A business plan is a written description of your business's future. That's all there is to it--a document that desribes what you plan to do and how you plan to do it. If you jot down a paragraph on the back of an envelope describing your business strategy, you've written a plan, or at least the germ of a plan.
Business plans can help perform a number of tasks for those who write and read them. They're used by investment-seeking entrepreneurs to convey their vision to potential investors. They may also be used by firms that are trying to attract key employees, prospect for new business, deal with suppliers or simply to understand how to manage their companies better.
So what's included in a business plan, and how do you put one together? Simply stated, a business plan conveys your business goals, the strategies you'll use to meet them, potential problems that may confront your business and ways to solve them, the organizational structure of your business (including titles and responsibilities), and finally, the amount of capital required to finance your venture and keep it going until it breaks even.
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Sound impressive? It can be, if put together properly. A good business plan follows generally accepted guidelines for both form and content. There are three primary parts to a business plan:
* The first is the business concept, where you discuss the industry, your business structure, your particular product or service, and how you plan to make your business a success.
* The second is the marketplace section, in which you describe and analyze potential customers: who and where they are, what makes them buy and so on. Here, you also describe the competition and how you'll position yourself to beat it.
* Finally, the financial section contains your income and cash flow statement, balance sheet and other financial ratios, such as break-even analyses. This part may require help from your accountant and a good spreadsheet software program.
Breaking these three major sections down even further, a business plan consists of seven key components:
1. Executive summary
2. Business description
3. Market strategies
4. Competitive analysis
5. Design and development plan
6. Operations and management plan
7. Financial factors
In addition to these sections, a business plan should also have a cover, title page and table of contents.
How Long Should Your Business Plan Be?
Depending on what you're using it for, a useful business plan can be any length, from a scrawl on the back of an envelope to, in the case of an especially detailed plan describing a complex enterprise, more than 100 pages. A typical business plan runs 15 to 20 pages, but there's room for wide variation from that norm.
Much will depend on the nature of your business. If you have a simple concept, you may be able to express it in very few words. On the other hand, if you're proposing a new kind of business or even a new industry, it may require quite a bit of explanation to get the message across.
The purpose of your plan also determines its length. If you want to use your plan to seek millions of dollars in seed capital to start a risky venture, you may have to do a lot of explaining and convincing. If you're just going to use your plan for internal purposes to manage an ongoing business, a much more abbreviated version should be fine
Friday, September 17, 2010
5 Easy Ways to Kick-start Your Business Planning
- Do a SWOT Analysis
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It's a great way to break out of that planning inertia. It's especially good when there's a team involved. Take an hour or two and jot down bullet points under each of these four categories.
Don't spend all day, much less all week. A couple of hours should work fine.
Don't argue about what goes where. Don't criticize contributions. It's brainstorming. Just jot down the points and record them. Strategy follows. You can't help it. You do a SWOT, and strategy follows.
And now you're planning. - Compare plans to actual sales.
Think through what turned out differently and what didn't, and why. Soon, you'll be thinking about your marketing strategy, target markets, marketing messages, customers, channels, packaging, delivery, complaints and competitors. I'm amazed at how much of business, and the business planning process, pivots around the difference between planned and actual sales.
And now you're planning.
- Talk to 10 well-chosen people
Funny how much time goes by for most business owners without really talking even to your customers, much less to a few people who aren't your customers but could be. I was shocked the first time I did it. I felt like I talked to customers often, but that's nothing to what you get when you dedicate time and have a real conversation.
First make a good list. Don't cheat yourself and talk only to the people you always talk to anyway. Stretch yourself further and find some people you don't know, so you get a fresh look. Ask them for their time, not as a survey taker but as the owner or manager of the business. A lot of people will turn you down (I probably would), but if the conversation is framed right, you'll find some people interested.
Start the conversation with interesting questions. The first couple of questions are critical to the success of the talk. Grab their interest. Wake their curiosity.
And now you're planning. - Imagine a customer story
That's right: I say "imagine," not find or tell a customer story. This isn't a testimonial for use by marketing.
Imagine your ideal customer. Give her a gender, occupation, family (or not), children (or not), route to work, favorite magazines, television shows, hobbies, websites, music, and movies. If she owns a car, what make, what model. Imagine favorite vacations.
Now imagine how she finds your business. What does he like about you, and what does she dislike? What prompts him to look for you. Where does she look? What does he tell other people about your business?
How do you want to be described by your customers to their friends? What do you want to make them set you apart, in their minds?
Think about that, imagine that, and now you're planning. - Visualize a better future
Where your business might be three years from now if things go really well. What will your office or store or plant look like three years from now? What will you be selling? How different is it from what you're selling today? Who will you be selling too? How different will that be from who you sell to today?
