Why not turn your blog into a business?
We bloggers have something businesses don’t…
Natural Marketing Power.
Or at least I think so.
Here are my thoughts on this. I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments section.
Have you noticed how many bloggers are making money? Maybe not a lot of money, though there are those who do, but many bloggers are making some type of income from their blog.
Every moment of everyday, businesses are realizing the marketing power behind blogging; people do business with people they trust.
This is why according to all the business marketing gurus, businesses need to blog and build a relationship with their readers who will gain trust in their products/services and will either be their next customer or refer their next customer to them. And ya’ know what? It’s true.
When done right, businesses gain these benefits from blogging:
- authority in their industry
- builds their online presence
- promotes theirs services and/or products
- helps educate their consumers
- puts a face to their brand
- builds their ranking in search engines
Seem familiar? These benefits are similar to the benefits us bloggers can/have gained by just blogging, liking, tweeting, stumbling and sharing – our natural marketing power, things we do everyday because we like to.
Us bloggers, we don’t have to work as hard as businesses to harness the “marketing power of blogging”. (Though we do have to work hard at blogging.) Because we blog, because we share so much great info, our readers already trust us and sometimes know us pretty well.
And with us, it’s not just a one way street. Our readers are also the bloggers we read. So we actually have a stronger bond with each other than any business will ever have with anyone of us.
This is why businesses buy ad space from us, sponsor our posts, sponsor trips to blogging conferences. Because we have bonds with each other strong enough that we’ll trust each other. (Thankfully, as bloggers, the majority of us have strong enough ethics to not want to screw each other, so we only stand behind brands we believe in.)
Is it any wonder that there are bloggers who have better search engine ranking than businesses?
But there’s a difference between our blogs and business blogs
I’ve worked on a handful of business blogs and I can’t tell you how much it feels like work. I found no enjoyment in it.
But when it comes to my blog, I want to blog everyday. My head is full of ideas lately. I’m just too busy.
We bloggers, we blog with a passion. A passion to share something personal, our unique story and skills. Our weight-loss journey, our cooking expertise, our fashion sense, our parenting stories, our jewelry creations, our art… and every blog is unique cause every blogger is unique. This is why we have readers. This is why we have natural marketing power. Because we’re unique and have something unique to share and enjoy sharing it.
So why not take our expertise and stories to the next level? Why not start building the foundations today to grow a business from our blogs? To start making an income from what we enjoy?
Why not run our blogs like a business?
I’m not telling you to search for a product to sell today. I’m not telling you to create media kits and start contacting businesses today. Far from it. I’m telling you to first take a really good look at your blog. Decide, do you want to put in a little bit of extra work and make an income (even a small one) from your blog while continuing to enjoy creating and serving great content? Some of you may already be running your blog like a business without even knowing it.
Are you posting on a schedule?
Are you promoting your posts?
Are you building strong relationships with other bloggers?
Are you sharing your expertise, your experience, your tips?
Then you’re already on your way.
Why not take that next step.
Think on it and maybe read this post about basic seo tips for bloggers. I’ll be back tomorrow with a few questions for those who want to take their blog to the next level. Questions you need to ask yourself about the structure of your blog and the topics you blog about.
Until then, please signup for my newsletter. I promise to start sharing extra inside seo tips, that will only be available to subscribers, reviews on WordPress plugins and info on joining my affiliate program in December.
Thanks so much for reading. Will you do me a favor and tweet and stumble this post? Much appreciated.
PhotoCredit © artenot – Fotolia.com
Twitter: PragmaticMom
says:
Hi Vanita,
Great advice. I just figured out how to add the Buy It link from Amazon and I’ll definitely add that to my posts going forward.
I tried to change the permalinks but then all old posts get lost b/c the link changes. Is there a wordpress plugin to convert my title to another permalink using title that google will recognize? I do have All in one SEO with a different post title but I will write them better as you suggest.
I have not researched key words. I know you have a post on that so I’ll look at that. You use a tool that is not free Samurai something, right? I’ll look into a free tool for that. Thanks! Great blog! So helpful! Mia
PragmaticMom recently posted..Hosting Game Day Party: It’s All About the Food! ENTER to Win 42″ Flat Screen TV!!
hmmm, i’m confused by the permalink issue. once you change the permalinks from page number to anything else, it should auto redirect. i’ll have to look into it. i’ll get back to you promise. again, don’t buy market samurai. they went through drastic changes this weekend because of google’s new updates and it’s not something that i can endorse at this point
Twitter: PragmaticMom
says:
still struggling with turning my traffic into money. What is the threshold? Is there a threshold? How much traffic do you need? or is it the relationships with companies?
Pragmaticmom recently posted..Promise the Night (Meet real life Pippi Longstocking Meets Caddie Woodlawn) and GIVEAWAY
using affiliate codes should work well for you. you have a lot of great reviews. i think it’s 3 things that may be holding you back. 1. you should have a buy now link under each book. if i didnt click on the book i would have never known it would take me to a sales page. i would just google the name of the book. i would suggest multiple buy now links like Buy from Amazon, Buy from B&N. make it easy for your readers.
2. have you been researching your keywords for the right keyword that will bring you traffic without much competition?
3. make your permalink reflect what you’re reviewing. it won’t change your post title. and in all in one seo, change the title field to reflect what you’re reviewing. both the permalink words and title field words should match but research your keywords. if you’re not sure of what the heck i’m talking about, no worries.
i’m launching a surprise soon.
Twitter: Christal_L
says:
I love how you seem to know whats on my mind almost before I am even aware of it’s presence! I was thinking, as you know, about advertisers who court you and making that choice about who to really work with, since our integrity etc is on the line. I really saw, when I turned the one company down and receive no response to my very polite well wishing e-mail to a salesman who thought the world of me until then, that I want to work with the PEOPLE in a business and that, while hard to believe, not all people are gonna’ truly think Im fantabulous so hook up with those who do. It was a great mini-lesson in sincerity and who to get “in bed” with…I love your info and ideas, kid. You’re always on track.
Chrissy I loved this comment thank you! can u stumble my post? you tend to bring me good luck!lol
its the way of these PR people. I’ve turned down a lot of crappy offers lately. i’ve done it nicely, but never a response. some just see us as a bunch of numbers: alexa ranking, pr ranking, daily traffic, subscribers, gfc friends, facebook likes, etc etc.
once we say no, they don’t love us anymore.
I’ve received to identical emails from what looks like different companies for totally different products. just different signatures. and when i don’t respond, i get the same damn email a week later. i guess once we say no, our email address is filtered out, no response necessary.