Christian

Are You Using These 3 Deceptively Easy Ways to be Exceptional in Your Business Niche?

By Christian

There are easy ways to be exceptional in your business niche. You don't have to be act like a dork or have some stupid gimmick.

It’s easy to be exceptional. We just over-complicate it. Can we agree that it’s very important to be exceptional in your niche? Building a website isn’t enough, is it? Just because you build it doesn’t mean they’ll come. You need to be exceptional. If we’re not exceptional, why should anyone buy from us?

This article is about how to be exceptional in your niche, even if it’s highly competitive. And the answer is way, way simpler than you may realize.

Don’t be a Red Hat Realtor

There is a small real estate team in my town, and they all wear red hats. That’s their marketing angle. Red hats. Genius, wouldn’t you agree? I mean, surely people will stand up and take notice of them now, right?

Would you notice a Realtor because they wear a red hat? It’s possible, I suppose. But would you be more inclined to do BUSINESS with that Realtor due to the fact that they wear a red hat? In most cases, I’d wager (and hope!) the answer is no. The red hat is bad schtick. It represents nothing substantive. Schtick can be done well, but this is not the case with the Red Hat Realtors. It’s horrible marketing, and it’s a great illustration of where many of us go wrong more often than we’d like to admit.

Many of us seem to be convinced that we need a gimmick in order to get business. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Being exceptional is much simpler than that.

Let me know if you disagree, but I see a massively huge difference between merely getting attention and actually building influence with your customers. Given the choice, which would you prefer?

Getting lots of attention
Building real, significant influence in your niche

Let’s focus on the latter, shall we?

The Attention Myth

You may be inclined to ask about the value of getting people’s attention. Don’t we need to get people’s attention first in order to influence them? Perhaps the Red Hat Realtors are onto something after all.

It’s true that attention is more scarce than ever. But what is the solution? Bigger and bigger ads? Louder and louder ads? More and more funny looking hats? Look at Times Square in NYC. You can walk straight through some of the biggest, most expensive advertisements on the planet and in five minutes not be able to recall any of the marketing you just witnessed. I’ve done it. It is fun to walk amongst all the lights and energy, but it doesn’t make you want to actually buy anything. So why do businesses continue to spend bazillions on horrible ads that don’t work? Because they don’t know how to be exceptional.

Advertisements have gotten so loud and overbearing that everything has become a din. This isn’t a recent change. It’s old news. Yet most marketers have still failed to adapt. Here’s what we need to realize:

Just because something is scarce (i.e. attention) doesn’t mean it’s valuable.
Quiet is the new loud.
Authenticity is the new schtick (and the only schtick).
Influence is the new attention.
You don’t have to be loud to be exceptional.

You don’t need to get people’s attention at all. What you need is clout. And you get clout by being exceptional. When you’re exceptional, attention comes to you automatically. You cannot “get” people’s attention. Their attention is theirs. It’s not yours to take.

The Exceptional Mistake

Many of us at our core, don’t believe we’re exceptional. This is a costly mistake…and it’s the reason we think we need to do something gimmicky in order to stand out. You are exceptional, actually. But you can’t have it both ways. You can’t be in business for very long if you don’t believe in yourself. You can get away with it for a while if you have a huge advertising budget, but even then you have to pick up the slack with actual awesomeness, or it’s all doomed.

If you don’t believe you have anything of exceptional value to offer your customers, you need to go back to the drawing board. Don’t be out there making offers you don’t believe in. I’m in earnest. If you’re not awesome, the best thing you can do is stop trying to sell anything at all and do some soul searching. Do more research. Focus on your education for a while. Meditate. Find yourself. It’s worth the time it will take, because when you find your inner-awesomeness, there will be no stopping you. This may sound pretty simplistic, but it’s really true. There are so few awesome marketers out there, you will rise to the top automatically when you truly believe in yourself.

