Must...Have...Traffic!

Refresh. Refresh. Refresh.

I always keep Google Analytics open. When I think that it's possible for me to get new traffic, I refresh. I refresh all the time.

I need to have traffic. It's like a videogame- I need to get my numbers up so I can get better, and I keep doing it over and over again. Unfortunately, I don't get a lot of it. So this post isn't about how to get traffic- it's about what I've learned when trying to get traffic.

This isn't mine.

At first, Abscure was a forum. I was making an FPS with FPS Creator. It was a bad game. But it was relatively marketable, as noobs liked that it was 3D and a shooter. So I would post a link to the forum on other, big advertising forums. I would get a ton of traffic, but I didn't care. I just wanted people to join the forum- that was the ultimate goal. So although I got a ton of hits, I wasn't proud of it and I wasn't satisfied. Oh well.

The first few layouts for the site where awful. They were red... not that it's a bad color, but it just made it look awful. It was way too complicated, and of course, the games were bad. I put a link in my signature so people could visit, but I couldn't make topics on forums for it. Honestly, I don't remember how bad the traffic was back then, but it was bad.

Fast forward to the current layout/theme. We had a great opportunity to get tons of visitors. Ruined was featured on Jay Is Games. That would have to bring in a ton hits, right? Here's the problem. They linked to GameJolt, not Abscure! So all of the hits went there. I could have had so much traffic that day... but, alas, nope. But that day gave me hope. It told me "if you make a good game, they will come."

Recently traffic has been better, relative to how it used to be. At the same time, compared to most other sites, it's pretty lackluster. Now, while typing this, I was thinking, "why is traffic so important?" I mean, it's not like I'm selling anything. I think it's because of the advertising- whether it was AdSense then or Project Wonderful now, traffic= advertising, and in some rare cases it can mean money.

So that's why I am addicted to getting traffic. Thanks for reading.