Plugging In to Blogging: Five Key Steps

Everyone has probably already heard of this site, but just in case: If you want to make sure you get off on the right foot with your blogging efforts, go to www.problogger.net. The guy who runs this site knows a LOT about blogs and provides the information in a really clear, concise, meaningful way (no wading through tons of posts to get to the one you want!)

I discovered the site while putting together a session for First Class on how to make money using your blog.

For purposes of the class, I broke the process down into five basic steps and encouraged participants to ask themselves questions at each point in the process. In the class session, we discussed all the various free tools available on the Internet for blog optimization. I'll post the full class materials on the site in the near future. In the meantime, following is my outline of the class -- enjoy!

Step One: Start the Blog!

• What will you write about (hint: to make money on your blog, people have to want to go to it!)
• What are you an expert at?
• How often can you commit to writing (more often is better; one short post every day to start at a minimum)
• What technology will you use?
• Are you comfortable with blogging as a medium (it’s different from “regular writing”)
  

Step Two: Drive people to the blog

• Who will want to read your blog (what is your target market?)
• Why will your content be so compelling that people will want to read?
• What techniques will you use to drive people to your blog? (hint: ads are not enough!)

Step Three: Put revenue makers on the blog

How could you utilize each of these techniques to gain revenue from your blog?

• Advertising and the Google Haiku
• Potential affiliate partners
• Products you could create and sell
• Potential for donations?

Step Four: Consider additional revenue making options to advertise through your blog

Although it is possible, over time, to develop a more “passive income” oriented site, one of the best, most lucrative ways to gain money from your blog is to use it as a marketing tool for your expertise. The types of services that are uniquely suited to marketing through a blog include:

• What kinds of services could you offer for sale through your blog?
• How would you describe those services? How would you price them?
• Could you turn your blog entries into additional articles for e-lance providers?
• Could you offer webinars or trainings?

Step Five: Monitor your progress

If you really want to have a successful blog (and make money!), you have to be committed to all the critical steps: content development; driving traffic; having revenue generators on your site and following your progress.

How will you:

• Utilize tracking tools (like Google Analytics) to monitor your web pages
• Identify the strategies that are working and focus on those
• Maintain a consistent commitment to writing in the blog
• Optimize the blog on an ongoing basis by providing new tools and opportunities to interact?