3 Deceptively Easy Ways to be Exceptional

The most awesome ways of being exceptional are also deceptively simple. Remember, are we trying to merely garner more attention? Or is our goal to get serious clout and influence with our target audience? If your focus is the latter, then the following list is an awesome place to start. It’s not about marketing tricks. Being exceptional is simple. Soak these in and let me know what you think…

Mind Your Biznas

Properly managed businesses tend to last. Do you know how to read a balance sheet? Are you familiar with how write up a profit and loss? Fortunes are lost on genius and great ideas all the time, due to poor management. Pizazz makes millions; it also fritters them away. If you want pizazz, run a big expensive ad. See where that gets you. If you want influence, you have to build it brick by brick. Rise to the top by simply outlasting everyone else. It probably won’t take nearly as long as you think. Stay in business. If you stay in the black, you’re already better than 95% of your competition. Be present.

Now that’s pretty boring isn’t it? But give it a whirl. Work hard in your business and stick around for five years, and then come tell me you’re not one of the top contenders in your niche. I dare you. Most blogs only last a few months. We’re so impatient, so focused on finding some ninja tactic or trick to becoming an overnight sensation in our business, that we overlook the fact that we’re ALREADY in the process of completing the most crucial first step to success. The first prerequisite to success is simply remaining in business. This uber-effective, highly classified ninja tactic is underestimated by almost everyone. I encourage you to give it a second look.

Work More

If you regularly clock out along with the 9-5’ers, there are only two explanations. One, you don’t like what you’re doing, in which case you need to change gears. Two, you actually BELIEVE Frank Kern when he tells you that a successful business can be purchased in a box for $1997. I love Frank and employ Kernsian marketing tactics in my business, but you see where I’m going with this. Hard work cannot be divorced from entrepreneurship. If Frank has to work his tail off to make his millions, so do you and I.

Be Yourself

This is a tough one, isn’t it? We often think that standing out means being loud or in some ways being something we’re not. In business there is a difference between standing out and having clout. Don’t be a Red Hat Realtor. Successful marketers will tell you that clout is not intrinsically coupled with acting like a clown. The last thing you want is a lot of attention and no substance. What a horrible place to be, because not only will tons of people not be buying from you, but they’ll also be TALKING about why they’re not buying from you.

Substance and value draw a different kind of attention. They draw the kind of attention you actually want. Top marketers will also tell you that a lot of serious money is being made quietly by marketers you’ve never heard of, probably because they’re just not in your niche. And that’s fine. Don’t get cornered into thinking you need to be loud or have millions of people in your database to be successful. Being yourself is not only sufficient, it’s exceptional. When you’re authentic, you realize there is no competition after all. What a beautiful place to be.

Is This Really Enough?

Can business really be this simple? Just be yourself, work hard and manage the heck out of your business? I know I’d be crazy to tell you there are no other options, so instead I encourage you to go find me some. Find a way to forcefully grab people’s attention that will result in meaningful, sustainable profitability. I’ll wait right here.

But I won’t be holding my breath 🙂

Authenticity is the mother of all real value, and real value is not only sustainable and profitable, it’s also…well, real. What more do we need?

Are You Being Fooled by These Membership Site Myths?

By Christian

I’ve heard a lot of talk about continuity programs lately. Continuity is just another word for “membership site” of course. Let me be clear: membership sites can be highly profitable. It’s a great model to follow, and if you’re interested in building a membership site, this post is NOT meant to discourage you from doing so. But, but, but…there’s a huge “but” here; there are 2 important myths about this business model that I don’t see being addressed, so I’m gonna do it here.

Membership Site Myth #1: Membership Sites are a Great Way to Make a Lot of Money Quickly

You know how many articles I’ve read that say something like “Do the math. Just charge $50 a month and get 200 members. All of a sudden you’re making $10k a month.” Dude, nothing is quick and easy. I hope I’m not bumming you out here…my goal really is to save you some valuable time, so you can stay on track.

Don’t look at membership sites as some quick way to make cash. Yeah it’s true, if you charge $50 a month, all you have to do is get 200 members to make more money than most people on the planet. So what? It’s not any easier to sell 200 memberships for $50 a month than it is to do anything else that will make you the same amount of money.

