Breaking up with my crazy obsession with page views was one of the best blogging moments I’ve had recently. Not only was it affecting my family life, it was a big downer on my blog. By deleting this one plugin my traffic increased.
It all started four years ago when I stumbled my way onto blogging. I had no idea how blogging would become a part of my daily life, but I knew it was all about page views when you start a blog.
Pageviews in my mind were the people who were checking out my blog. The more page views, the more money. That wasn’t my entire goal in the beginning. I had to share with others the extreme amount of money we were saving with coupons.
I started Batavia’s Best Bargains because I love writing, and I needed something to do as a SAHM. But, unfortunately, it seems my Journalism degree was burning a hole in the file cabinet.
Not a bad name since I lived in a city called Batavia.
Oh, the mistakes I made. Two months after I launched that blog, I was checking my pageviews three-four times a day. I thought, like so many beginners, once you put your posts out there, people would come.
And they did.
In the second month of my blog, I was getting 10,000 pageviews a month.
I was drowning in all resources pointing me towards a career and full-time income as a blogger. Yet, somehow with 10k pageviews, I was making 50¢ a day.
On a good coupon print day, $2.
I had two babies in diapers. I had a small little bank account that I wanted to add to. Being laid off on maternity leave and couponing gave us a chance to keep our heads above water.
I gave it a few more months. Then, I started applying to more affiliate companies. One of them wanted my Google analytics information.
Google Analytics. The keyhole to a blogger’s success, right?
They kindly shared with me I had the tracking code on my site twice, which meant I was getting double the pageviews. Four months into blogging, my stats showed 11k a month. I was increasing, but then I felt stupid, ashamed, and defeated. I was only getting 9,500 pageviews a month.
Now listen, that isn’t bad for a beginner blogger. I had the daydream blog vision at that point. This is a good thing; drive and determination lead me to a successful blogging journey.
I had Jetpack installed on both of my websites.
After four years of blogging, I thought it was a mandatory plugin. A plugin that you HAD to have for success.
I stumbled upon an article about plugins, and it was a nudge I needed.
I had to get rid of Jetpack.
AN OPPORTUNITY COMES KNOCKING
Batavia’s Best Bargains went on its own journey. Even with lower page views after three years, I started making $200- $300 a month. It was paying our monthly grocery bills.
My husband wasn’t so thrilled about the many hours I put into it.
I had an opportunity to buy the blog mybjswholesale.com. After prayer and careful consideration, I went for it. My initial answer was no. I was trying to get my own original blog off the ground.
The BJs site already had traffic, and those numbers were exciting. However, I was under the impression and many experts even five years ago told you it’s all about the page views. If you are starting a blog, you will find articles sharing how to make an income with lower page views.
Jetpack is a convenient little plugin that shows you your stats as soon as you log in to WordPress.
The nice graph reminds you of your blogging success day in and day out.
If I had a day where my traffic was down even by 100 views, my family knew. My husband would start looking at me, saying, “Low pageviews today?” I didn’t even want to answer; I was so upset.
Pageviews became how I defined my blogging success. Then, finally, I started making a real full-time income with my blogs, and I couldn’t even tell myself I made it. I was still so hung on my page views.
“Why weren’t they up?” Why were they down today?”
Should I push more of these posts? My brain was analyzing how to get more page views.
Until one day, I knew enough was enough. I didn’t want to have a down day because my page views were down. So I changed my Jetpack settings to show weekly stats.
That worked for one day. After that, even with the weekly stats, it took one click, and I could see what was going on for that day.
ONE CHANGE BEFORE I DELETED
Changing the stats weekly and seeing how my craziness of pageviews affected me, I knew I had to get rid of Jetpack.
It was Google that shared that article with me talking about how heavy of a plugin Jetpack is. It slows your website down. I was only using the stats, so it was a no-brainer. I didn’t need it.
When I deleted it, it was a strange thing. I felt like, what do I do now? But, deleting Jetpack has given me my vision back. Looking at my stats weekly and monthly is a fresh of breath air.
When I look at stats weekly, I won’t see that Tuesday pageviews were down, but Friday, they were high. In a weekly stat, it’s all the same. I always focused on increasing page views,, and if my pageviews were up,, I was a successful blogger.
Not true. If you are stuck in the rut of obsessing about your page views, I encourage you to let it go.
Deleting Jetpack, I can look at stats long-term and see the top popular posts. But, unfortunately, especially in the coupon bloggers world, deals die hourly.
WHAT LIFE WITHOUT JETPACK LOOKS LIKE NOW
Here is a post with a graph showing you the results of deleting Jetpack on WordPress.
This blog right here that you are on, doesn’t have super high page views. This blog is still a puzzle to me. I know if I worked on it, it would grow the way I want it to. But, I had to be consistent.
Truthfully this blog showed me you can have low page views and still make money. I wish someone told me, in the beginning, it is NOT about pageviews. It’s about how you are growing your blog. It sounds strange because you know that you have to have a passion for carrying you through blogging. It would help if you viewed your blog as a business to make an income from it.
My tip I wish I heard in the begging is this. Focus on increasing your revenue. Not your page views.
Even if it is only $1 more a month, you are increasing it. Celebrate the small goals. Don’t be afraid to set goals. It’s good to strive towards something. As long as you are striving towards it at the pace, it would be best to be at it.
Today I only check my page views weekly. Random days if I want to see if a new post is doing well. It has made my mind more focused as a blogger. I believe not having the constant stats show up helped my obsession with page views diminish. It was exactly what I needed to grow as a blogger.
Deleting Jetpack decreased my load time. I like checking my sites at websitegrader.com. The lower the load time, the better. Users don’t stay on a slow loading site. I would ask yourself, do you really need this plugin?
If you use Jetpack for social sharing, I personally use Buffer and love it. I have used Nextscripts in the past as well. I always have a week worth of posts scheduled to post to all my social media accounts. ( Not Pinterest, I use Tailwind) If you use my link here,, you can get a $15 credit to start your free trial!
Here is a peek at my GA stats comparing March 2018 to March 2017.
Each month I compare to the month of the previous year. I have learned to let go some of the little things. For example, instead of focusing on page views, I have started asking if I continued to make more income each month.
Setting up a goal to bring in a steady flow of income is more beneficial. For example, if I bank my site on driving traffic, how will I make money when the traffic is there?
Related: 12 Resources to Help You Bring in a Steady Flow of Income Blogging Here.
Part of that thinking is because deal/coupon bloggers almost always have a post with affiliate links. Does it really matter to your audience who they are if they are coming to your site and clicking on a coupon or online deal? Usually not.
Yet, I want my coupon/deal site to be more than that. I want long-term growth. I also don’t plan on sitting at my computer for the next five years,, always looking for a deal. It is about the long-term goals. Take it one step at a time.
Related: How to Start a Coupon Blog Here.
Are you struggling with the constant page view growth obsession?
What tips have you used to stop checking stats daily?