business plan for blogging

Online Business | How To

How to Create a Blog Business Plan (Includes Step-by-Step Template)

Published April 20, 2020

Published Apr 20, 2020

WRITTEN BY: Janette Novak

This article is part of a larger series on How to Make Money Blogging .

The most successful bloggers on the planet have one thing in common: they understand the power of a well-conceived business plan for driving blog profits. At its essence, your blog business plan is a road map that defines why your blog exists, clarifies your top goals, and provides a step-by-step outline of how you plan to accomplish those goals. Your plan guides you through the most crucial steps on your business-building journey.

If you think creating a business plan is going to be difficult and confusing, put those fears aside. I’m a blogger myself and have been working with bloggers for nearly a decade, and you’re about to learn my shortcuts and tips that will make the task far easier than you imagine.

10 Essential Sections of a Blog Business Plan

1. Executive Summary 2. Market & Competitor Analysis 3. Brand Identity Overview 4. Blog Content Overview 5. Blog Monetization Plan 6. Blog Marketing & Promotion 7. Blog Management & Operation 8. Cost & Revenues Forecast 9. Blog Performance Analysis 10. Business Exit Strategy

To get a jump-start on your business planning, download this free blog business plan template. It walks you through everything you need to include in your plan. The template is fully customizable so you can adapt it to meet your unique needs.

Free Blog Business Plan Template

Download Now

10 Essential Sections in a Blog Business Plan

While there are 10 major sections in your business plan, each section of your plan is not necessarily self-contained. This means you can’t expect to finish step one and then move on to step two and proceed to each next area—you may go back and forth between sections when creating your plan. This holds especially true for the Executive Summary, which includes summarized content found in other sections of the plan.

1. Create an Executive Summary

The Executive Summary is widely considered the most important section in a business plan. This one section boils down your business plan to the essentials of how you intend to create and operate a profitable business. As a blogger, the main reason to create an Executive Summary is so that you are clear and remain focused on what you want to accomplish.

Your Executive Summary should list your blog’s name, a brief blog description, as well as summarized information about your blog’s target market and ideal audience. You will also want to include your blog’s mission statement and top business goals in this section of your plan.

Enter Your Blog’s Name on Your Plan

Your blog’s name may or may not be the same as your business name. For example, the popular lifestyle and personal finance blog Living Well Spending Less® is owned by Ruth Soukup Omnmedia. Soukup has several businesses and brands and gathers them all under one company name. If your blog’s name and your business name are not identical, that should be noted in this section of your plan.

Deciding on your blog’s name somewhat mirrors the steps you take to come up with a business name. Here are a few things to keep in mind when creating your blog name:

• Look for names that aren’t already taken
• Decide the tone you want your name to convey such as serious, playful, formal, or informal
• Select a name that is easy to remember and spell
• When possible, use a blog name that you can also use as your domain name

Here are some simple name-generating tactics that might inspire you:

• Incorporate the blog audience in your blog name.
• Find naming inspiration from characters in books or mythology
• Incorporate a location name into your blog’s name, if appropriate.
• Consider using a portmanteau, which is just two names modified and smushed to become one name (e.g., breakfast + lunch = brunch).

You may find that naming your blog presents a little more challenge than you anticipated. Let’s face it, with more than 31 active million bloggers in the world, a lot of terrific names are already taken. Finding the perfect blog name and domain will take time and creativity on your part, but the tips listed above will make the process easier.

Write a Blog Overview

An overview is a 40,000 foot fly-over description of what your blog is about and why it exists. Write this from the perspective of a business owner who intends to monetize a blog.

If you’re starting a blog as a hobby or passion project, you don’t need a business plan because your goal is not to make money. Your secondary reasons for starting a blog might be because you’re passionate about the blog’s subject, but your ultimate goal is to turn a profit. I really can’t overemphasize the need to view your blog as a business.

Try to keep this section of your blog plan to 250 to 500 words. Remember, it’s a summary, not a dissertation. The primary advantage of creating a relatively brief blog description is so you can refer to it as you build your blogging businesses. When you stay focused on why your blog exists, and make decisions based on that why, you’ll avoid many bumps in the road that throw less business-focused bloggers off course.

Add a Short Description of Your Target Market & Ideal Audience

While it’s wise to include an overview of your target market and audience in your Executive Summary, it’s not something you can do before conducting in-depth research. This is what I meant by creating a business plan is not a straight step-by-step path; sometimes you have to skip a few steps and then come back to complete those you skipped.

When creating section two of your blog business plan-—the Market & Competitor Analysis section-—you’ll conduct in-depth research and provide considerably more detail about your target market and audience. That detailed information will help you create the abbreviated content you add to this section of your Executive Summary.

Write Your Mission Statement

A mission statement is a short declaration of what you do and who you do it for, as well as how your blog is unique. The purpose of a mission statement is to keep all those who work on your blog focused on your business goals and ideals.

When writing your mission statement, be sure to answer these questions:

• Who does the blog serve?
• What will the blog do for them; i.e., what’s its purpose?
• How will the blog accomplish this? (This is where being unique will set you apart from competitors. )

A strong mission statement is clear and compelling. The best mission statements are simple, jargon-free, and straightforward. Moreover, they’re inspiring. Your mission statement should both inspire you, those who work on your blog with you.

Blog Mission Statement Template

Our mission at [blog name]____________________________________ is [what you do]_____________________________________________ for [who you do it for] ________________________________________ that [what you accomplish] ____________________________________

Example of a Mission Statement for a Fictional Travel Blog

Our mission at Travel Morocco Now is to provide incredible experiences for travel enthusiasts worldwide that offer an authentic glimpse at all this exotic land offers.

List Top Goals that Are Key to Your Blog’s Success

Once again, you may need to refer to other sections in the plan before entering this information on your Executive Summary. For example, you may want to set goals around the types of monetization strategies you plan to pursue (which is discussed in-depth in your Blog Monetization Plan ) or set goals for your promotional investments (which you outline in the Blog Marketing & Promotion section).

Include around four to seven goals in your top goals list. If you’re not certain how to set business goals, check out this list of 10 SMART goal examples . Goals can include anything from selling 1,000 e-books in the first six months at $19 each to achieving 30,000 average monthly page views so you can join a high-paying advertising network like MediaVine .

2. Market & Competitor Analysis

Many bloggers do at least some niche market research before deciding to start a blog business. If you’re already done that, congratulations—you’re ahead of the curve. If you haven’t started yet, don’t worry, as you can still commence your in-depth study of your blog’s niche market as well as the top competitors in your blog’s area of expertise.

Write Your Niche Market Analysis

When starting a blog with the aim of making money, it’s best to focus on a niche rather than a broad market. Frankly, it’s simply too hard for a solo blogger to gain traction for a blog that tries to cover too many subjects (the exception being lifestyle blogs, that typically cover more areas but from one person’s point of view).

You can always broaden or narrow your blog’s focus once it’s been up and running for a while. Before you do that though, it’s best to look at blog performance data to see if a change in content scope is appropriate.

To create this section of your plan, you’ll need to conduct thorough market research. Once you have a good handle on your niche, it’s time to summarize your findings in the Market Analysis section of your blog business plan.

Here are key questions to address on your plan:

• What topics are potential customers searching for on Google?
• How big is the market and is there any evidence it’s growing or shrinking?
• Who is your ideal customer and what are they like?
• Are there any uncontrollable market factors that could threaten or increase your odds for success?

Your business plan isn’t a static document. Market conditions and demand change over time, hence you’ll need to revisit your blogging plan periodically to make sure you stay up with an ever-changing environment. This is especially true when it comes to your blog’s market and competitor analyses.

You might want to consider using a competitor analysis mapping tool like edraw by Wondershare to evaluate competitors in your niche. Source: edrawsoft.com

Develop a Thorough Competitor Analysis

Getting a good handle on who your blog competitors are is absolutely critical to your success—like “you won’t stand a chance of success if you don’t get this right” critical. A thorough competitor analysis is likely to reveal many opportunities you wouldn’t find elsewhere.

Here are crucial questions to address in this section of your plan:

• Who are my blog’s primary competitors?
• How are those competitors making money with their blogs?
• What topics are my competitors covering on their blogs?
• What are they doing well?
• What are they not doing so well?
• What are the “holes” in their strategies (in other words, opportunities to solve problems competitors aren’t addressing)?
• How big is their follow base on various social media channels?
• How much traffic does each competitor get? (Tip: use Alexa to get this information.)

When visiting competitors’ blogs, make sure you spend some time taking in the full experience. Pay attention to site design, overall vibe, use of visuals and videos, and other site features that make a favorable—as well as unfavorable—impression on you. Sometimes it’s those subtle details that add up to make a blog stand apart from the crowd.

3. Brand Identity Overview

The amount of detail you include in this section of your blog business plan will vary based on where you are in your blog development process. If you’re still in the conceptualization stage of your blog, you may not have your entire brand identity worked out yet.

At a minimum, include the following information in your Brand Identity Overview:

• A description of your brand’s personality—for example serious, casual, warm, or cutting-edge.
• What you want people to think of when they describe your blog’s brand.
• How you’ll reflect your blog’s core values and mission in your brand identity.

If possible, also include:

• Your logo and all brand marks
• Specific typography used in your brand
• Brand colors
• Brand taglines
• Iconography and other key graphics

Remember, your plan is not something you create and forget. If you don’t have all your brand identity components available to post in your plan now, go back and add them later.

Example of a brand identity board from Storenvy.com Source: storenvy.com

4. Blog Content Overview

Your blog needs an overall business plan, but it also needs a blog content strategy plan. In the Blog Content Overview, you’ll add a summary of your content strategy, discussing not only the types of content that will be created, but also how you intend to keep that quality high.

Here are the basics to add to your Blog Content Overview:

• Core blog categories: List the main topic categories that will be covered on your blog. For new blogs, three to five categories is recommended. You may also want to include the first 10 blog posts that you’ll create under each of these categories.
• Types of blog formats planned: Most blogs use a variety of blog formats, including how-to posts, interviews, reviews, case studies, guides, opinion posts, and behind-the-scenes posts.
• How you’ll create 10X content : You want to wow your reader so here’s your chance to explain how you’ll develop content that’s ten-times better than anything else available.
• How you plan to establish your expertise, authority, and trust (EAT) : Your blog posts will only appear in Google’s top search results if Google feels it meets its quality expectations.
• Posting frequency: Create a plan for how frequently you’ll post based on available time and resources.

Two of the biggest mistakes new bloggers make are to create content inconsistently and develop blog posts that are irrelevant to the blog audience. Consistency helps you build your following while developing your brand’s authority. Creating content focused exclusively on the needs of your niche provides a trustworthy experience for your audience as well as shows Google that you have deep expertise in your niche.

5. Blog Monetization Plan

If you want to turn your blog into a profitable business, you need a sound plan for making money. There are many ways to monetize a blog, though some produce better results than others.

Affiliate marketing and selling digital products and services top the list of best ways to make money blogging. You can get started with affiliate marketing from day one on your blog.

Digital products, such as e-books and online courses, may take longer to create, but the upside is that you get to keep all the profits. Seven-figure bloggers , including Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, Pat Flynn, and Brian Clark, all made the bulk of their fortunes through self-produced products and courses.

Other monetization techniques include:

• Selling ads directly or joining ad networks
• Sponsored posts
• Private memberships
• Events and Retreats
• Exclusive forums
• Physical products
• Digital downloads (e.g., checklists,templates, and planners)
• Offering coaching, consulting, or freelancing services

Some monetization strategies just aren’t practical for new blogs. For example, you won’t make any money through advertising when your blog has very little traffic coming to it. That’s why many bloggers list two different  monetization strategies on their business plan. The first is a startup monetization plan. The second is a “next-step” monetization plan, which commences when blog traffic picks up.

In the Blog Monetization section of your plan, be sure to include specific tactics you plan to pursue. Set goals regarding when you’ll start each tactic as well as how much money you hope to generate from each method.

According to a study by Growth badger, the top tactic high-earning bloggers use to make money is affiliate marketing. Source: growthbadger.com

6. Blog Marketing & Promotion Strategies

You can create the best blog on the planet, but your results will be abysmal if no one knows you exist. Developing an effective blog marketing and promotion strategy is yet another key to your ultimate success.

While there are many ways to promote your blog, you want to focus on those that make the biggest difference, which include a strong launch strategy, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and email marketing. If your budget allows, you may also want to consider paid advertising.

Launch Strategy

What’s your plan for getting the word out about your blog when it’s brand-new? It’s wise to create a blog launch strategy much like you would develop a product launch strategy .

Types of marketing and promotional activities to pursue in the launch phase of your blog include:

• Tell your network about your new blog and ask them to share it with their networks
• Appear as a guest on popular podcasts
• Guest blog on other blogs (where you’ll get exposure for your blog)
• Create highly targeted, paid social media channels ads or Google ads
• Reach out to influencers in your niche

The toughest phase of any new blog is the launch period. You may find that it’s difficult to get traction at first, but be persistent in your efforts to get the word out about your blog; that persistence will be rewarded.

Social Media Marketing Strategy

Successful bloggers understand the power of using social media for driving both blog traffic and blog profits. The trick is to identify the best social media channels for your blog—that means developing your presence where your ideal audience can be found. Your social media marketing strategy summary should identify which social channels you plan to use, how you plan to use them, and what your top goals are for those efforts.

The lure of social media is enticing. I must warn you, though, that the hip-and-happening world of social media has a dark side where you could find yourself drained of time and money with little to nothing to show for your investments.

Posting pretty pictures and clever sayings alone won’t build your blog business. You need to develop a smart social media marketing strategy. Done right, a solid social plan can catapult your business to success. Done wrong, you could end up on the dark side that I just described.

My top success tip here is don’t try to be in all social channels all at once. Pick one or two social channels and focus on those until you have the time and resources to expand while still being effective.

View Template

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)Strategy

If you want to rank higher on Google —and trust me, you do, as that’s a key source of traffic for most bloggers—then you need to have a firm understanding of SEO and how to apply it to your blog. If you don’t have a solid grasp on SEO yet, start by reviewing SEO for Bloggers. Once you more fully understand SEO, you’ll be ready to develop an overview of your SEO strategy.

When summarizing your SEO goals on your business plan, be sure to include goals for both on-page and off-page SEO. On-page SEO includes using relevant keywords and providing valuable content for your readers. Off-page SEO includes other factors that impact page rank, the most important of which is getting highly credible sites to link to your blog.

According to SEO solutions giant ahrefs, 90.63% of pages published on the internet receive no organic traffic from Google. Source: ahrefs.com

Email Marketing Strategy

If you’re serious about your blog business—and if you’ve read this far, I know you are—then you’ll want to get serious about building relationships with your blog audience. You can’t depend on them to come back to your blog again and again, much less make a purchase from you, without a little prompting on your part. That’s why every money-making blog needs a sound email marketing strategy.

When listing your email marketing plan summary on your business plan, include the following:

• Your email marketing service provider
• Planned email name capture campaigns
• Emailing frequency plan
• Email capture goals by volume and conversion rates

Some bloggers fail to capture emails on their blogs and this can be a disastrous mistake. You need to know who your audience is and have an avenue for reaching out to them. Social media is not enough—you need an email marketing plan.

Email Marketing is a powerful way to boost blog results. Source: pioneermarketers.biz

Paid Advertising Strategy

Not all bloggers use paid advertising, though many top bloggers include paid advertising in their promotions mix. Successful bloggers are particularly drawn to paid ads on social media channels, but deploy those ads strategically.

When first starting out, you may want to purchase paid ads to attract traffic to your blog. The best use of paid ads over time, though, is to use them to generate leads for items you plan to sell, including e-books, online courses, and coaching or consulting services.

If you plan to use paid advertising in your business, be sure to include a summary of your strategy and goals—plus costs and sales forecasts from those ads—in your business plan.

Average Cost of Social Media Advertising by Platform

7. blog management & operations.

The Blog Management & Operations section of your business plan outlines how different tasks will be managed and executed. Here is where you describe who’s responsible for which tasks. You’ll also list key resources you plan to use in managing and operating your business.

When creating your summary for this section, make sure you address the following:

• Blog platform: State the blog platform you plan to use, hosting provider, and any other key tools and resources you’ll use to build your blog.
• Technical and design plan: If you’re working with an outside developer or designer, include a summary of your arrangement in your plan.
• Blog content planning and creation: Decide who’s going to develop content, how it will be proofed, and how new content will be added to your website. You’ll likely do the lion’s share of this work, but list your freelance or outsourcing plan if relevant.
• Accounting plan: All businesses need a way to track expenses and revenues. Describe how you’ll conduct these activities, listing software and any other external resources or professionals you plan to employ.

The purpose of the Blog Management and Operations section of your business plan is to make you think not only about what you plan to do with your blog, but also how you plan to manage the day-to-day operation of your business. This will help you avoid missed steps that bloggers who don’t plan ahead wrestle with on an ongoing basis.

One way you can make managing your blog easier is to choose the right blogging tools. To arm yourself with the resources and capabilities you need, choose from these best blogging tools .

