:: How to Make Money Blogging :: As I set out in my New Writing Schedule and Focus for the year, I’ll dedicate one day a week to share what I know about making a craft blog successful. So, here we go with a new series on strategic planning for craft blogging and how to make money blogging.
Let’s start Making Money Blogging.
Where are things at for you today?
Is this your strategic planning today: live happy, just another day?
There is something to this. Works particularly well in the weekend.
To achieve business success? Not so good.
(illustration by: https://DanielleLeeKroll.blogspot.com)
How to Plan for Success
In the new year, people always immediately rush into making goals and to do lists. I think that’s a good idea, but it should not be your first step, if you actually want to achieve big goals. Therefore, today, I am first taking you through some strategic planning modules, before we get to the actual goal setting.
STEP 1: EVALUATE YOUR PAST
A) Evaluate what worked. Look at your results of last year (or the last few years).
- What was popular and what was not: Look at the posts that brought in most traffic; and..
- Have a peek at how long they stayed and see if you can figure out what they did on your blog. Did they download something? did they sign up for a newsletter? did they click on an advertisement? They ‘buy’ anything?
- Get some insight as to how these readers found you. Was it Facebook, Twitter or a blogging friend who referred them?
B) Evaluate your input too.
- What did you enjoy doing, and what not?
- What cost a lot of time creating and did not drive any (paying)visitors to your blog, or otherwise created loyalty from your readers.
- What cost little time and brought in lots of traffic?
- Does that traffic consist of loyal readers or people who are coming for a one-off freebie?
Once you have evaluated both the input and the output side of your blog, you should also review your mission statement, and quite possibly, refresh it. Yes, I mean: amend it.
REFRESH YOUR MISSION STATEMENT.
If you do have a mission statement, then read on:
I think that goal setting should be prefaced by an annually refreshed your vision for what you are trying to achieve on your blog. Just as IBM can shift from mainframe computers to selling PCs, and other related things, so you can and should correct your course of direction on your blog. If you think that IBM is the only one that changed focus, think of Salesforce.com? This company has expanded it focus to support just sales, to include service, marketing and now all functions of business. Salesforce.com is one of the fastest growing companies in the world. So, if they allow themselves to evolve, so should you.
BENEFITS OF HAVING A MISSION STATEMENT
If you have no mission statement yet, use the downloads at the end to develop yours.
What’s so nice about having a mission statement is that it helps you to focus on what’s important and what’s not. This means less time wasted and less a less pounding heart from your stress of having to keep up with ‘everything’.
What is a Mission Statement?
Your mission is ‘who you want to be’, or rather ‘what you want your blog or blog brand to be’.
Your vision is ‘where you want to be at a certain future point in time’. A vision is sometimes called ‘dreams with a date’. Collectively, these statements say how you envision the future of your blog. They are often phrased as ‘long term goals’.
TO DO: I suggest you now download the printables and complete the sections related to mission statements. Use your findings from your evaluation as an input.
Then, read on:
2015 Blogging Goals : HOW TO MAKE MONEY BLOGGING
Now that you have reviewed your past performance and input, and have created a (refreshed) mission statement, you are ready to write down goals for 2015.
Here’s a free downloadable chart for goals 2015, that are more detailed and short term, than your long term goals that relate to your mission statement.
Your short term goals should cover measurable aspects of your blog, and meet the following criteria:
1. Your 2015 blog goals must be measurable.
2. Your 2015 blog goals must be specific rather than general.
3. Your 2015 blog goals must be exact rather than approximate.
4. Your 2015 blog goals should be challenging you, but still be somehow ‘doable’ in your mind.
5. Your 2015 blog goals should relate to key aspects of your blogging business. E.g.
- a) income – direct sales.
- b) income – affiliates.
- c) income – advertisement.
- d) # of buyers (direct sales).
- e) blog traffic: new and repeat visitors.
- f) blog traffic: average time spent.
- g) newsletter subscribers.
- h) social media followers.
- i) number of blog posts.
- i) level of social media sharing.
- k) backlinks to your site of other blogs re-sharing your content.
- etc.
This is a good starters list of measurable goals. You might have some others too. Your specific annual goals should dovetail with your long term goals that relate to your mission. What is important for your craft blog, might not be as vital for someone else’s blog. Some crafters sell patterns, while other do product review and gain affiliate income. We are all different in focus. Measure what is important for you.
Don’t go overboard on goals and stay with what’s vital for success.
When you are working through these goals, immediately action points and ideas of what you could/should do to reach that goal will rise to the surface.
Write these down on separate sheets. This is input for your action plans.
Planning Leads to Clarity and Success.
I pretty much guarantee that when you have worked all that out on paper (in a computer file), your blog will be taking off almost instantly!! Why?? As doing a strategic planning exercise is highly motivating, clarifying and seems to bring on immediate opportunity! It is as if the world is racing ahead to keep up with you and deliver you opportunities.
That’s it for week 1.
Do drop me a line to share with me how it is going.
How to Make Money Blogging: Mission Statement and 2015 Craft Blog Goals – Downloads
My planning tools will be free for the first 100 downloads. After that there will be a small fee for these strategic planning printables:
Note: working through these exercises is not the same as making a shopping list. It will require some thinking and rework. Allow yourself all week to finish it.
See you back in February with Craft Blogging Success Tips
tag: Free Printable 2015
