ProBlogger: How to Treat your Blog like a Business

In this post Robb Sutton - author of the ebook Ramped Reviews. A very
helpful ebook that I've just read that has some great ideas on how to
get products to review on your blog, how to write profitable reviews
and much more. It's a great read on a topic that I think a lot of
bloggers will find helpful.

As you take a look at your blogging habits in your quest to become a
top blogger, you need to ask yourself several questions that will
determine how you need to shape your blog for the future.

Are you going to pursue direct advertising on your blog?
Are you going to attempt to generate revenue through affiliate promotions?
Are you going to open the doors to review product from companies in your niche?
Do you want your blog to become a sustainable source of income and
someday…just maybe…support you and your family?

If you answered "yes" to any of the questions above, you need to look
at your blog seriously and start treating it like a business. Each of
those questions directly correlates to a function that takes you out
of the pleasure blogging world and into running a secure business that
generates profits. As we continue on this path to creating a source of
cash revenues, what do we need to look at specifically to treat our
blogs more like a business and less like a hobby?

How to treat your blog like a business

Planning

Every successful business has a laid out plan of attack and blogging
as a business is no different. You need to have an idea of where you
want your blog to go in the future and the steps you are going to take
to get to that goal. Plans change and adapt with the times, but the
end result is often one in the same.

Are you trying to build a successful review blog on fishing equipment?
You have to lay out the steps required to get to the top of your
niche. What products are you going to need to review? Which interviews
do you need line up? Which companies and blogs do you need to work
with to create more traffic and subscribers? Are you going to hold
contests and giveaways with some of the industries latest gear? These
are all types of questions that you need to answer for yourself and
create action steps to carry out as you continue to grow.

This long term planning and focused goals are what sets the successful
blogs apart from the vast wasteland of un-updated waste that plagues
the web. Each of these blogs had grand plans of making it big, but by
not having a defined plan that required action…they become
unsuccessful and ignored in pursuit of the next big thing. By creating
these action steps that lead towards goals, you are developing a
business plan for the future of your blog. These actions steps need to
be written down on a whiteboard, digital checklist or any mind mapping
generator you feel comfortable with to keep the goals at the forefront
of your thoughts. Cross the goals off as they are achieved and create
new goals for the future.

Organization

For your blog to be taken seriously as a business entity, there needs
to be a defined organization to the content. By having clearly defined
categories, archives and design layout, you are insuring that your
content will be absorbed in the most efficient means possible by your
readers. This organization in your blogging also bolsters confidence
with potential investors, product companies, advertisers and future
partners. When it comes down to it, the more serious you take the
outward appearance of your blog, the more it pays off when you venture
into outside business relationships.

Branding

It today's marketplace, branding makes or breaks a business. With the
thousands of blogs that are started with each fleeting thought of
creating content, it is becoming more important to set yourself apart
from the pack. If you are really going to take blogging serious as a
business, your own domain name is going to be a must. Your cute setup
on Blogger is not going to instill long lasting confidence in your
blog from an outside perspective. If you are not willing to throw down
the pennies it takes to self host your site, then you are not willing
to make the investments needed to create a successful business in the
eyes of potential business partners.

Create a brand around your blog url and have a defined logo. This logo
will be used in the future for business cards and letterheads, but
more importantly…it brands your business in the eyes of your readers
and potential business partners. Successful logos are often simple, so
there is no need to get extremely ellaborate. If you can not come up
with any ideas, enlist the help of others.

Building Credibility

As you continue to treat your blog as a business, you are going to
start building up your credibility as a serious pro blogger.
Credibility is something that can be won and lost in seconds as you
continue to build something that you can call your own. To keep your
street cred high, you need to consistently pump out positive results.
Get in the habit of under promising and over delivering as you take on
more affiliate promotions and advertisers. You need to continue to
churn out quality content on a regular basis that consistently adheres
to some sort of schedule. As you continue to build upon your
credibility, more doors will be opened with even more avenues of
revenue generation. You will start to see the snow ball effect take
place as your readers and partners continue to be drawn to your
success and quality content.

Create A Business

Turning your blog into an actual business entity is a crucial step.
While creating a business to house your internet ventures has obvious
tax and protection benefits, there are some non-legal aspects that you
need to consider as well. By creating a business, you are now
protected your own personal information. You no longer have to give
out your personal and sensitive information to advertisers and
affiliate programs as all they need is your tax ID to generate
payouts. The outward appearance of your blogging is also secured
through advertisers and affiliates as they are now dealing with a
business and not a blogger. Again, you are strengthening your brand in
the eyes of the businesses that you are going to rely on to generate
income.

I would also recommend setting up a business checking and paypal
account to handle the money transfers. This keeps your blog revenue
separate from personal accounts and creates a lot easier organization
during tax time.

A Completely Different Mindset

When you are just blogging for fun (which there is nothing wrong with
by the way…just a different goal), you have a completely different
mindset than when you are blogging as a business that creates income.
You are stepping into a completely different world as you are now
managing, running and producing in your own small business
environment. Even the hugely successful personal blogs on the net are
run like a successful business on the back end. You now have to take
your future seriously and continue to take the steps to see success.

Like any business, you are going to see your share of failures, but a
successful business will analyze these failures and learn from them
for the next round. Bloggers and business owners that learn more from
their failures than their successes will enjoy the fruits of their
learning through increased success.

As you go to publish that next blog article, are you keeping your
goals close or are you just putting up another article as you go
through the motions of pumping out more content?

Check out Robb Sutton's great ebook Ramped Reviews.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.