Some would call this dreaming. But dreaming ahead, dreaming the future, is a vital part of business planning. Dream it, then focus, set the steps to make it happen. Then track and follow up, and manage.
And now you're planning. Tim Berry: Business Plans
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Your First Week of Blogging – Plan Your Future Blog Posts
Lets look at another idea of what to do in your first week of blogging. Related to our previous post in this series which focused upon writing compelling content – is a task that I think can be a very useful habit to get into – developing an Editorial Calendar, or at the very least doing some planning on the future content that you’ll be producing for your blog.
Today I want to show you three techniques that I use in my process of future planning for posts.
Inside that folder are four other folders – one for each of my blogs and another for miscellaneous ideas.
Inside each of those folders are many many text files. Each text file is a different idea for a blog post.
Sometimes, if I have the time and energy for it, I’ll work on the ideas for a while straight away but many times I simply get as much of the idea down into the file as I can and then save it for another time.
This means that at any point of time I have quite a few post ideas at different stages that I can tap into.
I won’t write an extended post on this as I’ve covered it previously but one of the most powerful techniques that I’ve ever used for coming up with blog ideas to write about is mind mapping.
You might choose a different method of brainstorming – but the key is to set aside specific times (I try to do it monthly) to simply come up with ideas to write about.
You can read more about how I do this in at Discover Hundreds of Post Ideas for Your Blog with Mind Mapping. Note: I used to use whiteboards for this process but now use a Mac tool called MindNode.
Generally once I’ve done the mind mapping exercise I’ll then convert the best of the ideas that I’ve generated into text files to save in the ideas folders mentioned above.
Note: Incidentally – I also use mind mapping when planning a new blog. It’s similar to the technique outlined above on coming up with post topics but I find it also helpful in planning out categories for a new blog.
In doing this you’re able to develop content that builds momentum (posts that build upon each other), take your readers on a more thoughtfully planned journey and give them a more balanced run of content.
I found previously that if I wasn’t planning ahead in this way that I’d end up with too much of one kind of content all in a row which didn’t really benefit readers as much.
The other good thing about this approach is that you know what writing you need to have done by certain times of the week – deadlines work well for me in motivating me to work.
My Editorial Calendar approach these days is pretty much based around spreadsheets. I’m on a mac and use its ‘Numbers’ program for this and simply have a spreadsheet which looks like a weekly calendar. Here’s last weeks:
You can see here that DPS has a 2 post per day schedule and that ProBlogger is on a 1 post per day schedule – but I like to throw in a few extras each week. This is obviously a completed week – I generally am playing around with it during the week and am finalising timings as the week progresses as I (and my writers) finish posts.
I also have editorial calendars on the go for future weeks at any given time – they’re less developed but I do add to them as I get closer to the beginning of each week.
At this point spreadsheets work best for me but previously I’ve taken different approaches including using a paper diary, using iCal and Google Calendar, using tools like Basecamp etc. It’s about finding a system that works for you and setting it up so that you do it naturally as part of your workflow.
Also check out Day 12 in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog – it is all about Editorial Calendars.
Today I want to show you three techniques that I use in my process of future planning for posts.
1. Capturing Ideas
One of the most useful folders that I have on my computers desktop is one that I simply call ‘Ideas’.Inside that folder are four other folders – one for each of my blogs and another for miscellaneous ideas.
Inside each of those folders are many many text files. Each text file is a different idea for a blog post.
- Some are completely empty and the name of the file is simply a short phrase which is an idea I could write about.
- Other text files are simply a list of 3-4 points that I could write about.
- Others are more developed ideas – they might contain an introduction or even a full draft of a post (although generally once they are at this stage I move them over to saving them as a draft in WordPress).
Sometimes, if I have the time and energy for it, I’ll work on the ideas for a while straight away but many times I simply get as much of the idea down into the file as I can and then save it for another time.
This means that at any point of time I have quite a few post ideas at different stages that I can tap into.
2. MindMapping
I won’t write an extended post on this as I’ve covered it previously but one of the most powerful techniques that I’ve ever used for coming up with blog ideas to write about is mind mapping.You might choose a different method of brainstorming – but the key is to set aside specific times (I try to do it monthly) to simply come up with ideas to write about.
You can read more about how I do this in at Discover Hundreds of Post Ideas for Your Blog with Mind Mapping. Note: I used to use whiteboards for this process but now use a Mac tool called MindNode.
Generally once I’ve done the mind mapping exercise I’ll then convert the best of the ideas that I’ve generated into text files to save in the ideas folders mentioned above.
Note: Incidentally – I also use mind mapping when planning a new blog. It’s similar to the technique outlined above on coming up with post topics but I find it also helpful in planning out categories for a new blog.
