Blogging is not just about writing or expressing your thoughts online. It’s not only about making money on the Internet. Blogging may involve many aspects, such as marketing, professional development, building a brand, establishing your authority, promoting a cause, and even changing the world we live in. And just like a reputable business, it is not only about making profit, but it is an activity where you strive in providing solutions to users or consumers. If you want to bring your blog to a higher level, consider the following 15 business tips for bloggers.
1. Blog your best
Be a pro blogger by blogging your expertise. Blog the topic or niche where you can provide the best in the market. If you think you don’t have that skill or knowledge yet, then do your best to train and develop yourself to be an expert in a specific industry.
2. Be passionate
Find your passion. Don’t just acquire knowledge or expertise just because it is what’s hot and what’s in demand these days. But choose a niche or industry that you believe you can be enthusiastic for a long time or even for the rest of your life.
3. Provide solutions
Know your audience and discover what they need. Provide content or information that will answer their questions and solve their problems. Don’t just blog to express yourself, but blog to help your audience.
4. Offer freshness
Keep your blog updated. Don’t let your visitors or readers learn that your latest blog post was dated a month ago. Show some dedication and consistent communication.
5. Give extra
Wow your audience by giving them beyond what they expect. You have to be patient and diligent to look for that extra value they don’t expect from you. Do extensive research. This will not only help your audience, but will also help you gain more knowledge.
6. Invest in quality and premium
If you want quality traffic or visitors for your blog, then offer quality and premium. Groom your blog with a professional blog theme, register a unique domain name, and get a reliable web hosting. Take the risk and don’t be afraid to invest and spend money if you want to gain higher returns.
7. Face losses
Financial loss during startup is normal in business. Your expenses will normally exceed your revenue. Those expenses will not immediately generate income for you in your first month or even for the next few months of blogging. So learn how to wait. Planning or forecasting is one way to help you clearly see and understand your blogging journey.
8. Don’t jump to instant profit
Don’t be eager to earn money on your blog. Learn how to have timing. Do not place Adsense or any other advertising programs on your blog if you have just created it yesterday. It will only consume space on your blog and make your few visitors realize that you are just blogging for money. Provide value first before wishing for compensation.
9. Implement SEO
Be highly visible on search engines. Learn different search engine optimization techniques and execute them to rank your pages on search engine results pages (SERPs). Check out and learn from these simple yet effective SEO tips for your business blog or website.
10. Do social media marketing
Leverage social media to promote your blog. Learn how to use Facebook, Twitter, Google+, other blogs, Youtube, Linkedin, and other top social media sites to build your brand online.
11. Have the right mix of Internet marketing
Don’t just promote and promote online for the search engines and social media. Be a better online marketer by ensuring that you have the promotable product, which includes your content, your blog as a whole, and yourself as a blogger.
12. Promote your blog offline
Blog exists primarily on the Internet, but it doesn’t mean you should only promote it online. Offline marketing should be part of your whole marketing mix. There are several ways to promote your blog in the real world. You may try the following:
– Distributing your business cards, with your blog on it.
– Attending events for bloggers and online workers
– Attending events, in which the audience is your target market
– Guesting on radios
– Contributing articles or columns for newspapers and magazines
– Accepting public speakerships on topics related to your blog
– Sponsor events or donate prizes for offline contests
– Promote your blog to your close friends, officemates and family members
13. Learn how to collaborate
No man is an island. If you want to succeed, you have to learn how to use the talents and skills of other people. Consider forming a team of collaborators for your blog. For example, if you don’t know SEO, you can hire a SEO to do it for you. If you’re not an expert in social media marketing, you can also hire an expert on that field to help you. You can delegate other tasks to other people so that you can focus on your core blogging activities that give you the highest return. If you want to have a company, form a company of people.
14. Don’t forget your social responsibility
Be socially responsible. Ask yourself – what are you doing to help your community or the world? Like every socially responsible business, you should commit to helping people and to shaping the world we live in. There are many ways to take your social responsibility into action. You can be active in protecting our mother nature, in upholding your national heritage and culture, or in promoting sports and education in your country or community.
15. Register your business or profession
There is money in blogging. Bloggers could earn income, and when there’s income, there could also be income tax. If you are already earning income that is already taxable by the government, you have to consider registering your blogging activity as a business or as a practice of profession. Business laws and taxation vary from country to country. Hence, you have to consult an expert on this matter who is based on your country.
Conclusion
If you want your blog to be a sustainable business or venture online, you’ve got to think of the long-term scale instead of just considering an overnight success. You also have to ensure that you are ready to take the corresponding risk to the reward you wanted. Remember that in business or entrepreneurship, there is always a price to pay for everything you want to get. Hence, if you want lasting success, pay for it. Give your time, energy, diligence, patience, and persistence as parts of your payment.
Victorino Q. Abrugar is a marketing strategist and business consultant from Tacloban City, Philippines. Vic has been in the online marketing industry for more than 7 years, practicing problogging, web development, content marketing, SEO, social media marketing, and consulting.
paano po ireregister ang blog sa bir?
Hi. In the Philippines, you can register yourself as a self-employed professional blogger with the BIR. Another option is to register it as a business/brand. You can confirm this with a BIR personnel.
Thanks for this Sir Vic. I am learning from your blog. It is indeed an honor to have stumbled upon your blog. All the best!
Thanks again sir. 🙂 May the best results be with you.
These are really useful business tips for any blogger. Always keep in mind that what your audience want from your blog. You can deliver the target content in your blog post and you can attract more readers on your blog. Quality content is the key of any successful blogger.