Today, Nick Tart talks about the importance of treating your blog more like a business. Want to write for us too?
Most of us want our blogs to become more than just blogs. If that’s the case with you, then you need to treat your blog like it’s a business.
When I was planning this post I realized there are a lot of similarities between your blog and the corner store down the street. Except, the corner store is making money and you probably aren’t.
Assuming you’d like to earn a little cash for all your hard work, I’ve outlined nine ways you can treat your blog more like a brick-and-mortar business.
1. Website Owner = Business Owner
The owner of a blog is much like the owner of a business. Before a blog owner can ever get off the ground they have to establish their site with a few necessary pages (About and Contact) and at least a basic design/theme.
Additionally, a blog owner performs all the administrative tasks such as managing the content, marketing with social media and tracking the statistics/finances.
Lesson: Dedicate yourself to managing, marketing and tracking your blog.
2. Domain + Google Ranking = Location
Business is all about location, location, location (it’s cliché for a reason). The domain name of a blog is its location.
Additionally, the best location for a business is where there is a lot of traffic. For instance, people accumulate on street corners. There also happens to be a lot of traffic on Google and Google’s “street corner” is its first page.
Lesson: Try to land on Google’s street corner by optimizing every single page on your website.
3. Readers = Customers
The readers are inarguably the most important aspect of a blog. Likewise, customers are the most important part of a business. Without readers/customers there is no blog/business.
Lesson: Treat your readers like they’re paying you for your content and eventually they will.
4. Subscribers = Loyal Customers
Readers can also take many forms on a blog. There’s the one-time reader from Google, the occasional reader who visits when they need something, and the regular reader who builds your blog into their daily routine.
Then there is the obsessed reader who will read every word you publish and tell others to read it too. This person is known as a subscriber, also referred to as a loyal customer.
Lesson: Treat your subscribers a little bit better than your normal readers. Maybe you can provide exclusive content.
5. Returning Emails + Replying to Comments = Customer Service
When you have a big enough blog, you will consistently receive emails about your site and comments about your articles. As the blog owner, you should reply to each and every compliment and inquiry you receive if you want to develop a relationship with your readers.
When I say this compares to customer service, I don’t mean the type where you stand in line for an hour to return something that cost you $6. I’m referring to the type of customer service when you go to your favorite coffee shop and the barista knows your name and what you want.
It’s equally important to know your readers and your customers.
Lesson: Call your readers by their first names and respond to all of their inquiries.
6. Header = Storefront
A header is much like a storefront in that it must attract attention and be aesthetically pleasing in order to draw customers inside. It’s the first thing a customer sees as well as the first thing they judge. Bloggers and storeowners alike must be conscious of their storefronts.
Lesson: Spend a little extra time perfecting your header.
7. Web Design = Store Cleanliness
Once a reader/customer makes the decision to walk inside, the next judgment they make is how “clean” it is. In either case, the person is more prone to have a positive experience if the floors are mopped and the sidebar is tidy.
Lesson: Pay attention to the details and make sure your sidebar is pixel-perfect.
8. Social Media = Networking
One of the most important tasks for a new business owner is to network with other business owners. Similarly, one of the fastest ways to get the word out about your blog is through developing relationships with other bloggers.
There are certain people who have a lot of sway over the business/blogging world. If you can meet these people and convince them to like you, then you’re venture is likely to take off. Social media is the best way to meet these people.
Lesson: Devote some time to finding and developing relationships with the leaders of your niche.
9. Products + Reviews + Affiliate Programs = Selling Goods and Services
Once a blog has a large enough following, the blogger can begin making money by selling products, writing paid reviews and promoting affiliate programs (among other methods). This aspect of blogging is actually not that similar to business because very few blogs ever get to this point.
However, I think it’s still worth mentioning that selling something is a goal for most bloggers. Like any good business, it takes quite a bit of hard work and good luck before becoming profitable.
It takes two years for most businesses to become profitable. I think it’s about the same with a blog. For instance, Blogussion (one of the fastest growing blogs on the Internet) took a year before they released their first product.
Lesson: Have patience and don’t expect to make money before doing everything else in this list. Not to say that you won’t, but it would certainly help.
Brief Recap
As you know, there are lots of ways you can make money with a blog. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you will.
Entrepreneurs devote a great deal of effort into their businesses before they earn their first dollar. The Internet can make things easier but it doesn’t work miracles.
Lesson: If you really want, I mean, obsessively want to make money from your blog, then you need to start treating it more like a business.
Can you think of other ways that your blog is like the mom-and-pop down the street?
