7 Tips for Creating a Social Media Plan for Your Business

By Jim Belosic
Published July 24, 2012

Do you have social media plan?

Are you looking for an easy to follow guide to formulate a plan for your business?

Keep reading for seven tips to help your business develop a social plan…

Businesses often fail in their social media efforts for the same reason New Year’s resolutions fail: It’s a good idea, but there’s no structure or commitment.

Then, when there are no immediate results, or the goal ends up being more difficult to attain than previously thought, it goes by the wayside.

Has this happened to your business’s social media presence? You aren’t alone. Very few people can simply choose to be active in social media and stick with it.

For the rest of us, we need something to keep us honest. That’s why I advocate you create a social media plan—a checklist, if you will—complete with daily maintenance, recurring tasks and milestone projects.

These seven tips will help you design a social media plan that will keep you on track, active and moving forward.

Before you even start creating your plan, you have to make a promise. Establishing a healthy social media presence can be a very slow process. You can’t expect your list of fans, followers or subscribers to grow overnight.

You don’t want to start your business’s presence out by posting and updating consistently, only to get bored, lose interest and forget to log in when there’s no immediate gratification.

To prevent that kind of slide, make a commitment. Even if it’s just to yourself—even if you have to frame it and hang it above your computer.

No matter how silly an exercise it may seem, acknowledging and agreeing with yourself that building this presence could take upwards of a year (and then some), and then promising to invest time, energy and resources into it no matter what, will keep you committed and prepare you to be active and engaged even when you feel like your presence is stagnating.

If you’re just getting your business’s social media efforts up and running, part of creating your plan revolves around seeing if you already have a fanbase out there.

Search for your business on sites like Yelp. Thank customers for their good reviews, and apologize to customers who gave bad reviews. You could turn that bad experience into a loyal customer and a better review.

So do some searching. Are there lots of people posting videos to YouTube of themselves using your product? Does your company have a bunch of mentions on Twitter? Do you have reviews on Yelp?

Although it’s important to establish a presence on a giant like Facebook, make sure you also set up shop where you’re already visible.

Now that you’ve identified the social media platforms you’re going to focus on, it’s time to turn your attention to the ways and frequency with which you’ll engage with your users.

Infrequent interaction is one of the main reasons businesses experience social media failure.

Those who are most successful in social media know that you have to engage steadily.

Funny, engaging and prolific, Taco Bell's Twitter feed provides fans with frequent news, entertainment and engagement—a model for other companies.

Think of creating and responding to comments, tweets, posts, etc., as simple daily maintenance. It must be done. You need to start the conversation with your users, and anytime they reach out to you, you need to be prepared to respond.

Remember that the timetable for creating and responding to content is platform-specific. Twitter moves so fast that tweets can become irrelevant within the hour, whereas Facebook status updates and posts have a few hours of staying power, and videos are great because of their longevity.

Your fans and followers don’t want commercials, they want conversation. They don’t want to hear how great your company is, they already like or follow you. They don’t want sales numbers, they want industry news and thought leadership.

A good rule of thumb is to talk about your customers and your industry 80% to 90% of the time, and then discuss your own business. That means you need to start a blog, write white papers, explore trends, release case studies and create infographics.

Post frequently and do it consistently. Your ideal goal should be some kind of content every couple of days or so. Avoid going longer than a week without posting.

Thorough, in-depth articles and papers will position your business as an industry expert and thought leader, and keep your fans and followers (and even competitors) looking to you.

MailChimp's more than 30 Guides cover a range of topics—from email marketing best practices to papers on how to use MailChimp most effectively—positioning them as a leader in email marketing.

Contests and promotions keep fans and followers excited, interested and coming back. Most importantly, they’re a covert way to get your business or brand in front of more people. That doesn’t mean you need to run one all the time.

If you’ve always got some kind of giveaway going, they’ll soon become more social background noise. This is especially true if you’re giving away not-so-great prizes.

Run a contest or promotion every couple of months, and make sure the prize is something to get excited about.

Falken Tire's Porsche Giveaway is gated to fans only. And when the prize is as great as a Porsche, their fanbase is sure to be active and their fan count is sure to go up.

Every social media plan needs to start out the same way, with a commitment to the long haul and a focus on the basics like interaction and content. But once your presence is established and your users are engaged, you’re free to open things up to experimentation.

If you’ve built a solid fan following on Facebook, create and install some custom apps on your page, start posting videos on YouTube or interact more frequently by hopping on Twitter. Try things out for a few months, and then go back and see how they’ve performed for you.

Not every platform will be a fit, so if your business isn’t performing well on one for an extended period of time, don’t be afraid to pull the plug and explore different options.

Rosetta Stone's numerous custom apps help them better engage their fanbase of over 1.1 million.

If you’re at the point where you’re looking at expanding to new platforms, congratulations! You’ve likely got a healthy presence. But don’t let all of this growth overwhelm you. The larger you grow, the more in danger you are of failing to engage (point #3), because—let’s face it—social media is a lot of work.

So look into adding some more team members. Graphic artists for your infographics, writers for your blogs and white papers and even some interns to manage the day-to-day social media conversations and information-gathering. A talented team can give you a richer, more robust presence than you could ever achieve on your own.

More admins frees you up to expand your social media pursuits and makes day-to-day engagement easier to cover, especially for pages with large fan bases.

What do you think? What’s your business’s story? Do you already have a social media plan? How’s it working out? Or are you about to implement one? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

About the Author, Jim Belosic

Jim Belosic is the CEO and co-founder of ShortStack, a custom Facebook apps design platform that helps businesses maximize their social media presence and potential. Other posts by Jim Belosic »

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7 Steps to Building a Business Using LinkedIn

By Louise Julig
Published July 25, 2012

“If you can’t make money on LinkedIn, you’re deaf, dumb and blind,” says James Filbird of JMF International Trade Group.

It’s 6 pm on the west coast of the United States, but it’s already 9 am tomorrow at James Filbird’s apartment in Shenzhen, China.

Filbird is the proprietor of JMF International Trade Group Ltd., a company he built to $5 million in revenue largely through his efforts on LinkedIn, the only major social media platform that is not blocked by the Chinese government.

His beginnings in China, however, were less than auspicious.

Organization: JMF International Trade Group Ltd.

Social Media Handles & Stats:

Highlights:

Filbird was highlighted as one of 100 success stories when LinkedIn hit 100 million members.

When Filbird moved to China in early 2006, he spent nine months working on a manufacturing venture that eventually fell through. He had planned to stay at least a year, so when the deal went sour, he did some soul-searching.

“I had very little money in my pocket. Usually it’s the Chinese coming to America with little money for their dream, but I did it the other way around.”

He decided to stay in China as a business consultant and contract manufacturer, the “feet on the ground” for inventors looking to source products there, and gravitated to LinkedIn as a way to connect with potential business.

A LinkedIn early adopter, Filbird had joined the site in 2004 as one of the first one million members. At that point he hadn’t used it much, seeing it as a resource for job-seekers. But in late 2006 when he began building his business in earnest, it seemed the only choice for serious professional prospecting.

“Neither Twitter nor Facebook were of any interest to me. And there were no professionals to speak of that I saw on MySpace.”

