. With internet marketers who rely on borrowed and paid traffic it doesn’t surprise me that much but I find it amazing to realize how many bloggers don’t do it.
And some people actually believe that a WordPress plug in will do it all for them.
I try to help those people realize how important SEO is but it seems that they aren’t willing to do it even though some of them admit they think they should.
So it’s really the people who already are doing it and want to learn more or those who know they should do it and are open to it already that appreciate posts about SEO.
I have yet to know of anyone that have changed their mind completely from not doing it and not wanting to do it at all to getting all excited about it. It’s so hard to convince anyone of anything and you know what they say of those convinced against their will.
So I’m not really trying to convince anyone about SEO or anything else even though it may sometimes seem that way.
I’ll just keep stating the facts and my opinions regarding SEO and leave it up to each reader to decide what to do if anything.
I do hope to meet you one day Paul.
Vegas would have been a good place this January.
I know you had other and way more important things to attend to at that time.
Talk soon,
Vance
Hi Vance
I’ve been amazed how much bloggers do help each others out.
Within the unwritten blogging etiquette there appears to be a custom of commenting on blogs, which have left comments on yours.
I discovered this custom by accident, but it seems to hold good.
Of course some of the highly successful bloggers don’t follow the custom… but perhaps they should.
It makes me reluctant to comment on their blogs!
.-= Keith Davis@public speaking´s last blog ..A helping hand… =-.
Vance Reply:
March 5th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Hi Keith,
It is great if after somebody comments on your blog you visit their blog and find something to comment on and leave a comment there.
It’s kind of returning their favor. However, sometime it’s hard to find posts on a blog where you can contribute by commenting.
In such cases it is OK, in my opinion, not to leave a comment.
Giving first seems to work well, although by far not everybody will comment back. If they do, you may even develp a friendship through
commenting.
As for highly successful bloggers, they will hardly ever comment on your blog or even answer your comments.
They are likely too busy or don’t care. They may even outsource approving comments on their blogs and thus never read any comments people leave on their blog unless they are alerted to them by the person looking after comments for them.
But all that is no reason for not commenting on their blogs. If a post is comment worthy, leaving a valuable comment may still attract other readers of the blog back to your blog. And you’ll get a link as well.
Of course it is important to leave good quality comments.
Vance
Keith Davis@public speaking Reply:
March 5th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
“It’s kind of returning their favour” as you say, is the way I see it.
As to quality of comment, I’m fortunate that I have technical interests, html, CSS, WordPress, SEO and writing / creative interests so I visit fairly diverse blogs.
Plus now I have my own blog I’m interested in the blogosphere, increasing traffic and all the things associated with a blog.
.-= Keith Davis@public speaking´s last blog ..A helping hand… =-.
Vance Reply:
March 7th, 2010 at 10:52 am
Having diverse interests helps in having something interesting to say in comments.
The main thing is to read the posts that you comment on and say something pertinent to the subject.
I don’t approve comments that are given solely o get a link and have nothing to do with the subject of a post.
Vance
I blog a lot and try to do a little SEO as well to increase traffic to my blog. I do find the SEO bit tedious at times as many others. I think that your advice on online friends is sound and will be helpful.
Billigt Bredbånd´s last blog post ..Bredbånd i Danmark 2010
Vance Reply:
December 30th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Hi Billigt,
Welcome to my blog and thank you for commenting. Doing some SEO is a very good and necessary practice. It does get tedious and that’s why many people don’t bother with it. I’m glad you find my post on meeting other bloggers and internet marketers live helpful. Once you start doing it you’ll find how useful and how much fun it is.
I look forward to your next visit and comments.
Cheers,
Vance
Probably, there are people who blog just for the sake of writing. I really don’t see any other reason why would any blogger will not consider SEO. But come to think of it, why bother putting all your thoughts on a blog if nobody would ever get to read it?