Nick has just interviewed Alex on his blog as part of an ongoing project 50 Interviews: Young Entrepreneurs. You can check his, and many other interviews on JuniorBiz.com.
39 Discussions
Killer breakdown. It’s easy to feel like a blog isn’t a business. Especially if you’re not making a ton of money yet. It’s also easy to get discouraged if your blog isn’t taking off in the first 6 months.
Most brick and mortar businesses take no less than 6 months to start even breaking even. It isn’t until nearly 2 years before they really show if they are going to be successful or not.
There is no reason online businesses should be held to higher standard. People who are serious about making money with their blog will definitely identify with the correlation you mentioned. Again, I’m digging this post!
Blake @ Online Marketing Review´s last blog ..Don’t Judge A Blog By It’s Homepage: At Online Marketing Blog Content is King
Thank you so much for the comment, Blake! I have come across so many people who think they can just have me make them a website and it will be their golden ticket to riches! I’ve never ran a brick-and-mortar business, but I doubt it’s that much harder than running a successful blog.
There’s a lot more competition online.
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
Great read, it makes me think of the way i run my blogs much differently. Thank you!
over paintball´s last blog ..Chad George Going To Dynatsy
Hey Brad! You’ve done a great job of finding a niche with your site. You can’t start a business expecting to sell everything (i.e. Wal-Mart), in the same way that you can’t start a blog expecting to talk about everything.
Keep it up!
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
It is easy to forget that most businesses don’t actually make a profit for the first year. If you go into blogging thinking this way then maybe you can concentrate more on your content, promotion, and networking the first year. I would be willing to bet that would make money before the end of first year.
Keith´s last blog ..Article Promotion
That’s great advice, Keith! If you open a brick-and-mortar business, you don’t start selling things before your building is constructed. People would come, say, “What the heck is this?” and leave!
On the other hand, if your business is in pristine condition for your grand opening, then people are likely to come back.
Thanks for the comment!
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
Really nice break down and I love the way you have connected the two – blog and brick and mortar.
One thing I would add which is very important when running your blog as a business – don’t forget the finance paperwork. You don’t want the tax man after you!
Andrew
Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Get more traffic to your blog by using Comment Sniper
Yes! That is critical. Thanks for reminding me, Andrew! I was talking to a kid a few weeks ago who made about $2.5 million on a site over two years. He spent it all and when it came time to pay taxes, he owed over $400K.
Thanks for the comment!
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
Oh Dang! That’s scary!
This was a great read. We own a business. It boils down to everything you wrote. People do not realize in business that a happy customer is the bread and butter. You can have a quality product, but if your service bites there are no customers. I will keep this article for the future
Great use of a metaphor, Tina! “Boils down”, “bread and butter”, “bites”. And it’s a great lesson. Most blogs fail to treat their readers like customers. One of the reasons I come here (almost every day, shhh…) is because Alex and Seth genuinely value their readers.
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
What a fanatistic article!
While there’s not really anything new that I haven’t heard about before, the concept of the corner store and the how the information presented really made me stop and think about the two business concepts.
“Except, the corner store is making money and you probably aren’t.” How true!
Care to share your progress concerning making money with your blog? How long did it take you to earn your first dollar?
Thanks,
Karen
Yeah, I really wanted to nail down the point that people treat their blogs too much like blogs. It’s monotonous when people post just because they haven’t posted in awhile. A blog is an incredible platform to showcase your business, but you have to have a clear business strategy behind it if you ever want to make money.
Blogussion is a great example! Alex and Seth have built this blog for their readers and for their eventual customers. Without doing this, they would have sold a fraction of the amount of themes they sold.
Before I tell you how much I’ve made, I want you to know that I’m a little bit of a hypocrite
. I made $100 on Google Adsense in a year. Pulled those little pixel wasters off my site. I have a book that I’ve made about $500 off of but most of these sales came offline.
Right now I’m focusing on laying that foundation and I’ll be releasing a new book in April. I also have a few more plans, but I haven’t told many people about those
.
Thanks for the comment, Karen! I’ve enjoyed replying to it!
P.S. You can get a little more insight about my product by following the link at the bottom of this comment!
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
Great post, to take your blog seriously as a business entity, there needs to be a defined organization to the content, you should be building credibility, professionally-designed theme for the blog etc.
However, organization is important! Everything should be neat with no spelling errors.
That’s another good point! Properly structuring your site from the beginning is also important. As you keep bringing products into your business, you don’t want the building to fall down.
Thanks for the comment!
