By skyforbes 
What’s the number one thing that most bloggers THINK you need to focus on when you’re trying to monetize your blog?
Blog traffic. Lots and lots of blog traffic!
Yes, many bloggers and blog coaches will tell you that you need to focus on growing your blog traffic and getting a lot of website views if you want to make money from your blog.
Well, I’m here to tell you, they are allllll wrong.
You do not need a lot of blog traffic to monetize your blog. In fact, you can start making money from your blogging business even if you have low page views and a small following on social media.
How is that possible, you ask? I’m going to share all the dirty details with you in this article today!
HOW I MADE MY FIRST $100 WITH LESS THAN 100 DAILY PAGE VIEWS
First, you should think about what revenue streams you want to focus on. Do you want to run ads on your blog? Do sponsored work? Sell affiliate products? Give some thought to this before you dive into a blogging strategy.
When I was still a newbie blogger, I wanted to focus on sponsored work (writing promotional content on my blog for other brands). I got an email asking me if I wanted to do a blog post on a product that was valued over $100. I had less than a hundred daily page views on my blog at that time; in fact, some days I had less than 25 views on my blog. Booooo…
This company offered to send me the product for free if I would take pictures and promote that product on my blog. I was ecstatic about this at the time!
But let’s face it, free products don’t pay the bills.
I decided that if I was going to make this blogging thing sustainable, I had to start charging ACTUAL MONEY for my work.
When the next company reached out to me about sharing their product with my audience, I responded with my rates, and they accepted! As my pitches improved and my confidence grew, I started landing sponsored gigs every week.
That’s right. I had less than a hundred daily page views on my blog, and I was still making money, without running ANY ads on my site.
Now, let’s talk about how to make that happen for you too.
WHAT TO FOCUS ON WHEN YOU’RE TRYING TO MONETIZE YOUR BLOG
If you’re a newer blogger and you want to start earning money from your blog, you need to focus on three important things, and they all have zero to do with your page views.
-
FOCUS ON QUALITY OVER QUANTITY
My regular readers are probably sick of hearing me say this, but I’m back and I’m saying it again: quality is more important than quantity. This is true in every single aspect of your blogging career!
It is better to publish one high-quality blog post each week than to publish three mediocre blog posts.
It is better to have a handful of quality readers than to have thousands of page views that do not convert to followers/readers/clients/sales.
So, focus on quality. Focus on engaging with the right kind of readers, the people that will be genuinely interested in what you have to say and share!
It is true that earning an income from your blog requires some semblance of an audience, but don’t get hung up on numbers. Instead, get hung up on the quality of your content, the quality of your readers and followers, the genuine engagement on your social channels. A high-quality, heavily engaged audience is waaaay more valuable than high page views on your blog.
-
FOCUS ON CREATING HELPFUL CONTENT
Most of the time, when I ask my blogging community what they want to get out of my group, they say they want to “boost their blog traffic.”
There is nothing wrong with that at all. Of course, we all want more blog traffic! But, the point I must emphasize is this: you cannot grow your blog traffic unless you’re focused on the right things. Stop focusing on the numbers and start CREATING GREAT CONTENT.
Create content that is helpful to your readers. We always want to be solving problems and filling needs for our audience. That is how we make the audience grow! If you’re helpful to your readers, they’re going to remember you and trust your recommendations.
Example time!
Let’s say you’re known for promoting products that are helpful to moms with twins. When you reach out to a brand for collaboration, you might show them an article you wrote that is helpful for this specific market. **Bonus points if you have some engaging comments from moms on that post!
The company might be more inclined to work with you, because you are a trusted resource that is already in contact with their audience. Similarly, if you wanted to sell an affiliate product (like a double stroller), you could easily write a helpful article on that topic, because you are already known for your trustworthy recommendations.
Focus on creating helpful content, and the money will follow. Customers purchase from trustworthy, helpful sources. So, be a trustworthy, helpful source.
-
FOCUS ON GIVING
Social media is a great way to monetize your blogging biz! You can find your ideal client, you can collaborate with other bloggers, and you can share your products and services with a large audience.
Buuuuut, it’s easy to get caught up in the cycle of begging for page views and feedback on your blog, and then wondering why no one is buying your stuff or reading your latest blog post.
It’s important to BE A GIVER in this business.
If you’re constantly taking, taking, taking, your readers and followers are going to get weary.
So, remember to GIVE.
Give assistance to others when you can. Engage with others on social media without asking for anything in return. Offer tips and tricks that will make life better for your readers and your colleagues.
This one little shift has been a game-changer for my business. The more I give to others, the more people I get checking out my blog, complimenting my work, asking for my advice, and purchasing my stuff.
I’m building up the reputation of someone that cares about quality, cares about helping others, and gives more than I take. Those things end up having a positive effect on my audience and it actually helps my blog to grow.
HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITHOUT A TON OF BLOG TRAFFIC
If you’re spinning your wheels and struggling to gain traction and traffic on your blog, STOP WORRYING ABOUT TRAFFIC.
Stop worrying about the numbers.
Start worrying about the quality of your work. The quality of your pitches, your product recommendations, and your social connections.
If you need some direction with monetization strategies, you can check out this blog article about making money blogging. But regardless of what revenue streams you choose, keep in mind the importance of the 3 things we talked about today.
You don’t need a ton of traffic to be successful in this biz! You just need quality content, a quality audience, and some strategy!