Everyone talks about getting more traffic.

More impressions, more clicks, and more pageviews, but what if the real goal isn't more traffic? What if it's better traffic?

Let me talk about a real campaign I ran recently (if you've been a subscriber for more than 2 months, you might remember that).

For 4 weeks, I promoted a launch offer for one of my affiliate partners through a 30-day email campaign.

Important behind-the-scenes info:

For that campaign, I partnered with a software service that I've been a client of since 2019 and an affiliate partner since 2022.

That is, it's a service I've tested extensively and mentioned several times over the years (meaning I had already built trust around my affiliation with their services), so building the campaign was generally easy for me.

On average, my commission value per affiliate sale was $100-$200.

Simultaneously, I could offer a special discount to my subscribers, where they would get a whole year of the service for $35-$100, which meant a discount of 70%-80% for the final buyer (read: my audience/subscribers).

You might be wondering, "how the heck could you earn $100-$200 for selling something that costs $35-$100??"

Here's my little secret: my affiliate partner pays me so well because it's a subscription-based software.

That means the clients I sent them will probably renew the service at the normal price after a year, which will be 70%-80% more expensive.

(Before you ask, all of that has been properly disclosed a million times, from the first email in the campaign to the final payment page.)

Not only that. As the service is really good, their conversion rate is almost obscenely high, meaning a single client has years of value for their business (I can tell, I've been their client for 7 years!).

For all the above reasons, partnering with bloggers like me is very lucrative for businesses long-term, which is why they offer such high commissions + a bonus payment in compensation for the sales volume.

Here are the results:

• ~5,000 email subscribers
• ~51% average open rate
• ~12% clicked through to the affiliate offer
• 310 subscribers visited the sales page
• 28 people purchased
• $3,360 in affiliate commissions
• $840 volume bonus
• Total earnings: $4,200

And here's the interesting part.

Out of those 28 sales, 21 came from subscribers who originally discovered my website through Bing.

That stopped me in my tracks.

Most people still assume success comes from chasing bigger traffic numbers, but what if the most valuable traffic source isn't the biggest one?

I know some people will look at those numbers and shrug: “But only 28 sales??”

I won't.

I grew up with divorced parents who were talented artists and musicians (and very bohemian people, too...), but money was always tight.

These days, my lifestyle is pretty simple.

I like making music, drawing, and practicing sports.

I like having enough money to pay my bills without relying on anyone else for financial support (have always been like this, that's why I have tried so many online side hustles in the past), living in an easy-to-clean 1-bed apartment, and having a job that doesn't cause me a violent burnout per week.

So when a campaign generates $4,200 in 30 days, I'm going to celebrate it.

Because that's real money I earned from my own content creation.

And more importantly, it came from an audience that genuinely trusted my recommendations.

The lesson wasn't "get more traffic," but "attract better traffic."

Google still sends me more impressions overall (which doesn’t necessarily mean actual clicks; that's an important thing to clarify), but Bing visitors often spend longer on my site, subscribe more frequently, and convert more consistently.

And interestingly, I'm seeing similar patterns with AI citations.

The traffic volume is smaller, but the intent is often much higher because the people clicking through already know what they're looking for.

They're researching, comparing options, and actively looking for answers.

And that kind of visitor can be incredibly valuable.

That's one of the reasons I've become so fascinated by AI search, Bing traffic, and alternative traffic sources over the past year, to the point of writing a ~7,000-word-long, “how to get blog traffic in 2026,” guide.

Not because they necessarily bring the most traffic, but because they often bring the right traffic.

Have an amazing day!

Andréane @ BeProductiveEveryDay

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