084 How To Build A Business Around Your Blog | Become A Blogger

One of the things I had to come to accept is that a blog is NOT a business. I?ve said it before, and it?s true.

A blog is a platform around which you can build a SIGNIFICANT business, but in order to do so, there are certain steps that you have to take.

In this episode, I discuss what I consider to be the essential components that help you to take your blog and build something bigger.

There are more than one way to do it, but as usual, I will share what has worked for me from my own personal experience. The last few months of building Become A Blogger has REALLY taught me a whole lot, and I want to share that with you so that you can do something similar.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the episode.

Some people like to be able to read a transcript while listening to the podcast, or just read the transcript without even listening. If you are one of those people, not to worry ? We?ve made the transcript available for you below.

Introductions

[Intro by Guy Kawasaki, Gideon Shalwick, and Farnoosh Brock]

Hello, hello, hello and welcome to another episode of Learning with Leslie, the podcast where you learn, I learn, we all learn about how to build an online business with a blog. No, I?m not talking about one of those blogs that will fall by the wayside when Google has a mood swing. I am talking about one that will thrive no matter what gets thrown at it. I?m your host, Leslie Samuel, from becomeablogger.com and I have another exciting episode for you today.

In today?s episode, I?m going to be talking about how to build a business around your blog.

Yes, yes, yes! Building a business is more than just having an online presence. It?s something that so many people get stuck with. They get it wrong. They?re not sure how to take it to the next level, build something bigger, something that generates an income, and something that either supplements their income or replaces their income completely.

Well, after this episode, you will know exactly what it takes to build a business around your blog. That?s what we?re going to be talking about today.

You know, as I was saying that introduction there, I just realized that the title of this episode is exactly what I say the podcast, this entire podcast is about learning to build an online business with a blog.

I?ve spoken about online business and blogging, and all that stuff, but I needed to do this like a foundational episode to just set the foundation and let us know how do you build a business with this blogging thing that I always talk about and so many people talk about today. I?m excited to cover this topic. So, let?s dive right into it.

You Want Business? Don?t Start a Blog

A while back, I was interviewing a good friend. His name is Tim Conley from Foolish Adventures, the Foolish Adventure podcast, one of the first podcasts that I started listening to that deals with Internet Marketing and online business and all that kind of stuff, which of course, gets me excited.

Tim and I, we?ve had a number of great conversations and in one of the interviews that we did, he mentioned something that caught me off guard. Tim, if you?re listening, you caught me off guard with this one.

I was interviewing him, and coming out at the end of the interview, I asked him a question. The question was something like, ?What would you recommend, what would your advice be to someone that?s just starting and who want to set up a blog, but they?re not sure how to do it??

His response was, ?I would tell them not to start a blog.? Then, there was a brief moment of silence because it just caught me off guard. I?m like, ?What in the world? This podcast is all about blogging. You?re going to tell them not to start a blog.? But, he went on to explain that a blog is not a business. What you need to be starting is a business, and if a blog fits into that, great!

When he said that, it didn?t sit well with me. But, I started to think about it, and I came to a realization that a blog really is NOT a business. So, Tim was right! I mean, I hate to admit it on the podcast? No, I?m just joking. I have no problem admitting it.

Tim was right. A blog is not a business. A blog is a platform around which you can build a business, which is what I?ve done, which is what I?ve been talking about since the beginning of this podcast. It?s what I?m excited to share with you about today.

According to Wikipedia.com, and we know Wikipedia is the source of all knowledge, according to Wikipedia, ?A business is an organization engaged in,? get this, ?the trade of goods services or both to consumers.?

Basically, what you?re doing is engaging in some sort of trade where you?re exchanging some types of goods or services in exchange for something else. And, in this case, we?re dealing with in exchange for money, in exchange for someone paying you for whatever it is you?re offering.

Unless you are engaged in that trade, in that exchange, you really and truly do not have a business. So, the question
is:

?How do you build a business around your blog??

I want to kind of give an overview of ways that I would recommend for you to go about doing it. A number of these things, I think all of these things I have spoken about in the podcast in the past, but I want to bring it altogether in this episode.

