I’ve been out of touch for a couple of weeks. As you might know, I lost my sister on July 31, and this last little while has been the most difficult time of my life.

I write here about five times each week, almost without fail. The last time I took a few days off, I told you that properly constructed long tail marketing and search engine optimization had actually caused traffic in my absence to rise a bit. This time around, the same thing happened; our traffic since the beginning of this month has grown.

Makes no sense, right?

It makes more sense than it might sound like, and I was reminded of this just before my sister passed away when my son Mike posted this on Twitter:

I’m stoked that people dig it, but they’re a little late. Its not like I waited on posting it or anything

Mike was expressing surprise that a picture he had taken for his photography project A Few Good Words had all of a sudden picked up traction and traffic. I’ve told him this before, and I’ve told you this before, too: that’s the way this Internet thing works.

I didn’t have to know anything about Mike’s friends in Rabbit Troupe to find their Kickstarter project. Answer Guy Central currently sits at #9 in Google’s mind for the phrase “rabbit troupe” because I mentioned them. Traction. Traffic. Rabbit Troupe. Really?

Yes, really.

On the Internet, while “going viral” is the Holy Grail of marketing, it doesn’t happen enough to be counted on. But when you talk about the things you know and build a following over time, the people you need to find you . . . will find you. Eventually.

And protecting your rights is important, but people are going to “take your stuff”, pretty much no matter what you do, so this is a volume-and-cover-your-backside game.

Are you listening, Mikey? Are the boys in Rabbit Troupe listening? I know that tens of thousands of other people are.

I’m back, friends. Thanks for your patience while I’ve been licking my wounds. Get ready for some fun . . .