8. Blog Costs & Revenues Forecast

Blogs can be built on a shoestring or an opulent budget, but one thing holds true in either case: if you don’t know what you’re spending, you won’t know whether you’re turning a profit. In this section of your blog plan, you’ll outline anticipated costs as well as forecast revenues.

Frankly, it’s a lot easier to come up with an accurate costs forecast than revenues forecasts. Still, you need a starting reference point so that’s why it’s important to include a basic outline of both projected costs and revenues on your initial business plan. You’ll revise your plan as your blog business grows at which time you’ll have more precise performance data from which to draw.

Specify Anticipated Blog Costs

Carefully consider how much money you plan to invest in your blog. Some investments will be a one-time purchase, others require an annual purchase, while still others will incur a monthly expense.

Most new bloggers—particularly those on a tight budget—begin by investing only in the essentials and acquire additional tools and resources as their businesses grow. Below is a list of costs you may encounter.

Typical Costs for a New Blog

Specify Revenue Projections

Every business plan includes revenue projections. To do this, outline which monetization methods you intend to use, when those methods will start earning revenue, and how much revenue you expect to earn. Be prepared: most bloggers earn little to no revenue in their first few months of blogging, but don’t let that discourage you. Everyone has to start somewhere.

Sample Revenue Projections

In the example above, the blogger forecasts that she’ll gross $50,216 in the first year. First year earnings are often modest, but if your business is successful, sales can grow nearly exponentially over time.

While the blogger in this example plans to use six different monetization methods, the lion’s share of her earnings is expected to come from coaching services. It’s not uncommon for one method to be the main driver of a blog’s profitability. I don’t recommend putting your eggs in one basket, though. The most successful bloggers use multiple monetization tactics to build their businesses.

Know Your Break-Even Point

Your break-even point is merely the point where your total revenues minus your total costs equals zero. That’s the point where you’re not making any money, but you’re not losing any, either. Include your projected break-even point in the Blogs and Revenues section of your business plan.

Add Your Projected Profits to Your Business Plan

Once you know your projected costs and revenues, you can calculate your profit forecast and add it to your business plan. Simply deduct all costs from all revenues to come up with your profit forecast.

Most blogs start out slow and revenues build yet still fluctuate over time | Example here from the Create and Go Blog Income Report. Source: createandgo.com

9. Blog Performance Tracking & Analysis Plan

As a business owner, it’s imperative that you can identify efforts that drive results as well as those that underperform expectations. That’s why you’ll include a section on performance tracking and analysis in your overall blog business plan.

First, list the tools you will use to track and analyze blog performance such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console, as well as social media management and analytics tools like Keyhole and Hootsuite .

Next, consider the key performance indicators (KPIs) that drive your blog’s overall performance. Include a list of KPIs you plan to monitor regularly in the Blog Performance Tracking & Analysis section of your business plan.

Examples of KPIs that help you better understand blog performance:

• Overall blog visitor count
• Top viewed blog posts
• Total site backlinks and backlinks by individual posts
• Total page views
• Average number of page views per visitors
• Blog bounce rate
• Total post views
• Social share likes, follows, and engagement statistics
• Social media stats by social channel
• Number of sales leads
• Email list subscriber rates
• Conversion rates on a site and page level
• Source of lead acquisition

The better you are at finding and replicating results-producing activities on your blog, the more money you’ll make in your business. Simply put, don’t skimp on performance tracking and analytics. Having a strong plan upfront will yield stronger profits over the long run.

10. Blog Exit Strategy

Sadly, the primary exit strategy for most blogs today is abandonment. That’s because most bloggers don’t treat their blogs like a business. That’s not you. You understand the importance of pursuing your blog with a deliberate business-building strategy. That means you have more options available to you.

Just because you’re enthusiastic about starting a blog today doesn’t mean you want to run a blog for the rest of your life. When the time comes that you want to move on, your three main exit strategies are: 1) abandon it, 2) give it away, or 3) sell it. If your intention is to sell your blog at some point, it’s best to outline the fundamentals of your money-making exit strategy now.

Bottom Line

I know what it’s like to dream of creating your own blog business; it’s both exhilarating and a little bit scary. I assure you that if you put in the effort to create a solid business plan for your blog, you’ll give yourself a business advantage that most bloggers simply don’t have.

Take the time to create your own plan now using the template provided at the top of this post. The stronger your plan, the better your chances of creating a thriving business.

About the Author

Find Janette On LinkedIn

Janette Novak

Janette Novak is a business journalist who primarily writes about starting, marketing, and growing online businesses. As a seasoned business consultant, she helps entrepreneurs and business leaders develop winning marketing and business growth strategies. She previously served as the Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer for an international leader in professional development and business training.

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Blogging Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Over the past 10+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their blogging companies.

If you’re unfamiliar with creating a blogging business plan, you may think creating one will be a time-consuming and frustrating process. For most entrepreneurs it is, but for you, it won’t be since we’re here to help. We have the experience, resources, and knowledge to help you create a great business plan.

In this article, you will learn some background information on why business planning is important. Then, you will learn how to write a blogging business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What is a Blogging Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your blogging business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategies for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan for a Blogging Business

If you’re looking to start a blogging business or grow your existing blogging company, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your blogging business to improve your chances of success. Your blogging business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Blogging Businesses

With regard to funding, the main sources of funding for a blogging business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans, and angel investors. When it comes to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to ensure that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for blogging companies.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

How to write a business plan for a blogging business.

If you want to start a blogging business or expand your current blogging business, you need a business plan. The guide below details the necessary information for how to write each essential component of your blogging business plan.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your executive summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the kind of blogging business you are running and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a blogging business that you would like to grow, or are you creating a multi-blogging business?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan.

• Give a brief overview of the blogging industry.
• Discuss the type of blogging business you are operating.
• Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers.
• Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team.
• Offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Overview

In your company overview, you will detail the type of blogging business you are operating.

For example, you might specialize in one of the following types of blogging businesses:

• Lifestyle Blogging: Designed to relate to a large audience, lifestyle blogging can include personal lifestyle choices, design, career choices and any number of life activities.
• Parent Blogging: The subject of parenting is a critical one and a blog can be followed by millions. This type of blog typically refers to parenting in general or may be categorized by the ages of the children. Often humorous, parenting blogs offer ongoing advice and suggestions for day-to-day living with children.
• Business Blogging: This type of blogging business is focused on professionals who want to know the backstory to the business headlines. Millions of people follow bloggers who specialize in finance, wealth generation and other subjects of great interest to the public.
• Politics and News Blogging: From well-known politicians to those who are entering the political realm, bloggers are followed by multi-millions of people interested in the subjects of the day and how those subjects interact in their own lives.

In addition to explaining the type of blogging business you will operate, the company overview needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of followers obtained, the amount of revenue from subscriptions during the past six months, opening a multi-blogging business, etc.
• Your legal business structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry or market analysis, you need to provide an overview of the blogging industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the blogging industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your marketing strategy, particularly if your analysis identifies market trends.

The third reason is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your blogging business plan:

• How big is the blogging industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential target market for your blogging business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your blogging business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: individuals interested in niche subjects, businesses looking to monetize blogs, businesses seeking collaborations, and those seeking entertainment.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of blogging business you operate. Clearly, individuals interested in niche blogs will respond differently to marketing promotions than will a business seeking collaborations, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regard to demographics, including a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the potential customers you seek to serve.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can recognize and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other blogging businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t directly competing with your product or service. This includes other forms of publications, such as newspapers, magazines, and direct-to-consumer flyers. You need to mention such competition, as well.

For each direct competitor, provide an overview of their business and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What type of blogging business are they?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What sets their business apart from others?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regard to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And, don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you provide options for upgrading subscriptions?
• Will you offer products or services that your competition doesn’t?
• Will you provide better audience participation or feedback options?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a blogging business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of blogging company that you documented in your company overview. Then, detail the specific products or services you will be offering. For example, will you provide humorous reels about teen behaviors for parents aged 38-50?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your plan, you are presenting the products and/or services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the site of your blogging company. Document where your company is situated and mention how the site will impact your success. For example, is your blogging business located in a major U.S. city or is it situated on a farm in South Dakota? Depending on your blog subject matter, your company location could be in the ideal location for your customers.

Promotions : The final part of your blogging marketing plan is where you will document how you will drive potential customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertise in news outlets
• Reach out to other bloggers who create collaborative content
• Engage in article-writing using SEO with target keywords
• Engage in email marketing
• Create a complementary website that drives traffic to your blog

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your blogging business, including answering calls, planning and scheduling blogs, researching blog subjects, engaging with followers, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to monetize your blog, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your blogging business to a multi-blogging business.

Management Team

To demonstrate your blogging business’ potential to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing blogging businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But, also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act as mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in a blogging business or successfully running a blogging business that was monetized or became a subscriber-serviced blog.

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements.

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenue and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you serve 10,000 followers within 3 months, and/or offer special subscriptions? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets

Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your blogging business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a lender writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and ensure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit, but run out of money and go bankrupt.

When creating your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a blogging business:

• Cost of computer equipment
• Cost of technical support and photography equipment
• Cost of furnishings
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Other start-up expenses (if you’re a new business) like legal expenses, permits, computer software, office supplies and equipment

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan, along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your office location lease or a list of friends and associates who are already lined up to appear or create content with you.

Writing a business plan for your blogging business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will understand the blogging industry, your competition, and your customers. You will develop a marketing strategy and will understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful blogging business.

Blogging Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my blogging business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily write your blogging business plan.

How Do You Start a Blogging Business?

Starting a Blogging business is easy with these 14 steps:

• Choose the Name for Your Blogging Business
• Create Your Blogging Business Plan
• Choose the Legal Structure for Your Blogging Business
• Secure Startup Funding for Your Blogging Business (If Needed)
• Secure a Location for Your Business
• Register Your Blogging Business with the IRS
• Open a Business Bank Account
• Get a Business Credit Card
• Get the Required Business Licenses and Permits
• Get Business Insurance for Your Blogging Business
• Buy or Lease the Right Blogging Business Equipment
• Develop Your Blogging Business Marketing Materials
• Purchase and Setup the Software Needed to Run Your Blogging Business
• Open for Business

Where Can I Download a Free Business Plan Template PDF?

Click here to download the pdf version of our basic business plan template.

Our free business plan template pdf allows you to see the key sections to complete in your plan and the key questions that each must answer. The business plan pdf will definitely get you started in the right direction.

We do offer a premium version of our business plan template. Click here to learn more about it. The premium version includes numerous features allowing you to quickly and easily create a professional business plan. Its most touted feature is its financial projections template which allows you to simply enter your estimated sales and growth rates, and it automatically calculates your complete five-year financial projections including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. Here’s the link to our Ultimate Business Plan Template.

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your Blogging business plan?

OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You

Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.   Click here to see how Growthink’s business plan writers can create your business plan for you.

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• The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Blog Business Plan…

The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Blog Business Plan (Updated)

What sets apart the top-tier blogs in every industry and the blogs most people run? What's the difference between success and mediocrity? As often as anything, the answer is a business plan.

When many people start a blog, they don't have a goal, plan, or drive to succeed. They might know some of the basics of how a blog can be a business. They might know some of the elements of SEO, something about marketing, maybe they've read about maintaining a schedule, and an assortment of other tips and tricks for blogging success.

Few people realize that developing and adhering to a business plan is critical if you want your blog to succeed. You can't simply write some content every week and expect to compete on par with industry giants. Even if you keep at it for years, you might never make a break-even point, let alone a successful brand.

What is a business plan? It is many things.

• A business plan is a roadmap. It guides your business from A-B-C and beyond, with each milestone marked as a tangible goal or achievement.
• A business plan is a tangible document. It's something you can open up and reference to ensure that you're keeping your business on track.
• A business plan is for accountability. You have tangible goals and a roadmap to achieving them. If you fall behind or veer off track, your business plan holds you accountable.
• A business plan is priorities. It's a document that helps you guide your efforts to know what to do next and where to spend your energy.
• A business plan is a prediction. No business has smooth, even growth. There will always be ups and downs, challenges and problems to solve along the way. A business plan helps you predict what and when those challenges may occur.

How do you, a newcomer to blogging (and someone using a blog for their business), go about creating a business plan for a blog?

Business plans vary as widely as business owners do. Some businesses run on a single-page document of outlines and a bunch of information in the CEO's head. Others have comprehensive living documents filled to the brim with details, guiding every move the business makes. Most are somewhere in between.

Before you can start making a business plan, you need to know what goes into one. What I've done here is pared down many of the business plan examples I've seen online and added some missing steps to create something that is "middle of the road," so to speak. It's not the most comprehensive and detailed business plan, but neither is it the simplest. You can feel free to pick and choose what ends up being the most useful to you.

For example, if you're starting a blog, how important is setting up a members-only area, subscription service, or affiliate account? In your first month, it's not very important; your first goal is to get traffic because monetization strategies aren't actualized until you have some.

Blog/Brand/Executive Summary

First up, we have the executive summary. While this might sound fancy and over-the-top for a one-person operation like a new blog, it's a pretty critical part of a business plan.

What is it?

Simply put, it's your elevator pitch, your vision, your reminder to yourself of what your blog is and what purpose it serves. It can include elements such as:

• A mission statement.  Why did you make your blog? What is your goal? What do you want your blog to look like when it's successful?
• A growth summary.  If you're starting a blog from scratch, you don't have milestones yet - you can ignore this for now. If your site has been around for a while, this is where you chart out your existing growth milestones. When did you first start to see organic traffic? When did you make your first sale? You can use this as a motivating force, too.
• A monetization summary.  How do you want to monetize your blog? You don't need to go into great detail here; note down the methods you want to use. Display ads, affiliate links, sponsored content, product sales, services, consulting; there are tons of monetization options, and this is where you list what you want to use (and what you don't).
• A goals list.  Later on, you can talk about SMART goals, but you're just listing your pie-in-the-sky goals here. Do you want to make a living? Do you want to get links and citations from major publications? Do you want to network with your favorite bloggers in the industry? This list is where you outline the goals that make you think "I made it" when you achieve them.

Remember, none of this needs to go into great detail. It's an overview, a summary, and it doesn't need to be anything more. That's what your business plan is for; remember, this plan is for your blog.

Your Unique Value

Next up, you need to dig deep and consider what you have to offer to the world via your blog. What are you bringing to the table that makes people want to follow you, read your content, partake in your monetization strategies, and otherwise make your business a success?

Again, we're still thinking in more general terms, not deep specifics. You can dig into the specifics later when you do competitive analysis and take a look at the niche and industry you're entering. So, some ideas to get you started:

• You offer unique insight and information about your topic based on your own experience.
• You offer a look at a newcomer's journey from start to finish that others can use as an example.
• You have a new and innovative product you want to bring to market.
• You can offer an existing product presented in a new and exciting way or for a lower price or higher quality than what already exists.
• You have a unique perspective on your industry based on your demographics, past experiences, or situation.

These ideas exist to get you started as much as anything. Some of these apply more to businesses that want to sell a product and use a blog to do it. People who want to be bloggers and make a living on the side might not have goods in mind. There are many potential unique selling points, so feel free to dig deeper into the subject with posts like this:

Competitive Analysis

What is your niche? Are you starting a food blog? A marketing blog? A blog about sports? Music? Any topic you can imagine is something you can write a blog about, so long as you have the expertise to fuel it, or at the very least the interest to learn. Hobbies, careers, it's all viable. There are people with incredible, insightful, and fascinating blogs about organic chemistry, nitty-gritty marketing subjects, and other narrow niches.

The key isn't just knowing what your niche is; it's about knowing  who else is competing in your industry.  Performing detailed competitor analysis allows you to build an awareness of the field and figure out who you're competing with and aspiring to be.

Before I dig into how to do this, it's worth mentioning that this can change over time. Your focus and direction within your niche can change in response to your interests changing, the interests of your audience changing, and the industry as a whole changing. Your competitor analysis is, as I mentioned up above, a living document. Things change; you need to change with them.

The actual process for competitive analysis can be somewhat complicated. I'm going to simplify it a bit here under the assumption that you're just starting with a blog and business plan, so you might not have a lot of information when you first start. Once you grow and begin to find your feet, you'll be able to refine this. Competitive analysis is something you should often do because competitors come and go.

If you want a more refined look, HubSpot has a great guide here:

In short, you need to:

1. Figure out who your competitors are. Identify as many other blogs in your niche as you can, from other small-scale blogs to the giants in the industry.

2. Figure out the scale of your competitors. Rank them; ones who are smaller than you, ones on par with you, larger than you, and as many tiers larger as you feel like dividing them.

3. Pin down information about your closest competitors. What do they do to monetize? How often do they produce new content, and of what quality level? How do they advertise their blog and their products? What sort of holes in their strategy can you identify and potentially be able to exploit?

4. What kind of audience is the competitor targeting, and how engaged are they?

If you're starting with a brand new marketing blog, don't make the mistake of digging into analysis for "competitors" that aren't your competition. For example, you're more likely to analyze me than you are HubSpot, Neil Patel, or Moz.

We create blog content that converts - not just for ourselves, but for our clients, too.

We pick blog topics like hedge funds pick stocks. Then, we create articles that are 10x better to earn the top spot.

Content marketing has two ingredients - content and marketing. We've earned our black belts in both.