The first thing I want to talk about is in my opinion very foundational when it comes to building an online business especially one that is involved, one that is based around content.

Content is what I?m providing whether it?s in written blog post or video or podcast like you?re listening to right now. This is all content. My business is based around content.

List Building

One of the pillars or one of the most important aspects of that is building a list. I?ve spoken to a number of bloggers and Internet marketers in the past that started way back in the days, or whatever the case might be. One of the things that I hear from a lot of them is that they wish they had started a list sooner.

I never heard anyone say, ?Man, I should have never started my list that early.? No, no! Your list is foundational. Let me tell you why I believe that to be the case.

Number one, when you have a list of people that have decided, ?I want you to contact me. I?m giving you permission to send me emails.? That is very valuable because it allows you to nurture relationships with those individuals by using your auto-responder sequence and sending them valuable things, things that are going to provide value to them in whatever it is they?re trying to accomplish whether that?s building a business or getting in shape, or eating more healthy, or finding a relationship, or whatever the case might be, you can communicate with them and provide them value directly to their email inboxes and that helps you to nurture a relationship with them. That helps them to build up trust in the content that you?re providing to them, and not only that, it?s a way for you to get them to come back to your website, which is a great thing.

You want to be able to let people know, ?Hey, I just posted this awesome blog post,? or this awesome podcast episode, this great video that gives so much value on whatever the topic your content is about, and then, have them come back to the website. That?s a great thing to do.

Not only that, take it one step further and this where the building of the business comes into place. It allows you to be able to sell to that individual.

When I say, ?sell,? I don?t mean sell in a way that we typically think about selling in terms of, you go to buy a car and you come to the lot and people just kind of rush in at you and just try to make sure that you leave with a car and spend money and all that stuff.

I?m not debating whether that?s a good thing to do or not, but what I?m saying is the type of selling that I?m talking about is, ?You know what? These are things that I consider valuable, and I know that they can help you to accomplish your goal. I want to let you know about them so that, you can purchase them, so that it can help you to accomplish whatever it is you?re trying to accomplish.?

A list is a great way to be able to nurture that relationship, and to be able to promote products and services that are going to be of value to the people that are coming to your website.

I?ve heard a stat before. I?m not exactly sure where I got it from, but I?ve heard it so many times that I?ve come to believe it. For every subscriber on your email list, that is worth approximately $1 per month.

So, if you have ten people on your list, that?s worth about $10 a month. If you have 100 people on your list, that?s worth about $100 a month. If you have 10,000 people on your list, that?s worth $10,000 per month. If you have a very optimized sales process.

We?re going to talk a little bit about that as we move on.

The first thing I want to talk about is building a list. I think that?s essential if you?re building an online business that?s around the content. If you have a blog and you?re trying to build a business around that blog, make sure you have a list, and you?re growing that list, and you?re doing things to help to get people on that list. That?s point number one.

Promoting Affiliate Products

Now, once you have that list, you still need to make money. Having a list does not equal money, but it does give you a way to make money. I want to talk about different ways of making money with your blog, and of course, with your list.

The first one I want to talk about is relatively speaking, ?relatively speaking,? keep that in mind, the easiest one and that is because? Well, I?ll tell you what it is first. That is promoting affiliate products.

The reason why I say it?s relatively speaking the easiest is because you do not have to create the product, you don?t have to provide the customer?s service, you don?t have to provide whatever the service is, maybe you might be promoting, maybe you?re promoting hosting, you don?t have to be the hosting provider.

You don?t have to set up a bunch of servers and invest a ton of money in getting that up and running. You can just promote the hosting as an affiliate, and whenever someone purchases that product or that service, you get a commission.

Now, this is a great way to start. I told you why it?s easy. I don?t want easier. I don?t want you to think that, ?Oh, I?m going to get into affiliate marketing and make a million dollars. It?s going to be an easy process because Leslie said it?s easy.?

No, it still takes work, but relatively speaking, it?s an easier way to get into selling stuff and making money with your blog without having to provide all of the additional stuff that?s necessary to be able to provide that product or service.

