Blog Integrity

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Since I’ve recently jumped past the 25,000 visitor mark just past my one year anniversary (thanks George for bringing that to my attention!), I’ve been thinking a lot lately about blog integrity. (Picture below is stock photo)

For me, I had no intention in making this a popular or mainstream blog. In fact, it has a long way to go before it reaches that stage, if it ever does. I’ve been really surprised how the last couple of months, the readership has shot up, its now at approximately 7,000 visitors per month. Even though my intentions were to only reach out to my friends and family whilst living in the UK, it does feel pretty awesome to know that something I’ve worked so hard on is starting to blossom.

Some of you may have noticed my recent Adsense integration. I’ve been playing around with it to see if I can make a bit of money on it, and why not if I can? My only problem is that I don’t want to compromise the look and easy access of the blog. I don’t want to make it look like a money making scheme either, thus turning off my new readers. After all, that was never my intention.

I also have no interest in bringing in traffic just for the sake of it.  (Read this entry from David Weedmark about it). Anytime my stomach starts turning and my hands start sweating, I either know that its a really amazing, terrifying thing for me to take part in, or its an absolute loss of integrity.

I really believe if I just stick to writing about what I want to write about, then the right people will come my way. After all, this is just a creative outlet, isn’t it?

Ultimately, once my book comes out, I do hope my readers from here will buy my book and I will do my best to promote the hell out of it without becoming a “promotion whore.” Read Allison Winn Scotch’s take on this here.

Also, I trust that if my readers ever feel I am beginning to sell out (whatever that means), they will let me know.

Thank you all for helping me to reach 25,000 and for keeping me in check!

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  • http://americangirlinbristol.blogspot.com Lis

    Wow! Congrats on the blogging success! I think that a lot of bloggers use AdSense and I honestly don't think it would be breaking integrity. I don't think it's anything to worry about. :)

  • http://twitter.com/eoshea Eileen O'Shea

    Good job! I'll keep reading even if you do turn into a promo ho!

    XO!!

  • http://www.ladywholunches.net/ MAL

    Twitter:
    Thanks Michelle! I haven’t guest posted in a while and I do enjoy doing so. Perhaps I’ll look into that again!

  • http://twitter.com/travelmaus @travelmaus

    Congrats on reaching 25,000! That's quite the amazing number ! You must be over the moon and so you should be. Your blog is awesome and I look forward to every new post! As for the ad content I can't comment since I don't have a public blog, but ads don't ever deter me from reading my favourite stories ! My feeling is that writers should get paid for their hard work.

    • http://www.ladywholunches.net/ MAL

      Twitter:
      Working on coming up with a better commenting system. Thanks for your help with that!

  • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/michelloui michelloui

    Woo hoo!! Thats a mighty fine number to have pushed past. Well done. I imagine the sponsored post stuff could work if you make the posts just as funny, interesting and relevant as you do your usual posts. I have done some sponsored posts and my traffic or comments don't change unless Ive uploaded something that is boring and/or not relevant to my usual readers.

    Keep up the guest posting–that will really pull in the extra readers!! Dont worry about the self promoting stuff, the genuinely interested readers will be happy to have found you, no matter how you have reached out to them. x

  • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/andthenallithoughtaboutwasyou andthenallithoughtaboutwasyou

    Wow that deserves a congratulations I am sure 25,000. That is amazing well done you xx

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/meglopes TheLadyWhoLunches

      Thanks! Even though it wasn't my intention, we all care a bit, don't we?

  • http://3bedroombungalow.blogspot.com Kat

    I never started my blog to make money or to become one of the “popular” ones. I started it as an outlet for my crazy. Now, I will do a review every once in a while if it is a product that I really could see myself using. I have noticed though that reviews KILL my blog traffic for the day.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/meglopes TheLadyWhoLunches

      I love how you cal it "my crazy" – that's a great way of putting it. So true though, and "your crazy" is what people love the most about your writing…if I were to guess.
      That's so interesting, I also find that the few times i have marketed something a bit, my traffic is slow. It just doesn't feel good, does it? I almost feel like if I do want to do something like that, I'd have to start another blog completely.