3. Editorial Calendars
I’ve used a variety of approaches to creating editorial calendars over the years. I’ve adapted my approach over time to suit the different stages of my blogs. These days as I’m actively editing two decent sized blogs with up to 30 posts a week I find that I need to map out what posts I’ll be doing ahead of time.In doing this you’re able to develop content that builds momentum (posts that build upon each other), take your readers on a more thoughtfully planned journey and give them a more balanced run of content.
I found previously that if I wasn’t planning ahead in this way that I’d end up with too much of one kind of content all in a row which didn’t really benefit readers as much.
The other good thing about this approach is that you know what writing you need to have done by certain times of the week – deadlines work well for me in motivating me to work.
My Editorial Calendar approach these days is pretty much based around spreadsheets. I’m on a mac and use its ‘Numbers’ program for this and simply have a spreadsheet which looks like a weekly calendar. Here’s last weeks:
You can see here that DPS has a 2 post per day schedule and that ProBlogger is on a 1 post per day schedule – but I like to throw in a few extras each week. This is obviously a completed week – I generally am playing around with it during the week and am finalising timings as the week progresses as I (and my writers) finish posts.
I also have editorial calendars on the go for future weeks at any given time – they’re less developed but I do add to them as I get closer to the beginning of each week.
At this point spreadsheets work best for me but previously I’ve taken different approaches including using a paper diary, using iCal and Google Calendar, using tools like Basecamp etc. It’s about finding a system that works for you and setting it up so that you do it naturally as part of your workflow.
Also check out Day 12 in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog – it is all about Editorial Calendars.
Tasks for Your First Week
Perhaps an editorial calendar like the above one is a little advanced if you’re in the first week of your blog – however the concepts behind it can be good to explore. If I were starting a blog today I’d be taking the above three exercises and doing something like this:- Set up an Idea Collection Process – whether it be using folders and text files as I’ve mentioned above, getting a notebook and pen or using a tool like Evernote on your iPhone – set up a system where you can collect ideas as you have them for future use.
- Set aside time to brainstorm topics – schedule time into your monthly (or weekly) workflow where you’re simply setting aside time to brainstorm possible topics to write about on your blog.
- Develop some kind of system to help you look ahead at the future posts on your blog – You might use a calendar of some kind or simply have a section of your notebook where you plan your next week or month of content.
Share Your Approach to Planning Future Content on Your Blog
I’ve shared 3 of the techniques I use to help me keep fresh content coming on my blogs – I’d love to hear from you on how you do it in comments below!Create a Blogging Plan by Breaking Down Objectives into Task List
Start with the end in mind
You need to determine for yourself what the final destination is. Work backwards from your desired end goal to determine the steps along the way. When you are monetizing your blog, this end goal will usually be a dollar amount. If your blogging supports a business (whether you are a business owner, freelancer, or work for a company), you need to think in terms of increased business: more inquiries, more sales, more referrals, and greater profits.
Getting from here to there
After you’ve determined an end goal, set the secondary goals that will help you achieve your ends. These are often the same for every blogger regardless of end goals: you want high levels of qualified traffic. By qualified, I mean traffic that is a good match for your blog and that is predisposed to like, benefit from, and agree with its content. There are two metrics you can use to determine your progress in this: RSS (or email) subscribers and bounce rate (the percentage of unique visitors who immediately leave or “bounce” off of it due to low relevancy).High numbers of RSS subscribers and a low bounce rate generally means that most of your traffic is qualified. If your blog runs contextual advertising, this means your audience should be seeing relevant, highly-targeted ads which have high click-through rates. If your blog supports a business, this means that your readers are likely to become your clients.
To achieve this, your blog’s content has to be highly relevant for your intended audience. More than that, it has to get in front of your audience’s eyes. So, a chief component of any good blogging plan is a strategy and practice for getting people to connect with your blog’s content. This is really the end goal of practices such as search engine optimization, advertising, using social media, and commenting on other blogs. Keep in mind that these practices fall flat without relevant content behind them.
Write your objectives down
With the end in mind, you can create a list of objectives to get there. Here’s an example you can use for your own blog if you like:- Create strong, linkable content that can be a resource to others
- Actively engage in building your network with others by commenting, emailing, using social media, and guest blogging
- Actively engage in increasing your traffic through SEO, social media, commenting, and advertising
- Encourage visitors to become subscribers via RSS or email (use FeedBurner and/or Aweber).
- Monitor and test what content drives traffic and backlinks, and create more content like that.
- Monitor and test ad placement, colors, and types for maximum effectiveness and earning power.
- Occasionally redesign in order to strengthen the above results: redesigning can increase RSS subscribers, increase earnings from ads, and make your best contents more accessible to new visitors.
