So it seems when many of us move to blogging type sites, it’s sometimes hard to mentally leap the barrier of “static” to dynamic (dynamic meaning content that changes). Blogs are something that engages your readers, they (blogs) facilitate two way communication between you and your readers (who, for business operators, are potential clients). All to often I notice new blog owners place some content on the blog and then sit and wait for traffic. Invariably I often get a message or phone call asking what can be done as nothing’s happening. The conversation usually sounds something like this (below being an actual transcript):

BloggerSavvy: “Have you added in-demand, valuable content to your blog?”

New Blog Owner: “I did that a while back, but nobody visited the site.”

BloggerSavvy: “Have you added anything recently, content?”

New Blog Owner: “Well, no, not really, there’s not enough traffic and I don’t want to waste my time.”

BloggerSavvy:  “What things are you doing to draw traffic to your blog?”

New Blog Owner: “What do you mean? This is the Internet, won’t Google provide the traffic?”

BloggerSavvy: “Oh, I see, okay, what sites and online communities are you participating in, what activities are you doing to attract the attention of readers?”

New Blog Owner: “The blog is on the Internet, so shouldn’t I get some traffic because of that? There are millions of people all over the world on the Internet.”

BloggerSavvy: <Pausing…>

New Blog Owner: “I don’t really know what you mean or what I should do, can’t you do something? What now?”

As I’m sure we can appreciate, it seems that much of the issue is related not only to understanding the concept of a dynamic web site (blog), but also in appreciating that the off line, tangible world (where we make friends, connections, etc.) is mirrored in the online world! – The Internet. With this in mind, let’s think about that conversation…

In-demand, valuable content. That’s important, it provides original information that is demanded by readers. In other words, copying content from somewhere else (even with permission) is simply not going to garner any traffic or blog popularity. After all, if the blog uses duplicated content, what incentive is there to visit? Most readers would prefer (and will)  visit the source.

Post new content consistently. Business demands are very great on our time (myself included).  However, it’s important to always post regularly, the more often the better (as long as the content is of good quality – posting tons of low quality content will simply motivate readers to leave). When your blog is not busy, you should still post content! The thought process that it’s not worthwhile to post (since there are not many readers) is, in my opinion, a defeatist perspective. If I don’t post there are no readers – They will leave! If I’m low on readers, that’s when I must post regular content – It gives new readers some meat and potatoes… If the table is bare, it’s not very inviting – is it?

Be active in promoting your blog. You’ve got to get out there and participate, shake the trees, be active – Just like Baloo (Don’t know what that means? See the video below).

It’s a matter of gaining the experience of knowing were to participate, where to look for traffic, readers, connections – As Baloo puts it “the bare necessities”. Or… more to the point how to search. Just because your blog is accessible to Internet  subscribers, does not impart a degree of excessive traffic. This still begs the question, what now? What can new blog owners do to improve their visibility and increase readership.

To get noticed, you’ll have to make some noise. For all those new blog owners, here are some of the things I’ve done that have worked for me.

• Create a signature for your email and include and invitation to your URL. This will automatically be appended to every email you send out. eMail applications like Thunderbird, Evolution, Outlook Express, etc. all have the ability to do this.
• Join forums that appeal to your niche. When you answer questions (or ask them), most forums have the ability to include your tag line and/or signature. Again, include and invitation and a link to your URL. Do not spam forums (you’ll get banned). Instead, legitimately participate in them.
• Allow some of your content to be used on other sites only if the content links directly back to your blog.
• Participate in communities such as twitter, digg, etc. and those which appeal to your niche subject,  ensuring your profile in each of the communities you join all contain a URL to your blog.
• Comment on other blogs (do not spam – comment legitimately) with valuable content, insight, links, opinions, etc. – While making sure you include the URL of your blog in the appropriate area of the comment form you are completing.
• Always do your best to respond to readers who comment on your blog. Invite their opinions.
• Ensure your blog has the facility to allow commentors to be notified when someone responds to their comment – This invites return visits and further discussion.
• Offer to be a guest blogger on other blogs and invite your readers to be a guest on your blog.
• Make sure your blog has a “search” feature. Nothing could be more annoying than having to flip though page after page to try and find something. Make your blog user friendly.
• eMail readers and thank them for visiting.
• Get your best content seeded (included) in social bookmarking services like Stumbleupon and Delicious.

