DEFINING YOUR BUSINESS NOW

The journey begins from where you are now . . .

You are where you are now as a direct result of the actions you have taken and the

decisions you have made along the way. Where you will get to in the future will be

a result of the choices you make, starting now. Imagine today as the first day of the

rest of your business life.

Why take stock first?

It is important to assess exactly where you are now before you embark on your

journey. Many people are so busy doing that they rarely take the time out to take

stock and reflect. It is vital, from time to time, to take that vital step back from the

cut and thrust of your daily workload. If you keep on doing what you have always

been doing, you will always get what you have now.

Your challenge

You will need to be honest with yourself and focus on the facts. This may involve

some detail that you haven’t paid attention to for a while. You will need to be

disciplined as you gather this information. Don’t rely on guess work or gut feel.

Get the specifics as it is these details that will form the bedrock from which you can

move forward. If you want to grow your business you will need to know exactly

where you are starting from.

YOUR BUSINESS NOW ^ SPECIAL RESPONSE CHECKLIST

Your business

" Describe your business right now.What words express exactly where you feel you

are? Brainstorm and just jot down what comesto mind.

" Make a list of the main services/productsthat you o¡er.

" What is selling well?

" What isn’t selling well?

Turnover and pro¢t margins

" What isyour turnover?

" What isyourcurrent end of year pro¢t?

10HOW TO GET STARTED ^ EVALUATING WHERE YOU ARE NOW

Customers

" How many customers do you have?

" Where do they come from?

" What kind of pro¢le do they have?

" Who are your best customers?

" Who are your worst customers?

Business strengths

" What are the key strengthsyour business has?

" What are the key skills contained within this business?

Your attitude towards your business

" How do you feel about your business?

" What do you ¢nd di⁄cult?

" What isit that you like and enjoy?

How to use this information

Having answered these questions you will have some specific facts, thoughts and

feelings to work with. You now have a starting point. This is where you are now. It

is a good idea to mark the date in your diary or on your calendar when you did this

exercise. This information gives you a basis from which to start to think about your

future and where you want to go.

6 Evaluating how well your current

marketing is working

What is marketing?

Marketing is everything that you do to communicate your business to both your

existing and potential customers. There are many different ways that you can

market your business. Most people use a combination that works best for their

particular business.

What works and what doesn’t?

If you are spending money on marketing your business it is vital that you know

what works and what doesn’t. There is no point in investing money when what you

are doing is not bringing you a good return. So how do you know whether it is

working or not?

Your challenge

Your main challenge is continually to test and measure your marketing efforts.

Relying on gut feel is not enough. You will need some tangible feedback. Try the

following checklist indicating what you have tried and whether it was successful or

not. Note down any tangible evidence that you have to support your definition of

success. Have a look at this marketing evaluation checklist and evaluate how

successful you consider your marketing efforts have been to date.

CURRENT MARKETING EVALUATION CHECKLIST

Which of the following have you tried and how successful has it been?

Rate each area: 1 = no success, 5 = very successful

Brand identity 1 2 3 4 5

Newspaper advertising 1 2 3 4 5

Yellow Pages 1 23 4 5

Radio advertising 1 2 3 4 5

TV advertising 1 2 3 4 5

PR/articles 1 2 3 4 5

Direct mail 1 2 3 4 5

Salesletter 1 2 3 4 5

HOW TO GET STARTED ^ EVALUATING WHERE YOU ARE NOW

Networking 1 2 3 4 5

Telemarketing 1 2 3 4 5

Events/talks 1 2 3 4 5

Newsletter 1 23 4 5

Internet marketing 1 2 3 4 5

Referrals/recommendation 1 2 3 4 5

Sales person 1 23 4 5

Window displays 1 2 3 4 5

Alliance relationships 1 2 3 4 5

Special o¡ers 1 2 3 4 5

Emailmarketing 1 2 3 4 5

How successfully to test and measure your marketing

You can do this in a number of ways.

& Ask the people who enquire where they heard about your business.

& Keep a note of this information over a defined period of time and analyse it.

& Run specific offers in selected marketing options and keep a record of responses.

& Test headlines on adverts or flyers in smaller batches until you find out which gets

the best result.

& You can do the same with sales letters sent by post and email.

& When you run an event, or speak at a networking group, keep a record of how

many contacts you make and whether any business results from them.

& Do the same for networking events you attend as a participant.

& When you write an article for a business publication offer a free report that

requires the reader to make contact with you. This way you will not only get the

details of some potentially good prospects but you can test how many people read

and responded to your article.

& Before and after sales data is useful when you are running a brand awareness

campaign.

MARKETING EVALUATION ^ SPECIAL RESPONSE CHECKLIST

" Decide how you are going to evaluate your activitiesin advance.

" Keep a record of the evaluation datayou collect.

" Work out which has been the most successfulmarketing activity.

" Plan to repeat all successful activities.

" Ask yourself why certain activities have not been successful.

" Check that the marketing activitiesyou have chosen are right for the audience you

wish to target.

" Stop any expensive marketing activity that is costing more than the return it gives

you.

How to use this information

Over a period of time, monitoring and measuring the success of your marketing

will enable you to build a very clear picture of how to spend your valuable

marketing budget. There will be no more last minute decisions or trial and error,

as you will have the evidence you need at your fingertips, and you will be able to use

the information to make informed decisions.

Think, test and measure

7 Assessing the value of your current

customer base

Growing your current customer base

There are three main ways to grow any business:

& get new customers

& increase the amount your existing customers spend with you

& increase the frequency with which they do business with you.

It is easier and less expensive to build on the existing base you already have than it

is to develop new customer relationships.

What is the value of your current customer base?

Do you know?

To work out the average value of your current customer base all you need to do is

find the following figures.

& How many customers do you have?

& What is the average amount these customers spend with you?

& How many times a year do these customers spend this amount?

& What is the average length of time your customers stay doing business with you?

Number x value x frequency = value of current customer

base x length of time as a customer

1006£1,00063 = £300,00062 years = £600,000

Based on these figures each new customer you get is potentially worth £6,000.

Why is this important?

It is important to know what your current customer base is potentially worth to

you, as it gives you a starting point, a base from which to decide how you want to

grow your business.

