and opinions of others, I find it difficult to write subjectively from my own experiences -- speaking for myself. I keep finding myself writing in this perky "travel writer" voice instead of the irritable, cranky bastard that I'm pretty sure is the real me. Anyway, suffice to say I relate to how you're feeling with all the stats stuff too. I look forward to following your progress. Cheers. Simon Petersen I know exactly what you mean. I feel like I'm still trying to find my voice a bit -- maybe I'll just embrace being really positive on here even though my normal writing voice is probably much more sarcastic. I wrote a similar post last week -- I found that the desire to make it to the top in travel blogging was starting to affect how I write and how I travel. My conclusion was pretty much consistent with the advice you're getting in the comments -- focus on the writing well and writing what you want, and the accolades will follow (hopefully). That's my plan -- we'll see if it pays off. Simon Petersen You're too good a writer to just play the numbers game Simon. I know it's easy for me to say because I don't give a toss about SEO, but write what *you* want to write about. I have a sneaking feeling that those are the posts readers connect with the most, which is ultimately the main goal of blogging, right? Thank you Simon! I am