Linked!

The Pink Pigtail Inn had a very timely post on Monday where Larisa discussed both the ego-lifting and ego-shredding aspects of getting attention on a blog due to a link on WoW Insider. I really like it where she says -

Getting link love from WoW Insider is a double-edged sword. Many new bloggers crave for it; they think it would be the best thing ever to happen to their blog, to finally get the chance to reach a bigger audience.

That same afternoon I got linked by the Daily Quest.

Positive impacts? ZOMG, check out the Google Analytics! This little baby blog has existed for less than two weeks, and up to then I was thrilled to see three to eight people actually stop by to read what I was posting. That's a very cool feeling -- other people actually reading what it is that you have to say.

And then, Wham! 2,6000 visitors in two days. Holy. Crap.

Negatives? So far, I've been blessed by a lack of trolls. The folks that have commented have been amazing! They may agree with some points or disagree with others, but it's been a discussion rather than a rant. My favorite part of any blog is reading the responses. Many times, reader comments help me to reconsider or refine the point of the original post. It's the beauty of social networking that it fosters discussion. Of course, I'm still at the micro scale here with the Dummies; we're not talking "hundreds" or even "tens" of comments. Perhaps being smaller helps with the politeness scale? Or maybe it's just that readers are other bloggers? Hmmm....

Anyways, I certainly don't expect to have this level of traffic continue. My analytics in the future are going to show a huge spike followed by a leveling off. I'm not sure I'd even want that kind of traffic to continue.

It's a bit like being a casual player in WoW.  Right now, I can do whatever I want on my blog because there is no expectation of me.  I'm purely in this to divulge my own opinions and observations. Sure, I love it when others want to read that and even discuss it.

However, I'm nowhere near as visible as a blogger with thousands of readers. I have no experience in having an actual audience of readers, but I can only imagine that having an audience does require a semi-regular posting schedule. I suspect that audience desires and expectations would impact both posting schedules but also content (for example, raid strategies or min/maxing DPS strategies). An audience is now counting on the blogger to deliver, and by that same logic you could be compared to a progression raider in the game.

Like how I tied that back in?

In-game, I feel confident that I know how to play Peashooter well enough to try my hand at progression raiding. But, blogging? I'm a total newbie and I need to be hanging out in Dun Morogh learning the mechanics for a bit. Having that many hits seems premature. Great stuff, no doubt, but I don't think I have the actual content for many of those referrals to actually "stick".

But, guess what?  I'm cool with that. I'm still leveling my blog. If I can stick with it, it may go someplace. Who knows?