Audience Definition

Armed with information about your competitors, niche, and industry, you can now start to do audience definition. If possible, you're going to want to build up a list of  audience personas . These are sort of like "character sheets" for archetypal examples of a blog reader. Who are you going to try to target with your blog? The single mom, the college student, the theater performer, and so on.

What sort of information is helpful?

• Different age groups like other kinds of content and have different types of interests. Older people might like a more formalized language, for example, and might not get video game references.
• You want to relate to your audience, so knowing the kinds of careers they have can help. A food blog creating elaborate, time-consuming recipes won't resonate with an audience of people who have 10 minutes to cook dinner.
• Understand your visitor's goals. Why is this person visiting your site? Do they want to be educated, need a tutorial for a task, or are they just interested in the subject and want to read about it?
• Other demographics. Gender, sexual identity, general location, income level, marital status; again, all of these help you relate and resonate with your audience and fulfill your reader's needs in a way that keeps them coming back.

Your personas can be as elaborate or as simple as you want to make them. They're also just guesswork, at least initially. If you don't have traffic, you don't have an actual audience to measure, after all. These guesses are just examples of who you want to target. Then, once you have some traffic, you can see who you're attracting and adjust accordingly.

Content Production Pipeline

In my mind, the most critical part of a business plan is establishing a content production pipeline for your blog content. From start to finish, you should have a defined methodology for creating your content.

The number one most critical aspect of content production is topic ideation. You can spend a decade writing content in a niche, but if you're writing random topics that come to mind, you might never resonate with other people, never get picked up by Google, and never have any success.

Every good blog post needs to recognize three things. First, it needs to understand the topic it's covering. Second, it needs to know the audience it's targeting. Third, it needs to grasp the intent of the audience. All three of these combine to create a good blog post.

The audience and their intent can define one subject. For example, let's take a food blog's post about dinner. Your topic is, in general, dinner meals.

• An audience of nutritionists might have questions about the importance of eating dinner, what nutritional profiles it should fit, and how different diets compare.
• An audience of food lovers might be interested in elaborate recipes with stunning presentations that they can replicate or enjoy vicariously.
• An audience of busy working adults might be interested in quick and easy dinner recipes they can follow to make a quick family meal in under an hour.

Thus, by learning who the audience is and what they want, you can shape your content to improve engagement and user experience.

Should it be educational? Should it be deep or superficial? Should it be instructive? All of these have their roles, which is why you need to know what you're producing.

For your blog to perform, it's also necessary for you to focus on competitive topic analysis. You're not the only one covering this topic and probably not the only one targeting this audience with it. How do other blogs compare? Are they shorter, lower-quality posts or longer, high-quality posts? Are they deep or broad? Are the sites that are surfacing small or massive? Did they leave anything out, or can you expand on this topic and create a much better version?

You can also analyze the core keyword of the topic. Specifically, you're looking for subjects that strike the right balance between search volume and competition. A blog topic with too much competition will be impossible to rank for, and a blog post that doesn't get any organic traffic is a failure in my eyes. A topic with too little search volume will get you little or no traffic, even if you rank #1 for it. It would help if you found something in the middle.

From there, your content production pipeline gets into the actual details of production. Here's my general process:

• Begin with topic ideation, as mentioned above.
• Do the research and generate a compelling headline.
• Create an outline for the blog post .
• Flesh out the outline, rearrange sections into a logical order and write the post.
• Edit the post for spelling, grammar, factual information, consistency, and logical flow.
• Add formatting; headings , bold/italics/underlines, symbols, lists, etc.
• Create images. All good blog posts need solid pictures and preferably unique ones.
• Review the post for SEO factors, such as keyword usage, links to other blog posts internal and external, calls to action, and so on .
• Publish the post, or schedule it as part of a backlog for a consistent schedule.

At any given time, I have articles in nearly every stage of this pipeline. I can start and stop as necessary by establishing a defined calendar and maintaining a constant production flow.

A defined pipeline like this also allows you to offload some work to freelancers, contractors, or employees as you grow. For example, you might do your topic ideation and outlining and then hand off the actual writing to a writer, do the editing and formatting, hire someone for graphic design, and do your SEO review and publishing.

Promotion Strategy

Blogs don't work on their own. There's no Field of Dreams-Esque "If you build it, they will come" effect going on. No, the internet is far too packed with content for that to work these days. Today, you need to promote your blog, which means developing a promotion strategy. Your blog business plan should include your primary, secondary, and tertiary promotion strategies in organic and paid methods.

I'm not going to go too deep into specifics about promotion, but here are strategies you can use for ideas and research more into how to do them effectively.

• Paid marketing. Paid ads, sponsorships, paid promotion on social networks; spending money gets you results, as long as you have the money to spend.
• Attract the attention of Google. You want your articles to get ranked for their respective topics and keywords to earn some organic traffic. This one is essential for every blog and the real reason most people start a blog in the first place.
• Link building . One of the core pillars of SEO is links pointing to you from other relevant sites. Getting those links can be complicated and is an industry in and of itself.
• Influencer marketing. This strategy involves networking with influential content creators in your niche, particularly those with active social network audiences.
• Social media posting and sharing. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, Imgur, YouTube; any relevant social network can be a source of traffic when you promote yourself using the site.
• Content repurposing. A blog post doesn't need to stay a blog post. You can use it as a basis for  other forms of content , including videos, podcasts, infographics, and more.
• Newsletter marketing. Building up a newsletter and actively using it is a powerful technique that many bloggers ignore for far too long.

Promoting your content is how you grow. Without it, you're just howling into the void.

Timeline Estimates

Another element of a blog business plan is establishing a timeline. Timelines are flexible, but you can estimate how your blog will grow and set goals to reach specific milestones with SMART goals.

SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Sensitive. SMART goals mean that you can pin them down, measure them, and set them as specific goals with a success or failure attached to them.

A non-SMART goal would be :

"I want to grow my blog."

A SMART goal would be:

"I want to reach at least 100 monthly active users by January 1, 202x."

Developing a timeline helps you set goals and progress towards them, with the added benefit of allowing you to reevaluate and adjust your strategy if you achieve them much earlier than (or fail to achieve them by) the original estimated goal date.

Wrapping Up

While creating a business plan for a blog might sound like unnecessary work, it separates real bloggers from hobbyists. Don't get me wrong; if all you want to do is write about your life in a format you can share with friends and family, that's fine. But, if you're going to earn a living from your blog, you need to treat it like you would anything else you make a living through.

Take it seriously, and your blog will reward you for your effort.

James Parsons is the founder and CEO of Content Powered, a premier content marketing agency that leverages nearly two decades of his experience in content marketing to drive business growth. Renowned for founding and scaling multi-million dollar eCommerce businesses through strategic content marketing, James has become a trusted voice in the industry, sharing his insights in Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Journal, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc, and other leading publications. His background encompasses key roles across various agencies, contributing to the content strategies of major brands like eBay and Expedia. James's expertise spans SEO, conversion rate optimization, and effective content strategies, making him a pivotal figure in the industry.

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March 09, 2022 at 7:22 pm

Awesome guide! Extremely useful for a newbie like me.

March 10, 2022 at 9:38 am

Thanks Tom! Good luck with your new blog 🙂 feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

March 23, 2022 at 9:48 pm

What other things should I keep in mind transitioning from writing on a personal blog to a business blog?

March 25, 2022 at 1:50 pm

I think successful blog marketing can be broken down into two categories; research and execution. One falls flat without the other.

Here's an article I wrote on research: https://www.contentpowered.com/blog/blog-topic-ideas-tools/

Here's an article I wrote on execution: https://www.contentpowered.com/blog/blog-optimization-tips-seo/

These two should help you out quite a bit!

March 25, 2022 at 2:01 pm

I wrote a great guide on this here, focused on business blogging: https://www.contentpowered.com/blog/write-first-blog-post/

The most significant shift between a personal blog and a business blog is the increased importance of choosing the correct blog post titles.

Traffic volume, pain points, and conversions aren't always as crucial with a journal or a for-fun blog. With a business blog, those things are essential.

Here's a guide that I wrote on how to find great blog post titles: https://www.contentpowered.com/blog/blog-topic-ideas-tools/

I hope this helps!

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How to Create a Bangin’ Blog Business Plan (Workbook Included!)

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Get this: I did a recent survey of my audience (hey, like you!) and almost 75% of the people who responded said that they would love to turn their blog into a full-time business. Awesome, right?

Well, kind of.

Of everyone who responded, only about 15% said that they were actually making a living from their blog right now. So, what gives? What’s with all the people who yearn to do it compared to the small amount of people actually making it happen? For one, if you want to turn your blog into a business, you need to have a solid and strategic plan in place. That’s where today’s post comes into play. I’m going to show you how to create a Blog Business Plan , which is one of the first things you should do if you’re interested in one-day earning a full-time income from your blog.

Also, if The Oprah Winfrey Show ever comes back for an encore, I’d love to see Oprah throw out blog businesses to her audience.  You get to earn a full-time income from your blog! And YOU get to earn a full-time income from your blog!  Make it happen, O.

Back to business here. 😉 Business plans, at their core, are used by nearly all profitable businesses in the world. Creating a business plan for your blog gives you the opportunity to nail down all of the specifics, do important research, and create strategies that will propel you forward. It is essentially a roadmap of your blog business, written with your audience in mind.

I’ve even got some free worksheets for you, that will guide you through this post and give you a free Blog Business Plan that you can download, print out, and keep forever. Sound good?

Download your free workbook here:

Now, we’re ready to dive in! Let’s do this, yo. Here are the key components of a Blog Business Plan:

Step 1: Executive Summary

“Executive Summary” sounds really fancy pants, doesn’t it? It’s the very first section of your business plan, which is often written last, after everything else comes together. Here’s what you will want to include in your executive summary:

1. Your Mission Statement

This briefly explains what your business is about. What purpose does it serve? Why did you create it?

2. Highlights of Your Growth

If your blog has been around for any span of time, then you can mention the growth that you’ve already received here. You can mention any sort of growth, from an increase in money earned from your blog, to an increase in social media followers or pageviews. All of your growth contributes to your overall blog business, so this section is important (and motivating, yeah?).

3. Your products or services.

You’ll have the chance to talk more about your products and services in a later section, but here, write a couple brief sentences about the monetization methods you are using or the ones you intend to use.

4. Finally, what are your goals?

Here, you get to do some planning for the future! Always exciting, yes? Where do you plan to take your blog business in the future? What are some holy-crap-I-want-to-accomplish-this-one-day goals you have?

HOLD UP. What if you’re brand new to blogging?

In that case, you may not be able to fill out some of the sections above as easily. Instead, focus on your experience and how YOU are able turn your blog into a business. You can think of it as almost like a cover letter — what kind of research have you done and experience do you have that will make your business succeed? After that, make sure to talk about your future goals. Anyone can plan for the future. 😀

Step 2: Blog Business Description

In this section, we’re going to tackle the organization and culture of your blog business. You may not feel like you have a “company culture” just yet, but you are certainly building a brand, which is nearly the same thing. *hair flip* Let’s do this.

1. What sets your blog apart from others?

Take some time to think about this one — why would someone read  your blog over another, similar blog? In Step 4, we’re going to do some serious competitor analysis, but for now, just think about how you’re different and what you can do to separate yourself from your competition.

2. Who do you serve?

Your Blog Business Plan basically revolves around your target market. Actually, just about everything that you do for your blog should revolve around them! Without an audience, it will be impossible to grow a community around your blog or turn it into a full-time business. So, get really clear about who you serve.

• How old are they?
• What do they do for a living?
• What brought them to your blog?
• How can you help them?
• What are their future goals or aspirations?
• What are their hobbies?

Keep in mind, even if you are new to blogging and don’t have much of an audience to analyze, you can absolutely still take part in this section. Truthfully, blogging is not about creating content and trying to figure out who is reading it. It’s the opposite — deciding who you want to serve and then creating content that helps that specific type of person. Get it? 😉

Related: How to Choose a Focus for Your Blog (And Why It’s the Most Important Thing You’ll Do As a Blogger)

3. What is your “company culture” or brand personality?

You may not be running a business casual office for your blog, but you still have a brand personality and culture to uphold.

• When people interact with you or your blog, what do you want them to feel?
• What words would you use to describe your blog’s personality?
• What purpose does your blog serve?

The answers to these questions will help to analyze what your brand personality is. Developing a true personality for your blog means that you are consistent. It’s okay to try on different hats at first, but the most successful blogs are ones that have a distinct personality (perhaps similar to your own personality, you little blog hustler, you!).

4. What is the organizational structure of your blog business?

This may not be a concern for you at the moment, but in the future you may want to turn your blog into a recognized “corporation,” like an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation). If you are currently running a blog and accepting money as a blogger, then you obviously need to file taxes on that income. However, as you work with more clients and customers, turning your blog biz into an LLC or Incorporation (Inc) can protect your income and business from things like lawsuits.

If you’re just getting started, I would recommend waiting to turn your blog into an LLC or Inc unless you are in some sort of high-risk blogging industry. *Casually puts on sunglasses like and walks off into the sunset.* When I started my first business through my blog, it took me about a year before I turned it into an LLC. If you are the only employee and choose not to create an LLC or Incorporation, then you are simply known as a “sole proprietor,” which is totally legal and fuss-free.

Related: How to File Taxes as a Blogger

Step 3: Competitor Analysis

Before launching your blog into a business, it’s important to research your competitors and similar blogs, so that you can try to stay ahead of the game. A little warning for you though: When doing your research, make sure of two things:

• You’re researching with analysis eyes, not copycat eyes. It can be easy to look at a competitor’s website and get a flood of ideas for your own blog. Don’t do that, k?
• If your competitors are farther along than you, don’t feel let down.  It’s okay if they have a larger following, earn more money, or have some other statistic that has got you feeling like a failure. Remember, you’re here. Right now. Putting in the work. This isn’t about looking at other people and playing the comparison game. This is about being analytical and doing your research so that you can build your own empire. You got this, yo. Promise.

Lastly, I just want to mention that analyzing your competitors is an important part of starting a business, but it doesn’t mean you have to operate from a “competition mindset.” In fact, I’d discourage it. You will get much farther in your blog business if you focus on collaboration and relationships than if you focus on competing with other people. This section is simply another important way for you to do research so that you can build a strong foundation for your future online biz. *fist bump*

Now, when doing your competitor analysis, you’ll want to take the following steps:

1. Identify who your competitors are.

Make a list of all of your competitors. Which other bloggers are in your niche, doing something similar to you or to what you want to do? Which other bloggers have potentially similar products or offerings? Write down who they are, with a link to their website.

Now, if you’re brand new to blogging, then you may not know who your competitors are. Here are a few ways to find them:

• By being active on social media.  The more active you are on social media (so long as you’re sharing content for your niche), the more you’ll naturally discover who your potential competitors are. Observe. See who people are talking about, sharing content from, and engaging with.
• By joining Facebook groups.  Facebook groups are a fabulous place to learn more about your market and competition. Again, observe in Facebook groups. You’re obviously welcomed (and encouraged) to participate, but make sure that you are also observing what people say. Who do they mention? You can also start a new thread in a Facebook group (so long as it’s not against the group rules) to ask who people’s inspirations are in _____ niche. That should deliver some stellar results!
• By searching for relevant keywords on Google and seeing what pops up.  This is one of the easiest strategies. Think of a few “keywords” to describe your blog or niche. For example, if you write about hand-lettering, then some of your keywords might be “hand-letting for beginners” or “best calligraphy tools.” If you type your keywords into Google or Pinterest, whose content pops up first? These may very well be some of your competitors.

2. Research your competitors’ strategies and goals.

Now that you know who your competition is, take some time to research their strategies and goals. Go through their websites and social media accounts.

• What do they promote and how do they promote it?
• Are there any strategies that many of your competitors seem to use (for example, are most of them hosting webinars)?
• What sets them apart from the other competitors on your list?
• What goals do they have? Of course, you may not know the answer to this, but based on your research, what do you feel they are trying to achieve?

3. Know your competitors’ price points and ranges for their products.

If your competition has any products for sale, then write down what the price ranges are for those products. This will give you an overview of how much is typical for a product you may create one day and what your target audience is used to paying.

4. Create a list of your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.

Finally, after reviewing their websites, strategies, and offerings, you’ll probably have a good idea about what exactly “exists” in your niche and how people are creating their businesses and blog communities. Now it’s time to dig a little deeper. Choose 3-5 of your competitors and make a list of some of their strengths and weaknesses. What do they excel at and what can they improve? And how can you use that knowledge to craft your own, well-rounded strategy?

Again, the competitor analysis is a great way to get more tuned in to the trends and strategies that are alive and kickin’ in your niche.

After you’ve done your competitor analysis? Don’t visit your competitors’ sites again.

Yup. Seriously serious. You will  not reach your goals if you spend your time checking in on what everyone else is doing and trying to replicate it. So, do your research, decide what works for you, and then create your own path.

Step 4: Audience Research

In Step 2, you identified who your target market is. Now, we’re going to dig in a little further!