If you use the marketing techniques detailed in this book to

& attract new customers

& get existing customers to spend more

& get existing customers to spend more often

you could potentially increase your profits by whatever figure you decide you want.

There is a vast amount of untapped potential in your business right now. All you

need to do is decide what you want and then get really good at marketing to make

it happen.

Your existing customer base probably holds the most potential for you. These are

people who are already happily doing business with you. They already spend

money regularly and probably would spend more if they had a good reason to.

You need to give them that reason.

Your challenge

Your challenge is to both maintain and develop the value of your existing customer

base. No business can afford to stand still.

What makes a customer base valuable?

If you can answer yes to the following questions, your existing customer base has

value.

& Do your existing customers spend money with you?

& Are they happy with the service you provide?

& Have you built up a relationship of trust and rapport?

& Do they come to you for the solutions to their problems?

& If asked, would they recommend or refer you to other people?

& Are they likely to have needs in the future and problems they want solving?

& Would they spend more with you if you could help them?

CUSTOMER VALUE ^ SPECIAL RESPONSE CHECKLIST

Get speci¢c with your customer sales information.

" Create a list of your main customers.

HOW TO GET STARTED ^ EVALUATING WHERE YOU ARE NOW

" How many customers do you have?

" Where do they come from?

" How much does each customer spend with you every year?

" How often does each customers use you?

" What are their particular spending patterns?

" What interests does each customer have in your business?

" What potential does each customer have to spend more with you?

How to use this information

Once you know the value of your existing client base you have a starting place.

Once you have specific customer information you can work out which business

building strategy will be most likely to appeal to particular customer groups or

individuals. If you think of each new customer having a life time value potential it

makes it even more important to value them right from the start, no matter how

little they start off spending with you.

Think customer = pot of gold

8 Finding out what existing customers

value about your business

What is customer feedback?

Customer feedback is the information that you get from your customers about the

work that you do for them, positive and negative. How do you get yours? There are

several different ways in which feedback can be gathered.

& Best and worst selling products/services.

& Repeat business.

& Behaviour and body language observation.

& Questions asked.

& Complaints.

& Verbal comments.

& Conversations with customers.

& Testimonials and letters.

& Recommendations.

& Survey information.

Why is this important?

It is important to be aware of the feedback you are getting from your customers.

This is how you learn about what is and isn’t important to the people you wish to

influence. If you are selling something that people want and you are delivering

value, you need to know about it!

This is information that you can use to attract more customers. It is also a

confidence boost for you if you know how much people value what you offer. You

can allow yourself to feel good and very proud of what you are doing. If your

business is missing what customers value most, you need to know about that as

well. This information can teach you how to make your business more attractive to

the people that you value most: your customers.

Your challenge

Your challenge is to set up a system both to gather and evaluate this information

on a regular basis. You need to be open and able to listen to customers’ views. You

will need to be prepared to ask and develop questions that are targeted to extract

HOW TO GET STARTED ^ EVALUATING WHERE YOU ARE NOW

the right information. When asking for customer feedback you will need to be

careful about guiding the customer’s mind in the right direction. If you ask ‘What

didn’t you like about the service today?’ the response can only be negative.

Whereas if you say ‘What did you think about the service today?’ and give a choice

of responses, there is a greater chance of a positive result.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW ^ SPECIAL RESPONSE CHECKLIST

" What are people buying?

" What do people want to buy?

" What are their service expectations?

" What is really important in terms of product/service delivery?

" What irritates and frustrates people?

Great questions to ask

" When choosing a [your service] what do you look for?

" When buying [your service] what is most important?

" What prompted the decision to usex services?

" What have you found of most value?

" What (if anything) could we do to improve thex service we o¡er you?

" What do you like about x ?

" Which aspect of x do you ¢nd of most value?

Depending on whether you are using awritten or telephone survey, or holding a one-

to-one conversation the way you organise your questions will vary.You may use

multichoice, with a range from most important to least important, or leave them open

for comments.The important thing is that you make it easy for people to answer the

questions when you ask them. Any surveys you do ideally should comprise no more

than 10 questions.If you are conducting a telephone survey and you get some really

positive statements always ask if you can quote them.This is a very easy and quick

wayof getting testimonials.

How to use this information

A list of what your customers most value about your business can be used to help

you create all your marketing messages, your brand, your unique selling

proposition, your customer commitment statement, your list of attractive

benefits, your website or brochure copy and even your elevator speech. Knowing

what customers value is invaluable to you.

Think feedback and learn more

9 Seeing your business through the

customers’ eyes

What does this mean?

If you want to influence your customers you have to understand and relate to them.

When you see through your customers’ eyes you experience the world from a

different perspective. Imagine you have taken your customers’ glasses and you are

looking at your business through those lenses. What do you see? Do you suddenly

see it all differently? You should. Many business owners find this exercise

extremely difficult to do. Be careful that you don’t get so close to your own

business by running it day-to-day that you stop being able to see things from your

customers’ point of view.

Why this is important

It is important to switch perspectives from time to time. Making decisions about

shop layout, website design, customer communication processes and more becomes

a lot easier when you are able to imagine yourself as the customer. You will avoid

the classic pitfalls that many people make when they make elements of their service

over complicated and confusing. Most people these days want things simply,

quickly and easily. If it is complicated, slow or difficult your potential customers

will go somewhere else. This is especially true of the internet age which has

brought with it choice and speed. Very few have the patience to wait.

Your challenge

Your challenge will be to spend the time taking a look at your business through

your customers’ eyes and maintain this perspective for long enough to gain some

valuable insights.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO? ^ SPECIAL RESPONSE CHECKLIST

" Take some time out and close your eyes.

" Think about one of your typical customers.

" Describe that person to yourself.

What are they like?

How old are they?

What typically do they do each day?

HOW TO GET STARTED ^ EVALUATING WHERE YOU ARE NOW

What isimportant to them?

What are they looking for when they consider buying x?

" Now imagine yourself asthis person coming along to your business or ¢nding you

on the internet.

What do you see?

What isyour ¢rst impression?

What do you feel?