The above suggestions should help give new blog owners a good push in promoting their blog readership and traffic. Remember, don’t expect instant results, rather focus on community participation and providing quality content. If you do, your readership will grow all by itself.

What works for you that I’ve not mentioned? Have a success story you’d like to share? Feel free to add your comments below!

In my opinion, the lack of understanding the importance of social media is one of the biggest contributing factors to the lack in targeted web traffic, of any volume. All too often it seems, a web site or blog is launched and there’s almost not effective growth plan or activities that capitalize on the benefits of social media.  To be quite blunt, I’m not aware of any other low-cost effective blog promotional venues that has the capability and reach of social media.

For those not familiar, by social media venues, I’m referring to avenues such as Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, Friendster, Facebook, and the like. Sites and services that are able to connect large communities of people in any given niche. Remembering of course that the better you can cater to a focused niche, the more pre-qualified your traffic is going to be.

With regards to social media marketing (or the lack thereof), I think each of us falls into one of four categories:

1. Fully aware and know how: Individuals who are fully aware of the value of social media and use it consistently to build their blog.
2. Aware and don’t know how: Individuals who are aware, but do not know how to effectively take advantage of it.
3. Unaware and don’t know how: Individuals who are unaware and do not understand how it works.
4. Don’t care and not interested: Individuals that simply avoid social media or don’t realize the value of it.

For those not familiar with social media or it’s impact, the following video illustrates the forces that shape it:

Regardless of which category of social media usage any of us fall into, it’s important at times, to be reminded of two primary inherent benefits social media offers bloggers. For those of us not familiar, the following may be an eye-opener!

Social media has a direct impact on SEO (Search Engine Optimization). How? It’s quite simple, social media builds (increasingly) the number of links back to our blogs. The more links back, the better the ranking. You might be thinking “Wait! I participate in paid link exchanges that can improve my ranking” . To be blunt, paid link exchanges that claim to improve SEO (in my opinion) are a worthless exercise and waste of financial resources. I’ve worked with numerous sites that have garnered no real benefits. In fact Matt Cutts of Google has often commented on this very issue: “Text links and PageRank” and “SEO Mistakes: link exchange emails“.

In my opinion, the most important issue with regards to social media based link building is that the links are not paid, they are permanent and of course obtained in a natural manner. By natural I’m referring to another site or blog linking to your blog as there is a genuine relationship or discourse between the two blogs. Such links are in essence a vote of trust and confidence in the value of your content. As such the more genuine links (or votes of trust) you garner from social media, the higher the authority of your blog.

I know from experience, the birth of a new blog with no traffic or social media buzz, has a difficult time to garner traffic and back links. One of the most effective ways to build them is to participate in the social media sphere! Join twitter, digg, technorati, linkedin, stumble, and so on… develop contacts, communicate, share. These are the activities that are going to help you grow your blog traffic and help you appeal to your target niche. From experience, here is one trick DO NOT ONLY POST LINKS TO YOUR CONTENT. Doing so is obvious to others in your social sphere; that you are only interested in self promotion.

Think of it this way. If you’re at a dinner party and the conversation from your side of the table always revolves around you, wouldn’t that make other guests think you’re self centered? Key issue: You’ve got to give if you want to get. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. That’s how it works. If you want others to help you, then you’ll need to freely help them. Therefore, when you’re twittering, stumbling or digging though the web, make sure you twitter, stumble and digg the content of blogs or sites you enjoy; other than your own.

Initial primary traffic encourages secondary traffic. What does this mean? Think of it this way, the more you socialize, the more contacts you make. They tell their friends, who tell their friends, and so on… Remember, social media is not about making money, it’s about making friends. Every blog, web site, business, group, organization, etc. needs friends, that’s what brings us the secondary traffic that can enable us to grow. Perry Belcher‘s video (blunt language and all) expresses this very clearly (for those interested, Mr. Belcher’s blog can be found at perrybelcher.com):

As I’m sure you’ll appreciate from the video your house is your blog. That’s the place where you invite your social media friends too. That’s where you focus on your content and on listening to your readers. If your social media mission is to make money and get traffic, that’s just not going to work. Think about it this way, if you go to a party, is your “mission” to have fun or to garner followers?

