I don’t know if I’m a scientifically valid sample, but recently I had an a-ha moment recognizing my own behavior with my blog and the implications it might have in the media business.

I’m a data geek and WordPress enables this compulsion by giving me access to who has clicked on which postings, where they came from, what search terms brought you to my blog, what links readers have clicked on. It’s all in the aggregate so it’s not Big Brotherish in terms of spying on individual readers but it does give considerable insight into what appeals to people.
It didn’t take long for my thinking to pivot from “What do I consider the mission of my blog to be?” to “What can I write about that will bring in the most eyeballs?”
There’s obviously nothing wrong with wanting to generate traffic. For commercial ventures, that’s typically the first step to paying the rent.
It’s also important to know your content and to stay true to what differentiates you from the gazillions of other sources out there. Otherwise, pretty soon you’re just one of the dozens of paparazzi chasing Brittany on her way to or from the hospital, hoping it will sell papers.
Somewhere in there is the delicate balance of paying attention to what readers want and need, in the interest of serving them well, and maintaining focus on your core mission.
How do other bloggers do this? How do you strike that balance?