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
A good checklist of things to do. A lot of devil in those details – hopefully we will see some future posts on this from you.//Marc
Haha! Thanks Marc! You know, you can find lots of my posts on my site
! But, yeah, I have another idea brewing for another guest post on Blogussion. Keep coming back here.
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
Great tips, Nick. Those are really great comparisons that you’ve made. Great job!
Shirley´s last blog ..Happy Birthday To Me!
Thanks Shirley! I’m glad you liked them!
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
I really wish to treat my Cytogenetics and Cancer Reseach blog like a business. However, i just lack of time to manage it well as i’m still a student. Anyway, thanks for your information! I got a clear message from this post about blog=business!
Kok Siong Chen´s last blog ..Cri du Chat Syndrome – Human with Cat-like Cry
Hey Chen! It’s important to note that your blog doesn’t have to be like a business. But if you want to earn money from your blog, you have to treat it like a business.
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
Yeah — we should treat our blog as business if want to make decent money from it. And thanks to break down how to do it.
Dana @ Blogging Update´s last blog ..Easy Way to Put Social Media Button in Blog
You’re welcome, Dana! I’m glad I was able to break it down in a way that makes sense.
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
Hey Nick! Finally a grand post from you. Do you ever write those hopeless posts which you can feel guilty about? Coz I’ve never seen you wasting a single word and I feel jealous! LOL
I mean c’mon man! Write a dumb post or else I will feel dumb! (Just Kiddin, really)
I recently read that blogs can’t make money if they are not treated as business. I thought it was an interesting analogy but a bit underdeveloped and here you are in it’s full glory. I cannot agree more about the location point! It’s so damn important and McD’s always seems to know about it.
One more thing, design is much more than clean store. It’s about how your store is designed. You know how easy it is to find things in your store, how appealing is it to look at your store? How…
Ah! Bad me! I start preaching anywhere. Thanks for the wonderful insight. Loved it so much!
King Sidharth´s last blog ..A How-to on Hardcore Motivation
Awesome comment, King! You’re absolutely right. Wal-Mart knows that people usually take a left when they first enter the store, so they put their promotional items right inside and on the left. They also know that people tend to buy more things as they see more things, so they put all the convenience items in the back of the store – turning quick errands into a trip past all of their products.
Similarly, people expect to be able to subscribe in the upper right corner of your blog. If they don’t find it there, don’t expect them to subscribe.
Thanks for the compliments, King! As always, I really appreciate it!
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
Awesome Comparison of Business and Blogging. Nice Post Nick.
Agent Deepak´s last blog ..MARKETING vs SELLING Your Blog
Thanks Deepak! I hope people really take these lessons to heart.
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
Thats a nice way to compare two things. Would lov e to see more this kind of comparision.
ZK @ Web Marketing Blog´s last blog ..Blog Masters Club closes in less than 48 hours
Thanks, ZK! Yeah, metaphors have are useful to better or more simply explain things, but they definitely have their limitations. But overall, they’re pretty good
!
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
Nice comparison between blog and brick-and-mortar bussines
…This is the first time when i read this blog and i really like it . I will subscribe your blog at my Google RSS reader .
NiceBlogger´s last blog ..101 articles directories – PR human verified
Wow, NiceBlogger! You are in for a treat… I would liken the day you found Blogussion to the day you discovered you could wear your underwear two days in a row if you turned them inside-out.
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
Excellent analogies Nick; truly makes you think. I bet my new blog is killin’ ya!
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Welcome Aboard Part 2! All The Info You’ve Been Waiting For…
Haha! Nice touch, Dennis. You know, it would be killing me but I know you’re going to improve it.
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Alex Fraiser, World’s Most Successful 16-Year-Old Blogger
Funny thing, I have a really good blog idea in my head that would need a theme very similar to the default. lol
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Welcome Aboard Part 2! All The Info You’ve Been Waiting For…
Great tips. You should definitely treat your blog like a company. You need to market yourself, get your message out there for the people, let them know what you are all about. Hopefully then you can get some business and then retain those readers.
Nice recap, San Diego! Thanks for stopping by.
Nick Tart´s last blog ..Starting Out Online: From the SEO Perspective
Nick great post and great comparison as well.
Every point of blogging is just similar to the corner shop. Really like your imagination and the way you have explained all this.
ZK @ Web Marketing Blog´s last blog ..Become A Blogger for $ 1
And a blog is a great way to get your ideas on the web where it can be accessed by millions of people rather than a small percentage of people in a specific location.
Took me time to study all of the comments, but I truly enjoyed the article. It proved to be really useful to me and I’m certain to all of the commenters here! It is always good whenever you cannot only be informed, but also engaged! I’m certain you had joy writing this article.
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