" Check out every individual aspect of your business from this perspective.You can

enter your website as a customer, you can use your service as a customer, you can

pretend to have a complaint as a customer.You can look at your advertising ^ any

numberof things. Look at what goes on in your businessthrough yourcustomers’

eyes.

" Note down the thingsthat you see.

" Try seeing through the eyes of a numberof di¡erent types of customers.

" Notice what is di¡erent and what is similar.

How to use this information

You can use this information to make changes to your business operations and

your marketing. If you do, make sure that you monitor the results of those

changes. Notice the impact that they have on your customers. Take time out to

switch perspectives as often as you can. It is a skill that you can develop and one

that is very useful to your business. Many top business entrepreneurs are very

good at this. Think about Richard Branson for example. He regularly takes time

out to see his businesses through his customers’ eyes.

Think customers’ eyes and see more

10 Assessing your personal strengths,

skills and resources

What are your strengths, skills and resources?

There is no doubt that your own personal strengths, skills and resources are a

major reason for your achievements to date. They are sure to play a major part in

the success of your business. They may well be the main reason that your customers

choose to use your service or buy your products. Are you aware of exactly what

those strengths, skills and resources actually are? You can take them for granted

because they are with you every day. Being too close to yourself can make you blind

to your own brilliance.

Why is it important to know?

Your strengths and skills are unique to you and could be a major part of what

differentiates you from others in the marketplace. They are also a major reason for

the value placed on any advice and consultancy you may give your customers.

Your strengths and skills are part of your history, the history that created the

business you have today. You may have spent years developing these skills. You

may have years and years of experience behind you. Your customers may not

necessarily know anything about this. If they did, the question is, would they see

more value in what you offer?

An awareness of and the ability to communicate the strengths and skills you have

is a very important part of your business marketing. You are at the centre of what

you are selling and the more value you place on that, the more others are likely to

as well. It can help you to communicate what you do more effectively to the

prospects and new contacts you meet. This may form part of the process you go

through to help them to appreciate the true value you are able to offer.

Your challenge

Your challenge will be to become self aware and find a useful way of making your

customers aware too. Your challenge may also be to see the value in yourself and

what you have to offer. Many of us are conditioned not to blow our own trumpet

and to be modest about those things we are good at. That is fine, but you must not

ignore the things that your customers would value and have a right to know about.

HOW TO GET STARTED ^ EVALUATING WHERE YOU ARE NOW

Your customers and prospects want the best. They want someone whom they can

trust to provide top quality expertise and deliver with skill. If that person is you,

then you are duty bound to tell them.

SELFAWARENESS ^ SPECIAL RESPONSE CHECKLIST

" What do you think your main strengths are?

" How do these strengthsimpact on your business?

" What are your key skills?

" How have you developed these skills?

" What kinds of experiences have enabled you to gain this expertise?

" How essential are these skillsto the service you are able to o¡er yourcustomers?

" Which of your skillsis valued most by yourcustomers?

" What parts of your personal history have had an impact on the strengths and skills

you are now able to demonstrate?

" What kind of training and education have you had?

" What resources do you have accessto as a result of your experiences?

" What isyour special story?

How to use this information

Going through the special response questions may make you see the true value you

bring to the table. Once your eyes are opened to your own brilliance you may find

yourself feeling more confident and more self assured. It is empowering to feel that

as a result of all your hard work and effort developing skills, strengths and

resources that you are really worth something. The benefit you offer your business

can be integrated into your marketing messages and materials. There will be

plenty of opportunity to find exactly how to do this as you read later chapters of

this book.

Think personal strength and sell ‘you’

CREATING YOUR MARKETING PLAN

 

What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan is your guide to exactly how you are going to action your

business marketing. It is the ultimate outcome of your thinking and decision

making. It is your commitment on paper, your route to success.

Why is it important?

It is common practice among many small business owners to spend a lot of time

doing as opposed to planning. You may have a plan in your head that you have not

yet committed to paper. Getting out there and making things happen is vital to the

success of any small business marketing; it is important, however, that they are the

right things. You can spend a lot of time and waste a lot of energy doing things the

wrong way or simply just doing the wrong things. A simple marketing plan that

you can create yourself using the ideas in this article will keep your business

marketing on the right track.

Your challenge

Your challenge is to take the following nine step plan with their accompanying

think marketing questions and create the notes for your plan as you go through the

relevant chapters of this book. When you have finished the book you should be in a

position to devise a complete marketing strategy that is right for your business.

HERE ARE YOUR NINE STEPS TO A SUCCESSFUL PLAN

Each step contains a set of questions that you will need to be able to answer to

complete your plan. Reading this article will help you ¢nd the answers.

Creating your marketing plan

Step 1 ^ Setting your direction

From where you are to where you want to be

" De¢ne what you are selling.

" Where do your revenue streams come from?

" What is most pro¢table?

" What isyourcapacity?

" What is working well and what isn’t?

Your existing customer base

" Who and how many?

" Who are your best customers?

" How long do customers stayand what istheir value?

Where do you want to be?

" What isyour longer-term vision for your business?

" What isthe purpose of your business?

" Which revenue streams would you like to grow?

" What are your speci¢c business goals?

Step 2 ^ Understanding your market and your competition

Your market

" What is happening within the market place in which you operate?

" What isthe size of the market you are in or entering?

" What isthe potential demand for what you are o¡ering?

" What are the trends, hot issues and gapsthat need ¢lling?

Your competition

" Who isyourcompetition?

" What are their strengths and weaknesses?

" What isyourcompetition not o¡ering that the market needs?

" What bene¢ts do you o¡er that yourcompetition doesn’t?

" What can you learn from yourcompetition?

Step 3 ^ Understanding your customer

Your target customers and strongest niche

" Who are the‘right potential customers’for you to focus on?

" What are your ideal client criteria?

" Who are the best, most enjoyable and pro¢table clientstowork with?

" What are the main problems and needsyour target client has?

" What do your target customers most want?

" Isthere a good strong niche group of people with problemsyou could focus on?

" Where can you ¢nd these customers?

" How do your potential customers buy what you are selling?

Step 4 ^ Creating your solution

Creating your value proposition

" What isthe solution you are proposing?

