Blog Links and Responsible Writing

While looking at stats for this blog last night, I had a minor revelation. The article I wrote about SPJ's support for National Geographic in its law suit was fairly popular popular, but with two links in it, not even 10 percent of the readers went beyond what I wrote. That got me thinking about statistics for all my blogs, and I realized that many people never click on links that lead off the blog page.

It was a depressing thought, in a way. It could be a result of a skewing of my audiences, and this is a small sample, but I'm now wondering to what degree people actually use links. In other words, if you provide links for additional information and to back up what you claim, very few people have a practical care. They just read what you wrote and go on to something else.

That puts a great burden on the writer. You can't reliably use links as a way to help explain a story. You can't use statements that are cryptic unless understood in the context of a reference you provided. In short, we may all need to assume that for many people, what we write could be it.

Let that sink in. Posts really need to be thorough, recap all the necessary information, and be able to stand on their own if necessary. Most need to have the discipline of miniature reported articles. That's just on the craft and writing side. How about marketing? Getting a link to your piece in someone else's story is probably going to draw a lot less traffic than you might otherwise want.

We all have a lot of learning facging us when it comes to these new media. No one can give you certain answers because they don't know them. The experience does suggest that paying scrupulous attention to the usage numbers of your blog are important for writing quality and responsibility in addition to better controlling your marketing.

Here's to finding out that this "easy" form of writing is a lot more difficult than one might think.