LinkedIn has also remained the only platform accessible without a VPN inside China. “[LinkedIn has] never been blocked by the Chinese government except for one day,” Filbird said. “Whereas Twitter, YouTube and Facebook have been blocked for the last four years.”

Engaging in group discussions is the main way Filbird finds business on LinkedIn.

He built out his profile to 100%, joined the maximum allowable 50 groups and spent up to two hours daily on the site engaging in group discussions and looking for people to connect with.

Since then, he has used his strategy on the site to grow JMF International to between $3.5 million and $5 million in annual revenue. “There are a lot of really good people on LinkedIn,” Filbird said. “They’re professional, courteous, friendly, fun, a wealth of information and they’re super-smart. That’s why I’ve been able to get most of my business from LinkedIn.”

Here are Filbird’s seven steps to cultivating successful business relationships using LinkedIn, whether you live in China, Chicago or Chesterfield.

Before engaging with others, spend some time using best practices to fill out your LinkedIn profile.

Completing your profile to 100% and keeping it up to date are LinkedIn best practices.

“If you’re not using groups, you’re not using the biggest resource on LinkedIn,” said Filbird. “That’s where the gold is—people looking for help.”

Filbird finds groups to join by searching for keywords in the Groups Search function, seeing what groups his connections are in and receiving group recommendations from his connections.

Although the explosion in the number of LinkedIn groups means there is also a lot of spam and self-promotion, he insists that separating the wheat from the chaff is time well spent. “It takes time and a good eye.”

To gauge the health of a group before joining, look at the Activity tab in Group Statistics, which is available on the Group Profile page even for private groups. Look at the ratio of comments to discussions. More comments than discussions indicates highly engaged members, whereas many discussions and few comments indicate a group with little real activity and lots of self-promotion.

Profile of healthy LinkedIn group activity.

“From every single group, I received [daily] notifications. That’s the gold.” Filbird started every day by spending approximately two hours searching for discussions that looked interesting. “When I’d get up in the morning, I’d check my email and go through 50 different news feeds.” Filbird considered this part of his daily work of prospecting for business.

Set LinkedIn Group Digest frequency at Settings (Groups, Companies & Applications, Set the frequency of group digest emails).

As his business gained traction, Filbird cut down somewhat on this time investment, but still reads daily digests for 25 of the 50 groups he belongs to.

It’s not enough to simply join groups and look through the digests. When you find a discussion that looks interesting, chime in and become part of the conversation.

“Make [your comment] attractive to people and something that offers them a lot of value. If somebody likes what you say, they’ll go to your profile and they’ll connect with you.”

By initiating discussions that generate comments, you can also be recognized as a top influencer in the group’s sidebar.

A Top Influencer sidebar from one of Filbird's groups.

Since 2006, Filbird has grown his connections to approximately 1,600, most of whom he has met through groups or found through mutual connections. “They’re all hand-picked,” he said. “I’m not a LION (LinkedIn Open Networker).”

He also lauds LinkedIn’s improvements in the People You May Know feature, allowing members to find more relevant connections.

“I look for [people] whom I might potentially want to work with, engage them there on LinkedIn and if they show an interest, I move them over to Skype.”

Once Filbird has engaged in discussion with someone from his groups and connected with them, he evaluates whether he would like to take the conversation offline.

“I say, ‘I would like to talk to you about how I’m able to help you—do you use Skype?’ [They reply,] ‘Sure, here’s my Skype ID.’ Boom, we’re talking in the next couple of days. I’ve developed business partnerships, client relationships and friendships that way, through Skype.”

Filbird estimates that for every 10 people he engages on LinkedIn, one of them will develop into some kind of relationship. For people he connects with on Skype, one in three results in some kind of business.

James Filbird in a familiar spot—conversing on Skype.

Filbird’s group memberships are constantly evolving as he reevaluates whether they still have value to him. Although he is always a member of 50 groups, only three or four are among the original 50 he joined five years ago.

New groups are forming all the time and the relevance of certain groups also shifts over time. “As my focus in business has changed, so my focus in groups has changed.”

What if you don’t have one to two hours a day to read daily digests? How can you apply these techniques to leverage LinkedIn for your business? Try this strategy or modify it to fit your situation:

Touch up your profile.Join 50 groups.Get weekly digests for 5-10 groups.Spend one hour weekly participating in discussions of interest.Send connection invitations to people you meet in discussions.Ask connections if they would like to connect by phone or Skype.Every three months, reevaluate group memberships and weekly digests.

Filbird can’t say enough good things about LinkedIn as a resource for building a business. “It’s a phenomenal tool. I lost all my money and I had to rebuild, and I’ve done it with LinkedIn.”

What do you think? How have you used LinkedIn to grow your business? Has it helped you create business relationships overseas? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

About the Author, Louise Julig

Louise is Social Media Examiner's case study writer. A freelance writer and former engineer, she has a passion for telling compelling true stories. Follow Louise on Twitter @ThoughtsHappen. Other posts by Louise Julig »

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Blog Business Model 3: Sell Electronic Products

This is the third post in our series on Blog Business Models.

On Digital Photography School, we currently sell nine ebooks on different aspects of photography. When you look at the blog now, it looks as if it was built to sell products, but it wasn’t.

A couple of dPS ebooks

The site is five years old now. I remember brainstorming potential ways of monetizing early on, and I’m pretty sure that products were on the list. I didn’t have specific ideas on what ebooks those might be, but I knew there was potential with an educational site to go in that direction. (Other niches might have been tougher to develop products for.)

My strategy for the first two years on dPS was to build the audience, and if I could cover my costs, which were very low, with some advertising, then that would be a bonus.

So I had advertising and affiliate marketing on the blog before I developed the products. I was mainly using AdSense on dPS, as an easy way to make money while I built the audience.

From the beginning I knew I was building the blog as a platform for monetization—building audience and building community, which are such a big part of selling products. If you can get a community feel on your blog then your readers become advocates for you, both to each other, and beyond your blog.

The other way I used the blog was to test product ideas. So after two years of writing, I had a fair suspicion of what might work. I knew my audience, what they were commenting on, and what questions they were asking.

The blog itself was almost a bit of a research tool, as was the social network that surrounded it. I used the social network to research things like what type of information did people read, and what formats did they use.

On the blog I did a little of research around pricing—I did a survey about what people were buying (books, magazines, and so on) and I got a sense from that as to what people were regularly spending their money on. A lot of photographers buy UK photography magazines which are about $15. That gave me a hint as to what sort of price I could expect for my ebooks.

And of course the blog and the social networks gave me ideas about products that actually would help people.

I’ve faced a couple of pretty major hurdles in developing a product strategy on dPS.

Firstly, I’m not a pro photographer—I’m more of an enthusiastic amateur—so it’s always a challenge to put together material at a level that’s going to help people. While my knowledge might be beyond what a normal camera owner’s is, I’m not confident about it as the basis for an ebook!

So the challenge has been to develop partnerships with pros to write the products. That whole process of partnerships is a challenge, as is finding a model that’s a win-win between myself and the author. Then there’s the task of maintaining that business, and managing the day-to-day logistics of that—profit sharing and so on.