If you want to start a membership site, you should. But it’s the same with anything…do it because that’s what you want to do. Do it for these reasons:

You want to build an ongoing, lasting and long term relationship with members who value what you have to teach.
You want to have an ongoing conversation with committed members who are willing to pay for the value you offer, instead of people who just demand everything be free.
Build a membership site because you want to use it as a smart front end to your sales funnel. Charge a very low price, creating a reasonable hurdle for people to get on board with you, and then give them huge value, and upsell them on premium, totally kickass products or services after they’re members.

Build a membership site for these reasons. It’s not quicker or easier to get rich with a membership site than it is doing anything else.

Membership Site Myth #2: Membership Sites Provide Stable, Predictable Income

When it comes to building a business, many of us are easily lulled by the promise of anything “stable and predictable”, but let’s look at the facts…membership sites are a lot of work. I want to repeat…this is not a BAD thing. Membership sites rock, but I have just seen so much misinformation about them lately that I wanted to take a minute to set the record straight.

What a lot of the top marketers out there will tell you is that a lot of the work can be outsourced, and this is true. But it’s still ongoing work that you’re accountable for completing. This is what happens with membership sites that you may not automatically consider:

Not every member pays every month. Payments don’t always go through. Credit cards are rejected. If you run a membership site, you’re also signing up for the role of bill collector.
By running a membership site, you’re not creating passive income. You will still need to create ongoing content. Yes, that content can still be resold, but that requires a new launch and more work. This can be done with a traditional product as well. Membership sites are not superior to traditional products with regards to passive income. Neither produce passive income.
Once someone becomes a member, that doesn’t mean they’ll always stay a member. Membership attrition (people dropping out) is a regular part of the membership site business. You still need to continue your marketing efforts and provide huge value to your members in order to keep your numbers up.

My solution

So if membership sites are not the magic solution, what is? Ha. You’re kidding, right? There IS no magic solution. Membership sites are awesome. My only point here is one thing: other business models are awesome too, and there is no magic bullet. For me, I am simply going to continue to focus on selling traditional products and consulting. I don’t rule out the possibility of ever running a membership site in the future, but I have no current plans to run one. The reason is not because membership sites aren’t profitable and a great business model. They can be. But I prefer my own approach, which is to simply sell products and services.

Look, I can build a site and charge members $50 a month, or I can sell a product which has all the same information and sell it for $600. That’s the same income as someone staying a member with me for an entire year, which is rare, and I get all the money up front. Which model makes more sense to you?

Yes, I need to continue to market what I do. I need to still prospect and follow up on leads. I still need to continually improve what I do, keep my offers updated and current. All of a sudden, membership sites and selling products for a fixed price seem to be very similar don’t they? They are.

Have you thought of running a membership site? Does this connect with you at all? Have you been reeled into considering a membership site business model by the lure of stable, predictable income? I know I have 🙂

Must Have WordPress Plugins For Your Business Blog

By Christian

I’ve provided a list of must have WordPress plugins before, but here’s the thing: stuff changes. New plugins become available, and some plugins stop working. It’s an ongoing process, so I wanted to provide an updated inventory on the cool WordPress plugins I recommend for your WordPress business blog.

This list is specifically for business blogs, not personal blogs. For business the rules are a bit different. You should pay attention to security and performance. You want the content you provide to engage your audience and get the response you’re looking to achieve.

Clearly, nothing is going to replace good content, listening to your audience and hard work. We’re on the same page there, right? That said, a few key plugins can definitely go a long way toward making your life easier.

Must Have WordPress Plugins

I’d love to here if you think I’ve missed anything important! And btw, these are all free. No affiliates here 🙂