Break down each objective into a task list
The above points are very generalized for nearly any blog. Each point can be broken down into more detailed steps. Each point is the basis for a sub-plan. For example, the sub-plan for creating strong content could look like this:- Write a basics or “101″ series of posts
- Write several detailed tutorials
- Interview a specific list of top people in your blog’s niche
- Write several “top 10″ linkbait types of posts
- Write several posts that are large lists of links and resources around a specific topic your audience would find helpful
- Write an ebook or create some other kind of long format content that can be an incentive for subscribing to RSS or email
- Write a strong “About” page for your blog
- Record several audio or video posts
Break down your target numbers
Let’s say that your earnings goal in blogging is to make a modest $400 USD per month in supplemental income. That breaks down to $13.33 per day in earnings. Let’s say you were monetizing your blog with Google AdSense. If you averaged $0.05 per click, you would need 266 clicks to make $13.33 in a day. If your click-through rate was 10%, you would need 2660 visitors every day. Most click-through rates are not 10%, but you also might get more than $0.05 per click, too. At $0.08 per click, you would only need 150 clicks per day to make $13.33.The plan is not reality
Your plan is a valuable guide to help you answer the question: “What do I do next?” But don’t ignore reality! Having a plan helps prevent you from wandering aimlessly, but ignoring new opportunities or following the plan for its own sake will weaken your blogging in the opposite way. Keep an eye on the goal… but watch your back, too.The challenge: write your blogging plan!
Consider this post a challenge for you to really think about what you want to accomplish with your blog and to write a blogging plan that will get you there.How to Create a Blogging Plan and Actually Reach Your Goals This Year
The future of niche blogging, as it always has been so, is about gradual growth. Bloggers who have found that out and focus their efforts on long term strategies will reap the benefits and those who tried to hit a home run may end up wasting a lot of time, effort and perhaps also a small fortune.
For this reason, whether you are just planning to get started in 2009 or you already have a blog, I present you with a comprehensive list of steps, tips and strategies that if carried out correctly, will propel your blog to a big success this year and beyond.
I’m the first to admit that very few of the strategies below are entirely new, but I’ve done my best to emphasize on current and upcoming trends in order to maximize results. Bloggers are already swamped with things to do and failure to prioritize can make a difference between taking your blog to the next level or let it fade into oblivion.
New year for many people is a great way to get a brand new start, but there’s nothing more common than broken new year resolution in the first week of January. Although the majority of people abandon their resolutions within days of making them, that doesn’t mean it is not worth the effort.
A plan, when accomplished, lets you feel good about yourself. It also puts you in a position to set and achieve higher goals.
What I learned throughout the years is that, resolutions don’t have to be declared during a special occasion. So, even if you are late, every day is still the best day to make a decision about the direction you want to take your business.
Just that no matter what you do, plan ahead!
Here’s a partial list of what he included as the goals for 2009:
I’m also not oppose to goal setting at all, but at the same time I don’t think that new year resolution is made to be broken.
One particularly important factor of goal setting is to be realistic. Your goals need to put yourself outside of your comfort zone, but not too much that you feel unrealistic about them. For instance, without staffs or at least virtual assistants that help you with various tasks, creating and marketing products will consume a large portion of your time already, let alone launching three products, maintaining a blog and writing a novel in the same year.
To quote Jim Rohn, “Most people overestimate what they can do in their first year, and greatly underestimate what they can do in five years.”
The point is, by all means set a longer term goals but refrain yourself from aiming too high a goal at first.
Starting a blog with the intention to making money blogging is still possible but it takes more dedication than ever.
An extreme example may be a blog called Bankaholic by Johns Wu. BankRate acquired his blog for up to $15 million in October 2008. At that time, he had only been blogging for that blog for a bit more than two years.
As a solo blogger, this is a huge amount of money but I bet he didn’t make $7.5 million in his first year of operation. Traffic and revenue grew gradually and when the right time comes, the blog bloomed.
I hope I got the point across well about setting realistic goals. Each time I talk about this, some people defend their goals aggressively as if I am going to take their dreams away. Deep down inside every one of us, we still want to believe that overnight success is still possible online. No wonder, everyone seems to fall victim of one type of scam or another.
But I digress…
My personal business plan adapts the popular one-page business plan format.
The plan consists of five major parts, namely:
A plan should allow you to quickly glimpse through it, perhaps on a daily or weekly basis. For me it is a reminder about where I want to go and avoid spending time on whichever activities that don’t benefit my blogging business on the long run.
Note: Darren has written a blog planning post and his steps are very similar to mine. Seems like we adapt the same concise system for planning.