The crux of the issue is that most blogs (and the businesses associated with them) seek to grow, becoming more profitable. Social Media can collect a core group of supporters (along with their peers) who can effectively recommend your blog to others. As such, it’s often these others who help grow your sales (as they were referred) and who in turn refer others through their social media networks.

Finally for those who don’t care and are not interested in Social media, what you don’t know can’t hurt you, right? Wrong… as the video below will clearly explain:

In conclusion, the more social media friends you have, the faster word of mouth will spread (with regards to your blog). Social media networking is an extremely effective manner with which to invite people to your blog. Your traffic will grow in leaps and bounds when there are a group of readers ready to answer your call to action. Readers that you found via Social Media.

What are some of your thoughts, commentary? Do you agree or disagree with some of the ideas above? How do you approach the issue of social media and blogging? Feel free to include your comments below.

Side note: Since we’re touching on that photo. Are you a keen observer? Do you have a sharp eye? If so, what is unusual about that photo? And… Why is in unusual? Just jot your answer in the comments below!

Suffice it to say, after a bit of banter we discussed some of the key issues around effective word of mouth marketing. I’m saying “effective” because it appears to me that many of us (at some point or another) don’t take the time to fully evaluate or investigate our “foundation” activities, that support word of mouth. I must say, the phone call ended up sounding more like a radio interview, as I was somewhat surprised with Mr. Zibreg’s obvious insight and professionalism in this arena.

I think many of us appreciate that a basic blog is essentially a  one to one or one to many communication venue. While blogs have the added benefits of facilitating the ability for readers to participate interactively to a certain degree (which I note many blog owners seem not to do), I  think that word of mouth is and will remain a dominant force in blog, product, service, etc. marketing. In fact, given the current trends in online marketing, it seems to me that this may prove to be “The” primary marketing engine.

Mr. Zibreg phrased it best:

“With word of mouth it’s more effective because your contact or client is able to say ‘I was there!‘ Nothing is more powerful than that. To put it another way someone is obtaining a service, product, and so on, in great part simply because they personally know the individual spreading the word. That personal connection is just as powerful. That new client will then transfer the message to the next client and so on. In a sense word of mouth is a personalized and very real ‘people powered‘ machine, where it’s individuals vouch for a product or service, personally and publically placing their trust is the message”.

But what does this mean to us as blog owners? Of what value is this when we are using blogs to further the exposure of our products and services?

In order for word of mouth to be successful, you must have a really good product, service, blog content, etc.  If high quality is not paramount (or even on your radar), you’ll experience an issue where word of mouth will work against you. Here’s a word of mouth  example if your blog does not provide high quality content:

Bob: “Hello Joe, you should visit the latest post from BloggerSavvy, it’s really good and helped me improve my blog traffic”

Joe: “That’s what you said last time and the post was terrible”

The old saying “Fool me once, shame on you, but fool me twice, shame on me” seems rather apt. Quality is #1 – If that is not one of your blog’s mantras, then it may not reach the goals you anticipated. Joe’s response above is critical in that Bob’s credibility has “been shot”, it’s no longer effective. Not because of Bob’s opinion, rather because the blog owner has permitted poor quality content to undermine the credibility of positive word of mouth.

On the other hand a real life scenario (a client reminded me about) occurred when a client referred my web hosting services. The case in point was my obtaining a dedicated server hosting client who never visited my blog, did not know me, never visited my web site and to whom I never advertised. They purchases services purely on the personal assurances of my other client. Because this other client always experienced high quality.

As Mr. Zibreg mentioned in our chat:

“…when someone asks for a referral, they want to hear a clear YES! from the referrer, not an okay…”

In conclusion, quality and credibility must be your #1 focus.  Support the credibility of your word of mouth by ensuring you provide quality in any blogging that you do.

That’s what will get you the resounding YES!

Today I received another link (from the same group), the video is below (“A Vision of Students Today”). The specific topic deals with the characteristics of students today. While this may not be directly related to blogging, some of the comments and suggestions within this video are not only moving but also provocative in that (I think) bloggers, such as myself, need to stand back from time to time and put ourselves in someone else’s shoes (such as our readers). Doing so perhaps can empower us to provide content that is more meaningful and useful (among other things). A case in point from the video, “18% of my teachers know my name”.

About the only intelligent response to the video that immediately comes to mind is: What are we doing?!

