The basics of starting a blog is really crucial because your money is limited (that’s why you’re starting a blog in the first place) and you wanna invest the least money into the blog to make the most back.In reply to problogger’s post i wanna talk about 10 things i would do to start out my blog.
1. Product Creation
Before I do anything, i would make an ebook or a web script that is in current demand, this is what will get me the most traffic, and i might be either selling this for revenue right away or just giving it away for free in return for email rss subscribers, that way i could sell sponsored reviews on the blog, since advertisers like a high subscriber count in order to buy a sponsored post on a blog.
Other then that offering a product or a guide for a niche automatically makes you an authority in the niche because you are not only preaching the niche but you have paid content for it that proves your theories. In order to get the best out of my e-book i would take around 1-2 weeks to research a niche that people want to know better or a new approach to make money online and do the whole mmo blog thing all over again.
2. Content Creation
Okay, usually people take 1-2 days to make up posts (i know i do…for specific posts), this time i would take up multiple topics on the niche my blog would be on and have different aspects of it written on my blog in a certain order, here is the break down
Niche Information - Guides and Definitions
Resources and Tools
Top sites in the niche
Success stories of the niche
Products and Services of the niche
Tips to prosper further more within the niche
These would not just be breif articles, there would etiher be series or 1000-1500 worded articles that would be insanely viral and filled with tons of information that people would love to share, this would get me alot of exposure and social attention.
3. Theme Development
Before i start the blog and use all the tools/content at hand, I would need a good theme, for this part I will do some research on the current top 100 make money online blogs that they have at 45n5 , then i would use all the info from those blogs to figure out a better UI that would get me the most exposure for the content while keeping my theme strictly eyecandy, this theme would use less usual html tricks and more css effects so that later on i could submit it to several css design galleries to get additional traffic.
A good unique theme for the blog would be good but 10 free themes would be even better, if its exposure you want, just release a free wordpress theme, you would get your fair share of exposure and then some. Free themes can get you alog of deep links from toher authority blogs if the theme is good and people are warming up to it, either i can make 10 normal eyecandy themes or maybe 1 theme that can be used for multiple purposes.
4. Blogrollers
Now for the link love i would contact a few mid-large size bloggers in the niche to exchange blogroll links, which would be easier but there are always those really really big bloggers from whom you can’t get a link that easily for these you can just link to them without having them to reciprocate, this sets the tone of your blog and establishes a relation between your blog, the authority blogs and the niche in general. Alot of seo value here.
SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, and is a cognitive tool used in business to evaluate both the internal and external aspects of a business entity. SWOT analysis is used in conjunction with the Mission Statement (see here for the article on Mission Statements) The general rule is that strengths and weaknesses are internal, that is they are aspects of the existing business. Conversely opportunities and threats are external to the entity, and include the business world at large and competition. Using again my own business as an example I have developed the following strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths
Weaknesses
High level of technical writing ability
There is an upper limit to the amount of work that can be taken on
Strong reputation with existing customers
Existing Customer base is small
Good turnaround of projects
Not enough time is spent generating new contacts in the industry
As a general rule of thumb, there should be as many weaknesses as there are strengths. This is because it is natural for many of us to focus on the positive things about our businesses. Whilst it is important to focus on the positive it is equally important to focus on our weaknesses so as to develop strategies to combat them. Focusing now on the opportunities and threats
Opportunities
Threats
Constant Demand for new content
High Levels of Competition
Ease of accessing the customer base on web forums
Quality of content often sacrificed to price by consumers
Specialist Business Market increasing daily
Sourcing new work is time consuming
Again it is important to assess the threats in as much detail as one assesses the opportunities, as really knowing the limitations of the external environment will help to develop the strategies needed to maintain the competitive edge. From the use of SWOT, as well as having a good Mission statement, the business owner will be able to develop a good Balanced Scorecard, which is the focus of the next article. For more information on SWOT analysis see www.quickmba.com/strategy/swot/, a good site with much detailed information on SWOT analysis, it is also probably a good idea to look briefly at PEST analysis, which takes SWOT a step further and details on this can be found on www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_PEST.htm , but the level of detail here is sufficient to develop our business plan.
I have written about mission statements before in my series on Strategic Content Development, where the mission statement was used to help define and keep on task, content development projects. Essentially for the business plan the format is the same, it is a short statement which encapsulates the Mission of an organization and from it a set of aims and goals are developed to measure success of the site. Common mission statements include a general statement about the business such as
“TimK Copy Writing Plc is a dedicated web content development company which provides laser focused SEO tailored content for Webmasters in any Niche.”
This is included to give an immediate idea of the scope of the business, and should only include what it is, not what it isn’t. The second part of the Mission Statement should include the specific things which the organization aspires to in order to differentiate from its competitors. Such as
“TimK Plc will deliver low cost content within strictly defined deadlines. It will individually tailor unique content, relevant to the SEO needs of the individual Webmaster to the highest levels of professionalism.”
Increasingly Mission Statements include a little detail about the future of an organization as well, for example
“TimK Plc will grow organically to steady monthly targets, and increase its reputation on the Web for its level of proficiency in delivering content.”
From this mission statement it is possible to develop a set of Aims, which are the specific actions that are going to be undertaken to fulfill the mission statement, and Goals, which are the targets which can be measured to prove the success of the aims, so for each Aim, there should be a Goal. Here are my Companies Aims and Goals.
Aims
Goals
To Keep prices in line with competition for content of comparable quality
To update the charging of content on a monthly basis by comparing prices of competitors from their website
To Deliver content within tight deadlines
To have a 100% delivery on time per contract record
To ensure the relevance of content to SEO needs of the customer
To include all the customers keywords and phrases in content in a relevant and sensible manner
To ensure customer satisfaction in all cases
To ask for and keep a log of customer feedback, which will be 100% positive
From these two tools, the mission statement and the aims and goals, it is possible to develop the benchmarks of success. From my example it is clear that I measure success by being competitive on price, developing SEO targeted content, and by having customer’s satisfaction. (Shameless plug, although if you would like help with content development contact us,Benchmarks are important because its how we know we are on task, and they help you to develop the Balanced Scorecard, along with SWOT analysis (seen in later articles in this series)