Based on that, there really is more than one way to create a blogging business. I’ve written about 8 blogging business models in the past. If you are confused about which way to go, that post certainly can help.
The fact that you can combine one or more of those into your blog means there are really many ways to create a business based on a blog.
Before you go ahead and get your first message out, it is necessary that you pick the right business model and focus on it.
For instance, if the affiliate model suits you best, your strategies should revolve around content creation, relationship building with both merchants and your audience, trend spotting, etc.
I won’t get into much detail in this post, but those by themselves already demand much of your precious time. By working closely with a merchant, for example, you will be able to spot new products and help them test new ad creatives.
And if this is how you strategically separate yourself from your competitors — by building closer relationship with merchants, get new updates of products before anyone else, able to request for higher commissions, etc. — you should be prepared to help those select merchants.
Just so this is clear, testing and tracking new ad creatives and at the same time work on your content creation and promotion may already overwhelm most affiliates.
Remember that with more samples, testing will be scientifically more accurate. Perhaps you also want to help the merchant test email offers. For that, you’d better have built quite a significant amount of prospects or customers and send e-newsletter regularly.
If you are not prepared strategically, most likely you will not be able to take this route by doing it yourself, especially if you still have to struggle through technical stuff to get things done.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to scare you off but just because publishing with a blog is easy doesn’t mean that you are able to throw a few content pages and ads out and immediately earn money that way.
More and more it will be about optimizing your sites to get more traffic and then convert those visitors into paying customers. That separates the winners from the average and if you start doing it right now, you will be on the right track to dominate at least a segment of a larger niche.
When it comes to link development, a fellow blogger I know of spend eight hours per week to create highly linkable content. If you think you can do this in 10-20 niches, you are stretching yourself too thin.
Think outsourcing is the answer? Think again. Outsourcing is another buzzword nowadays. It can be a very solid strategy if done right. However, it also requires that you are good at managing resources as a project manager, not to mention that most people don’t have enough fund to hire others at the beginning.
Just as an example, if you seek for a professional help to create a linkbait plan — consulting, not actually creating the linkbait — expect to pay between $750 to $2,000.
So, that depends on your plan and strategy and I hope I drive the point home that planning has to come first if you are going to get significant result this year. Competing is still possible if you pick the right field to play and take massive actions.
I hope by now you agree that hiring $5 article writer is not the only thing you’ll need to get tons of links and traffic. You need much more than that.
And that’s what you should expect if you are to build a business.
When you are just about to launch a blog, usually the excitement fills in the atmosphere. Planning is the stage when you can see your dreams and goals come into fruition, at least in your mind. With strategically created plan, the only gap that separates you from achieving your goals is action.
For you who are a bit desperate right now because of the hard truths that I revealed above, don’t give up! It is still possible to grow a blogging business, just that the model may be much different from what’s in your mind. But still, working from home or from any of your favorite place, doing what you enjoy and making money from it is still an attainable goal if you finally direct your efforts on the right track.
Plus, I’ve just saved you time and money buying e-books and jumping from one thing to another every two weeks. By starting now and focus your effort on one thing, you will be way ahead others by the end of this year.
In the next few posts, I’ll go into more specifics about activities related to blogging, including content production, optimization and promotion. If you are still unsure about the strategies and actions to go to where you want to be, those articles will be of help.
Hendry Lee helps bloggers overcome strategic and technological challenges in starting and growing their blogs. He also writes about make money blogging on his blog Blog Tips for a Better Blog – Blog Building University. While you are there, download your free eBook and subscribe to his blogging e-course where he reveals his secret about blogging and content writing!
For this reason, whether you are just planning to get started in 2009 or you already have a blog, I present you with a comprehensive list of steps, tips and strategies that if carried out correctly, will propel your blog to a big success this year and beyond.
I’m the first to admit that very few of the strategies below are entirely new, but I’ve done my best to emphasize on current and upcoming trends in order to maximize results. Bloggers are already swamped with things to do and failure to prioritize can make a difference between taking your blog to the next level or let it fade into oblivion.
Getting Your Plan in Order
As the saying goes, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Despite what others have said about blogging, it is still a complete strategy that needs planning. It is my intention to get this time of the year to help you get your house in order and create strategies to go forward.New year for many people is a great way to get a brand new start, but there’s nothing more common than broken new year resolution in the first week of January. Although the majority of people abandon their resolutions within days of making them, that doesn’t mean it is not worth the effort.
A plan, when accomplished, lets you feel good about yourself. It also puts you in a position to set and achieve higher goals.
What I learned throughout the years is that, resolutions don’t have to be declared during a special occasion. So, even if you are late, every day is still the best day to make a decision about the direction you want to take your business.
Just that no matter what you do, plan ahead!