Given some of the statements such as: “I will read 8 books this year, 2300 web page…” in my opinion implies (to me at least) that bloggers need to maintain a higher quality of content and ethics.

Again, while this video may not be directly related to blogging, I thought it provided a message that we all need to stand back and listen to, in many ways it was also moving.

I think we need to put things in perspective.

It seems that launching a blog for some new and inexperienced blog owners is a huge exercise (and for some a steeper learning curve than for others). I’ve often observed clients who have launched their blogs, fail to garner traffic, further excitement and buzz, or for that matter, reach any of their goals and blogging aspirations. After a time they become discouraged as they feel let down by their blog.

One of the biggest barriers I’ve observed (among others) is that often people just don’t do anything, mainly because some don’t quite know what to do (or how) and others just need more motivation.

Some launch their blog and expect the Internet horde to rush over and visit. To be blunt, the days of “Build it and they will come”, are long over. A blog is akin to your business tools, if you don’t use it, it will become rusty. Defining some of the barriers to improving a blog is well and good, but what can we do about it?

As many of you know, I’ve recently recovered from a disaster, which prevented me from posting for a few days. As such, this has provided me further motivation to provide more valuable content; content that I’m sure you’ll all find valuable.

This post is the beginning of a series exploring hands on activities we can complete, after which you’ll have improved your blog. We’ll be completing activities such as linking, using social media, cleaning up our blog design, developing and examining our SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), creating sticky posts, improving SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and much more!

Personally, I urge you to please do three things:

1. Diligently participate in each activity.
2. Provide feedback in your comments as it’s helpful to everyone.  Learning not only about successes but also suggestions and alternatives.
3. Provide ideas or suggestions if you think I’ve missed something.

1) Ask for Comments.

I can’t make the statement any simpler. I’ll say it again, if you want something, ask for it. In my opinion, the best place to ask is right at the end of you post. If your visitor has read this far (if the content is good quality, they will), you’re more likely to garner a response. Most importantly, indicate that you respect their opinions, make sure you respond. This is commonly referred to as a “Call to Action“. Once you’re blog post is finished, empower your readers to add to or improve the content. Empower them to ask questions. Also, enable them to easily follow up by using the Subscribe To Comments WordPress plugin. This plugin allows readers to receive notifications of new comments that are posted to an entry.

2) Remove the Barriers.

Nothing is more annoying then spending extra time writing a quality comment, and then finding out you have to register! Most people will not do that (in my opinion). Remove features such as forced registration, login first, etc. As a blog owner you have the ability to moderate messages before they appear live on your site. There are also anti comment-spam plugins (such as Akismet). The point is to make commenting easy.

3) Add some Controversy.

This is dependent on the content you’re writing, as such, it’s not always easy to do. In a sense it’s akin to link baiting – That is providing some sort of motivational thought to illicit a reaction. In this case you may have comments contrary to your post and other comments agreeable to it, the point being that there are comments.

4) Respond to Comments.

Providing a quality response, when necessary is a good way to encourage comments. Additionally, one tool you can use may be a WordPress plugin like Show Top Commentors which you can use to display your top commentors in the sidebar (display a link to their web site or blog etc). Blog about a comment. That’s one method I have used on this blog and on others. It promotes discussion and… more comments.

5) Provide Recognition.

Visitors who comment on your blog, enjoy recognition (like the “Show Top Commentors” plugin I mentioned above). If you want more visitors to comment, you’ll need to show them what’s in it for them. Show the benefits. I’ve even seen some blogs run  a contest wherein the best comment wins a prize. You can reward commentors in other ways by emailing to thank them, sending them a free ePublication, etc.

6) Participate in the Community.

A good way of garnering comments is to make them! Both on your blog and on others. Keep in mind that when commenting on other blogs, simple comments don’t garner nearly as much traffic and comments on your blog as quality, thoughtful comments do.

As I’m sure you realize, these activities are not difficult to complete. One thing I’d like to point out, if your blog is relatively new, don’t expect an excessive burst of comment growth – Remember, you need to grow blog traffic first. But, keep in mind to have these tools and ideas in place before you grow your blog traffic.

Did I miss anything? What do you do to encourage comments? Are there better plugins than the ones I listed? We’d all be interested in learning what you have to say in the comments below.