1. Research your audience by doing a survey.

Surveys are a killer way to understand more about your audience without having to guess. You can use free sites like SurveyMonkey or Typeform  to create your survey, and then you just need to share it with your peeps. I recommend sharing it with your email list, on your blog, and on social media multiple times during a 1-2 week span of time.

• What will you use to create your survey?
• What are three of the most important questions you can ask that will help you learn more about your audience?
• How will you deliver your survey to your audience and get people to take it?

If your audience is small or currently non-existent, then rather than doing a survey, you can put on your observation glasses and pay attention on social media. Again, things like Facebook groups and Twitter chats are amazing ways to gain more information about your target audience. Just make sure to join groups and chats where your target market would be hangin’ out.

2. How can you help your audience specifically?

Going back to the Brand Personality that we talked about in Step 2 and the Competitor Analysis that we did in Step 3, how can YOU help your audience? What sets your blog apart from others and allows you to help your peeps in a different way? You don’t need to reinvent the wheel here! You can use many of the same strategies that others do, but it’s just about adding your own flair and personality to the things you create.

Step 5: Building Community

Before you launch a product through your blog, it’s essential to first grow your community and audience. If you want to grow a blog business, then you can buy all the e-courses and books you’d like. But if they only give you strategies for creating and launching product, without strategies for first building a strong audience and growing your traffic, then it’s just unlikely you’ll get the same results. For a successful blog, you totally need both: a community and a product.

1. Social media

One of the best ways to build community is by harnessing the power of social media. Social media is a ridiculously helpful space for growing your tribe and increasing your traffic. You can focus on Pinterest for traffic growth , and Twitter/Facebook/Instagram for finding your potential audience members and engaging with them.

So, for your blog business plan, it’s important to create your social media strategy.

• On which platforms will you put the most emphasis?
• Where does your target market hang out the most?
• What strategies will you use on each platform in order to grow your audience and community?
• How will you find your target audience on social media?

Related: 6 Ways to Create a More Engaged Audience on Instagram

2. Email list

In addition to partying on social media, you also want to put a large focus on your email list. Not only will your email list be essential for selling your products, but it will also be an incredible medium for connecting with your audience.

• Which strategies will you use to grow your email list?
• How often will you communicate with your list?
• Which types of things will you send your email list?
• What will you use for your email list’s lead magnet ?

Related:  8 Things You Can Send to Your Email List (For the Blogger Who Has No Idea What to Say)

3. Humanizing your brand

If you’re going to build a true blog business and community, you have to “humanize your brand.” In other words, what steps will you take so that your audience feels connected to you and can relate to you? Remember, people don’t buy from faceless corporations; they buy from people.

Related: How to Prime and Grow Your Audience for Your First Info Product

Step 6: Your Service or Product

Woop woop! It’s time to start planning your monetization strategies. Exciting, right? Now’s your chance to decide  how you will turn your blog into a biz. Will you launch services? Will you create an e-product? Here are some steps to get you started.

1. What do/will you sell?

What is a product or service that would help your target market or is something that you know they need (because you did a survey or observed them!)?

Don’t be afraid to get a little detailed here.

• Will it be an e-course?
• How many modules will it have?
• Which topics will it cover?
• How much do you plan to sell it for?
• When will you launch it?
• Will it be a set of services?
• What kind of service packages will you offer?

Related: How to Create and Prepare Your First E-Product

2. How does your product or service benefit your peeps?

Remember, your blog business plan is all about serving  your audience . They are the people who can turn your blog into a community and a business, so we want to serve them! Think critically about the monetization method you chose in the previous step…how will that product or service impact the lives of your tribe members? Why do they need or want it?

3. How is your product or service different from what your competitors are selling?

Lastly, go back to your competitor research and take a look at what your competitors are selling and promoting. How is your offering different, or how can you make it different? Is there anything you could add to your offering that would make it feel even more valuable than whatever else is out there?

Step 7: Marketing and Sales Strategy

Holy moly. You are such a trooper for making it this far. Who knew planning a business could be so much work? 😉 But really, you are putting in the effort right now and I am straight up impressed. Finally, we’re going to talk about your marketing and sales strategy, because once you create your products or services, you actually need to promote them! Let’s get started.

1. How will you market your products, services, and blog?

Take a moment to write down the methods that you will use to market your products, services, and blog. Will you use Facebook ads, schedule tweets, create a robust Pinterest strategy ? Write down all of the methods you’ll employ when promoting and marketing your content.

If you’re looking for ways to market your e-product or service, then check out this post where I share a variety of ways to market and launch your offerings.

2. How long will you spend on marketing and promotion per day?

We’re all busy, right? But turning your blog into a business does take some time. Make sure you analyze how much time you’ll realistically be able to spend on marketing and promotion each day and week. You may need to make some sacrifices or move your schedule around, but it will be worth it when you sell your first e-product and realize you’ve got what it takes to create your own business. 🙂

3. If you haven’t started your blog, what strategies will you use to launch it?

Now, if you’re a new blogger, you may need to start by creating a “launch” strategy specifically for your blog! How will your blog come into existence? What are some things you can do to launch your blog with a bang and get people excited about what you create and do?

One simple technique is to launch your blog with 5-10 pre-published (and freakin’ awesome) posts. If you only have one or two posts for your new visitors to browse during your launch, then they might not find anything that’s relevant to them. Creating multiple pieces of content gives them the chance to browse your site for a longer period of time, find something that interests them, and potentially subscribe and get hooked on your brand.

4. What is your growth strategy? In other words, what techniques will you use to continue growing your audience and income?

Finally (finally!), you want to come up with some strategies that you can use to  grow your brand. Imagine that your blog has been around for a few months or even years (maybe it has!) — what types of marketing and promotion strategies will you use to keep your growth on the up and up? Will you do monthly webinars? Biweekly guest posts on bigger sites? Hire an assistant? Launch a new course every quarter? Think about some things that you can add to your tool belt, which will keep your blog business growing and thriving.

MAJOR high five to you, friend. I can tell that you’re here because you’re truly ready to take your blog to a new level by turning it into a community and launching your very own blog business. Doing the same for my own blog (this one you’re reading!), was one of the absolute best decisions of my life.

What is something you struggle with in terms of turning your blog into a community and launching your own products? Let’s chat down below!

p.s. If you’re eager to turn your blog into a business, then I’ve got something BIG coming for you at the end of November. Make sure you sign up for the free Blog Business Plan Worksheets here so that you’re notified when more details are released!

Keep Reading

I’m Retiring

5 Steps to Hiring Your First Virtual Assistant

3 Ways To Set Goals That Actually Work

3 Reasons You’re Not Making More Money (And What to Do Instead)

The REAL Reason Why I Created an Email List 6 Years Ago

How to Make Time To Grow Your Email List

Why NOT Being an Expert Can Help You Grow Your Email List

How She Grew an Email List of 5,000 Subscribers and Had a $20,000 Course Launch (In a Tiny Niche!)

What You Need to Know If You’re Trying to Grow Your Email List

5 Steps to Build Your Email List, Engage Your Subscribers, and Make Sales With Email Marketing

5 Reasons You Feel Unmotivated (and How to Get Your Passion Back)

5 Ways To Get Out of a Work-from-Home Rut

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Written by Casey Botticello

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It’s all well and good to want to start a blog.

Perhaps it’s just a hobby, or a side hustle. However, if you’re looking to become a successful blogger and monetize, you’ll need to treat your blog like a business!

Behind any successful business is a business plan. If you’re a smart blogger, then you’ll want to create a blog business plan . This will help guide any decisions you make and grow your brand down the line.

To learn how to create a blog business plan effectively, read on to discover all the elements you need to consider!

What Is a Blog Business Plan?

In general, a business plan is a document that you, the business owner, creates in order to lay out your goals more efficiently.

Essentially, you can think of it as a “roadmap” for your business.

It functions as a guide to the core activities of your business, how you plan to move forward, what your goals are, ethos of the business, and any projections. 

A well-crafted business plan will contain the following:

• An executive summary
• Information about your services and products
• Plans for your marketing strategy
• Analysis of the market and competitors
• Budget and financial planning or considerations.

So how does this relate to your blog? 

Well, if you think about your blog as a business , then you can see how important it is to craft a blog business plan. How much better is it if you know what you’re aiming for with your blog, rather than stumbling around in the dark?

Making sure you have a blog business plan will enable you to:

• Be clear about what you’re trying to achieve with your blog
• Hold yourself accountable to your goals
• Be clear about your priorities in order to achieve your goals
• Be prepared for whatever comes your way.

Yes, putting together a business plan is a bit of an undertaking, but you’ll be relieved when you have it in place. Not only that, but you’ll set yourself on the path to success!

The Elements of a Blog Business Plan

So now you know the why , let’s get into the how . Here are all of the things you need to prepare:

The Executive Summary

This should always be the first section of your business plan. It’ll lay out exactly what your business — in this case your blog — is all about.

Your executive summary should be broken down into several sections:

• Your mission statement

What purpose does your blog serve and what is it about? Do you fit into a particular niche?

Really dig in and consider why you started your blog in the first place. This is your opportunity to evaluate your ethos and core values.

• Information about you

Who are you? What’s your background? Why should you be considered an authority on your topic?

• Who is your ideal target audience?

What kind of person is your perfect reader? What is their demographic?

• Any relevant blog growth highlights

If you’ve already been running your blog for some time, this is your opportunity to boast about your achievements thus far!

Have your followers increased? Were you able to monetize through affiliate partnerships, or otherwise? Have your unique views increased?

Don’t worry if you don’t have anything to put in this section yet — remember, your business plan can (and should) be updated!

• Any services or products you offer

You don’t need to go into excessive depth here, as you’ll be able to expand on this later in your business plan. However, you should mention in brief what you’re doing, or planning on doing, in order to monetize.

• What goals are you hoping to achieve?

The most exciting bit! Here’s where you get to lay out your dream goals and vision statement for the future.

Don’t scare yourself off, really think hard about what it is you want to achieve and put it down. Not only is it motivating, but once you’ve written it down, you can start to consider how to make those goals reality.

Brand Identification

The backbone of any business is the brand identity. This is what hooks customers, inspires brand loyalty, and brings a touch of humanity to a service.

For a blog, this is even more important, because what you’re selling is, well — you! As a blogger you’re putting yourself out there as the authority on your subject or topic, bringing value to your audience.

While it can be tempting to create a brand persona for your blog, what readers really love is authenticity and trustworthiness. Plus, how exhausting would it be to have to keep up a double life?!

Maybe your brand identity is a little more extra than you are in person, but at the core it’s still you. Lean into this and build off it in order to find what works for you, your blog, and your audience.

Ask yourself the following:

• Why does your blog exist?
• How do you want your audience to feel when they interact with your blog or you?
• What keywords would you use to describe your blog?

It’s also important to know what your “ definitely wouldn’t do” s as well as your “ would love to do” s are. That way you can refine the core values and ethos of your blog.

In this section you should note:

• Your blog details

What’s your blog called? What kind of vibe are you aiming for?

• What do you cover?

Here you’ll want to explain what topics and categories you cover on your blog, i.e. what’s your niche? Include what hashtags you use on your social media channels, too, as this will be relevant for your marketing strategy.

• What are your posting processes or practices?

Do you have a specific format or style guide to stick to? How about images? This is important to know not just for you but for any guest bloggers you may invite to your blog.

• How would you like to expand on your blog later down the line?

How could your blog and brand expand in the future? What opportunities exist?

Here you could think about publishing books, starting a video channel, doing live demonstrations and events — anything you can think of that you’d like to do!

Overall Business Strategy

Here’s where you’re going to talk about how you plan on executing your goals. You’ll want to include:

• Your posting schedule

Consistency is key! Blogging regularly not only helps you, but it lets your audience know when to expect content. Create a schedule and stay the course!

• Your marketing strategy

What methods are you planning on using for marketing yourself and your blog? Social media and email mailing lists are commonly used, but there are other forms of marketing out there, too.

What about using guest bloggers, or link exchanges? Known as outreach marketing, this can also be an extremely effective form of marketing for blogs.

• How you’ll monetize and what you offer

What techniques will you use to bring money in, while also offering value to your audience? Check back over your goals and future expansion ideas for help with this if you’re stuck.

Remember : There are lots of different ways to monetize your blog, but don’t stray too far from your mission statement, blog ethos, and brand identity.

• Analytics of your blog

Being able to analyze your blog performance and track unique views, keywords, and more, is essential to the success of your blog. While Google Analytics is an excellent choice here, it isn’t the only one.

Identify which analytics service(s) or tools you’ll use and how they can help drive your blog forward.

Market and Audience Analysis

As with any business, one of the most important steps is identifying who your audience are, the current market, and any competition.

Knowing who you’re trying to reach with your blog and how you can stand out from the crowd is essential to success.

In this section you should lay out:

• Who are your target readers?

How old are they? What demographic are you trying to reach?

It could be helpful to imagine your ideal reader here, as this can help you when writing your blog posts if you imagine that you are writing for that specific person.

• Who is your competition?

Who are the successful bloggers in your niche? What sets them apart and what tools or marketing strategies are they using?

It’s a good idea to profile your competition and include not just your main rivals but also smaller blogs. What are they doing right? How could you improve on what they’re doing?

• What networking opportunities exist?

No man is an island and blogging is all about community. That’s not just the community that you’re building, but the community that already exists around you.

There are plenty of opportunities to collaborate and work with others in your field. Identify these and use them to your advantage.

Financial Considerations

Of course, you can run a blog for free. However, in order to really level up, you’re going to want to spend a bit of money.

Even if you’re running your blog for free right now, it’s a good idea to be clear about what expenses you may need in the future.

• Domain and hosting costs
• Branding or logo design costs
• Any subscriptions you may need for themes, plugins, tools, or software
• Photography costs, whether that’s your own or licenses required
• Any promotional materials, eg, business cards and Facebook ads
• Office supplies
• Internet provider costs
• Any fees associated with starting a business (not necessarily required).

How Blogs Can Turn into a Business

As soon as you monetize your blog, it’s no longer a hobby but a business! On your blogging journey, somewhere along the line you may decide that doing it for no return isn’t worth the effort any more. 

After all, you’re putting time into creating a resource for others– so why shouldn’t you be compensated?

When you decide that your blog should be a business, you’ll want to make sure that you:

• Post consistently
• Market and promote your content in order to grow your audience
• Communicate with your followers though email mailing lists, social media, and more
• Find different ways to monetize your blog
• Keep going!

You may find that what works for other blogs doesn’t for yours. That’s okay! Just keep hustling, and you’ll eventually find a winning formula.

How to Create a Blog Business Plan

While we’ve already covered a lot of the steps you need to go through in order to create your blog business plan, let’s break it down even further.

1. Create a Blog Roadmap: Define Your Blog’s Goals, Mission, & Vision

What Is Your Niche?

Defining your niche is the most important step: what are you going to blog about? What sets you apart from your competitors as the authority on this subject? Niche vs. micro niche ?

You really could pick any topic you like, as long as there’s a demand!

Who Is Your Target Market?

Who is your ideal reader? What are their demographics and psychographics?

Research your target market — what are their pain points? How can you tap into this to create content that’s of value to them?

How Will You Monetize Your Blog?

There are a million and one ways to monetize your blog. Here are some ideas:

• Become an affiliate partner
• Sell advertising space
• Partner with brands
• Sell physical or online products or courses
• Write and sell e-books

Be sure to stay true to your blog’s ethos and brand when choosing monetizing opportunities , as not all will be a good fit.

What Do You Want Your Blog Business to Achieve? 

Perhaps you want to hit a certain unique visitor milestone, or email subscriptions? 

Maybe you want to earn a specific amount of money, or even spend a particular amount of time working on your blog.

Whatever it is, be reasonable and realistic with your timeframes. You want this to be a way to measure your success.

2. Do Competitive Research & Analysis

Who Are Your Main Competitors?

Use Google Alerts and keyword searches to figure out who your main competitors are. 

Knowing who your competitors are means that you’ll be better equipped to place yourself as the authority in your niche.

What Are Their Strengths, Weaknesses, and Keywords?

If you’re able to identify your competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, and keywords, you’ll know what pitfalls to avoid and how you can better them.

Keyword research is vital here. When it comes to beating your competition, it’s all about placing higher in Google searches so that you become the top-ranked blog in your niche.

How Can You Differentiate Your Blog from Theirs?

Your USP (unique selling point) is what’s going to give you the edge over anyone else in your niche. What is it that makes you special and unique?

Make a list of all of the ways your blog is or could stand out from the crowd, then use this as a guide for your content and strategies.

Tools You Can Use for Competitive Analysis

There are many tools out there you can utilize when analyzing your competition. 

Some will be paid, and some will be free with the option to upgrade. We recommend starting with free versions first and seeing if you need to upgrade.

You may find that a combination of tools works best for you, as some will analyze particular social media whereas others will look at keywords and SEO-related analytics . 

You may want to check out tools such as:

• SproutSocial
• SocialBlade

3. Establish Website

Domain Name

This is what you’ll name your blog . Make sure it’s registered, fits with your brand and blog in some way, and that the domain has a clean history .

Blog Hosting

This is where your blog lives on the Internet. Make sure you choose a reliable and reputable blog web hosting service — a blog with a lot of downtime isn’t going to help you!