The Art of Setting Realistic Goals
To help you gain perspective about planning, allow me to be upfront about it. Just recently I read in an Internet marketing forum a post from a newbie about his plan for 2009. He was quite knowledgeable about the latest buzz words like social media, Twitter, and so on, of which I saluted him for his broad range of knowledge about Internet marketing. However, when the post came to the part about goals…Here’s a partial list of what he included as the goals for 2009:
- Start writing a novel and finish it.
- Be completely debt free.
- Earn $300,000 online by launching 3 more products.
- Start a blog and grow traffic to 3,000 visitors a day.
- Fulfill a dream of owning a boat.
I’m also not oppose to goal setting at all, but at the same time I don’t think that new year resolution is made to be broken.
One particularly important factor of goal setting is to be realistic. Your goals need to put yourself outside of your comfort zone, but not too much that you feel unrealistic about them. For instance, without staffs or at least virtual assistants that help you with various tasks, creating and marketing products will consume a large portion of your time already, let alone launching three products, maintaining a blog and writing a novel in the same year.
To quote Jim Rohn, “Most people overestimate what they can do in their first year, and greatly underestimate what they can do in five years.”
The point is, by all means set a longer term goals but refrain yourself from aiming too high a goal at first.
Starting a blog with the intention to making money blogging is still possible but it takes more dedication than ever.
An extreme example may be a blog called Bankaholic by Johns Wu. BankRate acquired his blog for up to $15 million in October 2008. At that time, he had only been blogging for that blog for a bit more than two years.
As a solo blogger, this is a huge amount of money but I bet he didn’t make $7.5 million in his first year of operation. Traffic and revenue grew gradually and when the right time comes, the blog bloomed.
I hope I got the point across well about setting realistic goals. Each time I talk about this, some people defend their goals aggressively as if I am going to take their dreams away. Deep down inside every one of us, we still want to believe that overnight success is still possible online. No wonder, everyone seems to fall victim of one type of scam or another.
But I digress…
So, How’s a Blogging Plan Looks Like?
It doesn’t have to be tens of pages. After all, this is not a formal business plan. When it comes to starting a blog, most people don’t start out by hiring people to blog. By keeping the operational team small (or most likely a solo player) this type of business doesn’t need venture capital to finance.My personal business plan adapts the popular one-page business plan format.
The plan consists of five major parts, namely:
- Vision. Your vision should answer the questions of who is your target audience and what you will offer.
- Mission. Be concise and clear instead of clever. Use this part to clearly convey your unique value proposition.
- Objectives. What are you trying to accomplish with your blog? How do you know if you’ve accomplished your goals? Objectives are your milestones. They may not be the end-goal. As you reach your objectives, you may have higher-level objectives.
- Strategies. What are your strategies to accomplish the objectives above? Being strategic means working on your blog based on certain principles and values. That also helps you focus on reaching your vision and mission.
- Actions. This part outlines your actions that support the vision, mission, objective and strategies.
A plan should allow you to quickly glimpse through it, perhaps on a daily or weekly basis. For me it is a reminder about where I want to go and avoid spending time on whichever activities that don’t benefit my blogging business on the long run.
Note: Darren has written a blog planning post and his steps are very similar to mine. Seems like we adapt the same concise system for planning.
Focus on Your Blogging Business Model
If you see it from the publisher’s standpoint, a blog is nothing more than a publishing tool. It helps you get content online. In other words, instead of focusing on the intricacies of getting a piece of content online, you can concentrate on content production and promotion.Based on that, there really is more than one way to create a blogging business. I’ve written about 8 blogging business models in the past. If you are confused about which way to go, that post certainly can help.
The fact that you can combine one or more of those into your blog means there are really many ways to create a business based on a blog.
Before you go ahead and get your first message out, it is necessary that you pick the right business model and focus on it.
For instance, if the affiliate model suits you best, your strategies should revolve around content creation, relationship building with both merchants and your audience, trend spotting, etc.
I won’t get into much detail in this post, but those by themselves already demand much of your precious time. By working closely with a merchant, for example, you will be able to spot new products and help them test new ad creatives.
And if this is how you strategically separate yourself from your competitors — by building closer relationship with merchants, get new updates of products before anyone else, able to request for higher commissions, etc. — you should be prepared to help those select merchants.
Just so this is clear, testing and tracking new ad creatives and at the same time work on your content creation and promotion may already overwhelm most affiliates.
Remember that with more samples, testing will be scientifically more accurate. Perhaps you also want to help the merchant test email offers. For that, you’d better have built quite a significant amount of prospects or customers and send e-newsletter regularly.
