Welcome to Wallyworld

problogger.net says "Steve Pavlina has another good blog-related post on How to Build a High-Traffic Web Site (or Blog) which has some sensible advice in the form of a list. His points are interesting because they are very untechnical and illustrate his own strategy (a successful one from what I can see) to focus very hard upon creating high quality content. Almost every point on his list touches on content creation as being the main focus: 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." see the original article here at steve pavlina.com

Yeah...O.K. I've read that and I reckon I can tick off every point -

1. Create valuable content - people say "thanks for that" all the time.

2. Create original content - people tell me they love my content. Even some of the guys at Technorati say they dig it.

3. Create timeless content - tick. I see people searching for stuff I've had up for nine months.

4. Write for human beings first, computers second - I do, man. I do.

5. Know why you want a high-traffic site - for me - so that all this hard work, this sometimes 12 hours a day hasn't gone wasted. And yeah...EGO is in there too. Some of this shit has been lying in the sock-drawer of my mind for years.

6. Let your audience see the real you - what can I say? It's me, genital warts and all.

7. Write what is true for you and learn to live with the consequences - I'm doing it Babe. That's why I'm abused on an almost daily basis by right-wing neo-cons and nutters.

8. Treat your visitors like real human beings - Yeah I treat you guys like Human Beans, don't I?

9. Keep money in its proper place - the bank? My wallet?

10. Focus on genuinely helping people and the rest will take care of itself - what are you, Pavlina - a Hippie? That last one's a crock of shit. I've made bugger-all out of this blog since starting it nine months ago. Not even a basic wage. The regulars have rattled the can - to the tune of $250 for Bandwidth and Host fees but it's hardly enough to retire on. And Google Adsense? - don't make me laugh - it gives me enough for a cup of java a day. Ditto for Amazon. And while I'm happy with my 1000+ Unique Visitors a Day, it's hardly in the same league as el Pavlina with his 100 Trillion or whatever it is. So where am I going wrong maestro? Even the perverts aren't coming any more. Maybe 'cause I keep tricking them and banning them.

So I've read all these articles on "Maximising Search Engines", "Building Traffic", "How to Retire on Your Adsense Revenue", "Don't be a Jerk" yada, yada, yada and I'm convinced it's a load of baloney. I've ticked all the 10 Points above and yet here I am standing by my stall spruiking my balls off Fresh bloggie...get your fresh bloggie...all you can read...free Downloads with every click and asking myself (again) why the fuck am I doing this?