Research and Pablum

As I often do, I've been researching the net scouring for new monetization and publicity techniques, and I came across an article on Steve Pavlina's website. It was supposedly an article from a time-tested pro-blogger. It was referenced in a larger article I was reading about how to get publicity and bring a blog up from absolutely no traffic into a high mega-traffic blog. I know many advanced techniques for how this works, but I'm always on the lookout for new shortcuts and bits of info that can advance my techniques.

At any rate, I read the article with baited breath, until I got to the very end of the article and realized that I had wasted my time - all buildup and no actual information.

I'll summarize the headers from the article:

1. Create valuable content.
2. Create original content.
3. Create timeless content.
4. Write for human beings first, computers second.
5. Know why you want a high-traffic site.
6. Let your audience see the real you.
7. Write what is true for you, and learn to live with the consequences.
8. Treat your visitors like real human beings.
9. Keep money in its proper place.
10. If you forget the first nine suggestions, just focus on genuinely helping people, and the rest will take care of itself.

Essentially, not only does he take the hippy-happy approach to how to build traffic, some of his advice is just plain wrong. Letting the audience see the real you is not always the best solution - SlashDot, enGadget, Gawker... these sites have personality, but it is not a real or true personality, but more of an imalgamation of several people's personalities or a made up set of personalities.

Furthermore, no actual knowlege is purveyed by the article. Writing words into the ether without any knowlege on how to make it found is pointless. There are writing techniques that can be used to make actual impact on traffic. He discusses none of them.

I will probably be posting some information based on my own findings over the next few weeks. I'm writing up some long posts for the ModernOpinion writers on how to better promote themselves, and I'll make it do double duty here on the site.

/rizzn