Akismet: I still hear complaints about comment spam, and surprisingly there are a lot of people out there who don’t know about Akismet. For me, it rarely lets anything through. It’s blocked many thousands upon thousands of spam comments, and it continues to serve me well. This one is a no-brainer.
Contextual Related Posts: I love this plugin and have used it for quite a while now. It’s recently improved and become much more customizable. It searches keywords on your site and provides visitors a customized list of related posts, keeping your readers on your site longer. Very nice.
Google XML Sitemaps: This has been part of my arsenal from the beginning. It automatically generates, updates and submits a sitemap for you…an essential part of getting indexed rapidly and thoroughly in Google. You can create a sitemap manually of course, but why?
Login Lockdown: Has you blog ever been hacked? If not, stick around a while. It will happen. It happens to us all. One of the most common forms of attacks is a brute force attack, where a hacker randomly tries passwords until it breaks through. This plugin shuts them down cold. When it comes to securing your blog, there are a lot of things you can do, and there is a great report on it here. This plugin is an essential step in hardening your blog against attacks.
MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer: When you write new content to your blog, WordPress automatically pings search engines and directories for you, so they become aware of your new article. Cool, huh? When you edit an old post, WordPress pings em again. And if you’re the kind of person (like me) who is regularly going in and changing stuff, your blog will be pinging the directories left and right. It may sound cool, but directories are smart enough to know you’re not actually adding anything new, and abusing your ping privileges can get you banned. Few people know about this plugin, but I’m definitely an advocate for using it. It’s smart enough to know what you’re doing on your blog, so when you’re publishing something new or adding a new page, etc…it lets the search engines know. Otherwise, it stays quiet, keeping you in good graces with the search engines. I dig it, how bout you?
Redirection: When you first start out, you likely won’t need this plugin, but you should go ahead and install in now anyway. What happens when you change the name of one of your pages? Or tweak the title of one of your posts? What happens when you change the name of one of your categories? You’re creating pathways to your 404 error page, that’s what’s happening. All of the links and bookmarks people have saved as a way of revisiting your blog still point to the old URL, but you’ve changed it. Having a custom 404 page is smart, but using a plugin like Redirection lets you go in and quickly forward the old page to the new one. You can do this by manually editing your .htaccess file, but who the heck wants to learn how to do that, right? I love non-techy solutions to tech issues, don’t you?
SEO Friendly Images: Do you know what image alt tags are? Search engines can’t actually see images, you know. They just index data. This plugin gives your images relevant keywords for search engines to play with. So basically, the pictures you use on your blog may just be dead weight as far as search optimization goes, but you can change all that by using this plugin. This is especially relevant to anyone who uses a lot of images on their blog, like photographers, real estate professionals, etc. But it’s also a great little SEO tool for anyone. A nice little side benefit of this also comes into play if your content feed is going out by email. Images often get blocked when people read your articles in their email client. Instead of just seeing that ugly little red square where an image is supposed to be, this plugin can put keywords in it’s place, giving a reader an indication of what’s supposed to be there. It’s just more professional-looking in my opinion.
SEO Smart Links: Internal link structure is important for both search optimization and user experience. Giving readers plenty of links in a post gives them lots of opportunity to be as click-happy as they want to be while staying on your site, absorbing more of your grand wisdom. Put in a keyword…let’s say “subscribe”. And then tell the plugin to link that keyword to your subscribe page. Then every time the word “subscribe” comes up on your blog, it will automatically link to your subscribe page. You don’t have to manually install any links; it’s all automatic. Of course this is an oversimplified example, but you get the idea. 🙂
SexyBookmarks: This plugin gives your readers a way to quickly and easily share your articles with their friends. You like people talking about your posts and spreading them virally all over the universe, correct? Install this sucker and watch the magic. There are many solutions for installing share links on your WordPress blog of course, but this is my favorite.
Subscribe To Comments: I never ran this plugin before, but readers were specifically asking why I didn’t have any way to subscribe to comments. After you leave a comment on my blog, there is a check box where you can select to receive an email with follow up comments. It encourages your readers to come back and participate in the conversation.
TweetMeme Retweet Button: This is another new one I’m playing with, and I like it a lot. It gives you a count on how many tweets your post has received, and by clicking the icon at the top of any post, you can retweet the article.
Twitterlink Comments: I like to give as much value to commentators on my site, and one thing a lot of people seem to be using is the Twitterlink Comments feature I have installed. By filling out your Twitter name, it automatically links to your Twitter profile when you leave a comment.
W3 Total Cache: I’ve always used SuperCache in the past, and I’ve recently replaced it with W3 Total Cache. It delivers static pages to users instead of dynamically generated pages. Basically what the heck does this mean? It means your site loads faster. Visitors tend to hate clicking on a link and having to wait even a few seconds for a page to load. WordPress is awesome, but it’s NOT the fastest platform out there. I admit to still having speed issues from time to time, but this plugin has on average doubled the speed of Next Level Blogger. I switched from Supercache, because this plugin just has a lot more features and is a more comprehensive caching tool.
WP-DBManager: Maintaining regular database backups and regularly optimizing your database is an important part of maintaining your blog. This can all be done manually of course, but this plugin automates it all.