" What are the key elements of your service?

" How doesthis solution solve yourclients’problems?

" What are the biggest bene¢tsyou o¡er yourcustomers?

" What is unique about it?

INTRODUCTION

" How are you going to package and price it?

" What can you guarantee?

Step 5 ^ Creating a path to your business

Attracting hand raisers and building a list

" How could you ¢nd and attract those with an interest and need for your services?

" What would attract your potential customersto take the ¢rst step with you and

register their interest?

" What could be the steps up your salesladder from initialinterest to long-term

customer?

" What could be the path of o¡ering step by step to your business?

" How can you build your list of potential customers with an interest?

Getting your sales systems in place

" What systems do you need to have in place to list-build?

" How can you capture and record potential customers’details?

" What do you need to set up to communicate with those on your list?

Step 6 ^ Creating your marketing message and materials

" What isthe brandimage you want to create?

" What isthe right brand for your target market?

" How does your name and strap-line communicate what you are o¡ering?

" What are your key messages?

" What marketing materials do you need?

Step 7 ^ Choosing and planning your marketing methods

" What marketing methods do you know that your successful competitors use?

" What has worked for you in the past? What has been your return on investment?

" What has not worked?

" What can you do to raise your pro¢le in the marketplace?

" Which methods can you use to attract new customers?

" What potential value do the following marketing methods have for your business?

PR, radio,TV, vehicle, bus, posters, billboards, newspapers and magazines

advertising, internet, direct mail, salesletters, direct sales, telephone marketing,

window displays, personal contact, referrals, host relationships and joint ventures.

" What is most likely towork best for you?

Step 8 ^ Developing your budget and return on investment

" Which marketing methods have you chosen to implement?

" What isit going to cost to utilise yourchosen marketing methods?

" What resources are going to be required to implement these methods?

" What will you need to invest in each segment to achieve your goals?

7" What return would you expect?

" How will you measure the return on your investment?

Step 9 ^ Planning your strategy and actions

" How are you going to progress each element of your plan?

" What needs setting up?

" What are the priorities?

" What speci¢c practical actions need to be taken to make it happen? By whom and

by when?

" What are the steps?

" What are the milestones and deadlines?

" How will you monitor, evaluate and review your strategy?

Create your marketing plan

Here are the headings for the important sections of your marketing plan: You can

use this template as a framework for your own plan, which can be completed as

you work through the sections in this book.*

Business description ^ who are you and what you do

Business direction ^ your ambitions for your business

Sales targets ^ the numbers you want to reach

The market place ^ research needs, trends, gaps and market growth

The competition ^ who they are, o¡erings, strengths and weaknesses

Target customer group(s) ^ who you are aiming at

Target area(s) ^ where you want your business to come from

Niche ^ your target specialist areas and business positioning

Key marketing messages, positioning and di¡erentiation ^ your brand image and

strap-line and key marketing messages

Marketing goals and objectives ^ what you want to achieve

Marketing methods ^ the methodsthat you have chosen to utilise

The budget ^ the amount you commit to spending and what you plan to spend it on

The strategy ^ how you are going to do it and your calendar of actions

Fail to plan – plan to fail

WHERE YOU ARE NOW AND TO WHERE YOU WANT TO BE

Maybe you are wondering if there is a secret to making your marketing work . . . if

there is a special system . . . a key to success . . .

Imagine if I told you that the answers you are looking for are inside your own mind

and all you really need is the right system, the right questions and the right

guidance to enable you to unlock them.

As a successful marketing consultant and business coach I have been amazed by

the people I have worked with over the years and how much they have found they

already know when stimulated by the right set of questions.

I have written this acticle to enable more people than I can personally see to benefit

from the value of a great marketing idea, the right questions to ask themselves and

the prompt for the first vital step they need to take.

Think your way through the maze

This simple process begins with where you are right now with your business,

product or service and takes you to exactly where you want to be. Every step you

take will add a vital piece to your ultimate marketing plan of action. At the end of

the process you will have a marketing plan that you have created yourself. You will

know which marketing strategies are going to offer your particular business the

greatest leverage and you will know exactly what you need to do to apply them.

If you need to revive the enthusiasm for your business and bring back the passion

you had for it – reading and working through this book is the stimulant you need

right now.

If you own a business and you find that you are often too busy ‘working in the

business’ to spend time ‘working on the business’ reading this active, it is going to be in sequence will inspire

you to take time out and move things forward.

Most of all I hope that reading this will provide you with new inspiration and

stimulate a new active approach to the successful marketing of your business.

WHAT DO YOU WANT

 2 What do you want?

When was the last time you stopped and took a deep breath and asked yourself this

question? It is an important one to ask. Under pressure it can be easier to start

explaining what you don’t want. All that does is reinforce the negative. In order to be

able to move forward you need the stimulation of a vision, a goal, and a glimpse of 

how you would really like things to be. It is a bit like thinking about your holiday

plans before you get on the plane. It makes you feel good, motivated, excited. Much

better than a good old moan about how you don’t want this and you don’t want that.

Have you ever noticed how that can prompt feelings of the exact opposite to the ones

that would help you to move forward and actually get what you do want?

So our very first ‘Special Response Question’ is the most important one:

WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT?

Describe this in all its glory: your business, your work, your lifestyle, your

relationships, the way you live your business life, the money you are earning, how you

are spending it, what you are doing with your spare time ^ really let yourself dream.

Write it down and date it.

" Where do you want to be12 months from now?

" Where do you want to be three years from now?

" What about five years?

Now imagine yourself five years on, having achieved what you want and looking back

on yourself today; ask yourself this important question:

" What were the most important thingsyou did that enabled you to get where you

wanted to be?

Did these questions make you ‘think’? Notice how easy it is to shift your mind to a

better place when you ask yourself the right question. You may be working hard in

your business right now and haven’t had time to really ‘think’ about how you could

be growing and developing your business. It might take all your energy just to keep

going and get what needs to be done, done.

Questions challenge your thinking, they challenge what you are doing and how you

are doing it, they stimulate and most importantly they help you to change things.