Now, another reason why I think promoting affiliate products is a great way to start is because it gets you into the habit of selling. It teaches you how to sell. It teaches you how to promote. That?s a very important skill to develop.

Let?s say you start a blog and the blog is on getting in shape. You?re teaching people how to eat healthy and exercise and all those types of things, and you decide one of the things you?re going to do is promote a fitness program as an affiliate.

Okay, now, as you?re talking about the different things that you?re talking about in your blog and the different types of exercises, and so on, and the different types of fitness programs, or you might be reviewing a particular fitness program, and you can review that in detail, and say, ?You know what? If you are interested in going through this program or getting in shape or losing that 10 or 15 pounds, I would recommend for you to check out this resource.?

There?s something about doing that and practicing that and refining it based on your audience that really gets you used to the concept of selling, and gets you used to the things that you need to do in order to make that sale.

Okay. Now, those are some of the things that it does in terms of helping you to get used to it. But, there?s something else that?s significant.

It also helps you to get used to the systems that are involved using shopping carts and promoting affiliate products that go directly to shopping carts. How do you set some of that up? How does the technology come together? You can get to see how others are doing it, see what systems they are using in your niche and then, be able to use that as you move on to the next stage of selling your own product.

Okay, so, let?s move on from that. Affiliate products, great thing.

The first thing I spoke about was building your list ? very essential, very important. Second thing is promoting affiliate products. That?s one way that you can go about making money with your blog and building that business.

Creating Your Own Products

The next one follows directly from that and that?s creating your own products. This is kind of exciting to me because it gives you a significant amount of leverage for a number of reasons.

Number one. When you promote something that you?ve created, and you have an audience that has grown to trust you, grown to know, like and trust you, they are more likely to purchase a product that you have created as opposed to something else that someone else created that they don?t even know who that person is.

Okay, so because it?s your own product, they are more likely to purchase because hopefully, if you?re doing things the right way, your audience is growing to know you, like you, and trust you. That?s a powerful thing.

That?s number one. It gives you more leverage.

Number two. It helps to set you up as an expert in your niche. When you can say, ?I?ve written this eBook that is for sale, or I have this product that is for sale,? people look to you as more of an expert which is great because it helps you to establish your brand, establish your business and all of that stuff.

Alright, so once you?ve moved on to this product creation phase, that helps establish you as an expert and people because they?ve hopefully, gotten to know, like and trust you, they are more likely to buy that product.

The third thing I want to mention about creating your own products, which is where it really gets exciting is that it gives you the ability to get affiliates to promote your products for you.

Now, you?re not the affiliate. You have this product and you can get people to go out there, and promote it for you. I?m going to talk a little more about that in a little while, so I?m not going to go into much detail about that right now.

Okay so, number one, build your list. Number two, promote affiliate products. Number three, create your own products.

Optimizing Your Funnel

Now, once you?ve started creating products, the next step is for you to start optimizing your funnel. Now, you got to think about it because when we?re talking about building a list, that?s something that?s typically done for free.

So, for example, you?re providing a free give away or a free resource in exchange for someone signing up for your list. That is a free resource. But, that is typically the entry point into your funnel. Okay?

When we think about a funnel, if you have a funnel, for example, you?re changing the oil in your car. You have that little opening in the tank that you have a funnel that you put into it, and it?s large at the top and really small at the bottom.

It allows you to be able to focus things down into that smaller opening without making a mess. But, the main idea is it starts big at the top, and it gets smaller as you go down.

The top of that funnel, that would be a free resource. That?s where you usually get a larger number of people opting in to that free resource. But then, as you go from there to the next level down, that would be a paid product. A certain percentage of the people that come in for the free resource are going to get that paid product. The way I recommend for you to do it is to start with a low-priced offer.

Someone has gone to your free training, your free eBook, your free report, your free resource, and they think to themselves, ?Man, this guy is the best. I love his stuff. This stuff that I got from him for free was so much value. I wonder what I?m going to get from him if I actually purchased that product.? They purchase that product.