I usually recommend keeping the number of plugins you run to a minimum. I’m running more than I have before, and I’m not having any issues. I think I have a total of 20 on Next Level Blogger currently, and I’m happy with that number. After installing Headway as my blog’s theme, I was able to get rid of some other plugins that I’ve used before like All in One SEO Pack. That is a plugin I definitely recommend if you’re not using the Headway theme. It offers some very essential SEO features.

Have I missed anything you consider essential? Anything on this list that’s new to you?

There Are No Rules (OK, Maybe Just One Rule…)

By Christian

business-blogging-rules — Don't waste time getting caught up in all the "rules" of blogging. Rules are made to be broken.

The benefits of business blogging are well-documented. If you are not convinced that blogging is a powerful way to reach your audience, build awareness of your brand and generate significant sales, this is a great time for you to go through some of the archives on this blog and some of my “recommended blog tips” articles. The facts speak for themselves.

However if you are already convinced, you are probably on this site seeking great advice on how to maximize the results you see from your blog. That’s smart.

There Are No Real Rules

I’d like to submit a thought to you that may save you some time in your pursuit for the hottest blog tips. There are no real rules. OK…maybe just one small rule, and I’ll let you in on that rule in just a second. But here’s the thing about rules: many people read them and automatically feel they HAVE to follow them. This is not how successful businesses are built.

For now I just want to point out that there are SO many articles out there telling you what to do, leading you to believe they contain the “secret” you’ve been looking for, that if you were to try following all the advice out there, you’ll never go anywhere. Don’t get stuck in this trap. Here are some examples of “rules” that I don’t believe in following:

You need to post often – this is good general advice, but it’s important to know that many successful blogs only post sporadically. Scott Stratten from UnMarketing just wrote about this recently as well, after not having posted anything to his blog in 6 weeks. Some blogs publish new content several times per day. Others post once every few weeks. Your approach has much more to do with what works for your business, not what actually works for blogging in general. With regards to blogging in general, there is no rule.

You need to write long, detailed posts – there is a school of thought which dictates the highest quality posts are long, detailed, highly valuable articles posted to your blog. Some blogs such as ViperChill and many others specialize in writing longer content. Bravo…it works. But it’s important to understand…it works for them. What does that have to do with YOU? With some things, you simply need to follow your own path. Long content and short content both work. There is no real rule.

You need to write short, pithy posts – Some tools such as Blog Grader suggest that your posts should be no longer than 800 words. It even appears to use this metric as a means of grading your blog. Longer posts seem to score lower. I don’t know what the heck this is about. Everyone knows that some of the greatest resources online are very long blog posts that took the authors many hours or days to produce. They generate thousands of incoming links, because they offer huge value. Yes, short posts are quicker to read, but your audience may value longer, detailed posts on occasion. The best approach is not to follow the arbitrary advice of only writing short posts. Nothing replaces actually knowing your audience. Again, no rule.

You need to search-optimize all your content – Sorry to all the SEO pros out there, but this is just B.S. I certainly believe in the power of search optimization, and I think every blogger should take some time to learn the basics. Michael Martine’s WordPress SEO Secrets is a good place to learn what you need to know. Here’s another rockin post on blog SEO. Here’s another great article on SEO. But here’s what I’ll tell you…stop there. Absorb those resources and then get back to your life. SEO professionals could easily have you believe that your success online hangs in the balance, and if you don’t pay more attention, you’ll slide off the face of the earth without their advice. Ain’t gonna happen. Some of the biggest bloggers in the social web like Chris Brogan, Gary Vaynerchuk and many others admit they know very little about SEO and do almost nothing to “optimize” their content. What does that tell you? Is SEO important? Certainly. Is it worth hours and hours of your time? That’s up to you…but probably not. This is just another example of something which distracts many new bloggers. It’s not about learning the “trick”. There is no trick. Blogging is simple. It’s just talking to your audience. You don’t need an internet marketing PHD to get this done. Just talk to your audience.

