How to Make Money with a Low Traffic Blog

I’ve always had a low traffic blog. My pageviews average between 25,000-40,000/month, but I’m able to make a full-time income from my blog. Here is how to make money with a low traffic blog.

You can view my latest income report here >>

I make money blogging in a variety of ways, but my number one source of income is affiliate marketing. I mention a variety of products throughout my blog (only products that I use, love and recommend!), and when someone makes a purchase, I make a commission at no extra charge to the reader.

Make Money with a Low Traffic Blog: Affiliate Marketing

The coolest thing about affiliate marketing is you actually will make money when you’re sleeping, out running errands and playing with your kids. I’ve had days where I’ve made $400+ and I didn’t touch my computer! Pretty crazy, right?

I’m an affiliate for dozens of products and services all related to blogging, finance, freelance writing, and making money online. One of my biggest income-earners is Bluehost, a hosting service that new bloggers purchase when they decide they want to start a blog. However, most of my sales do not come from Bluehost, but a lot of my income does simply because the payout as a Bluehost affiliate is so high.

If you haven’t started blogging yet, here is my tutorial on how to start a profitable blog. As a “thank you” for purchasing through my link, I’ll send you a copy of my book – The Beginner’s Guide to Blogging – for free!

This is why I believe every blogger should have a “Start a Blog” page and be an affiliate for their hosting company (be an affiliate for what you use; it doesn’t have to be Bluehost). Because of my success with this, I created a course How to Make Money as a Web Hosting Affiliate. It’s currently marked down to $29 (regularly $65!), so make sure to grab a copy of the course while the price is so low!

For more information on affiliate sales, check out this extremely-detailed post on how to make money blogging >>

Make Money with a Low Traffic Blog: Your Email List

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: If you can get people to sign up for your email list, you will make money. A lot of money. If done correctly, every subscriber on your list is worth $1-$2 in revenue per month. My goal is to get to 10,000 subscribers by the end of the year. If I can do that, I can expect to make $10,000-$20,000 per month just from my email list!

Again, this has to be done correctly. If you have thousands of subscribers on your list but never email them, you’re not going to make any money. I wish I could tell you exactly how to make money via email, but I’m still in the learning stage. Right now, I have 2,500 subscribers and I make $3,000+ per month blogging (though this is not all from my email list). I do know, though, that I’m much more likely to make sales through my email list than through my blog posts.

Here is what I’m currently doing to grow my email list >>

The main thing that’s ramped up my subscriber list is switching from MailChimp to MailerLite. MailerLite makes it super easy to create landing pages and opt-in forms. I also offer two products I give away for free to those that subscribe to my blog: The first is a 3-step guide to starting a blog and the second is five blog post ideas that will make you money (you can sign up for that below!).

I’m working on creating a third guide on the exact steps to go from new blogger to profitable blogger. It’s going to be an email series and I am super excited for it!

Final Thoughts

While traffic is important, it’s not everything. I’ve been way more focused on my email list growth rather than traffic growth, because that’s what’s going to make me consistent income in the long-run. And, your email list won’t suddenly decrease like your traffic can. If Pinterest or Google change their algorithm, your blog’s traffic could all of a sudden be cut in half!!! That’s scary! But with an email list, people sign up because they like you and your blog and want to learn more. The power is in the list!!

How do you make money with a low traffic blog? Share your tips in the comments so we can all help each other out!!