Website Elements 

What will you use to design your website? WordPress is one of the most used platforms for building a blog– and for good reason. It’s extremely user-friendly, and you don’t need to know code to get going.

However, there are plenty of other website building tools out there, so do your research and pick the best one for your blog.

You’ll want to think about the visual appeal and aesthetics of your blog as well as the personality and tone. Make sure it all ties into your blog’s ethos, message, and vision, too.

4. Make a Content Strategy

SEO and Keywords

SEO and keywords are, arguably, the most important part of getting your blog out there. If you aren’t ranking highly on search engines then how will anybody see your hard work?

Make sure you take the time to get your SEO up to scratch and do thorough keyword search. That way you can ensure that you’re giving yourself the best chance for your blog to be seen.

Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is a great way to bring new traffic into your blog, whether you’re hosting another blogger or creating a post for someone else.

Be sure to align yourself with others in your niche to draw the right traffic into your blog. 

Building backlinks with other blogs is also a great way to improve your SEO. Guest blogging also helps to establish you as an expert in your niche and build awareness of your brand.

In other words: There’s no downside to guest blogging as long as it’s carried out legitimately and with reputable partners!

Email Marketing 

Email mailing lists are still a great way of keeping in touch with your existing audience, as well as helping to grow your readership.

Encourage people to sign up by having a great lead magnet. Don’t forget to be consistent and send out newsletters to your readership, directing them to where you want them to go.

Social Media 

Social media can be an excellent way to build community around your blog. Ideally, your blog’s community will be engaged, and social media is where you can really make that happen.

You can even use social media to drive more traffic to your blog. Just don’t forget to be authentic and engage with your audience in a genuine way!

5.  Develop Standard Operating Procedures

Content Calendars 

Creating content calendars can be extremely helpful as you continue to refine your blog posting processes and operating procedures. 

This lays out exactly what you’ll be posting and when, making it easier for you to create content regularly.

Your content should always be high quality and of value to your audience. Knowing what you’re going to post and when allows you to plan your content to make sure this is true every time!

Should You Outsource?

You may find at some point that the growth of your blog has exceeded your individual ability to fulfill its needs. At this point, you may want to consider outsourcing parts of your blog .

This is also why it’s important for you to lay out your business plan early on — what are the essential tasks that only you can do? 

What other menial tasks could you outsource, without affecting quality, value, or your bottom line?

Time Spent on Blog

There’s going to come a point when your blog side hustle is now your main hustle, and when that time comes you’ll need to be able to respect the commitment required.

How much time is reasonable for you to spend on your blog? Is it going to be financially sustainable? How will the time you spend on your blog affect its future valuation should you choose to sell it?

Try to define your time commitment to your blog and balance this with the rest of your life.

6. Sales & Marketing

There are so many different ways to market your blog, some of which we’ve already outlined in this article. Whatever you choose, just make sure that it remains true to your blog’s brand!

7. Performance Tracking

Don’t forget : Once you’ve put everything else in place, you’ll want to use various tools to track your performance. 

Google Analytics is a great place to start, but there are many free and paid-for tools available, too.

Only by tracking your performance will you be able to make positive changes for success.

8. Launch Your Blog

And, you’re off! Now that you’ve put in all the prep work, it’s time to get your blog off the paper and into the world. Start your blog today !

The Bottom Line

Anyone can have a blog, but to have a successful blog takes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.

By creating a blog business plan, you can ensure that you’ve got a framework to work from, measure your progress, motivate you, and make sure that you stay true to your values.

If you’re ready to take your blog from a side hustle to a business, then following the above steps will ensure that you’re prepared to do so. 

Just remember to stay true to why you started your blog in the first place, as well as your values and blog ethos. Best of luck!

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The Step-By-Step Guide To Creating A Blog Business Plan

Thinking about starting a blog?

Having a business plan is like your favorite GPS app (whichever you fancy, I’m not here to incite a Google Maps vs. Waze debate).

It guides you around the pot-holes, helps you steer clear of the congested lanes, and ensures you reach your destination most effectively.

You’re probably thinking, “But, I’m just starting a small blog, not Amazon 2.0. Do I really need a business plan?”

To that, I say, resoundingly, “YES!”

A business plan is like your secret weapon to side hustle success.

It keeps you on track, keeps the chaos at bay, and best of all, it’s customizable to you and your aspirations.

It’s not just about having blog ideas or setting goals but also about mapping the path to achieve them.

In this blog post, I’ll help you through the steps of creating a business plan tailored just for your blog.

Steps To Create A Killer Blog Business Plan

The first and foremost thing to consider when creating a blog business plan is to define your niche .

Identifying your niche means specifying the topic you want to write about and who your target audience is.

Choosing a topic that you’re knowledgeable and passionate about and resonates with your audience is crucial.

Once you’ve identified your niche, research your competition and identify what makes your blog unique.

The next step is to develop a content strategy that aligns with your niche and blog goals.

A content strategy involves planning for your blog posts, including the type of content you’ll write , the posting frequency, and how you’ll promote your content.

You should also consider the tone of voice you want to use, the length of your blog posts, and the format of your content.

Blogging is not just about writing content; it’s also about promoting it.

Social media is a powerful tool to drive traffic to your blog and grow your audience.

Thus, developing a social media strategy that supports your blog goals is essential.

Create social media profiles across platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Additionally, consider the type of content you want to post, the timing, and relevant hashtags.

Once you’ve established your content and social media strategy, the next step is to consider how you’ll monetize your blog.

There are several ways to generate revenue from your blog, such as affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, advertising, and selling digital or physical products.

You should identify which monetization strategy aligns with your niche, audience, and blog goals.

Lastly, setting key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure your progress and success is crucial when creating a blog business plan.

KPIs are specific metrics that you can track, such as traffic, engagement, revenue, and email subscribers.

You should monitor these metrics regularly and adjust your plan.

Tips For Establishing Long-Term Objectives

Creating achievable long-term objectives requires careful planning, strategic thinking, and an eye for detail.

Let’s explore some top tips for establishing and working towards these goals.

Clearly Define Your Objectives

The first step in establishing long-term objectives is understanding your goals.

Define your objectives in specific, measurable terms, and make sure they align with your business or blog’s mission.

Objectives should be not only financial but also qualitative.

How will you measure success?

What milestones will you need to achieve along the way?

Having clear objectives will help you make informed decisions and prioritize tasks.

Conduct A SWOT Analysis

Before creating a strategy, it’s crucial to understand your business or blog’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Conducting a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis will help you identify internal and external factors that can impact your long-term objectives.

By understanding your strengths, you can leverage them to achieve your goals.

You can develop contingency plans to overcome challenges by recognizing weaknesses and threats.

Create A Strategic Plan

Create a strategic plan once you have defined your objectives and conducted a SWOT analysis.

A strategic plan should identify your goals, tactics, timelines, and resources to achieve long-term objectives.

The plan should also anticipate potential challenges and include contingency business plans.

Ensure the plan is flexible enough to adapt to changes in the market or industry.

Include an executive summary as well to provide a clear plan overview.

Celebrate Small Victories

Achieving long-term objectives can be a lengthy process.

Remember to celebrate small victories along the way.

Celebrating small successes can boost morale and motivate you to keep moving forward.

Recognizing your team’s achievements can also help build a collaborative and positive work culture.

Persevere Through Challenges

Finally, it’s essential to persevere through challenges to achieve long-term objectives.

Creating a strategy does not guarantee success.

Challenges and setbacks will inevitably occur.

Focus on your objectives, and have the flexibility to pivot your tactics when necessary.

Use challenges as an opportunity to learn and improve.

Additional Blogging Business Plan Tips

Here are a few more tips to keep in mind when creating a blog business plan:

Craft Your Mission Statement

Before you begin blogging, determine what your mission statement for the blog is.

Your statement would summarize what your blog is about, what your goal is, and how you want to reach your goal.

This statement can keep you focused and motivated.

Pinpoint Your Niche

Finding your niche is crucial.

You can’t just write about everything and expect a high traffic flow.

The more specific your focus, the more likely your blog will be successful.

People interested in the topics you’re writing about will stay on the blog longer and engage with the content.

A strong understanding of your audience will lead to more advertising and product sales, generating more revenue for your business.

Create Engaging Content

Your blog’s success mainly depends on its content’s quality.

Create content to educate or entertain your target audience or inspire them with your eye-catching visuals.

Ensure the blog’s content is readable and user-friendly to create a fantastic experience for your readers.

You want your readers to keep coming back to see what’s new, so post and update your content regularly.

Determine Monetization Channels

You can earn through a blog business in various ways.

That is, through sponsorships, ad revenues, affiliate marketing, selling ebooks, merchandise, or courses, among others.

Monetization options depend on the niche and audience.

Consider all available options and select monetization channels that work best for your blog.

Set Specific Goals

Setting achievable and specific goals for the blog will help identify where to focus your effort.

A blog business plan should include the following:

• A rough timeline of how often you will post.
• The number of subscribers you expect.
• Your targeted income.

Goals can ensure that you stay on track, reach your milestones on time, and measure the blog’s success as it grows.

Analyzing Your Competitors For Blogging Success

Analyzing your competition provides valuable insights into your niche, audience, and potential opportunities to improve your blog.

One of the first steps in analyzing your competition is conducting keyword research.

It allows you to see what keywords your competitors are ranking for and what potential opportunities exist for you to create content that can rank higher.

Use free AI-powered tools like Google Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest to identify valuable and high-ROI keywords you can focus on in your content.

You can discover their strengths and weaknesses by thoroughly analyzing your competitors’ blogs.

Are they producing engaging content that is shared on various social media platforms?

Do they have a strong email marketing strategy?

Are they involved in affiliate marketing?

Identifying these strengths can help you replicate their successes while recognizing their weaknesses.

You’ll then address potential gaps or opportunities.

It can be helpful to dive into your competition’s monetization techniques.

Do they rely heavily on advertising or affiliate marketing?

Are they selling their products or services?

Understanding what strategies have been successful for other bloggers in your field can be a valuable tool in shaping your business plan.

Knowing where your competitors’ traffic is coming from can offer insights into how to drive traffic to your blog.

Look at sources like social media, email marketing, search engines, and referrals to see where your competition is getting traffic.

You can then implement similar strategies to drive traffic to your blog.

One of the most important aspects of blogging is creating engaging and helpful content for your readers.

Analyzing your competitors’ content lets you understand what topics resonate with your target audience.

Look for ways to improve upon your competitors’ content by adding a unique perspective or delving deeper into a particular topic.

A Step-By-Step Guide to Launching Your Blog

Once you have your plan and content strategy sorted, it is time to create your blog.

Here are the steps you need to follow:

Choose Your Platform and Hosting Provider

Before starting your blog, choose your platform and hosting provider.

When selecting your platform, consider what kind of blog you want to run, your budget, and your technical skills.

WordPress is one of the most popular platforms that is easy to use and customizable.

Numerous hosting provider options are available, including Bluehost, SiteGround, and DreamHost.

Do your research to find a reliable, secure provider that aligns with your budget.

Plan Your Technical and Design Strategy

Plan your technical and design strategy once you have selected your platform and hosting provider.

The technical aspects of your blog include setting up your domain, installing necessary plugins, and optimizing your site’s performance.

In terms of design, this involves identifying your brand, creating a website layout, and designing your visual content (like your website banners or post images).

Planning these aspects will help streamline the building process and ensure your blog aligns with your vision.

Content Creation And Proofing

Creating quality content is essential to your blog’s success.

Use your blog’s mission statement and brand guidelines to develop a content strategy enticing your target audience.

Consider including evergreen and up-to-date information and incorporating your unique voice and perspective into your posts.

Be sure to proofread your posts before publishing them, or better yet, consider hiring a proofreader or editor to help ensure clarity, grammar, and accuracy in your content.

Consistency Is Key

Once your blog is up and running, maintaining momentum is the key to continued success.

Engaging your audience and building trust requires creating and sticking to a content calendar.

Ensure your content promotes your brand values and mission statement and provides value to your readers.

And remember to build your audience by promoting your blog posts through social media channels and relevant platforms where your target audience may be hanging out.

Create An Accounting Plan

While it’s important to focus on creating valuable content for your blog, you must also keep an eye on your finances.

Tracking your expenses and your revenue can give you a better idea of how your blog is performing.

Start by creating a budget that includes hosting fees, domain and design costs, and content creation fees.

Look into using reliable accounting software to help keep your records organized, and if necessary, consider hiring an external professional to assist you in overseeing your finances.

How To Increase Traffic To Your Blog For Profit

Creating high-quality content is key to attracting and retaining your audience.

Start by researching your target audience’s interests and pain points.

Find out what topics resonate with them and create unique, engaging, and informative content.

Remember that your content should reflect your brand’s voice and values.

Utilize a mix of text, images, and videos to capture your audience’s attention and provide value with each post.

Remember that quality always trumps quantity, so focus on creating fewer, comprehensive blog posts to build trust and credibility with your readers.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a strategy that helps your blog rank higher in search engines’ results pages.

Start by conducting keyword research to identify the keywords your target audience is searching for.

Then, optimize your blog post titles, meta descriptions, URLs, and content with those keywords.

Ensure your site’s navigation is simple and easy for readers to use.

Additionally, make sure your site is mobile-friendly and has a fast loading speed.

SEO takes time and effort, but the results can be profound.

You can also invest in paid search ads to bring targeted visitors to your blog.

Collaborating with other bloggers and websites can be an effective way to increase your reach.

Identify blogs and sites that cater to your target audience and reach out to them.

Offer to write a guest post, exchange links, or collaborate on a project.

Additionally, guest posting on other blogs gives you access to their audience and can help to establish yourself as an authority in your field.

Be selective in your partnerships and aim to maintain long-term relationships that will benefit your blog.

Understanding SEO For Your Blog

Understanding SEO for your blog is crucial for any blogger wanting to get noticed online.

Successful bloggers know that having a comprehensive understanding of SEO principles and the use of keywords is vital for ensuring your blog content gets the desired page views.

Google Analytics is an in-depth tool that helps bloggers keep track of their blog’s performance and identify areas that need improvement.

Competitive analysis and target market analysis are critical components of a successful blog business plan.

Luckily, free blog business plan templates incorporating SEO optimization tips for blogs are available online.

Incorporating these SEO optimization tips in your business plan can help you target the right audience, increase traffic, and monetize your blog.

Monitoring SEO performance helps bloggers identify what areas need tweaking and what works.

By implementing SEO optimization strategies in your blog business plan, you can ensure the longevity and success of your blog.

Social Media Promotion For Your Blog

When creating a successful business plan for a blog, one must consider a thorough marketing plan, especially social media promotion.

We cannot overstate the importance of social media marketing; it’s one of the most effective tools for reaching a broad audience.

Selecting the right social media platforms is crucial, as different demographics prefer different platforms.

By understanding the demographics of your target audience, you can select the appropriate social media platforms to focus your efforts on.

Influencers can also be a valuable asset in promoting your blog’s brand, as they have a large following and can boost your content to their audience.

However, selecting influencers that align with your blog’s brand and values is important.

As new bloggers, entrepreneurs, and even full-time business owners turn to social media as a platform to connect with their audience, there is a growing need to create social media content that reflects your blog.

Consider your blog’s look, tone, and feel when creating social media content.

Engaging your audience on social media is also crucial, as it builds a community of loyal followers and helps to increase your blog’s visibility.

Live streams, webinars, and even podcasts are all effective ways to engage with your audience on social media and provide value to your followers.

Building And Nurturing An Email List

Building and nurturing an email list is crucial for the success of any online business, including small businesses, beginners, and seasoned entrepreneurs.

An email list is a valuable asset that provides a direct line of communication to potential customers and clients.

To start building your email list, you’ll need to create a lead magnet, such as a free template or ebook, that encourages people to opt-in to your list.

This roadmap will help ensure that your email list grows naturally and effectively.

Once you’ve captured email addresses, nurture your subscribers and engage with them regularly.

One strategy is to send weekly or bi-weekly newsletters that share helpful resources, business ideas, and income reports.

You can also offer exclusive discounts, early access to your online courses, and other perks that show your subscribers you value their support.

Measuring the success of your email marketing efforts is critical.

You can use analytics tools to track open, click-through, and conversion rates to see how your subscribers engage with your content .

Using these strategies, you can turn your email list into a powerful tool for growing a successful business.

Planning For Blog Growth And Scalability

When planning for blog growth and scalability, several key considerations can help you become a successful blogger and turn your startup into a profitable online business.

Creating a blog business plan is essential, as this will help you to define your vision statement, market research, growth strategies, and monetization strategies.

Your blog can serve as a section of your business plan, and it is essential to consider the different stages of blog growth as you develop your content strategy.

Tutorials and guest posts can be valuable tools for attracting new readers to your site, while adapting your content strategy to meet the needs of your ideal reader is crucial for sustained growth.

Infrastructure considerations are also important, as you may need to upgrade your hosting, invest in a reliable blog name , or consider outsourcing some of your tasks as your traffic increases.

Long-term financial planning is also essential for blog growth, and you should constantly think about how to turn your blog into a profitable business.