You need a professional design – I’ve built blogs for many clients. Everyone wants their site to look cool, and that’s understandable. But it’s also essential to understand the difference between pretty and effective. My specialty is in doing what works. If you want conversions, leads and sales, I’m your guy. If you want pretty pictures, I’m probably not your guy. I submit that most new bloggers and marketers spend way too much time worrying about how their site looks. You don’t win a race by sitting in the driveway putting on a fifth layer of wax. I don’t mean to argue that design is not important. It is, but it’s so easy to spend hours and hours on trying to make your site look cool. It’s easy to get burned out on all this, and it’s such a waste, because it has nothing to do with getting results.

Of course, the list goes on. What other rules have you come across? Leave a comment and share! It’s important to take the advice of others with a grain of salt. Yes, the advice on my own blog is included. Here is the truth: there is no recipe…there is no turnkey, guaranteed, “cookie cutter” way of achieving success. Of course you already know this, don’t you? Perhaps you know this through experience. Perhaps you simply know it in your gut. But one way or another, you sense that good things take time and hard work.

Where to Spend Your Time

I believe it’s crucial to read other sites and learn about your craft. Don’t stop learning how to improve your work, but be mindful about what you’re doing with your time. Before you apply some new tool or technique to your approach, ask yourself some important questions:

“How much time is this going to take?”
“Is this something I’m going to enjoy doing?”
“Is it sustainable?”
“What benefits do I honestly believe will come of this?”
“Is the return commensurate with the expenditure of time or money?”
“Do I actually understand this technique and what it will do, or will I just be doing it because it sounds cool?”
“Can I delegate it?”

Answer these questions first, and if a tool or technique you’ve come across passes the test, then put it to use. If not, trash it.

How Much Time Do You Have To Waste?

Business owners often struggle with the return on investment from blogging. I hear this a lot… “How can I justify the use of my time?” Do you have this concern as well? Do you want to make sure you get a good return from the time you spend blogging?

Here’s the key: blogging can have a HUGE return on investment. But this is only true if you do it well. You need to do what works. Use the questions above, and they will keep you from blindly following arbitrary advice. This is what makes the difference between getting a huge return on your blog and burning out. Successful bloggers get results; they don’t follow arbitrary advice just because it sounds cool.

The One Rule To Follow

I promised one rule, and I will share it with you now. I think this one rule will serve you well as you go about the process of building your blog. Use this as your guide, and it will not only keep results coming your way, but it will also steer you clear of useless advice.

Here’s the rule: “Give first, then receive.”

Let me expand on this briefly, because a rule this simple can easily be glossed over or misunderstood.

Do you want more incoming links? Then link to other people first.
Do you want other bloggers to talk about you? Then talk about them first.
Do you want people to submit guest posts to your blog? Then submit guest posts to other blogs first.
Do you want people to comment on your blog? Then comment on other people’s blogs first.

Do you get the idea? Does this make sense? It may seem overly simplistic, but the idea stems from a foundational belief I have about blogging. I believe blogging is inherently social in nature. To attract the attention you want in the social web, you need to be active socially.

Finally, don’t be the nerdy kid in the corner

Most new bloggers spend WAY too much time on their blog. They need to spend time on other people’s blogs! Does this sound counter-intuitive? Think about it for a second. Spending all your time on your own blog is like being the nerdy kid in high school who sits in the corner and draws pictures, never looking up, never talking to anyone. He’s a genius, yes. He’s talented, yes. He has a lot to offer, no doubt. But he never actually offers it. He sits in the corner. He works endlessly refining his talent. The other kids see him, but no one really knows him.

Don’t be the nerdy kid in the corner. Share your genius with the world. That requires getting out there. Trust me on this, your design doesn’t matter, the length of your posts doesn’t matter. How often you post doesn’t matter. What matters is that you get out there, and you can do that in whatever way makes sense to you, in whatever way that works with your schedule, in whatever manner that is consistent with your goals.

