Why I’m getting lots of extra traffic (and still won’t be buying any Google shares)

Bowblog’s site traffic has nearly doubled in the last few weeks. I’d like to think this has something to do with the sustained wit and verve of my writing but I’m afraid it’s almost all to do with this entry, in which I dole out free worthless investment advice to people thinking of buying Google stock (James Crabtree added some interesting comments too). If my traffic boost is representative then Google’s IPO is already producing an economic lift for the net, even before the date’s been set – at least for bandwidth providers.

The FT has a good briefing page on the IPO (for most of which you’ll need a subscription). Business Week has a useful Q&A for the planned Dutch auction and some scepticism about the company’s longer term prospects.