LET"S GET STARTED ON BUILDING AN HEALTHY BLOG

Introduction

If you have to start from scratch with blogging, it is important that you know

the basic things involved in it, such as domain name and hosting, the

software to use, how to earn from blogging, and what to write about.

Domain Name And Hosting Solution

You need a domain and a hosting solution for your blog. Wordpress.com

and Blogger.com often provide a good introduction to blogging without

costing money. Once you’re familiar with the basics of blogging, you can

confidently spend on your own domain name and web hosting package.

You need your own paid hosting services so you can be assured that the

website will not shut down your blog if you ever violate their policies. You

will also enjoy more features and flexibility with your own hosting account,

so you can use special scripts, content management system, and other

features for your blog. Most of all, a domain name of your own will boost

your credibility as a blogger.                                

But how can you choose a domain name and hosting services?

You need to find one with two words and has a .com extension. Find one

with your main keyword in the name. However, it might take days for you to

find an appropriate domain name that is still available in the market.

6

As for the web hosting solution, a shared hosting plan that supports Linux

and boasts of a cPanel would be a good choice. Ask the hosting company

about these features if you’re not sure you can find them yourself.

Software

You also need to choose the right software. WordPress might be the best

CMS out there. It is available for free as an open source project and it’s full

of features that you might not even find in other software. For those using a

cPanel, just look for “Fantastico” in the dashboard, then install WordPress

and other software with just a few clicks.

Blogs: Then And Now

Blogs may have started off as personal diaries, but they have changed into

something else over time. People realized blogs could be multi-purpose.

Some used their blogs to write articles about their field; others used it to

share news; and others used it as an outlet for their creativity.

All in all, blogs have now turned into a platform where people can talk.

Instead of merely reading content from major websites, now everyone can

talk about the things that they are passionate about and interested in

through blogs, and even get people to respond to their content.

The Possibility Of Making Money From Blogging

You can verify the possibility that blogging does make money if you look at

the money Post are earning in some blogs you will be amazed by their results.

Although some popular blogs may operate in the same way as mainstream

sites do, with their paid writers, sales team, and other elements, these sites

were the fruits of labor of a single blogger.

You don’t even need to have a blog as popular as those blogs to earn

money. An average blogger can still make five to six figures every year,

mainly through marketing deals, advertising, and even online projects

launched through blogging.

But to make money from blogs, you also need to put in hard work and time.

It’s just like with making money through other methods.

It would be easier for you to earn money from blogging if you are

passionate and knowledgeable about the topic that you are going to write

about. You also need to be willing to put in extra hours into your blog, to

meet new people in the field, to be flexible enough to work anytime,

anywhere, and to start a real business, if necessary.

What To Blog About

It is hard to choose a topic, but you can write about just anything if you just

It’s want to blog as a hobby. But if you seriously want to earn money from

you need to find the right niche for you and avoid a few common mistakes

that new bloggers often commit.

Most new bloggers commit blunder by writing too much about themselves.

It might not be a good idea to use your name in the domain or write about

your personal matters to the extent of making you look vain. While this

might have made other bloggers popular, this usually works for those who

have already reached a certain level of notoriety before they even started

blogging. You can stop with sharing a few personal experiences, but it’s

best to focus on a certain topic aside from yourself.

Writing about too many topics is another common mistake. Although you

might be an individual of many talents and interests, pick the topic that you

are most passionate about. That way, you can find a central audience,

connect with them, and finally earn money from your blog.

Going for a niche that you’re not really interested in is also a wrong move.

While other people might have made money from that niche, it won’t work

for you unless you know the topic or you are genuinely passionate about it.

You have to truly love what you’re writing about so you can stick to it for a

long time until the money starts rolling in.

You need to concentrate on one blog! This way, you can perfect it instead

of maintaining several but mediocre blogs.

Chapter 1: Don’t Bore Your Audience To

Death: How To Write Content That Sells

Good content is the foundation of a great blog. It is what draws the readers

and eventually, the money, in.

As a blogger, it is important that you know what features make for great

content.

Informative, Engaging, And Unique

Quality content must be informative, engaging, and unique.

It must be informative and useful to attract readers. Its importance depends

on the blog’s niche. A humor blog would be helpful to readers if it always

has funny posts. A fashion blog would be valuable to fashionista readers if

it posts the latest style and trends in fashion. The bottom line is to always

prepare something useful for the readers.

Great content must be engaging. It needs to coax a response from the

readers and get comments and shares from them. You can even use those

comments as ideas for your next posts.

Great content must be unique to get the readers’ attention and hold onto it.

If they can find it on other sites and blogs, why would they waste their time

on yours?

Killer Content

Killer content is something that the readers find hugely helpful. It usually

prompts them to bookmark the article and share it to their friends and

followers offline and online right away.

There are killer articles that are long and structured, but there are also

short ones that pack everything that you need to say in one go. As long as

they contain something that is largely informative to the readers, it can be

considered a killer content. It could be about a trick on how to save on

grocery shopping, how to cut off on phone bills, or how to curb insane

cravings.

Killer articles can further establish your content development strategy

because of the traffic, backlinks, and authority that they often bring with

them to your blog. Some examples include how-to articles, interviews with

experts, lists, resources, rankings, and breaking news.

However, you need to invest a lot of effort and time to create killer articles.

The hours you spent brainstorming, researching, writing, and editing these

articles would pay off in terms of the traffic that they would attract.

Make sure to post at least one killer article each week. If you can’t make

time, post at least one every month.

Regular Posts

Although killer articles may bring in a flurry of readers to your blog, you can

create a community by frequently posting regular articles. These are the

type that will connect you to your readers.

Regular posts are necessary in maintaining your blog, especially since you

need a lot of time to create and publish killer articles. Some great examples

are quick tips, opinion articles, quick links, polls, questions to the article

readers, blog updates, and events.

Headlines

To get your readers’ attention, your articles must have great headlines.

Remember that the headline is the first thing that people get to read. If it is

not compelling enough, your readers won’t be encouraged to read the main

article.

The headline will determine if people will continue reading your post if they

see it on article directories or other sites, or if they will try reading the other

posts on your blog. If they find your headlines dull, they would easily

assume that the rest of article is uninteresting as well.

