Blogs are started in thousands every day. It is because blogging is one of the most powerful ways to market any business, product or a service.
At the same time, most blogs are started without proper thought and hence they do end up as a failure! Let me share 8 basic things you should think about BEFORE you start a blog.
Let’s dive in.
1. Why do you want to start a blog?
Yes seriously, I’m asking you. Why do you really want to start a blog? Don’t say you want to start a blog because everyone else is doing it. Yes blogging seems to be popular recently and more and more blogs are started every day.
And yes you might have read the success stories from various bloggers. But don’t start a blog just because you are motivated by seeing the happenings in the blogosphere.
You should have your own message to the world. You should have something worthy to share (that too for a long time)! If you don’t think that you have anything worthwhile to share, it is better not to start a blog.
I’m not discouraging you! But I am trying to save you the trouble (and time and money).
2. Have you chosen the right niche?
This one is really crucial because the niche you choose is one of the factors that is going to decide your longevity in the niche. Now, there are two things: (i) Your passion for the niche and (ii) The niche’s profitability factor.
You need to choose a niche that satisfies both the above mentioned components. One without the other simply won’t work.
3. Are you willing to spend time on your blog?
If so, be specific (how many hours per week or per day).
Blogging is not magic, as most newbies think and expect. Just as with any job, you have to work your butt off to make it with blogging too. However unlike in your day job where your boss kicks you to make you productive and you have constant deadlines and accountability, with blogging you are your own boss. That is both a blessing and a curse.
Now you can slack off 7 days a week if you want to. You can take two vacations per year that are 6 months long. And you can choose to be unproductive if you want to. You need to have self-control and commitment to the amount of time you spend on your blog!
4. Are you willing to spend, um…, invest on your blog?
Now comes the money. I can see the term “make money blogging” is quite popular. But a term like “invest in blogging” is not so popular. Nevertheless it is very important. If you want your blog to be a business that will make you money, you should treat it like a business too.
Now tell me, how many real world businesses do you know are started without an investment? Every business needs an upfront investment. And if you want your blog to be your business you have to be willing to invest money in it.
Now, you are lucky because unless you have a bricks and mortar business, you won’t be needing thousands of dollars (or even hundreds) to start a blog!
If you are still confused, this post should help.
5. How do you intend to monetize your blog?
Have you decided on your blog monetization strategy? Most people start a blog and then scratch their head on finding out ways to monetize it. That should not be the case, which is why I’ve included this as an item under 8 things to think about before you start a blog.
Think of at least 10 possibilities to monetize your blog. And then try them out and stick to 4 or 5 ways that work for you.
Never rely on only one income stream. You will be in trouble. Rather, have 4 or 5 income streams and make sure some of them are passive streams (meaning you don’t always have to be working in order to earn money!).
6. Do you have a product or a service to offer?
This one is crucial! In my opinion every blog should be backed up by a product. For some businesses it is just the other way around. They backup their products or services with their blog and use their blog as a marketing tool.
Nevertheless, a blog works as a great tool to invite traction for both the cases mentioned above. So think about a product or a service that you can develop over time.
The product can be anything from an e-book to a full in depth course. It is totally up to you to design your product or service. But without something to sell, it will be hard to keep up with the competition and also to make money passively!
7. Are you willing to learn?
Don’t let the others fool you. Blogging does have a learning curve. You might want to learn about writing, formatting, using WordPress, installing plugins, fixing the little bugs, SEO, and much more 🙂 No I’m not trying to scare you here. Not at all!
And it is not necessary that you should figure out every single thing yourself. You can always outsource. But you should at least have background knowledge to make sure you get the right output even if you outsource; get it?
8. Are you open to improvising?
You might encounter lots of criticism. Not all criticism is bad. Of course there will be some negative comments from the haters. As they say, the haters will always hate. And you gotta ignore them and simply move on.
But there will be genuine criticism that come from your peers and supporters. They simply want you to improve.
In such cases you should be open and willing to improvise. Of course you cannot implement all the suggestions from all your friends. This will make your whole system unstable.
However, you should be willing to accept positive suggestions and implement them. You will see great improvements on your business in the long run. Trust me on this.
Give your thought before its too late!
So there you go! Even if you have already started a blog, I strongly suggest you think about these 8 things before you start worrying about stuff you’re stuck on.
Giving these 8 things a little thought will change the way you think and approach stuff with blogging. And yes, I’m pretty sure, you’ll start seeing a great improvement.