So, this can be a low-priced product. It might be $10 or $17 or $27, whatever low price is in your niche for your audience. I?m talking about that low-priced product. But, from there, you can have higher-level products, higher priced offers.

For example, more advanced training, a membership site that you can charge a higher amount for because it offers significantly more value. Then, from there, if you really want to optimize your funnel even more, you can have a, let?s call it a super-duper priced product, where the price point is significantly higher.

You might have a $27 product, then $97, or $197 product. And then, you can have a $997 or $1997 product. I know those numbers sound a bit big, but really and truly, you can optimize your funnel, so that, yes, you have a lot of people coming in for that free offer. Of those people that are coming in, a certain percentage are going to take your $27 product. Of those people that take your $27 product, a certain percentage is going to take that $197 product, and a certain percentage of them are going to take that $997 product.

You are working on making that funnel, on optimizing that funnel to expand your business, to grow your business, and be able to do much more than you are doing today.

One thing I want to emphasize here. As we look at this funnel, and as we look at from free to low-priced all the way up to high-priced, a significant aspect of that is your time involvement.

Let?s say you have 1000 people that sign up to your free list, and of those 1000 people, 200 people get your first paid product and 30 people get that second paid product, and ten people get that really high-priced product.

One of the main differences between the free and the low-priced and the really expensive product could be your time.

For example, if you have a thousand people signing up to your free list, those thousand people aren?t going to get individual interaction with you. But, you can have maybe those ten people that are paying that $997 maybe they?re getting private coaching form you with other resources. But, they have more access to your time.

This is a type of funnel that allows you to really expand on what you?re doing and make more money with your blog, build a bigger business, a more substantial business around your blog.

Now, as I say this, I know there may be some people that are thinking to themselves, ?Man, those prices that he?s saying, those prices are really high.? But, in my opinion, those prices are not necessarily high if the value that you?re providing justifies the cost.

If you?re charging $10 for a product, my philosophy is that the actual value of that product should be way beyond that $10. So, don?t charge $10 for a $10 product. If you?re charging $10 for a product, make sure there?s $20, or $30, or $50 worth of value in that product.

If you?re charging $100 for a product, make sure that that individual is getting $200 worth of value. So that, when they get that, they pay for whatever it is you?re offering, they think to themselves, ?Man, that was so worth it.?

That is how you want people to respond to purchasing your products. Whatever it is you?re selling at whatever price point, go above and beyond.

Now, I used to have a problem with selling. The reason why I used to have a problem with selling was because, just the concept, it almost sometimes seems like a dirty word.

But then, I?ve come to the place where as I?ve learned more, and as I?ve gotten more experience, and as I?ve had more value to offer, I found myself wanting to create more so that, I can provide more value to people.

The way I look at it is, if what I have is something that really and truly is of value, for me to hold that back from you is a shame! Because of what I?m developing and what I?m working on, I feel as if it has the ability to change lives.

As a result of that, I am comfortable saying, ?I would recommend for you to purchase this product.? Why? Because I know it was well made. I know it has a significant amount of value in it, and it can help you to accomplish your goals.

Also, there?s something about giving people everything for free that does not motivate them to take action.

If all of the things I had, I just gave it away for free, I can guarantee you that more people will get it and not take action on it. There?s a commitment involved in purchasing something that makes you think or hopefully makes you think that, ?Okay, I?ve invested in this. I?ve invested in myself and in my business. It is now time for me to take action on that.?

So, if you find yourself being uncomfortable selling, make sure you?re providing something of value, make sure that with that thing that you?re providing of value, it?s appropriately priced, and then, don?t hold it back from the world because if it is of value, get it out there to help people to accomplish their goals, to be able to do the things that you are teaching them to do in that product.

Then, in your selling, don?t be that car salesman kind of guy. We don?t like that guy. You know, that guy he gets his money, but it?s not just about money. It?s about providing value. You need to find a way to provide value to your audience and position your offers in a way that it is helping them, it is providing them with value.

Recruiting Affiliates

Alright, so that?s optimizing your funnel. The next thing I want to talk about is recruiting affiliates. This is very powerful because as I mentioned before, you are no longer doing the hard, hard work.