A great title uses the right words that speak to the readers. To know the

specific words that can speak directly to your target audience, look for the

right keywords on Google AdWords Keyword Tool. You can use it for free

and it will give you 150 related terms. You can even find the most popular

based on their Google search volume.

Another element that makes a great title is its appeal to the readers’

emotion. It should stir up an emotion in the readers, pushing them to click

on the link that leads to your blog or to the entire article.

FINDING NEW IDEAS

Coming up with new ideas about your future posts is one of the hardest

tasks of blogging. But you can overcome this obstacle if you always have a

pen and paper on hand so you can write down all of your ideas and

thoughts right away. This is just so you won’t forget your ideas.

It also helps if you start your possible posts by making drafts in your

blogging software. It would be even better if you can prepare a headline

and bullet points of all the main ideas. If you’re ready to write a full article,

you can work on the draft right away.

If you can’t still find new ideas using the first two methods, you can go to

Google AdWords Keyword Tool. Search for keywords related to your blog’s

niche and look at the long-tail terms to inspire possible ideas in you.

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You can also scour social bookmarking sites to find what’s trending and

what’s hot. You could go to Delicious.com, Reddit.com, Digg.com, or

StumbleUpon.com.

Ideas can be found in blogs talking about other niches, mainstream sites,

print magazines, newspapers, and TV programs. You can talk to your

friends in the field too to brainstorm for new ideas.

WHEN TO POST CONTENT

New bloggers often ask just how frequently they should publish articles on

their blog. There is actually no ideal posting frequency. Some popular blogs

are updated once a week, while others get new posts more than once

every day.            

But the most important thing is not the quantity of the posts. It’s the quality

that counts. Make sure all your posts are useful and relevant to your

audience. Not posting anything if you’re not sure about its value is a safer

option that posting a bad content that might ruin your credibility and

discourage your readers.

For bloggers who want to monetize their blog, there should be a balance

between the quality and quantity of posts. Even if you can’t update your

blog every day, at least do it regularly. Follow a schedule to the day and

even the hour of the posting to assure your readers that they will find new

posts at that certain time of the week and visit your blog during at that

specific hour.

Chapter 2: Maximizing Your Blog Design

and Usability

New bloggers have to focus on the design and usability of their blog. This

chapter will help in this aspect of blogging.

Free Themes

Designing your blog does not have to be expensive. In fact, you can do it

for free, especially if you’re using WordPress. It has a lot of free and

excellent themes that you can use. Just go to the Themes Directory and

you’ll find a wide range of choices in there.

These themes can be customized. If you want to add personality to your

blog, just tweak your chosen theme a little and you’ll get a unique blog

design.

It would help if you have a working knowledge of CSS and HTML to help

you design your new blog. You could go to HTML.net or w3Schools.com to

find tutorials on designing blogs.

Blog Logo

To increase readers’ awareness of your blog, you need an identifying logo.

Invest in one to increase the uniqueness of your blog and promote your

brand further.

You can try websites like 99designs.com to find great logos for your blog. It

allows you to hold a contest as to who can design the best logo for you.

You can talk to the designers, wait for a week, then choose from several

entries. This might even save you money since you can find great logos as

cheap as $150.

Designing Based On What You Want Your Visitors To Do

There are many things that you might ask of your readers when they visit

your blog, such as the following:

• Read at least one article

• Read the most read posts

• Subscribe to your newsletter

• Subscribe to your RSS feed

• Click on ads

• Share your post to a social bookmarking site

• Leave comments

• Buy from you

• Click on the link to your social networks

• Share your posts on the social networks

• Share your post to friends through email

• Check as many articles as they can

• Download your eBook

However, you cannot design your blog to motivate your readers to do all of

these things. That is, if you don’t want to make a mess out of your blog.

What you can do is to choose your priorities among the actions that you

want your readers to do. Then, create a design to trigger those actions

among your readers. The bottom line is that the fewer actions you want

your readers to do, the more likely it is that they will get your message and

execute those actions.

Convincing Subscribers

One of the critical actions that you should ask of your readers is to

subscribe to your blog. The more subscribers you have, the bigger your

guaranteed audience will be. Moreover, it is easier to forge relationships

with subscribers, who might turn into regular readers.

Aside from asking people to subscribe to your RSS feed, you can also use

Twitter and email to notify subscribers of new posts to your blog.

In designing your blog, make way for your subscription calls. Put one above

the fold, either on the sidebar or in the header. You can also put one at the

bottom of each post, with a call-to-action for a subscription.

Showcasing The Best Content

Aside from getting readers to do what you need them to do and to get more

subscribers, you also need to think about how to hold onto your readers.

First, you can create an exclusive section for your “Most Read Posts” in the

blog layout. This is usually delegated in the sidebar, although some blogs

also put this section in the footer or header, depending on what works for

the blogger. You can choose the most popular articles manually or

automate the selection using tools such as the WordPress Popular Posts

plugin.

Second, you can start an internal page that will automatically list the most

visited posts. You can prepare them by month or any other category. To

avoid disrupting your layout, you can link to this internal page from the main

menu. Instead of a text link, you can use an image to get the readers’

attention and lead them to the best content of your blog.

Common Usability Blunders To Avoid

There are several blunders committed when it comes to the usability of a

blog, such as the following:

• Not putting a search box. The search box is useful when readers

want to find specific posts on your blog. It might frustrate them and

discourage them from using your blog if you miss this important

usability feature.

• No contact page. It is important for readers to be able to contact you

if they want to talk about or ask you about something. Treat the

contact box as your connection to your readers, who might have

some helpful feedback for you.

• Lack of archives. Your blog should have a page compiling all your

posts. It does not only improve user experience, but it also serves as

a sitemap that search engines value in ranking websites.

• Bad font. Your readers must not only love your content, but your

posts’ typography as well. Use the right font, font size, and line

spacing that make for comfortable reading.

• Complex navigation. You can simplify your website navigation by

putting a link to your home page on all your internal pages, having a

navigation bar, and not using drop-down menus, among others.

• Using invisible links. Make sure to identify your hyperlinks by

underlining them, or using a different font color for the anchor

keywords. You can also use them to simplify navigation.

