Tips for Building Your Blogging business

Dreams and reality are opposites. Action synthesizes them.

Earning an income from blogging is no easy feat. However, the possibility of making money from blogging and doing something that you love entices writing entrepreneurs. But, Statista reports that:

“The number of bloggers in the United States is set to reach 31.7 million users in 2020.”

Which means it’s harder than ever to get eyes on your content. Knowing the why behind your desire to blog is crucial, but it’s equally important to remember that your plan is not set in stone.

If you’ve wondered what goes into building a blog, then here’s a run-down of the steps I’ve taken over the last 18-months. You’ll find links to authoritative content in each area to help you along the way.

My caveats:

If you want to blog or earn money writing, then don’t let this list exhaust you. There’s no one right way to start blogging. You do you.
This blogging list isn’t in a particular order. You’ll find plenty of overlap.
If you struggle in an area, then come back to it later. If you find it blocking you in some way from moving forward, then outsource the work. A virtual assistant is an immense help.

The business of blogging: Learn the terminology and industry.

“To be a successful entrepreneur you must have a passion for learning – from customers, employees and even competitors.”

— James Bedal, CEO of Bare Metal Standard, as quoted in Entrepreneur.

As a new blogger, the majority of my time was spent learning about blogging. I already had writing skills, but the business of blogging? How does a person start blogging for money? What are sales funnels? The buyer’s journey? Do I need disclosures for the affiliate links in my content?

I quickly realized that far from just writing, to earn an income from blogging, I needed to be a skilled marketer, social media guru, and get over the hurdle of promoting my services and blog.

Know your Niche.
Keyword Research.
Monetize.
Marketing Plan.
Content Marketing Strategy.
Website Planning.
Additional Types of Content.

Business and blogging terms.

As a solo entrepreneur and blogger, you’ll wear all the hats. You’re a writer, editor, marketer, and sales professional. You might handle all the technical duties and financials. Depending on your background these subjects may be second-nature or leave you scratching your head.

HubSpot offers tons of free courses on content marketing writing and inbound marketing. Google Analytics offers courses as well.

You’ll read terms like:

Online marketing channels (paid media, earned media, and owned media), sponsored content, branding, social media marketing, pillar pages, content clusters, digital marketing, SEO, sales funnel, copywriting, sales page writing, landing page writing, email marketing writing, website design/UX.

Plus don’t forget to learn all the terminology from your niche.

Download a business plan template or guideline.

“Have a clear long-term vision, but with defined short-term executable goals.”

— Benedict Hayes writing on Entrepreneur.

A typical business plan includes a summary of your business, what problems your blog solves, target market, competition, one-year, three-year, and five-year goals. It breaks down your products and services, marketing, operations, expenses, financial plan, social networking and how you’ll reach your goals.

How to Write a Blog Business Plan

How to Create an Epic Blog Business Plan

Know your niche.

If you love writing about a variety of subjects, then the idea of choosing a niche can be daunting. However, if you want to earn an income from blogging, then it’s important to understand your niche because it helps you target your readers with relevant content.

Find Your New Freelance Niche in 5 Minutes

8 Powerful Hacks To Find Profitable Sub-Niches In Any Market

How to Find Your Blog Niche and Focus

Business and blogging tools.

Consider which business and blogging tools can aid, automate, and enhance your blog. My first two purchases were Buffer for social media scheduling and Grammarly for editing.

I keep an updated list of tools I use on my writing and blogging resource page. Plus, I’ve reviewed both Grammarly and Airtable.

Types of tools for bloggers

Scheduling programs: Buffer, Hootsuite, Tailwind.
Image creation programs: Canva, PicMonkey.
Free image sources: Unsplash, Pixabay.
Email automation system: Mail Chimp, Constant Contact.
Editing program: Grammarly or ProWritingAid.
Income and expense tracker: spreadsheet, QuickBooks, or the free Wave app.

Design your brand.

“Brand identity includes logos, typography, colors, packaging, and messaging, and it complements and reinforces the existing reputation of a brand.”

— Lucid Press

Start with a swipe file. Toss in images, links, and examples of websites you love. Be specific. What do you love about the site? The colors? The way the home page is formatted?

Will your tone be that of a friendly expert or sarcastic joker?
Will you write mostly evergreen content or hit all the trends in the news?
Will you use en dashes and ampersands?

All of this information turns into at least two documents, your brand style guide and content style guide

20 Tips to brand your blog

26 Tips for creating a powerful personal brand online

How to Develop a Unique (& Memorable) Brand Identity

How to create a style guide

Research your competition.

Know what you’re up against by researching your blog competition. What keywords do they use, what type of comments do they get on their blog?

How to Do a Competitive Marketing Analysis Using 6 Free Google Tools

How to Start a Competitive Analysis: 57 Questions You Need to Ask

Analyze what’s working for your top competitors and identify opportunities to improve your content strategy.

How to Do an SEO Competitor Analysis

Moz shares this strategy on their site for keyword research of your competition:

For each competitor, past their URL into Buzz Sumo’s Link Explorer. Then, paste the URL of their top post into the Google Keyword Planner.