With the right approach, a well-developed blog business plan template, and a focus on growth strategies that are both sustainable and scalable, you can build a successful online business that will stand the test of time.

A solid business plan and a comprehensive and targeted marketing strategy are essential for driving traffic to your blog.

Utilize SEO, social media, and collaboration with other bloggers to increase visibility and engagement.

Monitor your progress and adjust your tactics accordingly to optimize the results and get the most out of your efforts.

You can create an effective online presence for your blog with hard work and dedication.

Further reading on AdamEnfroy.com: As a business owner, you might choose various elements of your blog to outsource .

Knowing which components to outsource and which to keep in-house can remove a lot of the strain from building an online business.

Finally, check out these online blogging courses to learn more about how to start a successful blog.

Editorial Process:

Our reviews are made by a team of experts before being written and come from real-world experience. Read our editorial process here .

Some of the links in this article may be affiliate links, which can provide compensation to us at no cost to you if you decide to purchase a paid plan. These are products we’ve personally used and stand behind. This site is not intended to provide financial advice. You can read our affiliate disclosure in our privacy policy .

Adam Enfroy

We test and review software products based on an independent, multi-point methodology. If you use our links to purchase something, we earn a commission. Read our editorial process and disclosures .

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Blog Business Plan Template

Are you a fan of storytelling? If yes, then the decision to start a blog business is one of the wisest choices to spread your voice to a lot of people.

But, do you know, without a proper plan it might fail? If you want a successful blog with millions of readers and a lot of affiliate offers, then start it on the right foot.

Get assistance in crafting a business plan for your blog business with the help of our blog business plan template.

How to Write a Blog Business Plan?

Writing a blog business plan is a crucial step toward the success of your business. Here are the key steps to consider when writing a business plan:

1. Executive Summary

An executive summary is the first section planned to offer an overview of the entire business plan. However, it is written after the entire business plan is ready and summarizes each section of your plan.

Here are a few key components to include in your executive summary:

Introduce your Business

Start your executive summary by briefly introducing your business to your readers.

This section may include the name of your blog business, the website’s name, the type of blog business (E.g., fitness blog, educational blog), etc.

Highlight the blog niche you will work in. The USPs and differentiators you offer are always a plus. You may even include examples to show your work to the readers.

Marketing & Sales Strategies

Outline your sales and marketing strategies—what marketing platforms you use, how you plan on acquiring more viewers, etc.

Financial Highlights

Briefly summarize your financial projections for the initial years of business operations. Include any capital or investment requirements, associated startup costs, projected revenues, and profit forecasts.

Call to Action

Summarize your executive summary section with a clear CTA, for example, inviting other bloggers to work with you.

Ensure your executive summary is clear, concise, easy to understand, and jargon-free.

2. Business Overview

The business overview section of your business plan offers detailed information about your company. The details you add will depend on how important they are to your business. Yet, business name, location, business history, and future goals are some of the foundational elements you must consider adding to this section:

Business Description

Describe your business in this section by providing all the basic information like name, website domain authority, etc.

Describe what kind of blog business you run and the name of it. You may specialize in one of the following blog businesses:

• Personal blogs
• Niche blogs
• Finance blogs
• Photography blogs
• News media blogs
• Review blogs
• Educational blogs

List the names of your blog company’s founders or owners. Describe what shares they own and their responsibilities for efficiently managing the business.

Business History

If you’re an established blog service provider, briefly describe your business history, like—when it was founded, how it evolved over time, etc.

Additionally, If you have received any awards or recognition for excellent work, describe them.

Future Goals

It’s crucial to convey your aspirations and vision. Mention your short-term and long-term goals; they can be specific targets for revenue, market share, or expanding your niche.

This section should provide a thorough understanding of your business, its history, and its plans. Keep this section engaging, precise, and to the point.

3. Market Analysis

The market analysis section of your business plan should offer a thorough understanding of the industry with the target market, competitors, and growth opportunities. You should include the following components in this section.

Target market

Start this section by describing your target market. Define your ideal customer and explain what types of services they prefer. Creating a buyer persona will help you easily define your target market to your readers. For example:

The target market of TrendWave Insights

TrendWave Insights aims to capture the attention of a diverse and tech-savvy audience seeking valuable insights into emerging trends across various industries.

The target market likely includes professionals, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts interested in staying ahead of the curve in areas such as sustainability, remote work, wellness, technology, e-learning, health tech, cryptocurrency, diversity and inclusion, and digital marketing. With a focus on providing in-depth analyses and expert perspectives,

TrendWave Insights appeals to individuals and businesses looking for actionable insights and a nuanced understanding of the evolving landscape.

Market size and growth potential

Describe your market size and growth potential and whether you will target a niche or a much broader market.

For example, the number of bloggers in the United States alone was around 32 million in 2020, so you can imagine the competition and market size in the current times.

Competitive Analysis

Identify and analyze your direct and indirect competitors. Identify their strengths and weaknesses, and describe what differentiates your blog page from them. Point out how you have a competitive edge in the market.

Market Trends

Analyze emerging trends in the industry, such as technology, changes in audience behavior or preferences, etc. Explain how your business will cope with all the trends. For example:

Market trends for TrendWave Insights

TrendWave Insights navigates a dynamic market where trends spotlight sustainability, remote work, wellness, and tech innovations. E-learning, health tech, and diverse, equitable practices are on the rise.

E-commerce evolves with personalization and cryptocurrency gains traction. Post-pandemic, hybrid work and digital marketing innovations shape consumer behavior. The entertainment industry has shifted to streaming and niche content. Space exploration, cybersecurity, and privacy also make waves in TrendWave’s trend-spotting journey.

Regulatory Environment

List regulations and licensing requirements that may affect your blog business, such as business registration, insurance, copyright & intellectual property laws, privacy & data protection, etc.

Here are a few tips for writing the market analysis section of your blog business plan:

• Conduct market research, industry reports, and surveys to gather data.
• Provide specific and detailed information whenever possible.
• Illustrate your points with charts and graphs.
• Write your business plan keeping your target audience in mind.

4. Products And Services

The product and services section should describe the specific services and products that will be offered to customers. To write this section should include the following:

Describe your services

Mention the blog services your business will offer. This list may include services like:

• Content creation
• SEO services
• Social media management
• Email marketing
• Affiliate marketing

Additional Services

Mention if your blog business offers any additional services. You may include services like content marketing consultation, guest posting services, online courses, etc.

In short, this section of your blog plan must be informative, precise, and client-focused. By providing a clear and compelling description of your offerings, you can help potential investors and readers understand the value of your business.

5. Sales And Marketing Strategies

Writing the sales and marketing strategies section means a list of strategies you will use to attract and retain your clients. Here are some key elements to include in your sales & marketing plan:

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Define your business’s USPs depending on the market you serve, the equipment you use, and the unique services you provide. Identifying USPs will help you plan your marketing strategies. For example:

Unique Selling Proposition of TrendWave Insights

At TrendWave Insights, we ride the crest of innovation, bringing you a tidal wave of the latest trends across diverse industries. What sets us apart is our commitment to not just reporting trends but diving deep into their impact.

Our seasoned editorial team curates content that goes beyond the surface, providing you with insightful analyses, expert perspectives, and actionable insights. Whether you’re a trendsetter, business enthusiast, or simply curious about the world’s latest waves, TrendWave Insights is your beacon to stay ahead, understand the currents, and ride the trends with confidence.

Marketing Strategies

Discuss your marketing strategies to market your services. You may include some of these marketing strategies in your business plan—social media marketing, Google ads, email marketing, content marketing, and affiliate marketing.

Sales Strategies

Outline the strategies you’ll implement to maximize your sales. Your sales strategies may include loyalty programs, offers to repeat customers, referral programs, etc.

Customer Retention

Describe your customer retention strategies and how you plan to execute them. For instance, introducing loyalty programs, personalized service, etc.

Overall, this section of your blog business plan should focus on customer acquisition and retention.

Have a specific, realistic, and data-driven approach while planning sales and marketing strategies for your blog business, and be prepared to adapt or make strategic changes in your strategies based on feedback and results.

6. Operations Plan

The operations plan section of your business plan should outline the processes and procedures involved in your business operations, such as staffing requirements and operational processes. Here are a few components to add to your operations plan:

Staffing & Training

Mention your blog business’s staffing requirements, including the number of employees or writers needed. Include their qualifications, the training required, and the duties they will perform.

Operational Process

Outline the processes and procedures you will use to run your blog business. Your operational processes may include meeting clients, training employees, and blogging.

Adding these components to your operations plan will help you lay out your business operations, which will eventually help you manage your business effectively.

7. Management Team

The management team section provides an overview of your blog business’s management team. This section should provide a detailed description of each manager’s experience and qualifications, as well as their responsibilities and roles.

Founders/CEO

Mention the founders and CEO of your blog business, and describe their roles and responsibilities in successfully running the business.

Key managers

Introduce your management and key members of your team, and explain their roles and responsibilities.

Organizational structure

Explain the organizational structure of your management team. Include the reporting line and decision-making hierarchy.

Compensation Plan

Describe your compensation plan for the management and staff. Include their salaries, incentives, and other benefits.

Advisors/Consultants

Mentioning advisors or consultants in your business plans adds credibility to your business idea.

So, if you have any advisors or consultants, include them with their names and brief information consisting of roles and years of experience.

Here is an example of the management team:

The management team of TrendWave Insights

Founder and CEO – Jessica Reynolds

Jessica is the driving force behind TrendWave Insights. With a background in journalism and a keen interest in emerging trends, she founded the blog to provide readers with insightful content on the latest trends in various industries. Jessica sets the strategic vision for the blog, emphasizing the importance of staying ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of trends and innovation.

Editor-in-Chief – Benjamin Hayes

Benjamin is the editorial lead at TrendWave Insights. With a wealth of experience in journalism and content creation, he ensures that the blog produces high-quality and engaging content. Benjamin oversees the editorial team, guiding them in curating content that reflects the most relevant and impactful trends.

This section should describe the key personnel for your blog business, highlighting how you have the perfect team to succeed.

8. Financial Plan

Your financial plan section should provide a summary of your business’s financial projections for the first few years. Here are some key elements to include in your financial plan:

Profit & loss statement

Describe details such as projected revenue, operational costs, and service costs in your projected profit and loss statement. Make sure to include your business’s expected net profit or loss.

Cash flow statement

The cash flow for the first few years of your operation should be estimated and described in this section. This may include billing invoices, payment receipts, loan payments, and any other cash flow statements.

Balance Sheet

Create a projected balance sheet documenting your blog business’s assets, liabilities, and equity.

Break-even point

Determine and mention your business’s break-even point—the point at which your business costs and revenue will be equal.

This exercise will help you understand how much revenue you need to generate to sustain or be profitable.

Financing Needs

Calculate costs associated with starting a blog business, and estimate your financing needs and how much capital you need to raise to operate your business. Be specific about your short-term and long-term financing requirements, such as investment capital or loans.

Be realistic with your financial projections, and make sure you offer relevant information and evidence to support your estimates.

9. Appendix

The appendix section of your plan should include any additional information supporting your business plan’s main content, such as market research, legal documentation, financial statements, and other relevant information.

• Add a table of contents for the appendix section to help readers easily find specific information or sections.
• In addition to your financial statements, provide additional financial documents like tax returns, a list of assets within the business, credit history, and more. These statements must be the latest and offer financial projections for at least the first three or five years of business operations.
• Provide data derived from market research, including stats about the blog industry, user demographics, and industry trends.
• Include any legal documents such as permits, licenses, and contracts.
• Include any additional documentation related to your business plan, such as product brochures, marketing materials, operational procedures, etc.

Use clear headings and labels for each section of the appendix so that readers can easily find the necessary information.

Remember, the appendix section of your blog business plan should only include relevant and important information supporting your plan’s main content.

This sample blog business plan will provide an idea for writing a successful blog plan, including all the essential components of your business.

After this, if you still need clarification about writing an investment-ready business plan to impress your audience, download our blog business plan pdf .

Related Posts

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Frequently asked questions, why do you need a blog business plan.

A business plan is an essential tool for anyone looking to start or run a successful blog business. It helps to get clarity in your business, secures funding, and identifies potential challenges while starting and growing your business.

Overall, a well-written plan can help you make informed decisions, which can contribute to the long-term success of your blog company.

How to get funding for your blog business?

There are several ways to get funding for your blog business, but self-funding is one of the most efficient and speedy funding options. Other options for funding are:

• Bank loan – You may apply for a loan in government or private banks.
• Small Business Administration (SBA) loan – SBA loans and schemes are available at affordable interest rates, so check the eligibility criteria before applying for it.
• Crowdfunding – The process of supporting a project or business by getting a lot of people to invest in your business, usually online.
• Angel investors – Getting funds from angel investors is one of the most sought-after startup options.

Apart from all these options, there are small business grants available, check for the same in your location, and you can apply for it.

What is the easiest way to write your blog business plan?

A lot of research is necessary for writing a business plan, but you can write your plan most efficiently with the help of any blog business plan example and edit it as per your need. You can also quickly finish your plan in just a few hours or less with the help of our business planning software .

How do I write a good market analysis in a blog business plan?

Market analysis is one of the key components of your business plan that requires deep research and a thorough understanding of your industry.

We can categorize the process of writing a good market analysis section into the following steps:

• Stating the objective of your market analysis—e.g., investor funding.
• Industry study—market size, growth potential, market trends, etc.
• Identifying target market—based on user behavior and demographics.
• Analyzing direct and indirect competitors.
• Calculating market share—understanding TAM, SAM, and SOM.
• Knowing regulations and restrictions
• Organizing data and writing the first draft.

Writing a marketing analysis section can be overwhelming, but using ChatGPT for market research can make things easier.

Can a good blog business plan help me secure funding?

Indeed. A well-crafted blog business plan will help your investors better understand your business domain, market trends, strategies, business financials, and growth potential—helping them make better financial decisions.

So, if you have a profitable and investable business, a comprehensive business plan can certainly help you secure your business funding.

About the Author

Vinay Kevadiya

Vinay Kevadiya is the founder and CEO of Upmetrics, the #1 business planning software. His ultimate goal with Upmetrics is to revolutionize how entrepreneurs create, manage, and execute their business plans. He enjoys sharing his insights on business planning and other relevant topics through his articles and blog posts. Read more

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How To Craft Your Blog Business Plan (Template Included!)

If you’re just starting out, chances are that you would want to create a blog business plan for your business.

If you want to create a successful blog + biz, you need a plan. You can’t just launch a website  (although that’s important) and hope that it would work out.

Yes – your blog business plan is your blog’s BLUEPRINT.

But first, if you have not started your blog yet, here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to start a blog .

You’re back? Great! I will share with you the exact blog business plan template I used… when I first started this blog.

Sounds good?

A blog business plan is great because you get real clear on the direction, goals and vision of your business, leaving no stone unturned. When you organize your thoughts and plans into one central place, it increases the chances of you starting a successful blog .

Clarity = better business!

Without further ado, here are the components of my blog business plan:

You should come up with a brand name. This is the same as your blog name. Don’t need to go over the top – keep it simple. Here’s a tutorial on how to pick a blog name , if you need help.

• Vision & mission of your brand

What’s the vision you have for your blog + business? Why are you doing what you are doing?

• Your brand style

Your branding has to look cohesive. Create a cohesive and attractive brand style. Decide on your brand colors, brand fonts and other aesthetic aspects of your brand. This will be incorporated uniformly across your website, social media platforms, and other collaterals.

• Brand vibes/ values

This is threading into the more intangible part of your brand: What vibe/ values do you want people to associate your brand with?

For instance, for me, its no-nonsense, smart, action-oriented, etc.

2. NICHE & TARGET AUDIENCE

• Target audience

Who are you targeting (specifically) with your website? Why? For more info, there’s a tutorial about defining your target audience on this blog as well.

• Competitors (VERY IMPORTANT)

Who are your competitors? Go scope out the situation. I always tell my 1:1 private clients: You don’t open an offline ice-cream store without checking out the other ice-cream stores down the street, do you?

The same applies to your online biz. One does not simply start a blog without knowing who else is in business.

• Points of difference

This is something I always like to do with all my businesses. How are you different from your competitors?

This could be your experience, your personality, certain things you cover, your brand positioning, better design, better service etc. There’s an article about how to make your brand stand out that could be helpful for you.

• Infrastructure

What host will you be on? What domain name provider will you use? Check out this tutorial on how to start a blog for more information about this.

I highly recommend that you use SiteGround as your host – their support is THE BEST, and my website runs perfectly with them. I have lost count of the number of times that SiteGround has saved me from losing sleep because something on my website messed up.

You also need a website theme – I recommend Divi (very customizable, great for beginners) or Genesis (for the more tech savvy ones).

The best option is my done-for-you website kit made with Divi where you can get an amazing website up by this week… all for a fraction of Divi’s website! Check out  Your Stunning Website 🙂

• Content Planning

What topics will you blog about? Having some idea of what your blog content will consist of. This will save you valuable time later. Make sure it is something that your target audience (that you’ve decided earlier) would want.

Also, how often will you post?

4. EMAIL LIST BUILDING

For my long-term readers you would know that I’m big on email marketing.