The key for me is the team I’ve built around the product strategy. We outsource our design and editing, as well as the writing of the ebooks. So a lot of energy has gone into drawing that team together and getting them working together well.

One of the other big challenges is trying to build a platform to sell the products—choosing shopping carts and so on. I’m really not a technical person so I spent a lot of time researching the options for delivering the products and collecting payments.

If you don’t have the skills yourself, it’s important to find the right people—people who are passionate and can deliver the product content you need.

The key to building a paying customer base around dPS has been email: we use the blog to get people on our email list.

If we were relying on people reading the blog posts, or subscribing via RSS and Twitter and so on, we’d be much smaller than we are—and significantly less effective in selling.

The vast majority of our sales come when we send an email, not from when we put up a blog post or Tweet or Facebook. It’s the email address. We’re more about email marketing than we are about anything else, so the email address is the big key.

Our email strategy is pretty straightforward—we send a weekly newsletter, which is like an RRS feed in an email. And when we launch a product, subscribers receive a series of weekly emails over four weeks. Each of those emails does a different type of thing—announces some aspect of the launch, reminds people of product features or special offers, and so on.

Really, though, the success of that strategy rests on the quality of our products.

Quality information is also really important. Our ebooks are longer and deeper than many of the other photography ebooks around. We do charge a little bit more for them, but we get a lot of feedback that the quality is really good. So we emphasize that.

We also take our time publishing them—each ebook takes four to six months to write and publish, which is significantly longer than what a lot of others are doing in this space.

Quality also plays into the design. We put a lot of emphasis on getting the design right—our ebooks are far beyond a Word document converted into a PDF. We really invest money into that, because we feel it’s important.

The other aspect that’s crucial to the growth of the site—and product sales—is the work we put into the launch process.

Our first launch was a ten-day launch; now we’re doing four-week launches and thinking about how we can really build the momentum over that time.

How can we build the launch into an event? How can we tell the story of the ebook and showcase it in a way that’s not “hypey” but builds anticipation and highlights what customer needs it will help with?

The creative process doesn’t stop once we’ve written or designed the ebook. That’s just the beginning: once you’ve got the product, it’s about creative selling.

These days, for us, the marketing starts before we even write a word. We’re always thinking, what need is this fulfilling? How would we sell it? And that informs how we work with the writers as well—we’re always trying to get the authors thinking about selling the content, rather than just writing it.

In terms of new challenges that will help us grow the business, I’m now looking at new ways to keep the sales momentum going after an ebook’s launch.

I’m thinking hard about the long-tail opportunities that surround products like educational ebooks, and how I can create a stronger, longer sales life for each product.

One thing I’m looking at is developing channels that will allow us to resell the materials we’ve already developed over a longer time period. Basically, I want to leverage the wealth of already-developed content by looking for new channels through which to sell it.

If you’re just starting out with a product model, I think it’s critical that you know your readers and the needs that they have. Then, you can develop products that really are taking those felt needs and solving thproblems.

Some of the ebooks we’ve published have done better than others, and they’re the ones that solved a really felt need. The ones that don’t sell as well were products that we felt might be useful to people, but our readers didn’t feel those needs.

So it’s about getting to know your readers as much as possible.

Are you building a product strategy around your blog? How’s it going? I’d love to hear your stories in the comments.

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Blog Business Models 4: Affiliate Marketing

This guest post is by Anshul Dayal of Nichsense Niche Marketing.

This is the fourth post in our series on Blog Business Models.

Many entrepreneurs who own successful online businesses have followed similar paths through the world of blogging, internet, and affiliate marketing. Perhaps they were working a never-ending grind stuck in a nine-to-five day job they hated until one day they discovered the power of the internet—a medium that has likely made more millionaires than any other in the last ten years.

Anshul Dayal of Nichesense

My journey to the world of blogging and online entrepreneurship is not dissimilar, with one exception. I came from an extremely rewarding, fulfilling, and successful career working on computer-generated visual effects for multi-million-dollar Hollywood productions. That’s probably the definition of a dream job for many people!

So what led me to blogging and the world of internet marketing? The answer is my never-ending desire to conquer new challenges and create something of my own. My initial foray into internet marketing wasn’t completely based around blogging. In fact, I first started by building small affiliate and AdSense sites sometime in mid-2011—a process I wrote about in this post for ProBlogger.

Within a matter of months, some of these sites started turning over decent monthly revenues, and that was really the lightbulb moment for me. I’d heard about internet marketers making millions on autopilot using the web, and while I was by no means making millions, I could see real, tangible evidence that by using the right strategy, it was very much possible for me to make a comfortable living online.

I also felt that there was a lot of misinformation surrounding what it really takes to make money online. That’s when I decided to launch my own blog, nichesense.com, as a place for me to share the proven strategies I was using on a daily basis, and help budding online entrepreneurs.

In its infancy, nichesense.com was very much an information-focused blog supporting my affiliate niche marketing business, and sharing my journey to building a successful online business.

There were two reasons for taking this approach:

it allowed time for defining the so called “unique selling proposition” for the blogit helped me build a loyal online audience and somewhat immunize the blog from unreliable search traffic.

This approach also allowed me to test various monetization strategies I was going to implement as part of my development of a long-term business strategy for nichesense.com.

From a current business and monetization perspective, the majority of my blogging business success has come through affiliate promotions of various products and services that I used to build successful niche affiliate sites. This includes WordPress themes, keyword research tools, SEO tools, hosting services, and also various information products.

Effectively, I’ve taken the techniques I developed through my work building successful niche affiliate sites, and repurposed them to suit my blog.

Most of these affiliate promotions are gradually drip-fed to subscribers through a series of follow-up emails as part of the free training they receive when they first sign up to the blog. This approach reduces unsubscribe rates and also helps me achieve better conversions, as many new subscribers are also guided through the process of using the products to achieve real results.

From a broader perspective, the key elements in nichesense.com’s growth are still to do with offering practical, hands-on internet marketing training. The primary focus is on providing genuine strategies and techniques, and less on selling the next magic bullet to online success—which is what many of the “make money online” blogs tend to focus on. That’s what makes nichesense.com unique in the internet marketing blogosphere.

Social media, email marketing, YouTube, and organic SEO have all been key tools for success in my blogging arsenal. However, there is one thing that stands above the rest: outsourcing. I have used virtual assistants for just about every aspect of my online business. This includes using dedicated social media managers to grow Twitter and Facebook follower counts, plus assistants to research content, publish content, conduct SEO tasks, and so on.

Outsourcing has been pivotal in helping me focus on the developing the blog as part of my larger business, rather than simply letting it turn me into a workhorse who researches, writes, publishes, and does just about everything—something that I think can be a real hurdle to growth and success.

Moving forward, some of the biggest challenges for nichesense.com will still focus around continuing to evolve a long-term traffic and monetization strategy. Using affiliate promotions on the blog achieves only a small part of its monetization potential.

Publishing great content is no longer enough for serious bloggers looking to make a mark in the lucrative internet marketing niche. Most successful bloggers in this niche in recent years have used innovative methods of engaging the audience through interviews, podcasts, reviews, and real-life case studies. This is very much the path I intend to take with the blog while still keeping a unique identity through the “hands on”-style content which has made it popular so far.

