Chris Garrett over at Performancing has a short, but interesting post this week about what can happen when your site gets pick up by a massive social network site like Fark or Slashdot. Sure, it results in tons of traffic..but it also often results in your site going offline. The real question in the end is "was it worth it?" In other words, did all that traffic do anything for you, other than give you the headache of crashing your site and keeping your regular customers from finding you? The answer might surprise you.

Chris writes:

Luckily my photography blog is a labour of love rather than something I rely on for income. Just imagine if it was critical and I had been away on business or vacation, I might have been looking at a hole in my bank balance a week from now.

The thing that will be most interest to you guys that have been following the social bookmarking threads is out of those ~8000 additional visitors I gained one new user, 10 additional adsense clicks and zero RSS subscribers.

This post is a great way to really pound home the idea that whether we're talking about a linking campaign, organic search, PPC, or viral marketing, it's about the customers that you bring in, not the traffic. All the traffic in the world means squat if it doesn't advance your site or your business.

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Search Engine Guide > Jennifer Laycock > Are You Ready for the Surge? (And Do You Even Want It?)

Jennifer Laycock is the Editor of Search Engine Guide, the Social Media Faculty Chair for MarketMotive and offers small business social media strategy & consulting. Jennifer enjoys the challenge of finding unique and creative ways to connect with consumers without spending a fortune in marketing dollars. Though she now prefers to work with small businesses, Jennifer’s clients have included companies like Verizon, American Greetings and Highlights for Children.