If you are new and don’t really know why you need an email list ASAP, check out this post:  Why Building an Email List is a MUST for Your Blog & Business

I highly recommend Convertkit . I love Convertkit so much because it’s just so easy to use, while giving me a ton of functions that my business needs at an affordable price. Click here to check out Convertkit  and get your email list started! Feel free to email me if you’ve any questions about using it.

With that out of the way, some things you need to think about:

• What will you be sending to your subscribers?

For more ideas, you can check out my post about newsletter content ideas  to send and engage your subscribers.

• How often will you send an email out to your subscribers?

Best to get this out of the way and decide once and for all. Once a week is a safe decision.

5. MARKETING: SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media is a huge part of marketing your blog + business for most entrepreneurs.

• Facebook fan page strategy

Chances are you will want to create a Facebook business page. You need a plan for that! Some things you’ll have to decide and plan for include: What will you post on the page (make sure it is interesting to your target audience)? How often will you post on your Facebook page?

• Facebook group

Many people decide to create a Facebook group. You can check out mine here .

You don’t need to have a Facebook group. Feel free to skip this section (or any other section in the social media section, actually). Not every business has to be on every single social media platform.

So… do the same for every other social media platform you want to be on:

What’s your Pinterest strategy , if any?

What’s your Instagram strategy, if any?

What’s your Twitter strategy, if any?

Rinse and repeat for any other social media platform that you intend to use to market your online business . REMEMBER, only write a business plan out for social media platforms that you intend to use. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your time. You don’t need to be everywhere.

6. MARKETING: OTHER STRATEGIES

Here, you plan for any other ways that you intend to market your business.

For instance, you could choose to collaborate with other businesses, or do networking events offline, etc. Whatever it is, be sure to include it in your blog business plan.

How will you be marketing your business via these channels? When will you start? Who will you be working with? Etc. [Tweet “Great post on how to craft your blog business plan, template included!”]

7. MONETIZATION

No money, no business. Simple as that. You can’t run a charity, trust me!

• Financial goals

What’s your income goal that you aim to reach for this blog + business? Make sure that it’s a specific income goal, and have a timeframe for it too.

• How do you intend to monetize?

What are some monetization channels that you intend to use for your blog? For extra help, you may find my post about having an online business model as well as my post about different online business ideas (where I explore different monetization methods) helpful.

Relevant posts:

• Why I Switched To Teachable To Host And Sell My Online Courses
• The Ultimate Guide: How to Become a Successful Infopreneur Online

How to Create an Online Course in 72 Hours (With Guided Instructions!)

• How to Sell Online Courses 101
• 10 Highly Effective Tips To Get More Clients Online (From My Personal Experience!)

For me, I do 1:1 coaching (check out how you can work with me here – that’s hands-down the best way you can get success for your blog + biz, as you get personal attention and guidance from a coach that has been there before), courses (I provide step-by-step guidance and give my best tips in my quality courses), and affiliate marketing by recommending helpful blogging tools and resources that you can view  here .

(Update 2021: I no longer do 1:1 coaching. You can check out my programs instead!)

What about you? 🙂

8. ACTION PLAN

Break down what you have to do for your business week by week. I recommend that you have an action plan down for the next 3 months or so.

Having a deadline for certain activities will work wonders for your blog + biz. What will you do each week of your business?

No action, no results! 🙂

That’s all, folks!

I hope that you have found this helpful.

New pin design?

God bless, Raelyn

P.S. Want comprehensive guidance on how you can attract an online audience and get more traffic?

That’s exactly where my signature course, List Building Incubator will help. It’s my step-by-step system to grow & monetize your email list. Check it out here .

A tiny request: If you liked this post, please share this?

I know most people don’t share because they feel that us bloggers don’t need their “tiny” social share. But here’s the truth…

I built this blog piece by piece, one small share at a time, and will continue to do so. So thank you so much for your support, my reader.

A share from you would seriously help a lot with the growth of this blog.

Some great suggestions: –  Pin it!  (I even made a pretty pin for ya!) –  Share it to your favorite blog + biz Facebook group –  Tweet it!

It won’t take more than 10 seconds of your time. The share buttons are right here. 🙂

Thank you so much!

If you enjoyed this post, get updates from me. (it’s FREE)

You’re awesome for staying till the end.  Signup for my newsletter below.

I send email updates about new posts, and tips and tricks to build & monetize your online business.

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How to Create a Blogging Business Plan That Earns a Full-Time Living

Making a living from your own blog is often the goal of starting a blog.

Most people think you need to be an influencer on Instagram or Tik Tok, or have millions of page views to make the dream a reality, but that’s not true.

In this blog post, I’m going to share with you how to create a blogging business plan that can earn a full-time living without spending all your time on social media.

What is a Blogging Business Plan ?

A blogging business plan is a road map that will help you achieve your income goals. It should include:

• Who your target audience is
• What type of content you will create
• How often you will publish new content
• Your distribution channels (where you will promote your content)
• Your monetization strategy

Why You Need a Blogging Business Plan

If you want to make money from your blog, you need to treat it like a business. That means having a plan and setting goals . A blogging business plan will help you do both of those things.

Without a plan, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and give up on your blogging dreams. But with a plan, you can track your progress and adjust your course as needed.

How Does a Blogging Business Plan Help You Make Money?

Your blogging business plan will include a monetization strategy. This is how you will make money from your blog. There are a number of ways to do this, and which one you choose will depend on your niche and target audience.

Some common monetization strategies include:

• Selling digital products or services
• Advertising
• Affiliate marketing
• Sponsored posts
• Consulting or coaching

Which monetization strategy you choose will also depend on your goals. For example, if your goal is to make a full-time income from your blog, you will need to choose strategies that either generate a lot of revenue or are scalable without you having to do a lot of hands-on work.

On the other hand, if your goal is to simply make some extra money from your blog, you can choose lower-earning strategies like advertising or affiliate marketing .

No matter what your goals are, there is a monetization strategy that will help you achieve them.

Your business plan can also help you figure out the systems and methods of organization you’ll use to keep track of your progress and ensure you’re moving in the right direction. This can save a lot of time and frustration down the road!

If you’re serious about making money from your blog, a business plan is a must. By taking the time to create one now, you’ll be setting yourself up for success in the future.

Now that you know why you need a blogging business plan, it’s time to start creating one!

Step 1: Define Your Goals

The first step in creating your business plan is to define your goals. What do you want to achieve with your blog? Do you want to make a full-time income? Supplement your current income? or just make some extra money?

Your answer to this question will determine what type of monetization strategies you use and how much time you need to invest in working on your blog.

For example, if your goal is to make a full-time income from your blog, you will need to choose strategies that generate a lot of revenue and be prepared to invest a lot of time into your blog.

On the other hand, if your goal is simply to make some extra money from your blog, you won’t need to invest as much time.

No matter what your goals are, be specific and write them down. This will help you stay focused and motivated as you work on your business plan.

Step 2: Problems You Solve

The next step is to identify the problems your target audience has that you can help them with.

For example, if you have a blog about personal finance, your target audience may have problems like getting out of debt, saving money, or investing.

Or if you have a health and fitness blog, your target audience may have problems like losing weight, getting in shape, or eating healthy.

Identifying the problems your target audience has is important because it will help you create content that they are actually interested in reading. It will also help you choose the right monetization strategies.

For example, if you have a blog about personal finance and your target audience is trying to buy a house, you could monetize your blog with strategies like affiliate marketing for loan programs or refinancing options.

But if you have a health and fitness blog and your target audience is trying to lose weight, you could monetize your blog with strategies like selling digital products , sponsored posts, or advertising.

Again, be specific and write down the problems your target audience has. This will help you create content that resonates with them and choose monetization strategies that align with their needs.

Step 3: Who is Your Target Audience?

The next step is to identify who your target audience is. This includes things like their age, gender, location, interests, and income level.

The more specific you can be about your target audience, the better. This will help you create content that appeals to them and choose monetization strategies that work for them.

For example, if your target audience is college students who are interested in health and fitness, you could monetize your blog with strategies like affiliate marketing , sponsored posts, or advertising. But likely not earn much from digital products since they likely don’t have a lot of disposable income.

Again, be as specific as possible when identifying your target audience. For each identifier, you write down, go a level or two deeper, ask “but why”.  The digger you deep, the better you’ll know your audience and what will resonate most with them.

Step 4: Competitors

The next step is to research your competitors. This includes things like their blog content, monetization strategies, and traffic.

Researching your competitors will help you understand what’s already out there and how you can make your blog stand out. It will also give you ideas for monetizing your blog and generating traffic.

For example, if you find that your competitors are mostly using advertising as a monetization strategy, you may want to consider using a different strategy like affiliate marketing or sponsored posts.

Or if you find that your competitors are getting a lot of traffic from social media, you may want to focus on promoting your blog on social media as well. If it works for them, it could work for you too.

Again, be specific and write down what you find. This will help you create a plan for how you can make your blog successful.

Step 5: Blog Content

The next step is to start planning out content for your blog.

When it comes to blogging for business, planning is key. You need to have a strategy for what you’re going to write about that aligns with your goals, and when you’re going to write it. 

One way to plan your content is to come up with a content calendar . This is a document that outlines what you’ll be writing about each day or week. It can be as simple or as detailed as you want it to be, but having some sort of plan is essential if you want your blog to be successful.

Finally, make sure that you’re always original and engaging. There’s nothing worse than reading the same old stuff over and over again. So mix it up, experiment with different styles, and keep your readers guessing what you’ll come up with next.

Step 6: Monetization

The next step is to start monetizing your blog. This includes things like selling products or services, coaching, consulting, affiliate marketing , sponsored posts, or advertising.

Choose the monetization strategy that makes the most sense for your blog and your target audience. And don’t be afraid to experiment with different strategies until you find one that works.

Step 7: Marketing & Traffic

Most bloggers use a combination of marketing tactics to get traffic to their blog. Some of the most common methods include SEO, social media, and email marketing.

SEO is the process of optimizing your website and content so that it shows up higher in search engine results pages .

This can be done by optimizing your titles, meta descriptions, header tags, and images. You can also use keyword research to find the right keywords to target for your blog posts .

Social media is a great way to reach a large audience quickly. You can share your blog posts on your personal profiles, as well as on popular social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also join relevant groups and forums related to your niche and share your content there.

Email marketing is another great way to reach your audience. You can create an email list and send out regular newsletters with your latest blog posts and other relevant content. You can also run ads targeting people who have recently visited your website.

Including your marketing in your business plan is essential for getting traffic to your blog. You should include a section on your marketing strategy in your business plan and outline the methods you will use to attract readers to your blog.

You should also budget for marketing expenses, such as an email marketing service (we use and love Convertkit ) paid ads, social media campaigns, and email marketing.

If you want to make money from your blog, you need to have a plan for marketing and traffic. By including a marketing strategy in your business plan, you can ensure that your blog gets the attention it deserves. And by budgeting for marketing expenses, you can make sure that you have the resources necessary to reach your target audience.

Step 8: Brand Identity & Values

Your brand identity is how your business is perceived by the public. It includes your logo, website design, blog content, and social media presence. Your brand identity should be professional and consistent across all platforms.

Values are the beliefs that guide our business choices. Your content and customer service should reflect these values. Some examples of values that could guide your business are integrity, transparency, and customer service.

Your brand identity should be reflective of the type of content you publish on your blog. And your values should guide everything you do, from the way you treat your customers to the way you market your business.

By including these in your business plan, you can ensure that your blog is professional and aligned with your goals.

What does your brand identity look like? And what values guide your business decisions? Share in the comments below!

Step 9: Blog Workflow & Systems

Your workflow is the process you use to create and publish content on your blog. It includes everything from brainstorming ideas to editing and publishing your posts . Having a well-organized workflow can help you save time and be more productive.

Systems are the tools and processes you use to run your business. They can make your workflow more efficient and help you automate repetitive tasks.

Some examples of systems for bloggers are editorial calendars , social media scheduling tools, and email marketing platforms.

By outlining your workflow, you can ensure that you have a process in place for creating quality content. And by including systems in your plan, you can make sure that you have the tools and processes necessary to run your business efficiently.

However, don’t wait for the “perfect” workflow or system to take action. Write down your best idea for now and then work to refine it as you implement.

Here’s an example of a workflow for creating and publishing a blog post:

• Brainstorming ideas
• Outlining the post
• Writing the post
• Editing the post
• Publishing the post
• Promoting the post on social media

And here are a few examples of systems that you could use to run your blog:

• An editorial calendar to help plan and organize your content
• A social media scheduling tool to help promote your posts
• An email marketing platform to build your list and send newsletters

To see the tools we use and love, check out our resources page .

Bottom Line

Creating a blog that earns a full-time living is possible with the right blogging business plan.

Be sure to start by identifying your target audience and researching your competitors. Then create content that appeals to your target audience and monetize your blog using strategies that work for them.

With a little hard work and dedication, you can make your blogging dreams a reality.

Blogging can be a lucrative business, but only if you have a plan. So what are you waiting for? Get started on your blogging business plan today!

What questions do you have about creating a blogging business plan? Share in the comments below!

If you’re ready to start your own blog, be sure to check out my free course, How to Start a Blog . In this course, I walk you through the entire process of starting a blog. Click here to get started!

Liz Stapleton is a blogger, lawyer, and most importantly someone who loves making your life easier with action-oriented content and trainings. An attorney since 2012, and a blogger since 2014, she is the founder and voice behind Less Debt, More Wine – a personal finance site, ElizabethStapleton.com where she helps readers understand the legal side of blogging, and founder of the Blogger Breakthrough Summit, an annual virtual summit designed to help bloggers take back their time and start hitting their goals.

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How to Build a Detailed Business Plan That Stands Out [Free Template]

Updated: March 29, 2022

Published: March 11, 2022

While starting a company may seem easier now than ever before, entrepreneurs have an uphill battle from the moment they start a business. And without a clear, actionable business plan for selling, marketing, finances, and operations, you're almost destined to face significant challenges.

This is why crafting a business plan is an essential step in the entrepreneurial process.

In this post, we'll walk you through the process of filling out your business plan template, like this free, editable version :

Download a free, editable one-page business plan template.

We know that when looking at a blank page on a laptop screen, the idea of writing your business plan can seem impossible. However, it's a mandatory step to take if you want to turn your business dreams into a reality.

That's why we've crafted a business plan template for you to download and use to build your new company. You can download it here for free . It contains prompts for all of the essential parts of a business plan, all of which are elaborated on, below.

This way, you'll be able to show them how organized and well-thought-out your business idea is, and provide them with answers to whatever questions they may have.

Free Business Plan Template

The essential document for starting a business -- custom built for your needs.

• Outline your idea.
• Pitch to investors.
• Secure funding.
• Get to work!

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Building a Successful Business Plan

In the next section, we'll cover the components of a business plan , such as an executive summary and company description. But before we get to that, let's talk about key elements that should serve as building blocks for your plan.

For some entrepreneurs, the thought of writing a business plan sounds like a chore — a necessary means to an end. But that's a bad take.

A solid business plan is a blueprint for success . It's key to securing financing, presenting your business, outlining your financial projections, and turning that nugget of a business idea into a reality.

At the core, your business plan should answer two questions: why your business and why now?

Investors want to know why your business is entering the market, i.e. what problem it's solving and how it's different from what's currently out there. They also want to know why now is the right time for your type of product or service.

At a minimum, your plan should:

• Be more realistic than idealistic: Too often, business plans focus too much on how things could be instead of how they are. While having a vision is important, your plan needs to be rooted in research and data.
• Legitimize your business idea : If an idea fails on paper, it's a signal to go back to the drawing board. In doing so, you avoid losing precious time or money chasing an unrealistic idea.
• Position your business for funding: To get your business off the ground, chances are you'll need financial backing. Even with a solid business idea, investors, lenders, and banks still need convincing. An effective business plan will outline how much money you need, where it's going, what targets you will hit, and how you plan to repay any debts.
• Lay the foundation: Investors focus on risk – if anything looks shaky, it could be a dealbreaker. Ideally, your business plan will lay down the foundation for how you'll operate your business — from operational needs to financial projections and goals.
• Communicate your needs: It's nearly impossible to communicate your needs if you don't know what they are first. Of course, a business’ needs are always changing — but your plan should give you a well-rounded view of how your business will work in the short and long term.

So back to the question of why and why now – consider three things:

• Your industry – How does your product or service fit within your industry? Are you targeting a specific niche? Where do you see the industry going in the next five to 10 years?
• Your target audience – Who are you targeting? What challenges are they facing? How will your product or service help them in their daily lives?
• Your unique selling proposition (USP) – What sets you apart from your competitors? Is it your product/service features? Your company values? Price?

Once you know the answers to these questions, you'll be equipped to answer the question: why your business and why now.

How to Build a Business Plan

• Executive Summary
• Company and Business Description
• Product and Services Line
• Market Analysis
• Marketing Plan
• Legal Notes
• Financial Considerations

Featured Resource: Free Business Plan Template

1. cover page.

Your business plan should be prefaced with an eye-catching cover page. This means including a high-resolution image of your company logo, followed by your company's name, address, and phone number.

Since this business plan will likely change hands and be seen by multiple investors, you should also provide your own name, role in the business, and email address on the cover page.

