Knowledge is certainly power and after having “lived” online for so many years I’m well aware of all of the strategies to build traffic, generate hits, collect a digital paycheck, and sell product.
Yet there are a number of things (lots actually) that I can never do to solicit views which, technically speaking, puts me at a significant disadvantage with the rest of the marketplace. I suppose it comes down to just trusting God for the success of our respective ministries, organizations, and blogs, right?
Porn, explicit content, tinderbox content, are just a few of these types that I’m just not comfortable with leveraging for the eyeball game online.
Tumblr, for example, has grown recently in huge ways due to the porn industry jumping on board:
Pretty insane when you look at it. A lot of SEO keywords are linking to their content and sites.
It is what it is, right? I know that there are certain ministries that have the expressed purpose on redeeming those areas (like XXXChurch) are doing a great job. They should keep doing it, but for ministries and orgs that don’t have that mission… it’s a tough call!
We are called to something greater.
[HT: Appstorm]
Kyle Reed says
Thats interesting, I didn’t know Tumblr was jumping into that.
I have noticed that a loto f bloggers get a lot of traffic anytime they mention sex or porn in a post. Sometimes I wonder if they do this for the traffic or the content. I guess both serves its purpose.
Adam Lehman says
DUDE!
If xxxchurch is doing a porn church.
I’ll just do xxxstudentministry and have the churches porn youth ministry.
All I have to do is rebrand my blog and I’ll get TONS of traffic!!!!
Micah Choquette says
I knew tumblr was jumping into this game (in fact I’ve fallen prey a time or two), but I still use them. Truthfully, porn advocates will use any means necessary to spread their twisted gospel, and so it becomes that much more important to ensure that folks are hearing the Truth.
Graham Brenna says
Wow! Didn’t know that about Tumblr… ๐
I suppose rising above it and becoming successful without using those search terms really speaks to the mission. If you are able to become successful without linking to the largest use of the internet (porn)… so much the better right?
Jonathan Batteas says
To me, one of the limitations I feel pretty heavily is that of software. I used to be a pretty prodigious software pirate. No need to spend thousands of dollars for that Adobe software, just click and download. Since Christ renewed my mind, I’ve sometimes had to take the hard way around and learning to use open source software, or pony up a few dollars to purchase software when I can’t complete a task with anything else. To me, that is one of the great things about the open source community, it gives me the opportunity to live out Ephesians 4:28 : “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” The OS community is a great place to do this, as you learn techniques and share them with others facing the same problems. I actually wrote a blog post about this very limitation.
As far as traffic goes, I’ve had to content myself with the 3 people/day that visit my site, and trust the rest to God ๐