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Pageviews vs People: Changing Your Mindset -026

December 2, 2015 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com 3 Comments

What is your end goal? Are you chasing pageviews? Dollar signs? Do you want more Facebook likes or engagement? Let’s talk about what the BEST goal really is for you.

Listen to Create If Writing – Episode 026

But first! I have a free download for you: a 15 Step Intensive List Growth Worksheet. Click below to snag your download for this actionable worksheet that will give you specific steps to grow your list this month. We are doing this in our Facebook group as well in December, so join us if you want to do this together!

GET YOUR FREE DOWNLOAD NOW!

This past year I had a giant switch in my mind. I wouldn’t have said that I was chasing pageviews, but that’s really where I spent my time. I promoted things like crazy, hoping to see those numbers rise. (I should point out now that I am NOT saying that having better pageviews as a goal is a bad thing!) In June I finally hit 100k pageviews, which had been a long-term goal that seemed TOTALLY out of reach. I celebrated…until the next month Pinterest changed up the algorithm for the smart feed again and my pageviews were literally cut in half.

Screen Shot 2015-11-27 at 2.27.50 AM

It’s terrible seeing that. I hate it. But you know what I hate more? That all those pageviews and all that traffic did NOT translate into something more lasting. I got comments. I got some new followers. I got a few email subscribers. But check out those blog stats compared to my mailing list stats for the same blog. Screen Shot 2015-12-02 at 9.05.24 AM Do you see a jump? Me neither. The same steady growth. (If you’re wondering about the jump before April, I grew my list through a book I gave away on NoiseTrade and gained a bunch of followers through that. My point is not that pageviews are bad or a bad goal.

My point is that my mindset was NOT focused on building a lasting audience through my email list. If I had, I would have seen the same kind of jump in the stats for that list. I actually got more subscribers in May when I had half the pageviews that I had in June. That’s a sign of a mindset that is not focused enough on list-building. I want to make an argument that your goal should not be pageviews ALONE, but your goal should be to build an email list that is made up of a lasting audience. That audience should be the backbone of everything else. Period.Don't chase pageviews! Build a mindset around a lasting audience.

This is quite a shift. I know this because I went through this shift this year. Taking time off from promoting my blog heavily or even writing on my blog scared me. It was hard. And strange. Yet I did not really see a change in my income. My residual Pinterest pageviews stayed pretty consistent after the big drop. (Followed by two more months of dropping.) Not much actually changed. Except that on the back end of things, I grew a new email list for this blog by almost 700 people.

Which means that on a blog with pageviews that are maybe a tenth of my larger blog, I built an email audience that is close to half the audience I have for the bigger blog. I don’t do math, but that’s pretty nutty.

10% of the pageviews but 50% of the email subscribers

THAT, my friends, is the difference between focusing on the bottom line of pageviews or a bottom line of building a lasting audience through your email list. I have some really exciting things coming up this month with regards to email lists, so make sure you are subscribed to get all the good stuff!

GET YOUR QUICK FIX!

Filed Under: Platform

Comments

  1. Cathy Lawdanskk says

    July 4, 2016 at 7:45 am

    I like that – building a lasting audience vs. building page views. My list is growing steadily, but I do focus on page views more for some reason. Just because they visit your page doesn’t mean they are your target audience. Those who sign up for your newsletter are. Good switch in mindset. I do love the quick fix, Kirsten!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. How to Turn Readers into Raving Fans says:
    July 14, 2016 at 12:39 am

    […] talked about this before in my post (and podcast) about changing to a people over pageviews mindset and as I wrap up the four-part series on Finding Your Perfect Audience, I wanted to close out by […]

    Reply
  2. Why Your Email List Matters More Than Pageviews says:
    July 5, 2017 at 9:46 am

    […] Are you starting to get the picture? I hope so, though I’ll admit it took me a bit to convert over to having a list-growth vs pageviews mindset. […]

    Reply

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An epic course for fiction authors with practical strategies to create a six-figure income.

Hey, I'm Kirsten!

(Rhymes with BEER-sten.) I am the author of Email Lists Made Easy for Writers and Bloggers and the host of the Create If Writing podcast. My goal is to help writers, bloggers, and creatives like YOU turn readers into raving fans and learn to make a living doing what you love...without being smarmy. Questions? kirsten at kirstenoliphant.com

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