Research your target audience.

Who are you trying to help? Go beyond name and gender. What do they worry about every day? Why do they tweet? What questions do they ask Quora, Reddit, and Alexa? Where do they hang out? Which social channels do they use? The more you know about who you’re writing for, then the easier it is to create content and earn an income from blogging.

How to Define Your Target Market: A Guide to Audience Research

How to Profile Your Ideal Reader with (Perfectly Legal) Surveillance

Complete keyword research.

What is your audience searching for at every step of their buyer’s journey? Are you targeting local readers? Do they use voice search?

How to Do Keyword Research for Your WordPress Blog

Evolving Keyword Research to Match Your Buyer’s Journey

19 Actionable SEO Tips to Increase Organic Traffic

7 Ways You Can Use Google Trends to Bolster Your SEO Efforts

UberSuggest Tool

BuzzSumo Tool

Determine how you’ll monetize your blog.

Will you sell your own services or products? Will you use ads, sponsored content, and affiliate links to generate blog income? Most likely, you’ll explore several forms of blogging income.

5 Methods How to Monetize a Blog – Advice From a Blog That Actually Makes Money

How to Monetize a Blog: A Complete A-Z Guide

Create a marketing plan.

From content distribution to what your sales funnel looks like, a blog marketing strategy helps you earn an income blogging.

How will you promote new content?
How will you measure metrics and goals/conversions?

5 Marketing Plan Examples to Help You Write Your Own

What Is A Marketing Plan and How to Make One (20+ Marketing Plan Templates)

Plan your content marketing strategy.

Your content marketing strategy blends with your marketing plan to create a cohesive document.

Build out your content marketing strategy and editorial calendar so you can relax and enjoy the writing part later. Go beyond topic ideation.

Consider content that targets local and/or voice search, like FAQ pages.
Map out keywords and key phrases that go with each blog topic.
Include who your target audience is and where they land in your sales funnel.
Develop working headlines.
Plan a call-to-action for each piece of content.
Choose blog topics wisely using a combo of SEO research and social listening.
Refer to information you’ve found on Reddit, Quora, Facebook and Twitter threads.
Deliver relevant content that helps your audience.

Organize your website.

Creating your website is a substantial task. I’ve blogged about my troubles with learning how to build a website. When in doubt, outsource.

Website Planning in 4 Steps and 20 Minutes

How to Launch a Brand New Website (With a Bang!)

How to Easily Plan Copy For an Entire Website the Best Way

How Customer-Centric FAQ Pages Can Improve Content Marketing Results

Use keywords naturally to fill in categories for your blog, image alt tags and descriptions, metadata etc. Optimize every word.

Image Alt Text: What It Is, How to Write It, and Why It Matters to SEO

Why Meta Tags Are So Important for Your Online Marketing Efforts

If you sell products, then you’ll need individual product descriptions and headlines. Don’t forget to create keyword optimized category pages. Plus, create image templates for Pinterest, feature photos, Twitter images, and any other social mediums you’ll use.

Create a media kit.

What is a Media Kit and Why You Need One

Brainstorm additional content.

To get eyes on your content and earn an income from blogging, you’ll need a variety of content.

Landing pages for your freebie, tripwire, or product.
Email marketing sequences for new subscribers and those who download your freebie.
A monthly newsletter to grow your email list.

20 Ebook Landing Page Examples Used by Today’s Best Brands

What Is a Lead Magnet & 10 Examples You Can Use Now

69 Highly Effective Lead Magnet Ideas to Grow Your Email List

How to write your first email sequence

The Perfect 6-Figure Email Sales Sequence

How to Create an Effective Email Autoresponder Series

13 of the Best Email Newsletter Templates and Resources to Download

Build your personal and blog brand.

Set up your social accounts and build a following.

If you’re strapped for time, then focus on one to three social media platforms.
Create a social content calendar to self-promote, share curated content, and engage with your audience.

Find your writing tribe.

“Cultivate a network of trusted mentors and colleagues. Other people can give us the best insight into ourselves—and our own limitations. We must have the courage to ask for help and to request feedback to expand our vision of what’s possible.”

— Maria Castañón Moats

Curate lists across your social channels of bloggers who share a similar audience, but are in a different niche. Find authorities in your field and add them to your list as well. You’re looking for both support and those who will share your content.

Share their content.
Comment on their blogs.
Use hashtags for added visibility.

Be a Blogging Entrepreneur.

“Stick with yourself, hang in there through the peaks and valleys, and have a large vision beyond what you know you can accomplish at this moment.”

— Evolyn Brooks

Entrepreneurship isn’t for the faint of heart. Many bloggers start a blog as a side hustle, then shift into a full-time business down the road. After all, anyone can start a blog. But, not everyone can handle the business side of blogging.

Like any new project, making money blogging is time-consuming. It’s also incredibly fun and full of fantastic and supportive people. Do you need help getting started? Connect with me on Twitter and let’s chat!

Resource List

Blogging for Money: Blogging Business Guide

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