• Overloading blog with ads. Although you make money from ads,

don’t overdo it if you don’t want to turn off readers. Start small and

expand your ads, but always prioritize user experience.

• Using too many widgets, buttons, and badges. These might look

crowded in the sidebar, making your blog look cluttered. Choose only

the buttons and widgets that you really need.

Chapter 3: How To Forge Relationships With

Your Audience, and Why Do You Need To

In any field, building relationship is always important. It holds true even in

blogging. Your relationships with other website owners and bloggers will

help bring new readers and buyers to your blog. This is how important

networking is and this chapter will teach you tricks on how to build a

network online.

The most important thing that you need to remember is to forge genuine

relationships. Don’t befriend people because they are famous or important

in your field. Instead, connect with them because you like their work,

respect them, and believe that they can help you broaden your

connections.

Real networking is about finding mutual relationships. You get help from

other people as you lend them help too!

The first step in networking should be about making a list of relevant, active

and popular blogs. The number of blogs you might find depends on your

niche. For instance, a popular niche, such as technology and fashion, might

have many blogs that you can connect to, while a less popular topic might

have fewer blogs to network with.

You can start your list by looking into these websites to find relevant blogs

for you:

• AllTop

• BlogCatalog

• Technorati

• BlogRank

• Wikio Top Blogs

After making a list, prepare to talk to these bloggers. Introduce yourself

first. You can contact them via the email address listed on their site or

contact form.

When you create your introductory message, be direct to the point and

state who you are. Talk about how your blog shares a niche with theirs.

You can even include the URL to your blog in the message or in your

signature. If you like the other bloggers’ post, ask for permission to link to it.

Before you even ask other bloggers to help you by linking their site to

yours, make the first move. You can find appropriate posts to link to if you

subscribe to all the blogs that you listed. If you find one that you like, write a

relevant post, share your opinion about the topic, and provide a link to the

other blogger’s post.

Always remember that links to quality, relevant posts will help your readers

and your ranking. It’s wrong to assume that doing so will ruin your Google

PageRank or traffic. On the contrary, your readers will surely love you for

pointing them to other valuable articles through the external links.

Aside from linking to the other bloggers in your network, you can also help

them by referring other people to their site or blog, nominating them for an

award, recommending them for an interview, or sharing their posts on

social media. These actions will prove that you are their friend, hence the

start of a good relationship.

Now, taking care of good relationships will surely pay off in terms of getting

them to do a favor for you. For one, you can ask them to share your best

content to their audience. Choose your killer articles for this purpose.

However, it’s wrong to beg them for a link. Just casually mention that you

have an article that they might like. With a straight forward message, the

other bloggers might read your article. If they like it, they won’t hesitate to

link to it. But if they don’t, it means that you need to put in more work to

create compelling articles that will easily earn the links of the other bloggers

in your network.

Chapter 4: Don’t Let It Just Sit There, Promote

Your Blog!

It is not enough that you write great content. You have to promote them to

increase their exposure and you can use several methods to do that.

Exchange Links

Link exchanges, contrary to popular belief among bloggers, are still

effective. If you can do them right, they can drive traffic to your blog and

increase your search engine ranking.

However, you need to be careful not to break any of the search engine’s

policies regarding exchanging links.

Make sure to exchange links only with blogs that are relevant to your niche

and that will be helpful to the readers for a broader understanding of your

topic.

It is also important not to prioritize optimization in choosing the anchor text.

Make it natural by using the name of the blog that you will link to.

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If you want to avoid being penalized, choose the rel=”nofollow” attribute on

the links and ask the other blogger in the exchange to do the same. This

will assure the search engines that you’re not exchanging links to share

search engine juice, but you will still get traffic.

You can put the exchange links under “Recommended Blogs” or “Friends,”

for instance. Some blogs put them in the RSS feed, with a message.

Write Blog Comments

You can promote your blog through blog commenting.

Choose blogs that are relevant to yours and leave helpful, funny, or even

controversial comments to pique the interest of the audience of that blog.

Make sure to leave your link in that comment, so when these readers click

on it, it will lead them to your blog. These readers will likely be interested in

your content too, since they found you after reading a blog relevant to

yours in the first place.

To ensure that you will hook readers to follow your comments to your site,

be patient in posting comments on as many relevant blogs as possible and

do it several times per day.

However, don’t write useless comments. Every comment must add

information or raise big questions about the topic being discussed

Make sure not to optimize your comment with your keywords or blatantly

use your blog’s name to avoid being categorized as spam.

You can use the name of your blog, but use it with your name. This will

make your comment more personal and you need that to connect with

people.

Guest Blog

This is a popular practice in the blogging world, wherein you write an article

for another blogger. The other blogger gets a free article, while you, the

guest blogger, get more exposure. You can also gain traffic for your blog by

including your link in the byline of your guest blogs.

Use Social Networks

Social networking sites are great toils to connect with your audience and

gain new visitors.

You can try Twitter, given its massive population. Create an account and

use it to update your followers whenever you publish new content or find

relevant links from other sites or blogs. Each tweet should be valuable to

your followers.

You can also use Facebook. Create an account for your blog and take

advantage of all its features by posting articles, photos, and videos. You

can even start a community in it.

There are more than 400 social networks that you can explore. Consider

which networks have great ties to your target audience and use them to

promote your blog.

Use Social Bookmarking Sites

Social bookmarking sites let you save and share bookmarks of web pages.

These sites often rank popular submissions and bookmarks. The most

popular ones are often shown on the front page.

Some of the popular bookmarking sites that you can use are Digg.com and

StumbleUpon.com. Blogs and websites that are featured on Digg.com often

get 20,000 to as many as 100,000 visitors within 24 hours. However, there

are lower chances of getting to the front page because of the stiff

competition among web pages.

StumbleUpon.com, on the other hand, requires users to install its toolbar

on their browsers. Its biggest advantage is that even a few votes will boost

your website traffic for several days.

You may also want to try Delicious.com, Reddit.com, Buzz.Yahoo.com,

Fark.com, Mixx.com, Faves.com, Propeller.com, Newsvine.com, and

Shoutwire.com.