Creating high-quality information products, attracting guest posts, and presenting expert interviews will also be an integral part of my revenue and growth strategy for nichesense.com in the coming months.

I recommend anyone looking to build a successful business through blogging is to at least write down a vision statement of what what will make you stand out from the crowd. This is especially true if you plan to launch another “make money online” blog. Think differently and don’t be afraid to innovate.

Remember, the key to a building successful blog in any niche is more than just good content. If you want to treat it as a business then you ought to be making money from it and in order to make money you need to to envision a strategy to attract “buyer” (or paying customer) traffic very early on.

Anshul Dayal is the author at Nichsense Niche Marketing blog offering cutting edge niche marketing strategies for starting a real, sustainable and profitable online business. You can download his step-by-step guide to launching your own profitable niche website on his blog http://www.nichesense.com

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Blog Business Model 6: Sell Consulting Services

This post is by Ash Ambirge of The Middle Finger Project.

It’s the sixth and final post in our series on Blog Business Models.

I’m well-mannered, I like pearls, intelligent opinions, and fine French cheeses. (Ditto fine French wine.) (And fine French men.*)

A promotion for Ash's copyrwiting service

I also happen to run a six-figure blog and business called The Middle Finger Project.

As in the bad finger. The vulgar one. The one that angry New York drivers, hormone-laden teenagers and Roseanne Barr use regularly.

And, apparently, me. The overly polite one with the master’s degree who considers herself educated and knows when to use which stupid little fork when.

I won’t attempt to explain this blaring contradiction, but what I will tell you is this: success online comes with confidence accompanied by an opinion you’re willing to fight for, and having a business named like I do implies both.

Certainly those aren’t the only factors, but they’re two of the most important—you can try to be as “useful” as possible, as the standard advice goes, but if you’re lacking confidence—or an authoritative spine—no one will care about you.

And if no one cares about you, you don’t have a blog—or a business.

Right there—there’s an opinion of mine. You can take it or leave it, but one thing’s for sure—you’re listening.

And really that’s the first step in building a successful blog that sells your consulting business—wrangling some attention. And then learning how to keep it. And then learning how to leverage it.

The Middle Finger Project started as just that—a platform for attention. It wasn’t developed as a business first, and a blog later—the platform began as a blog, and quite deliberately. And the reason is because you need attention first and foremost: if no one’s listening, no one’s buying. Particularly in the online space.

I should know; I’ve tried both. In 2006 I opened my first copywriting business, sans blog. Blogging wasn’t even on my radar at the time, quite unfortunately, and that business quickly plummeted to a gory, bloody, bone-shattering demise. Closed-casket style.

It failed because no one knew about me.

But realistically, it failed because I didn’t make anyone know about me.

I had if-you-build-it-they-will-come syndrome, and I still see a lot of that around these days, too. It’s not intentional, of course, but we all get so excited about our businesses, and think the world will share our excitement as soon as we open our doors.

Little do we realize that we have to give them a reason to get excited. Just like hanging your swankiest panties out on the line won’t cause Prince Charming to show up at your door (trust me, I’ve tried), hanging your swankiest web design on the internet won’t cause your customers to magically show up, either.

Blogs help that process along. Blogs give you a way to make that happen. Blogs give you a chance to prove yourself. And blogs give you a chance to snag their attention long enough to hook, line and swoosh ‘em into your world for the long term. ‘Til dentures do us part.

These days, things are different. My blog is entirely responsible for my success in the copywriting industry. That’s not an exaggeration, or a feeble attempt at sounding like I know what I’m talking about. That’s fact.

Typically I post around two to three times a week, but I have a dirty little secret to share: While the bread and butter of my business is copywriting, I don’t blog about copywriting.

I don’t blog about copywriting for a number of reasons, but the primary one is that my clients don’t care about copywriting. And honestly? Your clients don’t care about what you do, either.

It’s a mistake I see often made—well-meaning businesses trying to blog about their business. The reason it’s a mistake is because, again, your clients don’t care about your business; they don’t even care about what you can do for them, per se.

What they care about is feeling better any time they interact with you and your content. While it may sound oversimplified, this is key.

Whether feeling better translates into them having more confidence in themselves, having more confidence that you’ll be the solution to their problem, or just feeling inspired by your message, this really is the key to running a successful blog and, by extension, consulting business.

One thing I can promise you is this: the blogger who makes his reader feel less alone and more understood wins this game—and wins the business. Because it’s that blogger who will create excitement, and it’s that blogger who will ultimately give the world a reason to actually care about his message.

And didn’t I mention that was step one? Wink.

I’ll tell you how.

The Middle Finger Project isn’t just a blog; it’s its own movement, so to speak. It isn’t the blog itself—it’s what the blog represents for my readers and customers. Hope. Hope there is more out there, and it isn’t too late to come alive and be the person you were meant to be. It has nothing to do with copywriting; it’s about having fun in this one racy little speck of life we’re given, and doing what our anxiety-bent insides are mercilessly clawing at us to do.

For one set of my customers, this often means starting their own businesses—then, at that point, my copywriting services are there to support them in making that leap. Another set of customers—for example, my tech start ups—hire me because they, too, tend to be forward-thinking companies led by entrepreneurs who can relate to the core message of TMFproject as well.

The take away here?

Think about what your blog represents, and how you can connect it to the underlying beliefs and values of your target readers or customers—and how this can help them get excited and care about you.

If you’re a divorce lawyer, don’t blog about divorce. Blog about the inspirational stories that come out of divorce. Blog about the client who found herself again. Blog about the client who reawakened his love for bowling. Blog about the client who re-married her husband for a second time. Blog about the client who found his real soul mate the second time around.

Give your clients a reason to get excited—and feel better. Give ‘em a reason to want to read. And once they want to read, they’ll naturally want you.

And only when they want you, are you then in a position to successfully sell them your services.

Then, it’s just a matter of aligning your service offerings with the things that you know will make your customers feel better—about their lives, about their futures, about their businesses, or about their decision to choose you over the next guy.

For example, one of my most successful offerings at The Middle Finger Project has been the One Night Stand—a rapid-fire copywriting service for those who need hot web copy that sells, at a price that won’t send them hurtling into debt with no pants on. (We like to, ahem, save our debt for things like Victoria’s Secret and The Cheesecake Factory.)

The reason it’s been so successful is two-fold. First, clients feel better because they’re gaining confidence that their business or website is going to be successful, since mouth-watering copy is one of the most important pillars of any online space. But second, this offering has been a success because I deliberately have made it fun—and fun always wins over not fun, as any kindergartener will confirm. And who wouldn’t want to go with the service provider that’s guaranteed to make a more pleasant—and exciting—experience for their client?

For example, I could have just called this, “Copywriting service,” but I didn’t, and deliberately so. I named it the One Night Stand, and furthermore went on to label each part of the service as:

Innocent Flirting, AKA Pre-Session JammingIntimate Discussion: 1-hour call on the day of our sessionDown + Dirty Sweat Sesh: Up to five pages of cunningly cool copyNightcap + Pillow Talk: Your FeedbackOops, You Forgot Your Panties: One round of final edits

While the simple act of naming of a product or service might seem trivial—and is often an afterthought—it isn’t just about naming. It’s about the anticipated experience. I know my customers intimately (look who’s got puns!), and I knew that this type of offering would be something they’d not only get a kick out of, but would be racing to purchase particularly because of the element of fun that The Middle Finger Project brand has become known for. And a fresh start, with fun at the helm, is what many of my clients are so desperately craving.

