Here’s why you don’t need high traffic to start selling ads

By Kenny Katzgrau
February 6, 2025

Advertising is a critical revenue resource for small media organizations and start-ups, but lots find it tricky to know when they have enough traffic on their site to go out and sell. But what many of these organizations don’t realize is that value-added can also be leveraged.

As a general guideline, 10,000 monthly page views is a great baseline to start selling ads. But don’t let traffic numbers hold you back—start selling as soon as you’re ready to deliver value to your advertisers.

What you may currently lack in volume, you can make up for in impact.

Focus on the value you deliver to your audience—and by extension, to your advertisers. Even with modest traffic, you can create high-impact opportunities through:

• Big (bigger than the competition’s) prominent spots on your website
• Prime ad positions in your newsletter
• Shout-outs or calls-to-action on your social media

If you’re working hard to grow your newsletter subscribers, engage readers on social media, and cover stories that resonate, your audience will grow over time.

Many hyper local news publishers doing it right eventually hit 100,000–250,000 monthly page views, and with consistent effort, some even reach 500,000 or more. But you don’t need to be at those numbers to start monetizing.

Focus on building a loyal audience, sending readers back to your website via your newsletter, and positioning yourself as the go-to source for your community. As your traffic increases, so will your advertising opportunities.

To learn more about how Broadstreet can help you grow and maintain your advertising opportunities, visit our website.