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I’ve said this before, but the number one question people ask me about blogging is this: “How to I get more readers?”
Usually, the question I ask in response to this question is “Why do you WANT more readers?”
Some bloggers want those readers so they can get more comments, enjoy people witnessing what they make, and build some online friendships. Other bloggers want more readers because they want more customers.
…And this second group is often making a pretty big leap of logic: More Traffic = More Business. (Which always reminds me of The Underpants Gnomes, but that’s another story.)
But Traffic=Business is just not an automatic relationship. Let’s talk about what a large readership can and cannot do for you.
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Eyeballs vs. Compadres vs. Customers
The first assumption to debunk is, “Anyone who shows up on my blog stats is automatically a fully attention-paying customer with a big wad of cash to spend on my stuff.” In fact, people come to your blog for all kinds of reasons, with all kinds of intent. You can have lots and lots of readers and still have few sales.
This touches on what I see as the number one stumbling block crafters find when they’re trying to make a business through blogging – they write their blog to attract fellow crafters instead of actual customers. (This is natural to do – blogging started as a personal medium, after all, and in many ways, it still is.)
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If you sell craft supplies, this blogging-for-crafters approach makes sense – fellow crafters are also your customers. But if you make finished handmade goods, then fellow crafters really don’t represent the market for your product. People who need what you sell are your customers.
If you make jewelry based on internet memes, then internet nerds are your customers. If you make sets of coordinated bags to organize stuff for traveling, then people who love to travel are your customers. Can you see either of those customer groups tuning into a purely crafty blog?
So, you can share craft tutorials and pretty pictures with fellow crafters all day long and get lots of traffic and wonderful comments, but if you don’t sell something crafters can use, then that traffic may not lead to much in the way of sales.
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How DOES a big audience make money, then?
Now, there are ways you can build a huge audience of crafters and still make money. You can sell exposure to those crafters to advertisers. You can use the attention of all those crafters to prove to a mainstream publisher that you’re a good bet for a book deal. Similarly, you can use the attention of all those crafters to convince a craft company to hire you to design fabrics, craft supplies, paper goods or whatever.
…But do you see the hidden factor here? In all those cases, traffic does not automatically equal business. Traffic equals something you use to go out and create business for yourself. (And sometimes, that business comes to you, but less frequently these days.)
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…And, to refer back to the earlier point, if you’re building an audience of people who actually need the thing you sell, then lots of traffic actually can equal lots of sales. But getting that audience requires more than making nice content. It requires getting very clear about who you need to be reaching, and writing content specifically for those people.
Remember when I decided to stop doing free craft tutorials last year? That’s a good illustration of what I mean here. Tutorials, although they’re huge traffic-drivers, don’t reach the people who need what I actually sell. That decision has had a very positive impact on my business in the past year.
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Is a Big Blog Audience Necessary for Business Success?
Nope. What’s necessary is a well-targeted audience. Which is, in fact the audience Tara and I will teach you to create in our ebook: Crafting an Effective Blog: How to make a blog that actually improves your business (without being spammy). Follow that link and take a look!
Excellent points, as I’ve become accustomed to here at Craftypod!
Your class is going to be amazing, and I should know because I’ve attended several of them! You CARE.
So true, but hard to learn! I see this topic all the time on Etsy with people complaining about the number of views in their shop. I’ve sometimes sold items within very few views–less than five or ten–because I’ve shared the link with the right people. It doesn’t always happen that fast, of course, but when it does, it feels like magic.
Oh boy… I am SO ready for this! Looking forward to connecting with everyone.
Insightful thoughts on the modern blogging environment, Diane! Your class will be amazing!
Well, more traffic does increase sales if you are targeting your niche readers, but you’re right. It’s not what you should worry about. Providing relevant content, a great service and a needed product seems to work best. At least for me. I took the Blogging Your Way e-course with Holly Becker last Fall and I think she said it best. Instead of worrying about attracting new readers, take care of the ones you do have. Isn’t that the truth!
Have fun with your class!
Interesting points.
I wonder how many bloggers are thinking that if they have a huge number of readers, that it will translate into a TV show or book sales. There have been a few that made such a leap, so I imagine that thought is in the mind (maybe not front and center) of a number of bloggers.
…And definitely, a huge audience CAN lead to either outcome – but you have to approach agents, publishers, and producers to make it happen. The numbers themselves can’t trigger the events!
Well said: I’ve often thought that – as a crafter I don’t need someone’s finished product because a lot of the time I’ll make it myself. I’m not really their target market. I like reading and seeing the pictures but I have so rarely purchased a finished product.
So true.
This is exactly what I realized in the first few months of blogging and running an etsy shop. The blog readers is not equal to shop sales. But I also found that I loved blogging and sharing my sewing ideas with readers anyway. Now advertisements bring in a small compensation as well so I keep at it.
I agree mostly with what you’re saying. However, the feeling I leave with after reading this post is that traffic doesn’t matter.
That I do not agree with.
If you want to grow an online business you have to have more traffic. Then you need to build relationships with those visitors in a way that will transition them to customers.
You are absolutely right that the wrong kind of traffic is useless. Going viral on youtube, trending on twitter, or hitting the front page of yahoo are great, but they probably won’t net you many customers. But they can increase your credibility, which helps build trust with your potential customers.
IF you create awesome FREE content that people find useful you can build an audience, engage with them, and find ways to solve their problems. Then they will buy from you. And they will tell their friends with similar problems how you helped them, which will bring more traffic = more business.
You’re right, Johnny, and I thought I was making this point in my post. Sorry if I didn’t make that clear. Traffic certainly DOES matter. But not traffic for traffic’s sake. And credibility boosts are useful, but I’d even put a finer shade of meaning on that – if you like, listen to this podcast I did with Liz Smith, where she tells her story about going on MARTHA, and how it didn’t bring her any sales. But being on a local TV show was great for her. http://www.craftypod.com/2012/02/24/free-podcast-i-went-on-martha-and-then-with-liz-smith/
…And free content is great, but it definitely hits sustainability limits if you aren’t also conscientiously building toward a specific business goal. We’ve had a ton of discussion of that here, too:
http://www.craftypod.com/2011/01/05/how-sustainable-is-free-the-start-of-a-series/
http://www.craftypod.com/2011/01/10/free-and-sustainability-and-community-and-money/
http://www.craftypod.com/2011/01/18/the-non-monetary-benefits-and-consequences-of-free/
You state it really well: traffic has to be converted in order to be truly beneficial, if business is your goal for blogging.
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