Do you need to revamp your blog into a business in order to make that full-time income you were initially chasing down when you decided to blog? Have you been blogging for at least the 3-6 months that are (typically) recommended before you can ‘expect’ to see any money from your blogging efforts?
If you answered “yes” to both questions and still haven’t earned a single penny…it’s likely that your approach to blogging is all wrong. If you’re treating your blog like a personal diary with no clear direction for your content or plan to actually generate that income you want so badly, that’s the wrong approach! You must treat your blog like a full-fledged business. In fact, your blog needs to actually become a full-fledged, legitimate business (if it’s not already).
This brings me back to my initial question, “do you need to revamp your blog into a business in order to make that full-time income you were initially chasing down when you decided to blog?” If you’ve been nodding your head in agreement since the first time that I asked or if you just started, you obviously know that it’s time to revamp your blog into a business then keep reading for 7 easy steps on how to accomplish this very necessary transformation!
How To Revamp Your Blog
Into a Business
In Just 7 Easy Steps!
Take Care of All Things Administrative
First thing’s first, you need to get your administration in order. Do not be put off by this step as it is very easy to do, but it is essential that you do it and get it right.
If you have decided that you want to turn your blog into a business, then you will need to treat is as such and register it as a business. You will then become self-employed and will need to keep your own accounts and file your tax returns.
You will also need to be well-versed in advertising standards and regulations as you need to avoid being in breach of them. If you are working with brands and companies, you do need to make sure that you are disclosing this to your audience every single time.
Create a Business Plan
Many bloggers completely miss this step out, which is a mistake. As blogs tend to require little initial funding to get started, it can be easy to jump into it without planning everything out in advance.
However, as with all things, having a plan gives you an advantage. Think about what you need from your blog in terms of income and you can then start creating your projections along with plans on how to achieve that.
Take the time to think about any costs that you are likely to incur, such as blog hosting fees, graphic design costs, social media scheduling tools fees and the cost of any equipment that you feel you will need, from cameras to photography props.
Factor your costs into your plans and be realistic about how your income will build each month. Your plan should include how you will grow your blog, where you will attract your business and how your working day will look. This will allow you to start to form your plans and priorities for each week.
Think Like a Professional
With your blog registered as a business and your business plan in place, it’s time to start really thinking like the professional you are. Quietly remind yourself under your breath that you’re now an actual Blogger (with a capital ‘B’) because it’s your job title.
You should update your LinkedIn profile and social media biographies to reflect this and reach out and make contacts over there. Then you must make sure that your blog itself has an ‘About’ and/or ‘Work With Me’ section advising people how they can contact you and procure your services.
Within your first week, put together a media pack including your services and rates and start sending it out to agencies and brands that would like to work with. Take the time to design and order yourself some business cards that you can carry with you at all networking events.
The hardest part of moving from writing your blog as a hobby to making it your business is shifting your own mindset around it. You need to believe in yourself and your blog and trust that your work is worth being paid for.
Act Like a Professional
Now that you have shifted your mindset, you need to act like a professional. Create a work routine for yourself from day one. You need to use your time as productively as you can, as you would in any job. Think about the hours that you have available to you each day and when you are able to do your best work.
If you are naturally a night owl, you probably do your best work in the evenings. Nighttime is when you’re most creative, therefore it’s the best time for you to write new content.
You might choose to use your mornings for more administrative tasks, such as social media scheduling, joining affiliate networks, catching up on your emails and reaching out to prospective clients.
You need to then ensure that you act professionally in all of your dealings. Ensure that you stay on top of your emails and keep the lines of communication open whenever you are working with a brand.
Work hard to meet all agreed deadlines and keep all parties informed and updated with your progress and timescales. Aim to deliver beyond their expectations every time and you will find that you will be building a great reputation for yourself.
Don’t Forget the Basics…
Just because your blog is now your business, it does not mean that you have to throw out all that you have done before. Whatever you do, never forget the basics; content is king, remain authentic and engage with your readers. These blogging basics remain true whether you are in business or not.
It can be easy to get caught up in your plans and your brand work and you can lose sight of what your blog is all about. Make the time every month to sit down and review your progress and the content that you have been creating. This will help you to stay on track and keep on creating and sharing content that you enjoy.
But Embrace Variety When You Revamp Your Blog Into a Business
You will find that by turning your blog into a business you will need to be more open and versatile about the content that you write about. This might be an adjustment for you, but it can be a lot of fun so we would recommend that you embrace the variety that it brings.
One day you can be writing about plumbers and mrrooter.ca/toronto and the next you are featuring an article around showjumping, the change of topics and the variety keeps it really interesting and challenging for you.
You will find that you are able to develop your writing skills by doing this and you will be amazed by how much you will learn along the way. However, do remember that hobby or business, the blog remains yours so you should always have complete editorial control. Only ever post things that you are one hundred percent happy with. Do not be scared to turn work down if you feel that it is not a good fit for your blog. You should only endorse products or work on campaigns that you are happy with.
Grow Your Following
As with any business, you will want to be consistently seeking to build up your following and grow your blog, influence, and presence. It stands to reason that the wider and larger your audience is, the greater your reach and the greater your earning potential.
Brands want to spend their marketing budgets wisely so if they are working with you they want to be confident that you are able to attract new customers for them. At this point, please do not fall into the trap of buying your followers.
It might seem like a good idea to give your numbers a boost, but it will not improve your engagement and brands are becoming more aware of bloggers doing this all of the time and it could damage your reputation. You will want to focus your efforts on reaching out to people genuinely and there are many ways for you to do this.
You could guest blog on another site as this will help you to reach and connect with a brand new audience, you could get involved in new communities and you could interact with new people on social media. Your blog content and social media content should also be reaching out to new people on its own merits, so always keep your focus on creating quality content and getting it in front of more people.
Become a Social Media Master
Now, this is a challenging area, and yet, absolutely key to your becoming a success in the world of blogging. In an ideal world, you will not need to rely on social media for your page views, you will get those through effective SEO and your substantial email subscribers list.
That is the end game and the ideal, but for most bloggers, it is not the reality. Most bloggers rely on social media, and even if you do reach the point where those other areas are delivering great traffic, you will still want strong social media profiles to attract more followers and to spread your messages.
If you already have a blog you probably have several social media channels already set up. It is probably easiest to now concentrate on building one up at a time as if you attempt you do all of them at once you will find that all of your time is taken up with it and you will end up neglecting your blog.
I sincerely hope that these tips, either some or all seven, were able to give you the insight that you needed in order to make money from DAY 1 with your blogs in the future!
Jessica Rose Adams
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