If you are not prepared strategically, most likely you will not be able to take this route by doing it yourself, especially if you still have to struggle through technical stuff to get things done.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to scare you off but just because publishing with a blog is easy doesn’t mean that you are able to throw a few content pages and ads out and immediately earn money that way.
More and more it will be about optimizing your sites to get more traffic and then convert those visitors into paying customers. That separates the winners from the average and if you start doing it right now, you will be on the right track to dominate at least a segment of a larger niche.
When it comes to link development, a fellow blogger I know of spend eight hours per week to create highly linkable content. If you think you can do this in 10-20 niches, you are stretching yourself too thin.
Think outsourcing is the answer? Think again. Outsourcing is another buzzword nowadays. It can be a very solid strategy if done right. However, it also requires that you are good at managing resources as a project manager, not to mention that most people don’t have enough fund to hire others at the beginning.
Just as an example, if you seek for a professional help to create a linkbait plan — consulting, not actually creating the linkbait — expect to pay between $750 to $2,000.
So, that depends on your plan and strategy and I hope I drive the point home that planning has to come first if you are going to get significant result this year. Competing is still possible if you pick the right field to play and take massive actions.
I hope by now you agree that hiring $5 article writer is not the only thing you’ll need to get tons of links and traffic. You need much more than that.
And that’s what you should expect if you are to build a business.
Review
Many bloggers avoid planning because it is boring. However, by approaching it from the correct angle, this can in fact turn into one of the most exciting part of your business.When you are just about to launch a blog, usually the excitement fills in the atmosphere. Planning is the stage when you can see your dreams and goals come into fruition, at least in your mind. With strategically created plan, the only gap that separates you from achieving your goals is action.
For you who are a bit desperate right now because of the hard truths that I revealed above, don’t give up! It is still possible to grow a blogging business, just that the model may be much different from what’s in your mind. But still, working from home or from any of your favorite place, doing what you enjoy and making money from it is still an attainable goal if you finally direct your efforts on the right track.
Plus, I’ve just saved you time and money buying e-books and jumping from one thing to another every two weeks. By starting now and focus your effort on one thing, you will be way ahead others by the end of this year.
In the next few posts, I’ll go into more specifics about activities related to blogging, including content production, optimization and promotion. If you are still unsure about the strategies and actions to go to where you want to be, those articles will be of help.
Hendry Lee helps bloggers overcome strategic and technological challenges in starting and growing their blogs. He also writes about make money blogging on his blog Blog Tips for a Better Blog – Blog Building University. While you are there, download your free eBook and subscribe to his blogging e-course where he reveals his secret about blogging and content writing!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Shareapic
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 Sell Text LinksIf you have web pages with PageRank and would like to sell text links on them but don't have the time to do it yourself, BackLinks.com now offers a service where we will find buyers for the text links on your web pages, manage the link inventory and process payments. Each month you will receive a payment from us for 50% of the revenue generated by the text links on your web pages. Our service is simple: This service will allow you to generate revenue from your web pages with no additional effort. In addition, you may sell text links on any web pages, even if you already have other text link ads or contextually served ads such as Google Adwords and Overture (Yahoo Search Marketing) ads. This allows you to maximize the revenue generated by your web site. You will have the ability to filter the types of text links which appear on your web pages by approving the categories you want. In addition, you will be able to customize the look and feel of the text links on your web pages such as font size, color, etc. You will be paid the following monthly rates for text links. Rates are paid per month per text link. PageRank (PR) 1 homepage $.50 , subpage $.50 PageRank (PR) 2 homepage $1 , subpage $1 PageRank (PR) 3 homepage $2 , subpage $1.50 PageRank (PR) 4 homepage $3 , subpage $2 PageRank (PR) 5 homepage $4.50 , subpage $3.50 PageRank (PR) 6 homepage $12.50 , subpage $10 PageRank (PR) 7 homepage $30 , subpage $25 PageRank (PR) 8 homepage $75 , subpage $50 Register for a Publisher account today!  Affiliate ProgramThe BackLinks.com affiliate program allows you to earn money by referring publishers and advertisers to BackLinks.com. If you have a web site or newsletter that has users who would be interested in buying or selling text links, our affiliate program is an excellent way to earn additional revenue. You will be paid $100 for each advertiser that you refer who buys at least $50 per month in text links. You will be paid $25 for each publisher that sells at least $5 in text links using our service. To get started, Register for either of our account types and click on the "affiliate account" link in your control panel menu. You will then be able to get your affiliate link code and begin promoting our service. |
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 Upload your Photos, Videos, Audios and Documents. Ziddu.com provides you 100% Free File hosting solution with just one click. Its fast and easy.Only people knowing the exact download URL are able to download your file. Your file will be deleted when it has not been accessed for more than 90 days or you use your delete option.Select a file to send by clicking the "Browse" button. You can then select photos, audio, video, documents or anything else you want to send. The maximum file size is 200 MB.You may choose whom you want to send a file to. If you submit your friends email addresses, Ziddu will send the file to your friends. If you just want to get the link to your file stored on our server, simply copy the link and share with your friends.
