But is it really about pageviews or about getting a good story and discussion out there? - Louis Gray

I personally like at least some pageviews! It's very satisfying to know that people are reading what you write. - Shawn Farner

The posts I write and expect good views, don't do well. The Internet constantly suprises me. - Roberto Bonini

You're starting to sound like TechCrunch! :( - Gavin

@Louis - sure, it is about good stories and discussion generally - but pageviews are also important. I do this for a living and that's a big part of the bottom line. - Marshall Kirkpatrick

wow - this might be the most telling thread on FF I've read all week. - Allen Stern

Friday during the late summer? Good luck with that - Jason Carreira

So we are going to see a long thread about blogging for a living vs. blogging for passion. Will sure be interesting to watch :) - Svetlana Gladkova

yeah Louis, that's such an easy thing to say when it's a sideline - Ivan Pope from twhirl

it's not a matter of blogging for a living *vs.* blogging for passion. I love doing it and my top priority is writing about things I feel good about having written about. That said, if I write 3 posts in one day and they all get less than 250 page views, I'll be frank with you - that's me not doing my job well enough, not even close. Unless some or all of them are on a really important topic and it's ok. Like when the Data Portability Working Group elected new leadership, that got very few pageviews but - Marshall Kirkpatrick

given the topics we cover - it was a must-do article, I thought. Likewise, my post about the story of Common Craft http://www.readwriteweb.com/archive... I LOVED writing about, and it just today creeped over 1k pageviews, so that's ok. But if it had gotten stuck at 500, I would have said "well, that was an important post for me personally so it's ok" but my post on Chrome TOS has gotten 15k pageviews so far and that f'ing rocks. - Marshall Kirkpatrick

I don't remember the last time I wrote something that got that many pageviews. And that was very good for me as far as doing my job goes. So it's both. That's how it goes. - Marshall Kirkpatrick

I went and got my mac from next door after reading this on my iphone. Guys, you can't seriously think that a blog that is fundamentally a business shouldn't focus on page views?? - Zee.

Do you only write for RG or do you have your own blog? - Brandon

Brandon, what's RG? If you mean RWW (readwriteweb.com) that's where I write full time, I've got a blog at marshallk.com but that's about consulting work, which I don't do much of these days. - Marshall Kirkpatrick

1) I wasn't trying to pick on Marshall. He's a good writer who really cares about getting the story right and interesting. One of the best out there for sure. 2) I get the race for page views, especially on pro blogs where ads are vital. 3) I wanted to see how important page views were vs. discussion for one of the most-respected guys in this industry. I tend to feel that not every quality post ends up in quality traffic, and it's hard to guess. It's just interesting to see the public self-flaggelation. - Louis Gray

your post about Common Craft just got another PI (discovered this post in your comments). - Torsten Eckert

thanks Louis, I figured that's what you meant. your support is much appreciated. now go click on some damn links and ads, would you? ;) - Marshall Kirkpatrick

Hee hee! I've gotten maybe 1000 visits ever, and a good chunk of them were from that one time I commented on a hot post at TechCrunch. Lucky for me I'm not blogging for money. - Daniel J. Pritchett

frankly I don´t like the pure amount of buttons on the right side. I´m not noticing them. Don´t know who is responsible for the adsales and adplacements on rww. I would place greater ads and maybe I would use some kind of targeting technology for better ctr´s. Changing the point: I´m supporting via clicking and reading. - Torsten Eckert

okay - Victor from twhirl