Run your own Blog Business

Of the thousands of opportunities that have arisen from the Internet, one of the most intriguing, profitable and misunderstood is Blogging.

Frankly, you can find plenty of skeptics that will tell you that having a Blog Business won’t work, won’t earn you enough money and isn’t a “real job”.

The truth is that blogging is definitely a real business where many people are making a great living doing it and now, more than ever before, is a great time to start. If you’d like to find out exactly how to not only start a blog but turn it into a business, sit back, relax and keep reading.

First, like any other business, you need a Plan.

A Blog Business is just like any other business. You need to get organized and set up your Blog Business correctly so that it’s legal in whatever state that you reside.

You also need a plan to tackle the many tasks that need to be performed to set up your blog correctly including;

• Registering for your Domain Name
• Researching Content Management Systems  (CMS)  and deciding which one to use
• Deciding  which Blog platform you’re going to use
• Picking a  Web hosting service
• Installing plug-ins
• Deciding on and establishing a  Publishing Calendar

Either way, the CMS that you use  should be chosen based on whether or not you are going to actually sell services or products right on your website. If not, an open source CMS like WordPress should suffice but, if you are, Adobe Business Catalyst is a more full-bodied CMS that will make your life much easier. (Hint: Selling stuff on your Blog is 100% necessary if you want it to be a Business.)

Launch your Blog as if it were a Startup Business.

Many first time Bloggers make the mistake of simply “starting” with very little fanfare or plan in place. A Startup Business on the other hand usually has a prelaunch, beta phase, launch and then some serious branding, marketing and advertising. This tends to give their launch an air of excitement as well as garner them coverage by the press, mentions on popular and high profile websites and lots of free publicity. All of which yields traffic to their doorstep!

Simply put, a Blogger is just as much an entrepreneur as anyone and, just like a Startup, a Blog should grow through the traditional launch phases in order to have a better chance of success. Following this approach will help ensure that you have an endless supply of traffic, which equate to customers, for your blog business.

You need a Virtual Staff.

If you think that people with a Blog Business are all individuals sitting behind their computers by themselves all day long, you’re exactly right. However, if you think that they don’t have help publishing their blog, you’re dead wrong. The fact is, even though a Blogger doesn’t require traditional staffers or even a traditional office, they do need to have a plan on where they can hire virtual assistants  to help them with things like content  creation, customer service and other tasks that crop up regularly.

Actually Blog businesses keep the freelance market quite active and have made hiring people in “the cloud” extremely common. Hiring virtual assistants also has some incredible advantages. For example, there’s no need to train your new virtual assistant because they’ve probably either worked or are already working with other people besides you. There’s nothing that you need in terms of insurance, desks and chairs and all of the other expenses that come with actually having a “live” staff.

Even better, if you’re not particularly pleased with the work of a virtual assistant there’s no need for firing them because they get paid per project. Once a project ends, if you don’t want to hire them again you don’t have to. This also gives you the opportunity to stay well within whatever budget that you have set up.

You’ll need writers, virtual assistants, all sorts of tech specialists, designers and marketers in order to make your blog successful.  In the initial stages the tech guys and gals will probably be the most important in helping you to launch your blog business. Unless you are a “techie” person and plan to do all the design, development, and implementation of your blog yourself, finding a good blog designer should be one of your first steps.  A solid technical team will be invaluable as they work on your websites security, maintain your blog, design something that’s engaging and appealing and resolve any “bugs” that your site might have.

Review our article on”Great Tips To Use For Better Web Design” to understand what it takes to develop a great blog.

Learn to love Virtual Management.

Since you can literally hire people to work with you on your Blog Business from anywhere in the world, dealing with virtual management comes with the territory. There is no physical presence involved or even necessary but you will be working with email, postings and time zones that you’ll have to keep in mind as your Blog becomes more successful. There are certainly plenty of tech tools available to help make this easier, including one of our favorites, Skype.

Monetize your Blog by Selling Something.

While your Blog Business can certainly earn you income from advertising, the fact is that most Bloggers make money on their blog the way any typical business does; they sell something.

Since you don’t have the luxury of learning things over several years and waiting for the money to come in (Google did that) you’ll need to start making money from your blog right away. A number of things that you can do include;

• Sell subscriptions that give people access to premium content on your blogs “Members Only” area
• Sell E-books. If you have specialized knowledge, skills or education you will definitely want to put them to work by writing and selling e-books.
• Promote and market affiliate offers (ClickBank, JVZoo, Warrior Forum, etc…)
• Market your own products or services
• Leverage your Blog to get speaking engagements, webinars and seminars.

Of course these are only a small sampling of options available and, with a little bit of creativity, you can more than likely come up with quite a few more. (Many other people certainly have.)

At the end of the day the approach, planning and passion that you have for your Blog will determine not only your success but the actual amount of income you can make from Blogging. Economically speaking, all this effort definitely needs to generate and income for you in some way. Putting in the effort, research and due diligence in the beginning is the best way to make sure that your Blog Business is successful, fun, and financially rewarding.

Summary

Blogging is becoming one of the best methods to earn an income on line today. This article was written to help you to understand the steps you need to take to get started with your own blog business. Although there are many tasks to consider when starting your blog business, we suggest that you don’t hesitate or procrastinate… So get started today!

Happy Blogging!