Before I go into the details below, I’d just like to point out a caveat. Most new blogs struggle to gain exposure, they need to be found by readers. Subsequently the issue of long term, sustained growth versus sudden spurts of short term growth (as new reader communities discover a blog), becomes the fulcrum (so to speak). In my opinion, the best approach is long term growth. This means your earning a few new readers each day, each post, each comment, etc. This really is where your focus should be (and most blogs do seem to fall into this category). When communities do discover you, through Digg, Slashdot, etc. that’s the cherries, the desert. Enjoy it, but remember that not all of them return. Normally there’s a sharp, sudden increase in traffic and a sharp drop. But each time you should be able to retain a few more readers. Your long term growth, that’s the meat and potatoes! That’s one thing which will make you big and strong.

One of the mistakes I made (initially) was to try and garner traffic from everywhere. I had the thought that the whole Internet was my audience. That’s just not true. Someone interested in knitting had no interest whatsoever in my earlier blog. If they visited at all, it was a one-time only visit. To better prepare myself (for long term growth), I should have mapped out what type of reader I wanted my blog to interest. In essence, I should have written down a profile and then only marketed to that niche. You’ll get much better traffic and faster growth if your activities are geared to target and attract a specific readership. Think of it this way, do you want pre-qualified traffic or just traffic.

Search engine optimization (SEO) was another area I could have tweaked a bit more. Not so much in terms of page rank, Google indexing etc., but in terms of content accuracy. What I mean by this is to ensure that I did take the time to provide individualized keywords, descriptions, etc. for every single post! At that time I was a bit lazy and let WordPress do all the work. In hindsight, I’d suggest using a plugin called All in One SEO Pack. It allows you to customize the keywords, descriptions, etc. for every single post, as you write or you can go back later and edit those things. Make sure you use it. One thing though, in my opinion search engine page rank, et al are NOT the holy grail. They should NEVER be your focus or your primary strategy. I remember getting caught up in the hype only to find out that some of my posts were ranking highly, not because of any SEO, instead, as a result of quality content and other blogs linking to it (among other factors).
As I alluded to earlier, there can be sudden bursts of traffic from sites (such as Digg). Frankly when this happened, I’d revel about it. I even remember phoning friends, telling them about the incredible traffic or how the post was on Diggs front page – It was party time! However, not once did I consider how to retain a larger share of those potential readers. I found out the traffic would have a sharp and steady decline over the next five days, but never consider looking at the long term incline. I was focusing on the wrong numbers! I should have been looking at maximizing the number of repeat visitors. For example, features to retain some of these new readers should have included:

• Cross linking to relevant posts within my content as well as a short list of the most relevant content (to the post being read). Incidentally, there is a plugin that will assist you in doing so, and it’s called Yet Another Related Posts Plugin, which helps visitors find related content of additional interest to them.
• Ensure I’m using a cache on the blog, so when a sudden surge of traffic appears, the site will remain available (not returning error messages).
• Allow for reader interaction (like comments), and make sure you respond. Provide a poll, you can even email them direct and thank them for visiting (I kid you not, common courtesy is always nice and professional), use your imagination, there are lots of interactive features you could use.
• Invite them to follow you on twitter, subscribe to your blog RSS, new post notifications, newsletters, and so on

Side note: For those looking for some useful and productive plugins, you can find more via 25 Most Beneficial WordPress Plugins an of course a shameless plug to contact me on twitter @BloggerSavvy

Finally, one important aspect I wish I used in the early stages of that blog was to go out and shake the trees. I spent almost all my time tweaking WordPress code, tweaking plugins, creating posts, researching blog technologies and content, responding to visitors, etc. Not once did it occur to me that one of the strongest factors to increasing my traffic was to involve myself in the very community I was writing quality content for! Visit their blogs, ask questions, provide comments and input, extend invitations and so forth. Think about it this way, if I want to get people to visit for a barbeque I have to phone them right? Well… it’s the same on the Internet. Don’t be afraid to ask, get involved, be happy and enjoy what you’re doing. Remember you are writing for people, not at them!

To come back to the original question, “About how long does it take for traffic to start picking up?”, it’s really up to you and your niche (community). The more involved you get the faster the growth may be. If you are very serious about blogging, are not afraid of the work and are committed. You’ll find that your traffic will reach your targeted level – Don’t worry about that, don’t focus on that. Just make sure you focus on your blog’s goals and ensuring your community is given the content and tools they need and want from you. If you focus on these things, the traffic will take care of itself.

