Over the last 3+ years of my blogging, I’ve struggled between continuing my attempt to add value for my readers in each-n-every post vs. grabbing attention. On those occasions when I have enjoyed a Digg or Techmeme front page link — or had some other post go viral with the typical 60k-100k pageviews that have ensued — no question that I’ve stopped to think “Hmmm….what if I whored myself out and just posted attention-grabbing stuff?“

If no one pays attention, a blogger is the philosophical tree falling in the forest when no one is around to hear it. Does she or he make a sound? I argue that yes…it just takes time and consistency to build readership if you have the right ingredients.

Today’s MicroPersuasion post by Steve Rubel puts a different spin on the “whoring oneself out” thought stream but by calling it the “Lazysphere” (a take on a lazy blogosphere) since he’s calling out the lack of value being inserted into posts in lieu of just grabbing attention.

While I absolutely love Techmeme, Blogrunner, Wikia and, quite frankly, the memetracker category as a whole, I also realize that this category — as the primary method many of us have to get an instant ‘read’ on blogosphere conversations — is THE primary catalyst for the blog echo chamber, naval gazing or whatever you’d care to term it.

But are memetrackers, bloggers chasing thought leader posts to get attention, or people actually lazily placing value into posts the problem? Yes and no.

<shameless plug>
I’ve been at this blogging game for over three years. In that time my goal has been to invest value in each-n-every post (with the occasional rant) and have often felt that I should simply accept the positive feedback I receive from readers, from clients who’ve hired me because of my blog, and for the doors it has opened (and still opens) rather than be dismayed about the lack of “A-List blogger-like” attention. In addition, I’ve often been peeved that the so-called “A-List” bloggers who get attention have opinions or perspectives I’d go toe-to-toe with any day.
</shameless plug>

One thing I think Rubel missed and one he got:

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