Moving forward, The Middle Finger Project will continue to stand for having more fun than everyone else, in both life and business.

Registration has just closed for a six-week online copywriting workshop I’ll be hosting, and before the year is out, The Middle Finger Project (the book) will be released: because life is short and vodka tastes better abroad.

I’m beyond honored to have the opportunity to make a living doing what I do—the (mostly) prim and proper chick rocking the hell out of a rebel’s brand. Yet, it all started that fall afternoon in 2009 when I began the blog as a way to build a platform, connect like-minded folks, and really give the world a run for its money.

It’s about standing up for what you believe in—and rallying others to do the same.It’s about reaching for your megaphone—and not just expecting attention, but going out and grabbing it.It’s about helping people care—first about themselves, and then about you.It’s about generating excitement—from your message to your brand to every single thing you sell.It’s about remembering that every single one of us is human—and most of us just really want to feel understood.And above all, it’s about getting off your backside, and making it happen already.

You got this. Roseanne Barr and I believe in you.

*I’ve never actually dated a French man, therefore that statement was partially false. Okay, entirely false. However, I do imagine that I would thoroughly enjoy one.

Ashley Ambirge is the sassiest freelance writer, entrepreneur and digital strategist on the block. She authors books on leveraging the internet to make a business out of your passions, runs her semi-insane but lovable blog (click here to subscribe), and does one on one strategy sessions with new bloggers, entrepreneurs & small businesses looking to rock their online space with the brilliance of a diamond (and finally make some damn money). She’ll also kill you at beer pong without batting an eyelash. Just the facts, Jack.

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Blog Business Model 5: Sell Training and Courses

This is the fifth post in our series on Blog Business Models.

When you think of online training as a blogging business model, cookery classes may not be the first topic that springs to mind.

The Stone Soup course homepage

But Jules Clancy of The Stone Soup has created a successful cooking class business around her food blog.

Hi Jules. First up, can you share a bit of your history with us? How did you get into blogging?
My background is in food science. I used design chocolate biscuits for a living—for Australia’s largest biscuit manufacturer.

I love everything to do with food, so it was only natural that after getting addicted to reading food blogs, I took the leap to starting my own.

Your blog supports online training product offerings. Did you develop the blog first, and then adopt that business model, or develop the business first, then build the blog?

It was blog first for me. I had no idea where blogging would lead me, or that it was even possible to use a blog to make money online. It wasn’t until I’d been blogging for a few years that I came across the idea of turning a blog into a business.

And at what point did online cooking classes appear as an ideal product idea? Did you always think that that might be the way to go, or did you need to be convinced of the model’s viability first?

It wasn’t until I saw a class on the A-List Blogging Bootcamps called something like “Create Courses that Sell” that I even had the idea. But as soon as I had that “a-ha” moment, I decided to give it a shot.

Cooking is something that works really well on TV and video, so I figured it would translate well into a class format. (Although if we could get someone to invent ‘scratch and sniff’ video that would be even better!)

Ultimately, it was an organic evolution of my blog—that was just how it happened. There was no grand (or evil!) master plan.

Great. So in what ways does blogging support your training offerings?

Primarily, my blog attracts customers to buy my ebooks and my online cooking classes. It’s a way of developing a relationship with my readers to turn them into buyers.

That being said, my blog also works as an online business card. I have a book coming out next year because of my blog—my publisher discovered Stonesoup and contacted me about doing a book. It also works for speaking gigs, and I’ve done a bit of freelance writing based on contacts from my blogging.

What kinds of challenges do you face in using your blog to build your business?

At the moment, my biggest challenge is moving away from making most of my money when I launch a new cooking class to a more continuous (and sustainable) model. I haven’t figured out how I’m going to do it, but I think building a process with email marketing at the centre will be part of the solution.

I’m also struggling with conversions. For the amount of readers and traffic I get, I don’t think I’m doing a good job of turning them into paying customers.

So what converts best for you: your ebook or your courses? Do you think the blog reading marketplace is saturated with certain format offerings?

In terms of overall revenue, about 50% of my income comes from ebooks and 50% from courses. So even though ebooks are cheaper and convert better, the total income is about the same as the higher priced classes.

In terms of saturation, I think there’s always a market for high-quality products that solve real problems for people, regardless of the offering format.

You mention price. How did you work out how to price your classes?

Pricing is something I’m still experimenting with. At the beginning, I thought about what other classes cost, then considered what I thought I’d be prepared to pay for a course, and took it from there.

What are the key elements that have helped you get to where you are with your blog?

Passion! It’s a bit of a cliche, but in my case it’s totally true. I love cooking, writing about food, and taking photographs of what I cook. I can’t imagine doing anything else and enjoying it as much as I love working on my blog and my business.

Consistency has also been key. I promised myself when I started I would publish at least once every week and I’ve been doing that right from the beginning.

The quest for continuous improvement is also important. I’m not a perfectionist by any standards but I’m always thinking of how I can do things better.

That’s interesting. How do you continuously improve your courses? What’s involved in that process—from a content perspective, but also from product integrity and delivery viewpoints?

I ask my students for feedback. After I run a major class I do a short survey using Survey Monkey to collect testimonials and also get feedback on what worked and what needs improvement.

I’ve also started running a Poll Daddy quiz on my cooking school site so my students actually vote for the topic of the next class. Actually, you’ve just reminded me I’ve been meaning to set up a feedback option on the site using something like uservoice.com so it’s really easy for my students to give feedback, get help, and make suggestions.

Cooking’s a very cluttered niche. What’s unique about the way you’ve developed your offering?

I’m all about simplicity. All my recipes have only five ingredients and deliver big when it comes to flavour and healthiness.

And have you carried that philosophy through to your cooking classes?

Absolutely! Simplicity is really a core philosophy of my life, so even if I wanted to do a “fancy” or “complicated” cooking class, I wouldn’t be able to do it.

Right. So you mentioned Survey Monkey and uservoice, but what other tools or services do you rely on as you develop your business?

I’m using:

Aweber for email list managementClickbank for selling products and their affiliate networkVisual Website Optimizer for split testing (although I’ve had a few issues recently with them).

What tools do you use specifically in developing and delivering your courses?

At first I had a little flip video camera for making my videos but I’ve since upgraded to a Nikon D7000 for recording video. And I just use  imovie for editing videos. And then in terms of my membership site management, it’s a WordPress blog using the plugin Wishlist Member.

And how did you go about researching and sourcing those tools?

I’m very lazy when it comes to researching things like that, and I’m pretty sure the flip cam and Wishlist Member were what was recommended in the “Create Courses that Sell” class I took.

What advice, tips, and insider secrets would you give to someone who was just starting out with a blog business model based around selling training?

Get your own product out there sooner rather than later. I made the mistake of quitting my job and then not launching my first product for seven months, so there was no income coming in.