As an afterthought, before I go, I’d like to highlight three traffic related activities you should never do:

1. Never spam users. If in launching a new service, you’ve added some of the people in your contacts, and they ask to be removed from your list. Do so immediately and with a smile!
2. I’ve received a lot of links lately where I’m promised all sorts of traffic to my blog if I buy their software or services. DON’T DO IT! Why? Your URL is entered into software by you or them. Then it connects to a huge list of proxy servers. The program is run by them (or you) for a several hours. Upon review of your web traffic statistics, it appears that lots of people visit your site (because those logs show visitors from thousands of different IP addresses). What’s really happening is that your blog is only being pinged by the proxy or pages are being requested, no one really actually reads your blog. Don’t waste your money on this.
3. Don’t use other blog/web site generators and similar Internet tricks. Such “Black Hat” methods work temporarily at best. Your blog is best grown by setting up and planning for the long term.

One obvious approach is to ignore requests from your blog readers. That’s a 100% solution to saving time and improving productivity. However, in my opinion it’s not an effective approach for several reasons. Notwithstanding this approach will almost certainly damage the reputation of you and your blog. It would also reduce traffic as there’d be no valuable communication with your community. And to be blunt, that’s just plain stupid. If you’re not going to listen and communicate with your community, why even have a blog?

For blogs that are more established (having greater readership) one good way to respond to requests is to turn the request into a blog post. Blog about it! Doing so encourages your community to communicate and explore the ideas of the post. In turn this benefits the reader (who initiated the request) with valuable answers garnered from a multitude of perspectives and experience levels. This also benefits your blog in that the community in essence develops good content through discussion.

From an administrative aspect, another approach is to develop an FAQ page or adding content on your “Contact” page that explains what type of requests you field and which you don’t. This provides two immediate benefits. It reduces your time in responding to requests with a diplomatic “no” answer and it helps readers save time by only posting requests you do handle.

I’ve maintained better productivity using a “Request Response Template” for higher traffic blogs. This means I don’t have to craft a response from scratch. Almost all responses have more or less the same content with regards to salutations, introductions, conclusions, basic information, contact information, etc.  Depending on the blog, you can include links within that template which directs readers to appropriate information. Include your current status – Are you available to consult or not? Make sure you simply explain that you cannot always answer every request for personal assistance.

Keep in mind that canned responses are VERY OBVIOUS, as such it’s a good idea (a must!) to include relevant comments that are helpful. In many cases a link or two to your blog posts (that are relevant to the request) will be helpful and appreciated. Don’t misunderstand me, I strongly feel that all communication should address individuals on a personal level, that makes it a fine line between working with requests you do handle and those you do not.

Above all, be honest and up front, if the request for personal assistance is something you do not handle – Say so. This avoids reader frustration.

One method that I have found particularly helpful (and has turned readers into clients) is to invite those local to you for a face to face meeting. For example, I provide public seminars to local business people (about web site, marketing, promotion, hosting, etc.), if their request is related in some fashion to an upcoming seminar, I personally invite them to the seminar. If it’s not, I still invite them as it will afford me a few minutes to talk to them after the seminar.

One issue I think crucial (at least it is for my client), as a matter of fact it’s the crux of his phone call to me is that he did not want to provide paid consulting services for free. In this case, my response would not be built on top of my Request Response Template, rather it would be a personally crafted, targeted response. The following points should be covered for these types of issues:

• The reader’s request cannot be handle in a simple expedient manner.
• You need to spend significant time to deal with the personal assistance request as some research, planning or solution development, etc. is required.
• This is the type of consulting service that existing clients pay you for, and list some of the examples of your paid services.
• MAKE SURE you spend a bit of time clearly outlining the solid benefits your reader garners by paying for your services.
• Provide options if the reader is not in a position to render your full services.

While the volume of potential consulting jobs obtained from such requests is directly related to the traffic volume for your blog, I’d advise low volume blogs to be prepared for them, you never know when such opportunities might come your way.

In conclusion, if you get an excessive amount of requests that you simply cannot respond to, my perspective is that it’s a clear signal from the community, indicating what content they are interested it. Clearly note on your blog that you cannot possibly field personal assistance requests. and… Blog specifically about the requests with valuable information!