If you want to create and own a successful blog, you must treat blogging as a business. That simply means you pay considerable attention to it and put in all that’s required for its success.
Blogging as a business isn’t just about setting up a blog online. It’s a challenging activity that faces constant changes. At the same time, blogging can be so rewarding. To feel these benefits, you have to be involved more than passively.
Therefore, we are going to be looking at several bullet points you should actively turn to for a successful blogging business.
Table of Contents
How To Create A Successful Business Blogging
You, Your Blog, and The Readers
Often, I tell my students blogging has three sides that must be invested in. These are:
- You
- Your blog
- The readers
You can’t have a successful blog without being a successful blogger. Whatever your blog is, is a direct reflection of what you have on your inside.
If you are facing tough times with your blog, you have to forget about the blog and face your worth. It’s absolutely impossible to create a blog that’s better than you. Take me at my word.
Most importantly, you will need to care for your readers. I don’t care about your value and how much you’ve invested in your blog. If your readers are not fed and catered for properly, forget about the blogging reward.
Invest In You
I don’t know if you agreed with what I said in the paragraph above or not but the simple truth is that your engagement is fully required for your blog to go anywhere near success. And you can only give what you have.
Do you want to create a successful blogging business this year? Start by recognizing the fact that you are fully needed. You cannot treat blogging passively and expect full-time earnings from it. Your blog needs you.
Read and Read
In my humble opinion, the best way to invest in yourself is to get the knowledge required to run your blog. Buy relevant materials. Read niche content. Signup for training courses.
And if you want faster results, to avoid some silly mistakes, get a coach. Donna Merrill shares in this post why you need to hire a coach for your online business.
Attend Offline Blogging Business Events and Connect
There are blogging events every day here and there and we cannot be indifferent. Trust me, even if you are the timid type, attending an offline blogging event gives you a different line of blogging experience.
Reading, educating yourself, and attending offline blogging events open up your mind to new ideas. It’s such an awesome experience to meet, chat, and connect with like-minded bloggers live.
If you know the awesomeness that comes with networking, you will make an effort to step up your network through offline meetings.
When you meet someone offline, the relationship becomes stronger and more real. Needless to say, this will positively impact your blogging.
Years ago, Lisa met up with Donna Merrill on her way back from vacation in Maine. You can watch their LIVE video below that they did for Facebook several years ago.
What Do You Blog About?
One of the toughest things to deal with when starting a blogging business is the niche. It’s often very difficult to decide what to blog about. Therefore, choosing a profitable niche goes with developing your value in you.
There are factors that should guide your choice. Generally, you hear people tell you to follow your passion. Others ask you to follow a topic based on your knowledge. These are all great pieces of advice.
I recommend you check out this post where I added a third factor to help you choose the most profitable niche.
People Don’t Connect With Blogs
One of the things I tell folks always is that bloggers don’t connect with blogs. They connect with bloggers. I personally have a relationship with Lisa Sicard, not her blog Inspiretothrive.com.
If you think this blog is awesome, it’s simply because of the blogger behind it.
If you want to be advertised on Inspiretothrive.com, you ain’t going to contact the blog. You try to deal with Lisa.
Over the years, she’s invested in herself and her value is reflected on this blog and many other blogs you find her guest-posting on.
Invest In Your Blog As A Blogging Business
Your success in blogging is more about you than your blog. That’s why you must take those points above seriously.
Your blog and all that surrounds it is just technology. If you properly educate yourself, you won’t make avoidable errors in putting the right elements together. You must be watchful of having your content stolen as well.
There are thousands of wonderfully designed blogs out there but with middle-of-the-road content. The theme or where these blogs are hosted may not be the problem.
The real issue is that the bloggers behind the “beautifully designed” blogs can only publish what they have inside of them.
Seth Godin has one of the most-read blogs out there. But his is far from anything supper beautiful or complicated in design. No fancy elements for distractions or mere entertainment.
I’m not in a way suggesting you should throw away eye candy designs. But this should only come to add comfort to the plate while your readers read and share your content.
Invest In Your Theme
It’s important to note that while beautiful designs may not be the reason you will succeed in blogging, poor-looking blogs can turn away your audience. The same for too many ads all over a blog. The ads can quickly take the eye away from your blog content.
I can’t remember the number of times I have clicked away from some blogs because of annoying themes. It’s either the fonts are boring or the overall presentation lacks some main sticky elements. The content may be good.
But if it’s some white-on-red text or some clumsy free template, sit and watch as your readers leave you for good.
The good news in all is that you don’t need your arm to get premium, awe-inspiring themes for your blog. Look around and you’ll find these themes for the price of a few cups of coffee.
Be careful not to steal others’ blogging ideas in their themes.
Where You Host Your Blog Matters For Successful Blogging Business
Does it really matter?
Yes, it does if you want a successful blogging business. I know it may be difficult to know where to find the best web hosting for your blog. Everyone seems to be promoting some hosting company and this may just be driving you nuts.
However, I recommend you check out this article comparing 7 different WordPress hosts by one of my blogging friends. This will point you in the right direction if you are blogging on WordPress.
Let me underline here that the price tag isn’t a good pointer to the best web hosting offer. Cheap isn’t necessarily what you need. Don’t trade quality for a low price.
In your place, I will pay attention to server configurations, support services, and overall customer reviews. If your blog is hosted on some sluggish, low-life servers, that may seriously compromise your business.
Other Necessary Tools for Your Blogging Business
You need a great, simple, and sticky theme. You also need premium web hosting. And you need many other tools.
Bloggers need traffic from different channels – AI tools, SEO, Social Media, Referral, Email List, etc, and all these need tools. I know there are free tools out there but think again before using them.
For Social Media and Internet mentions, Lisa has shared with us 3 reasons to love Agorapulse for Social Media Management.
For SEO, some great options include SEMrush, SerpStat and Ahrefs. And coming to list building, you may want to get going with MailChimp.com, MailerLite.com, ConvertKit.com, etc.
Take Care of Readers
Blogs are meant for human readers not search engine spiders and we have everything it takes to drive traffic. Once we are driving traffic and readers are pouring in, we must care about them.
Primarily, we are blogging away to provide solutions to their problems. Behind the desire to serve them is a hidden agenda to make money. That’s true for many of us.
Put your readers at the forefront. Care for them. Respond to their comments and questions. Answer them with the motivation to help. Once you get your readers satisfied, they will sing your praise.
Don’t be the sales blogger. Be the solution blogger. The sales blogger looks for buyers. But solution bloggers find solutions for their audience.
Less Ads On The Blog
Ever hear the expression, “Less Is More”?
Having fewer ads on your blog benefits your readers in several ways. When there are fewer distractions, readers can focus more on your content. This leads to a better reading experience overall. Instead of being bombarded with ads at every turn, your audience can engage more with your words and ideas.
Additionally, a cleaner layout with minimal ads creates a more visually appealing and user-friendly website. By prioritizing content over advertisements, you show your readers that their experience and time are valued. In essence, less ads mean more quality and satisfaction for your audience.
In Conclusion of Building A Successful Blog
Blogging is exciting. Connecting with folks all over the world is amazing.
But hard work, smartness, and financial engagements are a requirement. Treat blogging as a business and the results will come looking for you.
Let me know your thoughts in the comment box below.
Successful Blogging Business: Bullet Points To Create One Share on X