That was fine, but I would have been much better off to get something out there and start learning how to market etc. sooner rather than later. It’s definitely one of those things that you can only get really great at if you keep trying different things.

Interesting! So what does the future hold for Stonesoup and your course offering?

Hopefully lots more sales! And I’d like to have things more automated so I can step back a bit and spend more time in my veggie garden and less time in front of a computer screen.

Thanks to Jules for her time and advice. To find out more about Jules’s business, visit The Stone Soup, and check out the article she wrote for ProBlogger.

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Blog Business Model 2: Sell Your Print Book

This is the second post in our series on Blog Business Models.

Kevin Cullis, who runs MacStartup.com uses the blog to support his print book, How to Start a Business: Mac Version, and his upcoming release, How to Start a Business: Windows Version.

Kevin's book, How to Start a Business: Mac Version

Kevin’s written about his business journey here at ProBlogger before, but here, he explains in detail how the blogging-and-print-books business model works for him.

Kevin, what was it that drew you to blogging in the first place?

Well, I was selling hardware and software computer solutions to businesses and answering the same questions over and over again. After doing this for a while I was bored and needed an outlet for my energy, talents, and skills. I decided to write down not only the computer problems businesses have encountered, but also the answer to each computer problem.

My unique approach is: not every business problem needs a computer solution and not every computer solution is a good fit for a business. Too often geeks see a computer answers for every problem. From a business perspective, you need a Return On Investment for the money you spend on computer solutions.

So, to get things moving, I started writing things down, having no clue where it would lead. As I wrote, I began noticing trends in what issues businesses were having and shaped my content to fit each trend. After helping a business person one day and mentioning my business, and computer articles and writings, they suggested that I convert them into a book.

Hmm … I hadn’t thought about that before! I thought about it after work and asked myself: What does this mean? How does it change what I’m currently doing? Is this doable? The answer: Yep, sure could. So, ok, let’s head in that direction now.

Like most budding authors I had intended to find an an agent who hopefully would find a publisher to get my book on the market. Fast-forward a few years. Listening to a teleseminar, the speaker mentioned that it was no longer just about your book, but about your content. The teleseminar guest mentioned that your content could become books, blogs, seminars, workshops, DVDs, coaching, and ultimately the potential for multiple streams of income that comes from your experiences.

As with anyone doing anything they love, it’s no longer just about your craft, trading time for dollars, but turning your craft into a business.

Bingo! The shackles on my brain came off. I was now mentally free to pursue and use all of my talents and skills for my readers’ and customers’ sakes—not just those that a publisher wanted me to use. It was about making more money based on a whole host of things I could do with my talents, skills, content, books, and blogs, not just the limited few wanted by others.

Besides, in recent years because of POD (Print On Demand) technology, the publishing game rules have changed, both for the “Big Six” and for independent publishers like myself. Most authors today who sign contracts with publishers find those publishers want want you to market your book yourself. Why sign a contract then? Do it yourself and keep more of the profits.

As my book writing progressed further other well-known authors mentioned that I had a blog so I could connect directly with my readers. Blogging not only helps in getting noticed more through Google search, but also helped in doing market research for my book’s content, and now provides additional content beyond my book.

For example, after a book editor suggested I put an initial cap (in my case, a drop cap) in the book, I spent about three hours deciphering the technical solution in iWork Pages and ended up posting the solution on my blog. I wrote the blog post about drop caps because I knew that eventually I’d probably forget how to do it myself, so I could always look up my own blogged answer. I wasn’t sure whether people would be interested in this post, but it had became my fourth-most-viewed blog post within weeks of my posting it online. Wow, the power of the 24/7 internet and search!

So for me, blogging is an extension of my writing and provides marketing insights from potential readers and clients.

Do you think writers make good entrepreneurs?

As I was planning for this interview, and having a discussion with another entrepreneur about whether or not I had planned to become an entrepreneur, I thought back about my journey as an author and a blogger.

I started out just with an idea and began writing down answers to solve some business and computer problems. With suggestions from others, that idea progressed into writing a book, and then to become a blog. This ultimately changed into the potential of starting my own business with my idea, and purpose of my talents and skills.

Just having an idea does not make one an entrepreneur, but taking action on the idea does.

So, looking back, I’ve come to a realization: I never started out thinking I’d be an entrepreneur, but I grew into one as I took numerous steps toward an ever-changing goal. Only as I learned and grew did I ultimately transform myself from a writer to a published author, and from a blogger into an entrepreneur. With other more experienced entrepreneurs mentoring me along my path I’ll get better and more profitable at it.

Your blog supports sales of your print book, but you had the book before the blog. Most people would tackle things the other way around. How has your approach worked in terms of building an audience for your self-published book?

While I started with the book and then added the blog, ultimately they both have affected each other, and it was not until later, through considering them both as part of a business, that their purposes have merged into a more cohesive whole.

As any entrepreneur learns, the most crucial part of any business is searching for the right business model based on your idea, and you’ll have to change many times before you find your right business direction and model. This means try something, test it with your customers, then change (or “pivot” in entrepreneurspeak) to the new input. Test again, change again, and repeat often as necessary until you succeed.

For example, I originally started writing about Windows, Mac, and Linux in my book. But my first pivot was to drop the Windows and Linux and focus only on Mac content—and on companies with over 500 employees—after realizing most Mac fans don’t care about Windows or Linux.

My third pivot came after I found that a vast majority of businesses in the US have under ten employees (i.e. they’re startups, mompreneurs, and dadpreneurs, not businesses with over 500 employees). That means I’ll sell more books to smaller businesses than to bigger ones.

Taking one path or another at first is an “either/or” thing, but over time it will eventually become an “and” at some point as your business grows.

As a blogger, it’s the same. You start with an idea and take the necessary steps toward your goal and you write and get feedback with Google Analytics and reader feedback.

My blog and book have both evolved over time as I have personally learned and grown. It’s the same with any endeavor you decide to take. In fact, I just signed in the middle of June 2012 another author to do a Windows version of my book due out this fall titled, “How to Start a Business: PC Version.”

Well, your book talks about startups, and this is a very startup-typical approach. Can you tell us why you took that approach, rather than the more traditional approach most bloggers would use?

Why? Because you can’t steer a parked car. I just took my first step. Take action, any action, in any direction and then various things begin to appear and “line up” that need to be done as you move forward and observe the various reactions. You’ll then need to steer over and around various customers, vendors, issues, and obstacles as they affect your blog and business as you come into contact with them.

As bloggers, authors, and business people, we’re paid to solve problems and/or provide entertainment. You can’t do that sitting and meditating a lot about it. Get going.

So can you tell us a bit about how you use blogging to support your book?

When you sell a book, you may or may not get feedback on what you’ve written. Blogging gives me direct feedback as to what my customers are looking for, through the analytics of my blog posts. It also provides the 24/7 marketing and analysis about my content, book, blog, and for those that find the help they need from me.

So I search and find ways that it supports my overall purpose for me being in business and blogging. Like any entrepreneur, I never stop looking for more answers and solutions, to provide more and more value in my responses to questions people ask.

So what’s the biggest challenge you face in using your blog to support the business of selling your print book?