The hardest part of a business is actually getting that customer. Over time, you can build up your affiliate army so that, you have affiliates out there promoting your products, and driving traffic to you, to your offer on a regular basis. That is the hardest part, getting that person to actually purchase.

If you have people out there doing that selling for you, of course, in a good way, then, that eliminates that, ?Oh man, I have to go out there, and sell 100 products.? No, you don?t have to sell 100 products. Just get ten affiliates to sell ten products, and you?ve accomplished the exact same thing.

Recruiting affiliates is very powerful, and that will help you to expand your business. This is after you have gone through the product creation phase, and then, you can start recruiting affiliates. Hopefully, you?ve optimized your funnel, or you are working on optimizing your funnel, so that you can give the affiliates the biggest value for their promotion.

Bonus Tip: Getting More Done with Outsourcing

Now, there?s one more bonus tip that I want to mention because this is something that has helped me so much especially in the last few months, I?ve gotten even more into it. I started really getting into it at the beginning of last year when I started my Biology site. But, I?ve expanded and expanded and it has helped me to accomplish much more, and that is OUTSOURCING.

Outsourcing helps you to get more done while doing less if you do it the right way. Instead of you being the one that does the web design and the graphic design, the membership site set up, and the editing and all these different aspects of building your online business, you can focus on what you need to focus on the important aspects of your business, the content generation, or whatever it is that is crucial to your business, that only you can do and then, you can get all of the other stuff taken care of by other individuals.

Of course, when you?re starting out, this is not as easy to do because you may not have as much funds available. But, as you grow, this is something that you want to get more and more into because it does help you to get much more done.

My business today looks different than it did a year ago. Today, I create my content. I do some editing. I don?t edit my podcast at all, but then, when I do videos, I do some minor video editing and upload it to YouTube. Then, my team takes care of the rest from the transcription to the posting to the technical support, to the setting up of the membership site, to setting up squeeze pages, and sales pages, and the design, and all that kind of stuff.

That?s all taken care of and it?s done much better than I could ever do it on my own. So, if you want to grow your business, and as your business grows, this is something that you need to consider, that you should consider, and really use to help to build and expand your business even more.

Lastly, a Very Important Announcement

So, that?s pretty much all for the content of this episode. I do have a very important announcement to make. Back in March, we did a beta-test re-launch of Become a Blogger 2.0 and since then, it?s just been a wild ride. It?s been phenomenal, it?s been exciting. We?ve had a lot of members come through, and experience great stuff and learn a lot and set up blogs, and start making money, and all those types of things, building their online business.

Since then, I?ve been going through and making it better, doing a whole bunch of stuff and I did some webinars with the premium coaching members and a number of topics. Now, I?m putting together all of the products, and there?s now going to be within Become a Blogger, there?s going to be the main Become a Blogger course, the core course teaching you to set up a blog and build a business around that blog.

Of course, there?s going to be the ten free videos as usual, but now we?re also going to have courses on list building, affiliate marketing, product creation, product launch, and outsourcing.

Basically, the things that I spoke about in this episode, those are all going to be coming soon to the Become a Blogger offering so, you want to stay tuned for that.

I?m going to start the music really quick while I finish up here. We?re going to end around 30 minutes which is what I like. I want you to be aware of that, to prepare for that re-launch.

I?m doing a free series on what it takes to become a successful blogger. You can sign up for that free series if you go to becomeablogger.com/blogsecrets.

You want to head over there, and check out the stuff that we?re doing. It?s starting right now, and you want to check it out, depending on when you?re listening to this.

It?s starting on actually Monday, July 30th which is the day before this episode is posted. So, head on over there. If you haven?t done so already: becomeablogger.com/blogsecrets. I hope you get a ton of value, a massive amount of value from the free stuff that I?m going to be sharing in that series. There?s going to be a case study interview in there that?s going to blow your mind.

That?s pretty much all for this episode. This is Leslie Samuel from becomeablogger.com. Until next time, take care and God bless!?

Source: http://www.becomeablogger.com/5269/084-how-to-build-a-business-around-your-blog/

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