Here’s the secret that will let you attract more customers and interact with your most loyal fans: blogging! Learn how to start a blog and grow your business to new heights.
When Should You Really Start a Blog?
After you establish your business and create a loyal audience in your niche, you are ready to start a blog. This will enhance all the groundwork you laid early on and give you additional revenue streams. Follow these steps and you’ll learn how to make even more money with your business, ya’ll!
Build An Audience First, Then Start A Blog
As an entrepreneur, you want to do all the things but you only have so much time in a day. Maybe you’ve heard about how blogging can grow businesses – and they can – but your blog will be more successful if you focus on growing your audience first.
Rather than putting your attention (and resources) into building a blog and filling it with content, instead build an audience online through social media and networking.
Create a loyal group of people around you that love what you do and truly believe in your products. After you have your core group around, then create your blog. This way your loyal followers will read and share your blog posts and it will be more successful. Otherwise, you’ll be launching your new blog to crickets rather than raving fans—not nearly as much fun! How do you build an audience?
Take the 10 Day Challenge and you’ll learn how to find buyers on Facebook and grow your audience from scratch.
Why Blog?
If you already have a dedicated group of fans that love what you do, then you are ready to start a blog. But with your limited free time, should you invest in starting another new project? Maybe, maybe not.
After you already have an engaged fan base, a blog will establish you as an authority in your niche, not just a business. People will begin to refer to your blog when they need information about what you sell. When they come to you for reliable information and get solid results, they will be more likely to spread the word about you and your business.
In short, your fans can build your blog for you! Plus, those that already know and love you are much more likely to purchase products and services recommended on your blog. That’s because you’ve already done the hard work of gaining their trust way before you ever put a single post into WordPress.
When done properly, a blog can help you to foster connections, build relationships, make more income, and share your wealth of knowledge with the world. Pretty cool!
What is a blog and how does it work?
A blog is basically an online publication. It is searchable and updated frequently. People can search for helpful information on your blog or receive important updates about your products right from the blog.
A blog works like this. You write an article (just like the one you are reading now) and publish it. Now it’s available for people to find when they visit your site. Blog posts are also indexed in Google. And after your site starts ranking high in Google search results (called Search Engine Optimization aka SEO), more people will find your site after Googling problems related to your products.
For example, if your business sells hair products for women, you will publish articles about hair tutorials. Then, whenever people search “how to straighten curly hair” they will hopefully click on your post about straightening techniques and browse your hair irons. See what I mean?
Business Blogs Give Your Business Authority
In short, a blog is one more way to spread the word about your products and establish you as an authority. You go from just selling hair products to being a place people can refer to for information about healthy hair. And who better to purchase from than the leading authority?
How to Start A Blog
It’s pretty simple, especially if you already have a website and a social media audience.
#1 Check With Your Web Developer
Does your website have a blog function? Most do. Before you start a blog you need to make sure you are set up on the technical side. Add a menu item on your website so people can find it as they are shopping. Another option that some people choose is to buy a separate URL and create an entire WordPress blog from scratch. Both options are just as smart as the other one, it all depends on which you prefer.
#2 Pick a Niche
Next, decide your niche. A niche is another word for a group of topics. If it helps, create a content calendar. Basically, you want to narrow your blog’s focus. It’s way too easy to want to write about everything under the sun, especially when you know so much about your products or business. This is vital to the success of your blog.
Search engines will rank you higher if you prove you are an authority about a specific niche. Plus, when you establish your niche, it will help with blog content ideas. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, you will always know what you need to write about because you have fewer choices.
Taking that hair products business example from earlier. Instead of just saying, “ok, let’s write about all things hair-related,” it’s better to focus on hairstyling tutorials, or hair health, or even hair news and trends.
#3 Publish Topics People Search For
This next tip is really important. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a way of researching blog topics by using tools that tell you what phrases people type into Google. It makes total sense.
Why write about “how to get shiny hair” if only 10 people per month search that topic? SEO research is a fascinating way to discover what masses of people in your industry care about and want to know.
#4 Take a Blogging Course
Is all of this a bit overwhelming? SEO, audience, niche, authority, and revenue streams. It all sounds like another language. The blogging for business course lays out everything you need to know in plain language. She breaks all this technical information down into steps that any business owner can understand and put into action.
It might seem like one more thing to do, but taking this course will save you more time in the long run. Instead of trying to Google everything and get bits of information haphazardly, you’ll have everything you need to know in one place. Plus, it includes extra resources you can use to begin earning even more from your blog through affiliates and sponsored posts.
How to Make Money Blogging
Can you make money blogging? Yes, it’s definitely possible to turn a blog into another revenue stream. There are quite a few different ways a blog can bring in its own income.
Affiliate Sales
If you recommend products to people that you don’t sell, you can still earn money from those products. Sign up as an affiliate with the business. Then, use their affiliate links in your blog posts. You’ll earn a portion of every sale that your links generate.
Ad Revenue
After your blog starts gaining more traffic, you can begin installing ads on your site and earning money for each pageview. The two most popular ad networks for blogs are Adthrive and Mediavine. These networks pay really well, but they require a minimum amount of traffic before you can apply to become a publisher with them.
Sponsored Posts
After you have a dedicated audience and established a record of page views, you can start working with brands on sponsored posts. Some bloggers work with businesses directly, other times they go through agencies that hire bloggers on sponsored post campaigns. The Blogging for Business Course comes with a list of influencer networks you can apply to work with, so you don’t have to go searching for them.
How to Start a Blog: Grow Your Audience First
There you have it! I know it’s a lot of information all at once. Don’t get overwhelmed. Take the Blogging for Business Course and take the 10 Day Challenge. You’ll learn how to create an audience, establish it, and then how to turn this audience into a money-making blog.