Promote Killer Content

You can capitalize on your killer articles to further promote your blog. You

can follow these tips to promote your blog as it is and your killer articles:

• Inform other bloggers and website owners about your killer articles

through email.

• Ask friends for help in submitting your killer articles to relevant social

bookmarking sites.

• Post about your killer articles in your social media accounts.

• Ask your friends to vote for your articles on the social bookmarking

sites.

• Link to the article from your other sites or blogs with a relevant topic.

Invest in link building efforts for your killer articles.

Chapter 5: Now, Here’s How You Make Sure

Money From Your Blog

Making money out of your blog should be the last step and not the other

way around. If you have a great blog that received proper promotional

treatment, it will likely give you the income that you need.

Establish Authority First

Before you even start focusing on earning money out of your blogs, make

sure to establish the following things first:

• Great content

• Good traffic             

• An authority figure in your niche

• A loyal following

• A blog design suitable for ads

Many bloggers often ask whether to start with zero ads or to introduce

some to their audience right at the start. But the decision is entirely up to

you.

If you keep your blog ads-free at first, you might turn off some readers

when you introduce them later.

If you also choose to post ads right from the start, this will show your

audience that you intend to monetize your blog. This will also help you

explore your revenue sources. However, this might limit your traffic since

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there are readers who don’t want to see ads cluttered on the blogs that

they’re going to read.

But the bottom line is to establish your authority as an expert in your niche

first by posting great content. You can worry about money later.

Earn From CPM Ads

CPM is cost per mille, wherein you can earn for every 1,000 impressions

left on the ads.

Some popular CPM networks include Burst Media, Tribal Fusion, Casale

Media, Technorati Media, and ValueClick.

Most CPM banners found in blogs are the 300x250 rectangle ads, the

728x90 leaderboard, and the 160x600 large skyscraper.

To make the most money out of CPM ads, design your blog to

accommodate all types of banners above your blog’s fold. This is the

position that will earn you premium rates.

Use Google Adsense

If you want to earn from Google AdSense, you need to drive high traffic to

your blog. Make sure that at least 70% of that traffic is search engine traffic.

This is because this traffic is often composed of people who are likely to

click on ads.             

Once you are assured of these requirements, you need to pick the right

AdSense units. The most profitable ones are the 300x250 rectangle, the

336x280 large rectangle, and the 160x600 large skyscraper.

In choosing a position, you have to prepare for a possible reduction in user

experience. Your readers might not like it if you have to blend the ads with

the content instead of putting them in the sidebar.

Profit From Sponsorships And Direct Advertising

Once you have established a good following for your blog, you can sell ads

directly to your audience and earn more from it.

You need to clearly tell advertisers that you’re ready for their ads by putting

an “Advertise with us” page.

The pro of this method is that you can determine how and where the ads

will be placed and you can earn more by not using a middleman. However,

the con is that you need to put in more work to manage all the ads and

transactions with the advertisers by yourself.

So, should you go to the advertisers or will you wait for them to come to

you?

If you are just starting with direct ads, you have to find and contact the

advertisers first. Start with creating a list of relevant advertisers, the ones

that have already made use of online ads and are selling products or

services that your readers use.

You can find such advertisers by looking the advertisers on the other blogs

in your field, by searching Google using your keywords and looking at the

companies in the “Sponsored Links,” and by signing up for advertising

networks, such as BuySellAds.com or SponsoredReviews.com.

You can then contact these potential advertisers. Make sure to introduce

your blog and yourself, talk about how you are willing to accommodate their

ads on your website and how their product/service is appropriate for your

readers, show them some basic stats about your blog, especially

subscribers and traffic, and highlight the advertising features that you can

offer, such as the banner formats, position, and rates.

In calculating advertising rates, it might be a good idea to start with

charging $0.50 CPM for advertising 125x125 banners on the sidebar. If you

get 200,000 views per month, you can charge these banners in this

position $100 per month. Use this calculation as a rule of thumb for

calculating the rates of other ads in different positions.

Check your blog’s real page views to calculate your rates. Use Google

Analytics to do this.

Try Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing can complement your earnings from your blog.

First, check all the products and services that you’re using and find

possible affiliate programs related to them. You can write reviews about

them and put in your affiliate links.

Write honest reviews about the product or service to establish your

credibility. This will help you earn your readers’ trust and confidence in your

posts.

Keep track of the latest products and services that your readers might be

interested in. If you find one, contact the product/service provider and ask if

they offer an affiliate program.

You can also sign up for affiliate marketing networks such as

ClickBank.com or CommissionJunction.com.

Bank On Email Marketing

You can connect to your audience better through emails and forge

relationships with them. The bigger your email list is, the more

advantageous it will be to you, especially if you decide to do email

marketing.

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If you don’t want your emails to be classified as spam, use email marketing

services. The most reliable ones are iContact, Aweber, and

ConstantContact.

Explore all the methods that will encourage people to subscribe to your

email newsletters and to respond to you.

Establish a steady email relationship with them by sending at least one

email every week, or every two weeks. Don’t forget to include valuable

information in each email.

CONCLUSION: Make The Most Out Of Your

Blog

You can make money out of your blog using all the strategies discussed

above. These tips were also used by bloggers, who are now living

comfortably from the money that they earned from their blogs. However,

you have to put in a lot of hard work, time and patience while preparing to

monetize your blog.

It is a common mistake to treat your blog merely as a source of advertising

money.

Remember that a blog is more than just a website with dollar signs posted

in the header, footer or sidebar. Its biggest function will always be to

connect you to the rest of the world.

Aside from making money out of your blog, you should also use it to make

new friends, build a community of readers, and establish relationships with

people that can help your blog and your readers. Use your blog to establish

your authority in the field and to explore new ideas that will drive traffic to

your blog. Don’t waste the opportunities that your blog brings to find

partners and to start useful projects that will benefit you, your audience,

and your network.

While you should focus on making money using your blog, don’t be blinded

by all the benefits that you can get out of it.

The best thing about blogging is that you don’t even need to think far ahead

into the future. If your blog becomes popular with a top position in your

niche, you can use it for just about any venture. It can be a great platform

to publish a book, to get your dream job, or to launch a product.