They say, "Do what you love, and you'll never work another day in your life." This sentiment seems extremely appealing for a passionate blogger who loves writing, but is it really that cut and dry?
There are many things to consider before you can turn your passion into a successful business, and jumping the gun without any plan is a sure shot at failure. This is why you need a business plan if you want to start getting paid for your Blog.
A blog business plan is important in any kind of market. It lets you see the journey from a bird’s eye view, from where you are now to where you would want to be.
Most importantly, it helps you judge a scenario realistically, which can save you tons of time and resources from an untenable idea.
That being said, here are a few points to start the business plan for your blog:
You can use this template to get your business off on the right foot.
Identifying your niche or target audience is essential. What is your niche? Who are you targeting? The more specific, the better. Niche blogging lets you direct your resources to a small potent sample of customers that are most likely to convert, show interest, and form loyalty to your brand.
Think of this as creating a fictional character who represents your perfect customer. Having a small group of consumers checking off all the right boxes on your template can provide huge growth in sales.
By creating a perfect customer avatar, you are maximizing your potential to convert and minimizing your loss in resources.
We’ve talked about finding the right audience for your brand, now it’s time to know your competitors.
You don’t want to open a Milktea Café in your area only to realize that there’s one on every corner.
Having competitors is unavoidable, you might as well make the best out of it and take a peek at their operation.
Surely even just looking from outside the window, you will learn a thing or two that can help you and your business grow.
What separates you?
It’s like competing on The Voice— going in you should already know that everyone in this competition is going to be an amazing singer, so what makes you different?
What makes you stand out in a sea of rivals? What makes your product deserving of the audiences’ loyalty over the others?
Remember back in the day when companies use to locate the best places to market their businesses? We can usually find them on subways, billboards, bus stop benches &, etc.
Companies strategically place their advertisements on locations where there’s a traffic of all kinds of people, 24/7. Now we live in the digital world where according to Digital Report 2019, earlier this year, a person spends a daily average of 6 hours and 42 minutes online.
Rapidly, the billboards became the websites, subways became Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and so much more. Community events turned into Facebook groups, Youtube communities, Instagram followings and more.
Knowing where your audience spends most of their time every day is critically important, you need to make sure that you’re not marketing your awesome product to the wrong crowd at the dead-est time of the day.
Building relationships with companies that already have the attention of your desired audience is an easy shortcut.
Build rapport, make a connection. This will put you on the fast track of getting in front of the right people and becoming a credible expert in your field (because you’re associated with experts).
What are your customer’s pain points? How will you create content to help relieve that pain? Don’t pitch them on how your product or service works, instead tell them how it will work FOR them. Fill the gap between their problem and the solution.
Different revenue models.
Since you’re just getting started, we recommend you start with 2-3 core affiliate products and then get into creating your own digital products like guides, courses, worksheets, and planners.
There are tons of ways to market your business.
Our advice is to pick one channel and be consistent. Pick the one that you are most comfortable with and fits your niche.
Stretching your resources on too many channels will only burn you out.
Gain mastery over that one channel and eventually, creating content will become second nature. Consistency means more exposure which means more prospects. Don’t worry, as your business grows; your manpower grows, then can you safely consider tapping into other channels to expand your business further.
To see how Natalie Bloom used nothing but Instagram to grow her business, click here.
Getting referrals from your readers and subscribers is huge. This is a simple way to add a little more growth to your audience without spending too many resources on your marketing.
Set up a referral program, make it as easy as possible for your readers to get your content out there. Help them help you, then incentivize them to show your appreciation.
Simply recognizing your subscriber’s effort could go a long way, because people do not want to hear automated replies.
Make it personal, turning your subscribers into advocates is one of your strongest assets and leads to greater success. They won’t only promote for you, but they will even come to your rescue against internet trolls.
Connect with other people within your ecosystem, build relationships with other content creators. Give something valuable by sharing, guest posting, etc and more good things will come back to you— double or even triple the value of what you’ve given.
Ever heard the phrase “It’s good to have friends in high places..”? Well, think of this as having friends in the right places, because what this does for you is to have a chance to get introduced into a whole new community when a fellow blogger promotes you and your content.
Having these types of friends can easily put you on the map.
There are so many other ways to encourage referrals, recommendations or promotions, but none of these would matter if you can’t deliver your promised results. So, before taking any actions, make sure that you are able to provide your best services or products. Plus, if you deliver excellent results, you might not even need to encourage them, they would happily share your content themselves, that’s a huge bonus!
There are a lot of different skill sets that go into building a blog. What do you want to focus your time on and what do you want to delegate.
These are just some of the few workflows involved with running a blog business. However, whatever you outsource, make sure you do it right, and you do it with the right person.
Here is our recommendation for finding freelance experts to grow your business.
Freeeup - Freeeup is a freelancer marketing place that pre-vets their experts to give you the best option based on your provided job description
Those are just some of the few things to consider when crafting a business plan for your Blog. To make it simple for you, we’ve created a simple business plan template for you to download and fill out. You can download our simple business plan here.
Remember, don’t rush to wealth. The largest businesses aren’t built on poor foundations. Be wise, highly efficient, and open-minded. You can avoid many failures if you are prepared.
The business can always go a different way, goals change and plans may alter, but as long as you have all the tools to draw and redraw your blueprint, you will never get lost in this ever-changing and evolving world.
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Blog Business Plan Workbook
Instagram Marketing Cheat Sheet
Traffic Sharing: The Fast Way To Get Free Traffic
Outsourcing Online Skills Cost Sheet
How To Word Your Offer So Your Audience Buys