Keeping creative, relevant, and valuable in my topics, and finding problems and answers that people are looking for.

But more importantly, getting people to realize there are some issues they’ll face as entrepreneurs which are essential to a business (and blog), and to quit chasing after the SOS (Shiney Object Syndrome, the next “in” thing), since that only delays them in getting to where they want to go.

While there is the creative part, the fun part, the stuff we just love to do and can’t stop doing, there’s also the not-so-fun parts, and they’re just as important for your blog and business. For instance, there is never a quick way to riches. You’ve probably heard that it takes years to become an overnight success? It’s 100% true. Besides, making money is only part of the issue. You personally have to change to handle your new-found income and success.

When you get rich quick you don’t necessarily get the time to grow and absorb what’s necessary to handle your success. Why do you think nearly all lottery winners go broke soon after they get their money? Because they didn’t earn it and did not personally grow as they earned it, like most successful entrepreneurs do.

My purpose is about telling a story with my book and blog, but also telling the truth. But as it has been said: when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I was writing my book and it was suggested that I take it online and build a web site. At the time, I was focused on completing my book. Little did I know that years later I’ve come full circle and am will be putting more and more of my content online. I was not ready at that time, but now I am.

And it’s a really captivating blog, too. What are the key factors, or components, that have helped you get it to where it is now?

First, not getting married to my blog idea (The What: a blog about Macs), but to focus instead on a purpose for my blog (The Why: i.e. helping startups, mompreneurs, and entrepreneurs using Macs). Ideas and blogs are a dime a dozen; finding our why you are in business, or blogging, makes your potential blog and business last longer.

Second, dogged determination to keep moving, not quitting, it’s all about being focused on helping my readers and clients.

Third, making changes if things are not working out. I don’t fail, I just test and change as frequently as needed until I am successful.

Fourth, work at keeping your blog and business a no- or low-cost startup. For example, most professional book editors and designers said I needed to do my book in Adobe’s InDesign or Quark, each priced at about $700, or pay someone to do it for me. I could not afford either at the time. I researched and found that Apple’s iWork Pages could still handle the book results I wanted, and I’d pay only $20 for the application. Same with WordPress and its plugins.

Fifth, love what you do and it won’t feel like work, but also get a life. Don’t get so wrapped up in your blog and business that you can’t turn it off by taking a day off once a week and do something else with your family and friends—and I do mean relax. If you don’t know how to turn your blog and business off for one day, it’ll become just another high-paying job or time- and energy-sucking hobby.

Sixth, get outside your blog and business to get connected and noticed, and learn more. Recently, in a LinkedIn group I belong to (Society of Physician Entrepreneurs), a post asked some questions about healthcare reform. I answered with my idea, and that comment was picked up by a major medical web site.

Seventh, and the most important: get a hand up and give a hand down to others. Have a hand up: look for mentors that are willing to help you out, and be thankful and grateful for their help. Especially, tell others publicly either in a blog post or as a testimonial about their help. But also have a hand down: always find someone you can help out as you’re getting help. Justin Bieber invested his wealth early on in other startups such as gaming outfit Sojo Studios and Spot­i­fy. Sart helping others when you start your blog and business.

If you aren’t thankful for mentors and helpful to others, you’ll slow or delay your blogging and business growth, and your reputation will be negatively affected.

Okay, so what’s unique about the way you’ve developed your offering—what makes your blog business unique?

First, everything is a number of processes hobbled together within in a system. Just like building a house, you need four things: tools, materials, an idea, and then a step-by-step plan of what needs to be done and a sequence to do it in (much like a formula of 1 + 1 + 1 = 3).

Some blogs and businesses provide you with some tools, others provide you with some materials, others give you ideas, and very few provide a step-by-step complete plan to get it done (Content blog + Book + Idea – Outsourcing x multiple streams of income = Business).

If you have an idea, I focus on providing the other three elements of tools, materials, and a good sequence of instructions on how to get it done. That makes my approach unique in most of the blog and startup business world.

The most common comment you hear from people is, “I can get anything free on the internet. Why should I pay for things?” It amazes me that people do not understand that while free means you may not pay actual money for something, you are paying for it with your time and effort to find your own answers.

And more importantly, there is usually a good sequence you need to follow that will help you achieve your results quicker. Getting free information on the internet may not be part of the right sequence to get your task (or business) effectively, efficiently, and profitably done.

What makes my offer unique is I search for all of the essential elements and steps that need to be followed in a proper and good order to do things a better and quicker way. Just like building a house, you start from the design, lay the foundation, to finishing the landscaping and moving the furniture in. You learn from your mistakes. That makes things not only effective, because you can get results, but also more efficient, because it costs you less as well, which ultimately leads to better profitability.

That’s what makes my blog and book offering so compelling: I make your efforts more effective and efficient at getting to profitable results. By spending three hours figuring out how to do drop caps in iWork Pages, I saved others three hours of work. And that should mean something to them: at $10 or $100 an hour, I saved them either $30 or $300. Multiply that over how many times they do that and that’s a chuck of change that solution has save someone.

Sure. Speaking of tools like that, can you recommend any software or services that you’ve used to develop your blog business?

Not many, even being the geek that I am, but I’m more of a business geek. The simpler, more effective, and more efficient, the better (going cheap is not always better).

My hosting ISP is Bluehost.com and I use WordPress for my blogging software. But since I’m in business and writing is my business, I use all of my Mac’s tools (iLife, iWork, and WordPress plugins) for everything for my blog and business. I use Apple’s iWork Pages to do all of my writing, especially since I wrote my book using it. I then just cut and paste the content into a WP blog post and format it. I’m about to improve my blog experience and WP theme as I change my business and blogging emphasis very soon here.

Same goes with tools and services for blogging—as the need arises, so does the need to search out more tools! I work at keeping things simple with the tools I use. Simple means less expensive, which translates into more profits and further growth of my business.

That’s great advice! What other tips would you give to someone who was just starting out as a print-pubished author using a blog to support book sales?

Know who your readers and customers are, and the numbers surrounding them (in my case, Apple sells millions of Macs per quarter, and a percentage of them are to businesses and consumers who later become businesses). You have to know your market and business numbers—this is essential for anyone starting a blog and business.Solve your readers’ and customers’ problems by providing them good value. And you don’t have to give away the farm, but you need to give a sample of your work so they can try the results that you promise.Build a name for yourself as you become the expert in that niche by providing quality solutions. Matthew Bennet’s story in my book How to Start a Business: Mac Version is about someone who found a niche solution between expectant mothers and doctors and solved both of their problems at the same time with his book the Maternal Journal.Do the work up front. Do your due diligence and prove yourself as an expert. The money will come if you’ve hit the right market for your talents.

Finally, Kevin, can you tell us what you think the future holds for your business?

Here’s how I describe any entrepreneurial business and life.

You’re in a convertible car (your life) during July, with the top down on cool, moonlit night. Alone with the stars and your family (your family is “in business” with you, right?) driving down a winding, rural, two-lane road. You’re driving with your headlights on and carrying on a conversation with your family as you head toward “our destination.”

