Antalya Turkey
Imagine staking a sign in a public space.
Picture yourself covering a blogging-related topic.
Find a busy offline space with ample foot traffic.
50 people show up based on perusing the sign. Your speech matches their interest.
Almost everyone leaves after you finish speaking. Three people remain to learn more about your blog.
50 “views” became 3 “readers”.
Welcome to the online world. Welcome to the blogging world.
From blog views to Facebook views to X views, every view is a human being (save obvious bots) who views content via:
- X
- your blog
Facebook views are human beings who view Facebook updates. Three of those humans may visit your blog based on consuming Facebook content. X views are humans who consume X content. Three people may migrate from X to your blog to read a blog post or more. As for your blog, things work differently. 50 views are humans who visit a blog post. But a helluva lot more than 3 humans read the post until the last paragraph if you target highly organic blog traffic.
Would you be disgusted to speak for 50 human beings offline? I think not.
Would you want to quit because 3 people walked up to you after everyone else left, to learn more about your blog? Would you say that “blogging doesn’t work” if two of these people bought your eBooks? Nope!
Imagine if those two people handed you $40 USD offline to buy your eBooks after you emailed them the 4 PDF files? Would the $40 USD be fake? Would it not be real? Would it prove that blogging is not a way to make money?
The Online Business World Deludes Bloggers
One online view is one human being who views your blog post or social media content. The individual views content through a phone or laptop.
But you forget that the one view is one human being listening to your content. Why? Scarcity dominates your mind. One view is not one human being but not enough views to the scarcity-focused mind. The online business world needs 1,000 views for anything appreciable to happen. Better yet, the online business world needs 10,000 views for an update to be successful.
Can you imagine how excited you’d be to speak to 10,000 human beings about your blogging niche offline?
Superstardom, here we come!
But the sheer delusional thinking of the online business world makes 10,000 views the starting point for a successful blogging career.
No joke; after the initial excitement, I bet you’d be terrified to speak before 10,000 people offline.
In the online world that number still isn’t enough for most bloggers.
Delusion reigns in the cyber world. People blog for numbers not humans. People blogging for numbers forget that humans ARE the numbers, spread out around planet earth.
My Email List
My email list is tiny but responsive.
Human beings from a handful of countries read the latest posts on Blogging From Paradise Dot Com.
I know this. I see this. I even write posts with you human readers in mind.
Of course I had to punish myself as a deluded online numbers chaser for a long time before waking up to reality.
What Is the Problem?
Scarcity in the mind fuels the problem.
Believing in “not enough” creates delusion. Appreciation disappears. Gratitude exits stage left. No number is enough. Humans? Deluded bloggers completely forget about humans manifesting as page views.
What about the one person who reads your blog posts carefully, out of the 10 people who visit the blog before bouncing.
THAT IS NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU!!!!!
Madness follows.
Versus caring mindfully for the one loyal reader WHO PROVES THAT YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK…..you do the mindless, numb thing of trying like hell to get 10,000 page views daily. Yeah; getting 10,000 page views certainly generates a full-time income, you believe. At least some successful bloggers claim this to be the case.
Chasing 10,000 views daily becomes your goal. Why would you reply to that one view/person who buys your eBooks? He is not nearly enough. You chase 10 K a day. Eventually you generate 10,000 daily page views but none of those people bond with you. What about the one loyal reader and eBook customer? He left long ago because you did not:
- listen to his feedback
- write blog posts based on his problems
- engage him via comments
- tell him that you appreciate his support
Make no mistake about it; a few hundred people from that 10 K page view number love your blog posts. Most of them read every post. But since you do not build strong relationships one-to-one with any of these folks, none engage you minus reading blog posts. No emails from them. No social media messages from them. No eBook sales from them. No referral traffic from them. No referral income from them. The few hundred loyal readers suffer from the disconnect you made by chasing numbers and ignoring the real human beings starving for you to listen to them, to bond with them, to befriend them.
What Is the Solution?
See every view as a human being consuming your content via their phone or laptop.
Value the human beings. Email the people. Use their names. Ask for their feedback. Listen to their feedback. Blog to provide solutions to their problems. Create blog posts to address their struggles. Write and sell eBooks based on empowering them to live their dreams. Open blog comments. Read every comment. Reply to every comment. Reply in great detail if it feels right. Address readers by name. Thank them. Appreciate them. Help them. Assist them.
Reply to people on social media. Respond to people via email.
What Happens Next
Readers form strong bonds with you. Relationships manifest. Based on these rock-solid relationships, loyal readers:
- buy your online course and eBooks
- refer your blog, online course and eBooks to their like-minded networks
What happens next?
Some people from their networks:
- follow your blog closely
- buy your online course and eBooks
- refer your blog, online course and eBooks to their like-minded networks
Welcome to becoming a professional blogger.
Treat views as humans because views are humans.
Build relationships.
Enjoy the sugary sweet benefits of referral traffic and referral income.
Most of your blogging success gradually flows from referral traffic. Referral traffic becomes loyal readers who drive even more referral traffic.
Rinse, wash and repeat until you become a full-time blogger.
Why?
You chose to see people not page views.
Conclusion
See views as human beings not random numbers.
Build strong relationships with loyal readers.
Drive traffic.
Earn income.
Appreciate the power of referral marketing by seeing the people who drive it for you.
Your Turn
Do you see people or page views?
What tips can you add for focusing on bonding with humans versus chasing metrics?
Related posts:
How to Get Views on Your Blog
1 Glaring Problem with Page One Blogging Tips Results on Google
Why You Can Blog with a One Page Website Even from Paradise
Do You Necessarily Want to Rank on Page 1 of Google?
2 Clever Ways to Successfully Drive Page 1 Google Traffic
How to Rank on Page 1 of Google When You Rarely Optimize Posts and Care Not About Search Traffic
Do You Seek Massive or Targeted Blogging Exposure?
Will You Accept this Blogging Challenge?
