The Business of Blogging
Are you a blogger? Do you treat your blog as a business? Do you make money blogging? How have you benefited from blogging – personally or professionally? I'd like to tell you that blogging can take your business to the next level. If you’re skeptical, let me tell you more! If you’re curious, read on as well.
For about four years now, I’ve made money as a ghost blogger. And I got the blogging gigs because I had a blog. Blogging took my career in a direction I hadn’t thought of. Being a ghost blogger opened me up to other opportunities as well. You can also use blogging as a vehicle to take your business to the next level. When you have a blog, you can use it to demonstrate that you are an authority in your niche. You can use it to help you create your personal brand. That thing that makes you unique. That thing that distinguishes you from your peers.
What is Your Blogging Niche?
Recently, I’ve been focusing my blog more. My company’s tagline is “Bite-sized learning for busy professionals.” Therefore, I have to continually ask myself what professionals want and need? Professionals need to read more, so I write about books all the time. In a global workplace, they need to understand people from different cultures. A skill that’s prized in the workplace is the ability to get along with others. With that in mind, I offer the Read the World Extreme Reading Challenge to help professionals to develop cultural sensitivity. The reading challenge is also structured to help professionals take charge of their careers. They learn how to read the right books. A recent study by the consulting firm, McKinsey, reported that employees spend more than five hours each day reading to keep up with work. I am investing time to learn more about learning and memory, as well as reading faster while maintaining 100 percent comprehension. This is important to any busy professional. Learning this skill will help them to become more productive.
How I Use Blogging to Continually Take My Business to the Next Level
How will any of these things take my business to the next level? Besides establishing me as an expert, I am conducting research to develop even more expertise in these areas. I am also devouring several books on the topic of interests. You have to continually grow, else you’ll die. When you work hard at something, you become better at it. I am also writing about them on my blog. That means that professionals who care about these things will gravitate toward my blog. That also means that prospective clients can find me.
I am also developing a body of knowledge about the topics. When you blog consistently, producing valuable content, you are doing something that matters to others. At some point, you will have a body of work, that you can turn into a book or e-book. A book or e-book, if written well, that has valuable content, is your calling card. It shows that you are an expert. As an aside, I bought the highly recommended book, How to Blog a Book
, which I plan to read this summer. I also have the WordPress plugin Beacon that converts your blog posts into an e-book.
Having a blog, enables you to provide information that will serve your target market. You can use blogging to develop your body of knowledge like I did. With a focused blog, the more you blog, the more you are able to craft valuable content for your readers. When you start to treat your blog like a business, the way you blog changes. You have a business mindset which shows in your blog posts. And you will find a way to monetize your blog without having sleazy looking ads. You can have a page where you list your products and services. When people love the content on your blog, they tend to spend more time visiting the different pages on the site to learn more about you. Having a business mindset on your blog, takes your business to the next level.
Blogging Can Take Your Business to the Next Level: Become an Amazon Affiliate to Monetize Your Blog
Many people know this already, but in case you don’t, if you review products that you like on your blog, have a link to Amazon, where people can purchase the product. You will get a small affiliate income from Amazon. I review and summarize lots of books, so I have product links to Amazon. What does this have to do with using blogging to take your business to the next level? That’s a very good question, and the answer may surprise you. When I publish a blog post, it is also published on LinkedIn, Google+ and my Facebook Page. On LinkedIn, a lot of my connections keep track of me by my blog posts. And I have been told countless times, that when I recommend a book, my professional contacts often buy the book. Having a handy product link to the Amazon, helps me to help others while helping myself. Someone can quickly purchase the book while I get a small commission. When people like my posts and share it on LinkedIn, I get exposure to a larger audience. This is another way that blogging can take your business to the next level. I’ve been told a few times that I post interesting content on LinkedIn, and I receive opportunities because of that.
Will You Treat Your Blog as a Business to Take it to the Next Level?
I’ve mentioned only a few of the ways that blogging can take your business to the next level. I’m sure that you can come up with many other ways. The main thing to remember, is to treat your blog like a business, if you are interested in elevating it. Just before I go, I know that this post is directed at people who own a business, but if you’re an employee, the same information applies to you as well.
Participate in the Read the World Facebook Group! Please take the conversation to my Facebook page.
