Greatness of a Blog Aiming to be Small
I know many bloggers will prefer a higher traffic, higher number of backlinks and a higher number of RSS subscribers. Blogs teaching you on how to make your blog getting these elements in place will get a lot of traffic because of people wanting to know the methods that can make their traffic, backlinks and RSS subscribers go higher.
I received an interesting e-mail from Gregan, which is my reader who have the following message for me.
I noticed blogs nowadays are always aiming for the increase of their blog traffic, linkbacks and RSS subscribers. Why can’t they ditch it aside and start blogging on a much smaller blog?
The straightforward answer for this will be when most people put their opinions on a blog, they expect their contents to be read and not being left out in the cold. An equation that has been highlighted for some will be Traffic=Money.
I will offer you with something different today if you find yourself struggling to raise all the important elements (traffic and linkbacks) for your blog. I will give you the benefits of having a small blog.
- Little Pressure
You will have lesser need to produce articles with a consistent level of quality and when your blog traffic gone down by a bit. Blog marketing might not even exist in your blogging routine. When you have a small blog and you want it to be maintained this way, you will not need to sweat yourself in investigating what types or strategies suit you and sometimes what are the causes of a dip in traffic. - Personal Link With Readers
When your reader base is small, you will have more time to answer e-mails from your readers, take an extra approach in helping and understanding their needs regarding your niche. The personal link or touch with your readers will allow you to network indirectly and at the same time make yourself a small community which you are in authority. - Readers Engagement
When your readers know that your blog is small and you will have time for them, they tend to engage with you on what you are highlighting in your articles. Debates and suggestions will always be voiced through your comment section or e-mails. They will be more daring to make everything straight to the point because they will see you as a friend that is approachable rather than a superstar who have tonnes of followers. - Enjoyable
I can tell you that a small blog is easier to manage and of course, lesser work will be needed to maintain them. You don’t need to make yourself a tight schedule to follow, you don’t need to force yourself to read blogging guides such as those on Wayne Liew Dot Com because you are not aiming to go big. A small reader base which might come to your blog through search engines or comments you made on similar blogs will make you happy enough.
- Easier Persuasion
With a small reader base, you will know your readers well, know what they want and know what will be their response to certain things. These make your job easier when you want to persuade them to do something for you. It might be a simple tip for your efforts, a donation, a sign up as your referrals or even a badge being placed in their respective blogs. - No Search Engine Worries
Do you have to wake up everyday thinking of what will happen to your Google Page Rank or what will be the latest news on search engines keywords? No! This is because you know that your readers will be here because of you and you are not aiming for those search engines traffic because you are satisfied with a small reader base. You don’t necessarily have to indulge yourself in webmasters’ technical knowledge to maintain a small blog.
- Simplified Money Making Methods
If you aim to have a small blog, there will be only three ways of monetizing your blog – affiliate marketing, selling your own products and paid posts writing. You will not need to have considerations before placing an ad panel because more of the advertising platform out there want one thing, TRAFFIC, which you don’t have.
Some paid post platforms like PayU2Blog can give you $5 opportunities without looking at your Google Page Rank and traffic. Some cheap opportunities in PeePeePee will not take all these elements into account as well so yo can earn with paid posts.
As I said about authority and persuasion within your small community, you can actually try selling products or sell by not selling to your readers. They trust you because you have been their friends. I am not saying that you can cheat them but it is much more easier to sell them something if they see you as a nice friend.
Is A Small Blog Really That Good?
I would say that it depends. You can’t deny that traffic and backlinks are the most important measurement of a blog. This is why people are crazy over it. Money=Traffic, this is also the reason why people are going nuts about getting traffic.
A small blog, with the advantages above will certainly divide you into another world of blogging. You will not see blogging as a business but rather, as a platform for you to share things and connect with people sharing the same interests as yours.
Will you still aim for a blog with tonnes of readers or you are satisfied of your traffic after reading my post? What other advantages of a small blog that you can think of? Tell me your views and those difficult path that you have taken to increase your blog traffic.
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My principle since I started blogging is that I blogged for myself. Every other things are the bonus. Readers, adsense earnings and popularity are just bonus.
I really don’t care if no one reads. I put adsense as a potential bonus thing. 0.01 cent per day or 0.00 cent per day makes no big deal for me.
