I’m not sure how many of you are aware of it but yet another traffic exchange geared specifically for blogs has appeared. They are called BlogTraffic and are currently in pre-launch mode, meaning most features are operational except for surfing. The “surfing for blogs” feature will be activated as soon as they build up a large enough database of blogs. In the meantime, you can still join up and get in on the ground floor so to speak. BlogTraffic is operated by the same people who brought us the fabulous WeblogLinkDirectory.

I know, many of you are probably saying another one?! Consider how many blogs are actually out there - millions. Granted, they don’t all belong to traffic exchanges but they could at any time. Besides, isn’t competition a good thing? Would you be happy with only one auto maker? One television program? One brand of peanut butter? Of course not. Choice is good. When we purchase a car, (cost notwithstanding) we don’t buy a model from each manufacturer, we purchase one from our favourite - and so it should be. Competition. I don’t believe in the notion of too many choices - no such thing. You wade through the options presented to you and select your favourites. Personally, I use all of the blog traffic exchanges - BE, BC, and Blogazoo. Now I will ad BT to the list. (maybe I need a life)

The other complaint about traffic exchanges is that they merely direct traffic to your site, they don’t encourage readership. Who’s fault is that? It’s not their responsibility to make visitors read your blog - it’s yours! The exchanges deliver on what they promise - that is, more visitors to your blog. What you do with those visitors when you get them is up to you. Besides, my main reason for joining these exchanges is to find new blogs. Oh sure, when BE first burst onto the scene I joined up thinking it was a cool way to get more readers and to a degree I was right. But I discovered something else I hadn’t even considered when I signed up - that I might find tons of cool blogs to read. To this day I’m still finding new blogs via the exchanges. And I’m not one of those whiny people who moan and groan about the various types of blogs - you the ones - oh I hate mommy blogs, oh I hate knitting blogs, oh I hate political blogs. Sheesh. If you don’t like them don’t read them. Personally, I enjoy most blogs regardless of the subject matter - they’re a cool medium. And BlogTraffic should help you find more great stuff to read.