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Whatever you do, do it to the purpose; do it thoroughly, not superficially. Go to the bottom of things. Any thing half done, or half known, is in my mind, neither done nor known at all. Nay, worse, for it often misleads.
A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done.
The people I distrust most are those who want to improve our lives but have only one course of action.
The pain of making the necessary sacrifices always hurts more than you think it's going to. I know. It sucks. That being said, doing something seriously creative is one of the most amazing experiences one can have, in this or any other lifetime. If you can pull it off, it's worth it. Even if you don't end up pulling it off, you'll learn many incredible, magical, valuable things. It's NOT doing it when you know you full well you HAD the opportunity- that hurts FAR more than any failure.
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When you want to believe in something, you also have to believe in everything that's necessary for believing in it.
The Past is to be respected and acknoledged, but not to be worshiped. It is our future in which we will find our greatness.
Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
What can you say about a society that says that God is dead and Elvis is alive?
The two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a big fat white guy who is threatened by change.
You must not think me necessarily foolish because I am facetious, nor will I consider you necessarily wise because you are grave.
Everything of importance has been said before by somebody who did not discover it.
We need anything politically important rationed out like Pez: small, sweet, and coming out of a funny, plastic head.
Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right.
The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling.
Fig Newton: The force required to accelerate a fig 39.37 inches per sec.
Early morning cheerfulness can be extremely obnoxious.
We cannot destroy kindred: Our chains stretch a little sometimes, but they never break.
He will always be a slave who does not know how to live upon a little.
She got her looks from her father. He's a plastic surgeon.
The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
How to Raise your I.Q. by Eating Gifted Children
I daresay one profits more by the mistakes one makes off one's own bat than by doing the right thing on somebody's else advice.
Any transition serious enough to alter your definition of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinking but a full-on metamorphosis.
After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one.
The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.
'Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.' Under the influence of this pestilent morality, I am forever letting tomorrow's work slop backwards into today's, and doing painfully and nervously today what I could do quickly and easily tomorrow.
The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.
Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint on it you can.
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Anger at lies lasts forever. Anger at truth can't last.
Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.
Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly.
I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches.
It's the opinion of some that crops could be grown on the moon. Which raises the fear that it may not be long before we're paying somebody not to.
We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language.
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We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex--but Congress can.
Be careful that victories do not carry the seed of future defeats.
Nobody is ever met at the airport when beginning a new adventure. It's just not done.
The radical of one century is the conservative of the next. The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them.
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Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.
I don't believe in intuition. When you get sudden flashes of perception, it is just the brain working faster than usual. But you've been getting ready to know it for a long time, and when it comes, you feel you've known it always.
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The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly - that is what each of us is here for.
Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.
I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters.
I sent the club a wire stating, PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER.
I love my past. I love my present. I'm not ashamed of what I've had, and I'm not sad because I have it no longer.
Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.
Wit makes its own welcome, and levels all distinctions. No dignity, no learning, no force of character, can make any stand against good wit.
It is easier to exclude harmful passions than to rule them, and to deny them admittance than to control them after they have been admitted.
Oh, I don't blame Congress. If I had 0 billion at my disposal, I'd be irresponsible, too.
I was gratified to be able to answer promptly. I said I don't know.
I don't like composers who think. It gets in the way of their plagiarism.
Depend not on another, but lean instead on thyself...True happiness is born of self-reliance.
If you would be known, and not know, vegetate in a village; If you would know, and not be known, live in a city.
The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.
We bear the world and we make it... There was never a great man who had not a great mother - it is hardly an exaggeration.
Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today.
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Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint on it you can.
This world is given as the prize for the men in earnest; and that which is true of this world, is truer still of the world to come.
In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office.
Temptation rarely comes in working hours. It is in their leisure time that men are made or marred.
Because we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us.
Good habits, which bring our lower passions and appetites under automatic control, leave our natures free to explore the larger experiences of life.
Every moment of one's existence one is growing into more or retreating into less.
All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
What can you say about a society that says that God is dead and Elvis is alive?
He attacked everything in life with a mix of extrordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which.
One thing I've learned in all these years is not to make love when you really don't feel it; there's probably nothing worse you can do to yourself than that.
Like anyone else, there are days I feel beautiful and days I don't, and when I don't, I do something about it.
Everybody knows if you are too careful you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something.
Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.
Thomas Jefferson once said, 'We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.' And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.
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