You can only see as far down the road as your headlights will show you, much like a blogger or business person seeing into their business’s future. The road ahead twists and turns based on the lay of the land (the market place and your business model). While you can see the outline of the lay of the land (your business future) in the moonlit shadows and stars, you can really only see as far as your car’s lights will shine on the road ahead (your business goals and paths). That’s anyone’s business future.

Most entrepreneurs are not only the Christopher Columbuses and the Lewis and Clarks, they’re also the Cornelius Vanderbilts, John D. Rockefellers, Steve Jobses, and Mark Zuckerbergs and thousands of individuals taking a chance at changing their and our worlds—hopefully for the better.

As an entrepreneur, it is more important to focus on the journey rather than the destination (goal) because at some point you’ll be let down after you have arrived at your “destination.” Ensure that you have a long-term purpose, rather than just a short- or long-term goal, to ensure you keep moving ahead.

David Ogilvy said, “Pay people in peanuts and you get monkeys.” So, while you can just blog for the fun of it, look to provide value to others to earn more than a living with it, and by that I mean you earn more than just peanuts as a blogger.

Thanks to Kevin for his time and insights. Don’t forget to check out Kevin’s blog at MacStartup.com and his book, How to Start a Business: Mac Version.

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From Blog to Profitable Business in Four Steps

This guest post is by Michael Chibuzor of Content Marketing Up.

Let’s face it: updating your blog on a daily basis doesn’t necessarily make you smart. It might be helpful, but there is more to blogging than writing.

How about doing this online “thing” as if it’s a real business? A brick and mortar business?

I strongly believe you could turn a profit easily if you change your mindset and style.

Of course, you’ll continuously write quality content—after all, that’s what your readers need. But turning your blog into a real-life business would help you connect, share, and breathe life into your blog.

It’s about productivity that leads to profit.

There are good reasons why you need confidence in your business. Confidence electrifies you and your readers, and prompts action. Entrepreneurs are risk-takers, yet many bloggers may decide to hang on to outdated principles instead of challenging the status quo.

But we can change that.

With all the noise in the blogosphere, it takes extra wit to attract targeted readers and build a tribe. Without confidence, you won’t be able to organize and manage your business.

You need to challenge yourself to take responsibility.

If you want to build a profitable blog, you must run it like an offline business. You need to master:

organization and managementcustomer servicesocial etiquetteprofit

Those are the four essential factors in building a successful offline business—but they’re extremely beneficial to blogging, too. Are you ready to explore?

Jesus picked up twelve men from the bottom ranks of business and forged them into an organization that conquered the world.—Bruce Barton

“How do I get more people to trust me?” many bloggers ask.

Trust isn’t a one-off decision. You need to be consistent and build trust over time. As you interact with the target audience and provide valuable information, your readers will start to take your words to heart.

That is why you need to organize and manage your blog. A well organized and managed blog will soon become the go-to resource for your target prospects and readers.

First, you need to organize and manage your time. Use your time wisely. Your blog attracts people who have needs. They want answers. Use the limited time at your disposal to focus on answering your readers’ questions, and outsource the other tasks to professionals.

The easiest and most lucrative way to stay organized is to outsource. Before I launched my first ebook, I didn’t understand outsourcing one bit. I had to do the entire task myself—market research, keyword research, cover design, writing, and marketing. As a result, my blog suffered, and my engagement with my audience was broken. I also observed a drop in daily traffic and comments.

Like offline businesses, on your blog, the management (that’s you) is responsible for delegation. Use outsourcing as a corporation uses its departments, and your blog will grow and produce better results. Identify your greatest strengths. Outsource the other tasks (find freelancers at Odesk and Elance).

You don’t have to be a jack-of-all-trades to succeed online.

We’re so used to customers in the offline business, but bloggers often don’t recognize who our customers are online.

Your readers are your customers, and how you treat them is important to your success.

It’s your responsibility to respect your readers and visitors. Address them by name and reply to their comments with the proper salutation. When someone comes to your site, they should feel that you care. They don’t have to be strangers—at least, not any more.

Create an environment of warmth with prospects and readers. When you give away valuable ebooks or software, or something that will make readers remember you, you’re building a solid relationship.When you send a quote to a prospect, send a gift, too. No matter how small it looks, it’ll create a bond between you and your target audience.

Also, your readers need to know what’s happening at your blog. If you’ll be making changes, you should notify them beforehand. Surprises are good, but not at the detriment of your business. And when there’s a complaint, accept it peacefully and with good humor. See your readers as your friends.

Good customer service can boost your online business and expose you to a world of opportunities.

You can’t help it—you’ve achieved so much in life, and feel a bit fulfilled. Perhaps you have a slight tendency to brag when you blog. But is this healthy for your audience? I don’t think so.

Social etiquette is an attitude. It requires you to look at your personal life, and consider how you bring it to the table as a blogger. Those who don’t share, communicate, and help others have problems with their lives. The problem isn’t the blog or the business—it’s their personal life.

If you focus on helping people, there won’t be a room for bragging. Your level of blogging success today is directly proportional to the value you create. So change your approach and focus on readers, their problems, and how you can help.

That’s how you can use etiquette to make your blog a profitable business.

As your blog grows into a business and you build its uniqueness, you’ll begin to attract high-paying prospects and outstanding offers. Are you prepared for the opportunities your blogging business could create?

Blogging offers different opportunities to profit. When you visit my content marketing blog, you won’t find an affiliate banner or link. I sell my writing services and generate enough income to pay my bills. And guess what? I didn’t apply for any writing job; I was contacted directly by entrepreneurs because they discovered I was business-minded.

Perhaps you’d like a secure, and well-paid job. If that’s the case, running your blog like a real business can be of help. I’ve worked with a human resource firm prior to running my online business. Employers were looking for hard working, passionate, confident go-getters who could help reach the organization’s goals.

Most bloggers don’t have these qualities. They see a blog as a tool, rather than the true business that it is. Are you confident to put your blog’s URL on your resume? If not, consider running it more like a business that you can be proud of.

You’ve seen blogs featured at CNN, Fox News, and so forth. Those are no half-baked blogs—they’re manned by savvy entrepreneurs. If they can do it, why shouldn’t you?

Most blogs have no product to sell, but they’re updated regularly. I once asked a blogger friend of mine, “Why don’t you monetize your blog?”

“I don’t want to chase my readers away,” he replied.

Who says selling chases readers away? Monetizing a blog is as important as setting up and updating the blog. Without this, people won’t take you seriously. You’ll be regarded as a newbie at worst, and an amateur at best.

Selling a product or offering a service via your blog won’t annoy readers, provided it’s valuable and offers practical solutions to their problems.

If you decide to monetize with affiliate offers, be honest in your reviews. Let readers know you’ll earn commissions when they buy via your affiliate link. This helps to build credibility and shows that you genuinely want to help them.

If you decide to create your own product, spend time with your audience so that you can understand what they need, and build a product that truly delivers.

Do you see your blog as a real business … or “just a blog”?  Is it time you changed your philosophy? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Michael Chibuzor is an entrepreneur, a freelance writer and the founder of Make Money Hi. Are you looking for a creative writer to help grow your site/blog’s traffic and increase sales? Hire Michael to write for you. He loves the color Red. He’s 23 years old and likes to meet new people.

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