You can “put yourself out there” by building links, writing content, spending time on Twitter, handing out business cards at your local brew pub or shouting the name of your blog from a high building…whatever truly, earnestly makes sense to you, your business and your customers. Just do it. Don’t sit on your hands, reading blogs and trying to find “the rules to success”, cuz there aren’t any. The rule I share with you here in this post isn’t even a blogging rule. It’s a life rule. If you rock, you will get results. I promise.

What are you going to do to get results this week?

7 Business Tenets to Apply to Your Blog

By Christian

steps-to-business-blogging-success — So you want your blog to climb the "ladder of success". How do you do it? The tenets of building a successful business blog are remarkably similar to the tenets of building ANY successful business venture.

This is a guest post from Tom Walker. Thanks for the submission Tom. I think this post covers some important issues every business blogger should address. Let me know what you think!

Blogging is the latest way to make money on the web. It can be done with little technical expertise, it’s low cost, and you can potentially make millions; just look of the success of the world’s most famous blog, Craig’s List. Making money or even a career out of blogging, however, is like starting any business, and the same principles apply. Follow our guide to make sure you avoid the pitfalls, and get your blog on track faster.

Pick a niche – your blog will only stand out in the millions of other blogs if it offers something different. Your blog is a product like any other, and so you need to tap into a demand in order to have something to sell. Blogs about personal opinions, for example, are ten-a-penny, and probably not going to draw a lot of interest.
Think about your sphere of influence – part of finding your niche is about looking at your sphere of influence. When people look at setting up a shop somewhere, they look first at the sphere of influence of the local supermarket to see if their shop will fall within it; if it does, their shop stands little chance of competing. Do you want your blog to be useful to people in your street, town, county or country, or does it have international appeal? For example, there may be a local news source for your county, so there would be no point competing with it, but there may not be a news blog about your town, so you may find a niche there.
Gauge interest – you may have found a niche, and you may know for a fact that a few people are interested in your topic. The next stage is to gauge if that level of interest will be enough to make your blog sustainable. Will there be enough subject matter to blog regularly about? Will the blog topic attract enough interest to get a reasonable amount of hits to drive ad revenue that will pay for the time you spend blogging? If the answer to these questions is “no”, you may have to rethink your topic.
Move quickly – blogging has democratized the publishing process. A blog is the simplest, fastest kind of publication to set up, and there are virtually no barriers to how much or how quickly you can publish. For this reason, you need to move fast; if you have spotted an opportunity, it probably won’t be long before someone else does. Make sure you get there first; even if you don’t set up the full blog, at least nab the domain name to stake your claim.
Plan – nobody can attract investment in a business where the proprietor doesn’t know how much they plan to make in a year, or how they are going to do it. Too often, bloggers hit on a fantastic idea, but the blog falls by the wayside due to a lack of direction. Once you have set up your domain, sit down and make a plan of what you are going to do and by when; even a simple plan will help. For example, you could plan to publish 50 posts within a month, attract 30 incoming links within two months, and draft an advertising rate card by the end of the third month, with a view to approaching advertising clients within six months. Stick to your deadlines once you have them.
Use clear branding – millions are spent on branding products every year. Your blog is a product and as such it needs to be branded. Don’t just stick any old header at the top of your blog and pick the first colour scheme that pops up. Think about what the essence of your blog is, and choose colours accordingly, i.e. baby pink might not be the ideal colour scheme for a serious financial blog. To make a memorable header with your title, try finding a creative commons licensed image online that represents your blog’s topic, or even take some photos yourself. Once your have decided how your blog is going to look, try not to tinker with it too much; consumers trust and feel comfortable with products that maintain the same appearance.
Work hard – blogging is easy to learn, but hard to master. Don’t be fooled by the entrepreneurs who started blogs and then retired to their millions at 25; they worked as hard at their blogs as any business demands. The only way to make money out of a blog is to invest your time and energy into it.

This is a guest post by Tom Walker who blogs and designs with an online supplier of HP 364 inks, toners and refills. He is both writing contributor and editor at the CreativeCloud where he blogs about what interests him most, namely print design and the arts.