Bloggers read bloggers (or Hey BlogOn, let my traffic go)

My traffic is a bit down this week. And, of course, this sent me into a catatonic fit, because, as we all know, I'm only venting my spleen on a regular basis for the sweet sweet traffic. Otherwise, I would be saving my tantrums for my co-workers.

And then it dawned on me. A glimmer of hope. I stopped rocking frantically back and forth, removed my thumb from my mouth, and uncurled from my fetal position. I kept whimpering, but you must understand that I whimper most of the time.

I figured out why my traffic was down: I blame BlogOn.

You see, bloggers read other bloggers and then blog, which creates blog content that is read by other bloggers, and so on, and so on, and so on. It's really quite incestuous. All this commenting and trackback and whatnot in our own little microcosm. Fanning the flames of our own egos with the irrational exuberance of inflated self-worth.

But, you see, a bunch of the and-so-on-and-so-ons in that chain are at BlogOn. Selfish lot that they are, focusing on their own blogs instead of mine. I mean, really. And they get so busy. It's crazy. All absorbed in these blogging a grassroots media discussions. So absorbed, in fact, that even Suw Charman, one of the bloggers blogging the BlogOn event admits "I got so busy yesterday I didn't get to blog much..."

If the blogger blogging BlogOn ain't blogging, then I'm fairly confident that the rest of the lot isn't. And if they're not blogging, they're likely not reading blogs. I mean, why would they? They're getting a live warm Podcast directly from the bloggers... Why are you looking at me like that? What's that? Oh, speech. I was talking about speeches. Warm podcast? Whoof. Sometimes, I get so wrapped up in the jargon, trying to be cool.

Anyway, back to the rant.

And if they're not blogging (and a Technorati tag search shows it's likely they're not) and not reading, then my traffic suffers. Or maybe my dwindling traffic stems from the fact that I just write self-absorbed marketing fluff.

No, silly. BlogOn. It's definitely BlogOn.

So what's the marketing point in all of this? Well, I think it's pretty straightforward. There are two points actually:

Know the social habits of your market.
If you focus on a certain group, know when their events hit, know when the critical times are for them, know when they have time for you, and know where you need to be to be in front of them. Because as important as you think you are, you're really not. And sometimes it's just good timing that helps you cut through the clutter.

Blogging, as we all know, is a conversation.
And when you're just one hand clapping in a vacuum, you don't make much noise, or get much traffic. You need to both participate and be, um, participated. Or, be one with whom others participate. However you want to say it. All the marketing in the world is for naught if there is no audience listening for that tree to fall.

(Yes, I know sometimes the depth of my marketing insight is only overshadowed by the number of fragmented platitudes I can shove into a sentence. It's a gift really. Never even have to think or try. It just happens.)

Long story short, which never helps after I've forced you to read through all of this, know your market. And know that you're not the center of the universe. Realize that there are other factors that influence them. And know that 99% of the time, they're thinking about things far more important to them than your product, or blog, or article, or whatever. The other 1% of the time, I believe, is dedicated to thoughts about cheese. I think I have a citation for that somewhere.

Well, well, well. Look who's here. How was BlogOn? What's that? Well, why haven't you been by then? I've been waiting. I even wrote this entry just for you, and you alone. Serious. What's that? Okay, well come back again and I promise I'll write one just for you.

Technorati tags: BlogOn, BlogOn2005, Blogger, Blogging