I am too lazy to think of how to drive more traffic to my blogs lah. I just do the most basic thing - hop around and leave comments if I feel like I have something to say. And I never expect to achieve high page ranks for my blogs. To me, if i can get PR3, that’s already the best. If PR0, never mind, as long as the paid post opportunities keep coming, I’m happy.
I think my blog will remain as a small blog, unless the artist I blog about becomes international superstar lol. Most of my traffic is from referral site, search engine has the smallest fraction =.= Not really a fan of paid post so I’ll just use my blog to expand my contacts and make more friends with same interest. Maybe I should ask for donations xD
It is true I enjoy writing new posts, never had writing block
Just sometimes I’m too lazy and caused my drafts to keep piling up.
Btw I think your blog will become big soon.
@ kljs
What if you make $10 a day or even $100 a day?
Blogging should be about what you think and what you want. This is why I say not every blog should aim for going big. Good foe you to be at the unique side.
@ Valen
I can your site is developing fast into a beauty blog, a good one. The next step for you to monetize it is not using paid posts any more. You can make much much better money by selling beauty ebooks or products by affiliating.
My tips for you.
@ Teo
I can see your blog is revolving around an artist called YUI or is it a group? OK, I sucks in these but what I want to say is that you can optimize your keywords or implement some SEO skills to get your blog up in the search engines.
Entertainment blogs can be very successful but of course I won’t force you.
If you enjoy blogging at the current status, you should continue with it or make it better. Also, don’t be lazy. 
P/S: Nah, I still have a long way to go. Hoping for the best to come.
If I even remotely managed to earn $10 per day or “gasp” $100 per day, I will still think it is just a bonus for blogging. Not that I am going to change anything about how I blog. or something like that…
seems you are mad with PeePeePee, hahaha~~
This sounds funny~ I noticed you have some sort of sense of humour actually…kekeke
Must aim for big and bigger and biggest lar. Small blog makes $5 a paid post,… although like you say no pressure, but small $$ too. Big blog can make $200 a paid post wor… Haha…
It’s indeed a different thought and the idea is quite do-able.
Although I;d suggest that you concentrate on a niche in that case. So that even with a small traffic, the conversion ratio is good.
Just my two cents.
Cheers!
Mani
Hmmmm …
Well, for the time being, I blog to record down personal thingies worth recording, share interesting / meaningful stuff with the world, or just want my articles to be read.
I think it is a pretty rojak personal blog!
Cheers!
Off topic: I noticed that your Topspots widget has been filled up, can you lemme know whether it’s profitable? =p
On topic: Well, after getting stuck with a popular blog, I was forced to slow down on my other blogs and eventually they turned into the small ones, not good to put all the eggs in one basket though.
Very true, author can pay full attention to their readers in small blogs, but it’s hard to pay attention on readers if there are like 50 comments..
Btw, can you add me in your msn/ym cause I need your help in some issue. =P
@ kljs
This sounds like you really see blogging as a hobby and don’t want to make it your job. Right?
@ Sean
Actually, I learned this word from pablopabla at Blogsreview.com. I don’t have a sense of humor.
@ Kitkat
I know small blogs won’t earn that much through paid posts but I do say affiliate marketing there which might make you a lot.
@ Mani Karthik
Yes, focusing on a sub-niche might make small blogs like I said above have a high conversion rate, which will in turn make the blogger some money.
@ Deimos
Personal blogs need personality and if you have one, you will be getting good traffic since people like your writings.
@ Chris
Off topic answer: I only made $2.something with 4 spots sold since I only charged $1 per spot. Thought of tipping me?
On topic answer: Why not? If the big one is really great, spend more time on it to optimize it or uncover some ways to bring it to a greater height. More money can be made perhaps…
@ yung .
More attention = More returning traffic.
By the way, don’t put out your e-mail address like that. It might be crawled by spam bots and in the end you might get some spammy mails.
Want a hot date??
Blogging is just fun and for me to talk with people and make new friends……
Thanks for the tips. Don’t think I have a good amount of knowledge or authority to publish an e-book on beauty and skincare, hehe. Haha! But selling related products over my blog is definitely something I’m looking forward to.
No, you will not need to publish, you will just need to become an affiliate for those who wrote some ebooks on beauty.
it’s ok Wayne, cause I already publish it over my blog and due to low traffic, and I didn’t get a lot of spams also. Lolz!