One Huge Mistake Bloggers Make
When it comes to blogging, I've made my fair share of mistakes! I shared a few of them in my last post about what I wish I knew when I started blogging. I like to share those mistakes with you, so that you learn from me instead of having to make the same mistakes. Today I want to share one mistake I see happening all the time.
As a blogger, it's so easy to focus most of our attention on pageviews to the point that we do whatever we can to improve them (often at the cost of things that are actually so much more important). This is a huge mistake – don't do it!
When you really think about it, I'd be willing to bet that pageviews are NOT your ultimate goal. What are your ultimate goals for blogging? My top two goals are:
1 – To help people (become more organized or learn how to create and run an online business)
2 – To earn an income
I imagine your top goals are very similar to that. More pageviews in and of themselves won't help you achieve either one of those things. Don't get me wrong. I do think pageviews are one of many metrics that can help you see if you're on the right track, but they're not the most important thing.
Make sure that you don't sacrifice a long term relationship with your readers just to get a few more pageviews. For example, my sales pages (like my Sweet Life Planner page) don't have a sidebar where people can click around. I'd much rather a person purchase the planner than view 10 more pages. Also, when a new visitor comes to my blog, my main goal is to get them signed up for my newsletter. That way I can keep up a relationship and help them more than if they just clicked on a few posts and left.
Along the same lines, it's easy to obsess way too much over stats. In the beginning I actually checked my stats multiple times per day (sometimes once an hour)! This wasn't helpful at all. My time would have been better spent writing another blog post or something else. It also caused me to feel discouraged when my blog wasn't growing as fast as I had hoped. I do think it's important to look at your stats to help measure the effect of the things you're doing and to help you determine what you should do more of and what you should do less of. However, I recommend monthly or weekly at most.
Here's a recent scope I did on this topic if you want to hear more:
What do you think? Have you found yourself focusing too much on pageviews?
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Jessica [Havok] Says
I’m a compulsive stats checker. At least once a day, if not more. But at the same time, I’m also trying to grow my blog – adding to more link parties, adding to Twitter, etc, so I’m wanting to see if any of that is working out. Though it has been adding not only to my work load (so far as “oh, gotta check on that, gotta check on this”) but my stress level through it all – having to check and remember to check so often can really bog down my brain, along with all the other stuff going on!
LauraJane Says
Post authorI understand. You could still check maybe once a week and still assess how what you’re doing is affection your traffic.
Sarah Mueller Says
This is exactly me 🙁 I pursued traffic last year thinking it was the ticket to a successful blog. Now I’m at 400k pageviews and my income is nowhere near what I expected. This year I’m spending my time on product creation and trying to ignore the allure of that Google Analytics screen… 🙂
You’re such an inspiration, Laura! Thanks for all your blogging tips 🙂
LauraJane Says
Post authorYou’re welcome! So true – pageviews don’t necessarily mean income.
Rose Says
The biggest issue I have with bloggers that are using their blog to generate income is when they have too many videos or stuff in general and my computer slows to a crawl. If I can’t easily scroll due to numerous videos, gifs, flashing links loading then I close the page and don’t come back. It’s obvious they want the income from ads. But it seems that they’re more worried about that than loyal readers.
Vanessa Jencks Says
I have no idea what you’re talking about! Heh…heh… (quickly clicks out of Stats tab).
Uh. Thanks for this. It’s exactly what I needed to hear. I do want to help people and I do want to generate income because I want to continue to help people and follow my love of writing!
LauraJane Says
Post authorLOL
Dana Clausen Says
I enjoyed this post and am I’m going to challenge myself not to pay such close attention to my stats. Write for myself and the audience… people will come. Blessings to you, Laura.
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Neena Says
Too true – it is easy to get lost in the stats. Google Analytics by itself gives you way too much data to digest – and then there is Pinterest and Facebook and Twitter ….
I find it hard not to get drawn in. It takes willpower – but you are right. Time is much better spent elsewhere!