At the bottom of this page, you can also add a confidentiality statement to protect against the disclosure of your business details.

The statement can read as follows: " This document contains confidential and proprietary information created by [your company name]. When receiving this document, you agree to keep its content confidential and may only reproduce and/or share it with express written permission of [your company name] ."

Remember to keep your cover page simple and concise — and save the important details for other sections.

Why it matters: First impressions are everything, and a clean cover page is the first step in the right direction.

Example of a Cover Page

2. Executive Summary

The executive summary of your business plan provides a one- to two-page overview of your business and highlights the most crucial pieces of your plan, such as your short-term and long-term goals.

The executive summary is essentially a boiled-down version of your entire business plan, so remember to keep this section to the point and filled only with essential information.

Typically, this brief section includes:

• A mission statement.
• The company's history and leadership model.
• An overview of competitive advantage(s).
• Financial projections.
• Company goals.
• An ask from potential investors.

Why it matters: The executive summary is known as the make-or-break section of a business plan. It influences whether investors turn the page or not — so effectively summarizing your business and the problem it hopes to solve is a must.

Think of the Summary as a written elevator pitch (with more detail). While your business plan provides the nitty-gritty details, your Summary describes — in a compelling but matter-of-fact language — the highlights of your plan. If it's too vague, complicated, or fuzzy, you may need to scrap it and start again.

Example of an Executive Summary Introduction

"The future looks bright for North Side Chicago, particularly the Rock Hill Neighborhood. A number of high-end commercial and residential developments are well on their way, along with two new condo developments in nearby neighborhoods.

While the completion of these developments will increase the population within the neighborhood and stimulate the economy, the area lacks an upscale restaurant where residents and visitors can enjoy fine food and drink. Jay Street Lounge and Restaurant will provide such a place."

3. Company & Business Description

In this section, provide a more thorough description of what your company is and why it exists.

The bulk of the writing in this section should be about your company's purpose – covering what the business will be selling, identifying the target market, and laying out a path to success.

In this portion of your business plan, you can also elaborate on your company's:

• Mission statement
• Core values
• Team and organizational structure

Why it matters: Investors look for great structures and teams in addition to great ideas. This section gives an overview of your businesses' ethos. It's the perfect opportunity to set your business apart from the competition — such as your team's expertise, your unique work culture, and your competitive advantage.

Example of a Values/Mission Statement

"Jay Street Lounge and Restaurant will be the go-to place for people to get a drink or bite in an elegant, upscale atmosphere. The mission is to be North Side's leading restaurant, with the best tasting food and the highest quality service."

3. Product & Services Line

Here's where you'll cover the makeup of your business's product and/or services line. You should provide each product or service's name, its purpose, and a description of how it works (if appropriate). If you own any patents, copyrights, or trademarks, it's essential to include this info too.

Next, add some color to your sales strategy by outlining your pricing model and mark-up amounts.

If you're selling tangible products, you should also explain production and costs, and how you expect these factors to change as you scale.

Why it matters: This section contains the real meat of your business plan. It sets the stage for the problem you hope to solve, your solution, and how your said solution fits in the market.

There's no one-size-fits-all formula for this section. For instance, one plan may delve into its ability to market in a more cost-effective way than the competition, whereas another plan focuses on its key products and their unique features and benefits.

Regardless of your angle, it's critical to convey how your offerings will differ from the competition.

Example of a Product/Service Offering

"The menu at Jay Street Lounge and Restaurant will focus on Moroccan cuisine. The stars of the menu (our specialties) are the Moroccan dishes, such as eggplant zaalouk, seafood bastilla, tagine, and chickpea stew. For those who enjoy American dishes, there will also be a variety of options, from burger sliders and flatbread pizza to grilled steak and salads.

The food at Jay Street will have premium pricing to match its upscale atmosphere. During the summer months, the restaurant will have extra seating on the patio where clients can enjoy a special summer menu. We will be open on all days of the week."

4. Market Analysis

It helps to reference your market research documentation in this section, like a Porter's Five Forces Analysis or a SWOT Analysis ( templates for those are available here ). You can also include them in your appendix.

If your company already has buyer personas, you should include them here as well. If not, you can create them right now using the Make My Persona Tool .

Why it matters: Having an awesome product is, well, awesome — but it isn't enough. Just as important, there must be a market for it.

This section allows you to dig deeper into your market, which segments you want to target, and why. The "why" here is important, since targeting the right segment is critical for the success and growth of your business.

It's easy to get lost (or overwhelmed) in a sea of endless data. For your business plan, narrow your focus by answering the following questions:

• What is my market? In other words, who are my customers?
• What segments of the market do I want to target?
• What's the size of my target market?
• Is my market likely to grow?
• How can I increase my market share over time?

Example of a Market Analysis

"Jay Street Lounge and Restaurant will target locals who live and work within the Rock Hill Neighborhood and the greater North Side Chicago area. We will also target the tourists who flock to the many tourist attractions and colleges on the North Side.

We will specifically focus on young to middle-aged adults with an income of $40,000 to $80,000 who are looking for an upscale experience. The general demographics of our target market are women between 20 to 50 years old.

A unique and varied Moroccan-American menu, along with our unique upscale atmosphere, differentiates us from competitors in the area. Jay Street will also set itself apart through its commitment to high-quality food, service, design, and atmosphere."

5. Marketing Plan

Unlike the market analysis section, your marketing plan section should be an explanation of the tactical approach to reaching your aforementioned target audience. List your advertising channels, organic marketing methods, messaging, budget, and any relevant promotional tactics.

If your company has a fully fleshed-out marketing plan, you can attach it in the appendix of your business plan. If not, download this free marketing plan template to outline your strategy.

Free Marketing Plan Template

Outline your company's marketing strategy in one simple, coherent plan.

• Pre-Sectioned Template
• Completely Customizable
• Example Prompts
• Professionally Designed

Why it matters: Marketing is what puts your product in front of your customers. It's not just advertising — it's an investment in your business.

Throwing money into random marketing channels is a haphazard approach, which is why it's essential to do the legwork to create a solid marketing plan.

Here's some good news — by this point, you should have a solid understanding of your target market. Now, it's time to determine how you'll reach them.

Example of a Marketing Plan Overview

"Our marketing strategy will focus on three main initiatives:

• Social media marketing. We will grow and expand our Facebook and Instagram following through targeted social media ads.
• Website initiatives. Our website will attract potential visitors by offering updated menus and a calendar of events.
• Promotional events. Jay Street will have one special theme night per week to attract new clients."

6. Sales Plan

It doesn't matter if your sales department is an office full of business development representatives (BDR) or a dozen stores with your products on their shelves.

The point is: All sales plans are different, so you should clearly outline yours here. Common talking points include your:

• Sales team structure, and why this structure was chosen.
• Sales channels.
• Sales tools, software, and resources.
• Prospecting strategy.
• Sales goals and budget.

Like with your marketing plan, it might make sense to attach your completed sales plan to the appendix of your business plan. You can download a template for building your sales plan here .

Why it matters: Among other things, investors are interested in the scalability of your business — which is why growth strategies are a critical part of your business plan.

Your sales plan should describe your plan to attract customers, retain them (if applicable), and, ultimately, grow your business. Be sure to outline what you plan to do given your existing resources and what results you expect from your work.

Example of a Sales Plan Overview

"The most important goal is to ensure financial success for Jay Street Lounge and Restaurant. We believe we can achieve this by offering excellent food, entertainment, and service to our clients.

We are not a low-cost dining option in the area. Instead, the food will have premium pricing to match its upscale feel. The strategy is to give Jay Street a perception of elegance through its food, entertainment, and excellent service."

7. Legal Notes

Your investors may want to know the legal structure of your business, as that could directly impact the risk of their investments. For example, if you're looking for business partners to engage in a non-corporation or LLC partnership, this means they could be on the line for more than their actual investment.

Because this clarification is often needed, explain if you are and/or plan to become a sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, LLC, or other.

You should also outline the steps you have taken (or will need to take) to operate legally. This includes licenses, permits, registrations, and insurance.

The last thing your investor wants to hear after they've sent you a big chunk of change is that you're operating without proper approval from the local, state, or federal government.

Why it matters: The last thing your investor wants to hear after they've sent you a big chunk of change is that you're operating without proper approval from the local, state, or federal government.

Example of Legal Notes

"Jay Street Lounge and Restaurant is up-to-date on all restaurant licenses and health permits. Our business name and logo are registered trademarks, presenting the possibility of expanding locally."

8. Financial Considerations

Ultimately, investors want to know two things:

• When they will earn their money back.
• When they will start seeing returns on their initial investment.

That said, be clear, calculated, and convincing in this section. It should cover:

• Startup costs.
• Sales forecasts for the next several months/quarters.
• Break-even analysis for time and dollars.
• Projected profit and loss (P&L) statement.

Facts and figures are key here, so be as specific as possible with each line item and projection. In addition, explain the "why" behind each of these sections.

However, keep in mind that information overload is a risk, especially when it comes to data. So, if you have pages upon pages of charts and spreadsheets for this section, distill them into a page or two and include the rest of the sheets in the appendix. This section should only focus on key data points.

Why it matters: One of the most important aspects of becoming "investor ready" is knowing your numbers. More importantly, you need to understand how those numbers will enhance your business.

While it's easy to write a number down on paper, it's more important to understand (and communicate) why you need capital, where it's going, and that your evaluation makes sense.

Example of Financial Projections

"Based on our knowledge and experience in the restaurant industry, we have come up with projections for the business.

Starting with an expenditure of $400,000 in year 1, we forecast sales of $1,500,000 and $2,800,000 for years two and three. We expect to achieve a net profit of 15% by year three."

9. Appendix

A detailed and well-developed business plan can range anywhere from 20 to 50 pages, with some even reaching upward of 80.

In many cases, the appendix is the longest section. Why? Because it includes the supportive materials mentioned in previous sections. To avoid disrupting the flow of the business plan with visuals, charts, and spreadsheets, business owners usually add them in the last section, i.e. the appendix.

Aside from what we've already mentioned – marketing plan, sales plan, department budgets, financial documents – you may also want to attach the following in the appendix:

• Marketing materials
• Market research data
• Licensing documentation
• Branding assets
• Floor plans for your location
• Mockups of your product
• Renderings of your office space or location design

Adding these pieces to the appendix enriches the reader's understanding of your business and proves you've put the work into your business plan without distracting from the main points throughout the plan.

Why it matters: An appendix helps the reader do their due diligence. It contains everything they need to support your business plan.

Keep in mind, however, that an appendix is typically necessary only if you're seeking financing or looking to attract business partners.

Use a Business Plan Template to Get Started

Writing a business plan shouldn't be an insurmountable roadblock to starting a business. Unfortunately, for all too many, it is.

That's why we recommend using our free business plan template. Pre-filled with detailed section prompts for all of the topics in this blog post, we're confident this template will get your business plan started in the right direction.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in June 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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BLOGGING BUSINESS PLAN: 2023 Template & How to Write

• by Kenechukwu Muoghalu
• August 12, 2023
• No comments
• 7 minute read

Table of Contents Hide

What is a blogging business plan, what is the importance of a blogging business plan, do i need a business plan for my blog, #1. executive summary , #2. market & competitor analysis, #3. brand overview, #4. blog content overview, #5. sales and marketing strategy, #6. financial plan, how do i start a blog and make money, what kind of blog is profitable, how do bloggers get paid, what blog is most popular, how do i get readers to my blog, how much do beginner bloggers make, how much does it cost to start a blog, what type of blogs are in demand, does composing a blogging business plan seems too demanding, final thoughts , is blogging profitable, how is blogging a business, how do i choose a topic for my blog.

It’s certain you already have a killer theme, a super fun blog name, and a few reserved blog posts brimming with passion, but what is starting a blog without owning a blogging business plan? A blogging business plan will guarantee your growth, help you figure out how to navigate any storm and keep you on track. Having a catchy name and snappy content is not enough, and that is why this article will cover all there is to know about your blogging business. With the help of our unique template below, you will also get to create a blogging business plan for yourself. 

If you have limited time to assimilate all the information below, then you can simply get our pre-made blogging business plan here .  

A blogging business plan is a living document that helps you navigate an obstacle and still keeps you on track while working towards your most impactful goals. To make it simpler, one can also define a blogging business plan as a roadmap for your business. 

A plan simply outlines your business and goals and then maps out how you’re going to achieve them. If you can get this luxury easily, then what is keeping you from getting a plan?

Why do you need a business plan? There are tonnes of reasons why you do need one. When you have a plan by your side, it automatically gives you a clear picture of what you want to achieve and helps you create a greater sense of accountability as well. That’s not all. Having a business plan forces you to set clear priorities and shows you some challenges to expect along the way. 

All these factors and benefits of having a business plan are basically what make up a good business and enforce constant growth. Once followed closely, you can never go wrong with a business plan.

As long as you consider your blog as a form of business and a way to earn profits, you need a business plan. In some cases, one can choose to start a blog out of passion, and if this is the case, then you can start without a plan. But when these two factors are involved, then a plan is essential. 

Having known this, let’s look at how you can write your blogging business plan using this banging template below. 

How to Write a Blogging Business Plan

Writing a blogging business plan requires specific strategies and elements that will enable the plan to fulfil its purposes in your business. To write a blogging business plan effectively, you must ensure to follow this template in accordance.

When writing your business plan, you should see your executive summary as the most important section of your plan. It summarises the other sections of your plan and briefs your readers about your blog. In this section, you would also need to include your blog’s name, a brief blog description, and a short description of your blog’s target market. Most readers end up reading this section, so you should make it as clear as possible. 

I mentioned the target market in the previous section. Your target market is the audience that follows and views your blog posts. To be able to analyse who they are and how to reach out to them, you will need to conduct some niche market research . It is only when this research is completed that you will be able to compose this section of your business plan. While on that, you will also have to do some basic research on the top competitors in your blog’s area of expertise and tell your readers how you intend to get ahead of them.

Your brand or company overview simply covers an in-depth history of your blog business. If you have not gone far in your business, not to worry, you can just include the little you have done. A good company overview should include a description of your brand’s personality, what your blog is about, and your blog’s core values and mission. You can also include your blog’s logo, typography, brand colours and taglines.

The content of your blog will greatly determine the quality of your website. So you need to sit down and make a clear analysis of how you want to pull that through. You should add a summary of your content strategy in this section. You will also include the types of content you will be creating, and how you intend to maintain high-quality content. As a blogger, this section should be highly applied in your blog business, your posting frequency should be constant. 

What are your plans when it comes to your marketing plan ? Which marketing methods would you apply to your blog business in order to create more awareness for your brand? These questions are what is required of you in this section. You should tell your readers what your launch and social media strategy should be and how you intend to use an SEO strategy and other related forms of promotion.

Phew, that was a lot already! The last step in creating a solid blogging business plan is to have a strong financial plan . You should consider what it’s going to cost you to get started, and if you are looking for any form of financial assistance, then you should pay attention to this particular section. You can include the cost of basic things you need to start off and how much you will need to make it happen. A proper financial plan should also have an income statement, a cash flow statement and a balance sheet.

Starting a blog is not as easy as it sounds, but to make it happen, you need to start off at the right place. To do this, you have to choose a profitable niche first, have a working blog content strategy, create awareness for your brand, monetize your blog, and always be consistent with all activities.

There are thousands of niches on the internet, but the most profitable blogs are about pets, dating and relationships, self-improvement, beauty treatments, gadgets and technology, personal finance and a host of others. 

Bloggers get paid in many possible ways, from affiliate marketing to getting paid according to the amount of traffic their blogs pull in a month. Occasionally, when a brand sees that a particular blog attracts a large amount of traffic, it will reach out directly to a blogger to place an ad on the blog. From there, a commission is paid to the blogger. 

The most popular blogs on the internet are lifestyle blogs. Lifestyle blogs attract a whole lot of readers. It also consists of a variety of topics ranging from culture, local news, arts, family, and politics. This vast option gives a lifestyle blogger a wide range of topics to cover, and hence they always have content to write about. 

To boost your readership and increase traffic to your blog, you can simply carry out some basic procedures that have proven to be valid in this situation. You can choose to write more, use social media platforms, narrow down your niche, incorporate keywords and links, add sharing buttons that are linked to socials, write catchy titles, and include photos and a host of others. 

A beginner blogger can make up to £3,000-£5,000. This average income can also be increased depending on the amount of traffic their blog attracts. The payment can also be influenced when the blog has multiple monetizing activities. 

When it comes to making an analysis of the amount of cash you are likely to spend when starting a blog, you will find it difficult to make an analysis. On average, a blogger would need a range of £50,000-£200,000 to start up a blog. Then there are also monthly subscriptions that you will need to pay per month. 

The most demanding blogs on the internet are lifestyle blogs, DIY blogs, valuable content, unique selling propositions, affiliate marketing, online stores, pet blogs, Google AdSense and a host of others. 

Not being able to write a blogging business plan yourself, even with the simplified template above, is understandable, especially when you’re a first-timer. But because of the importance of having a business plan, you need to make provisions for it, irrespective of its daunting nature.

If you find yourself in this tight situation, it’s better to opt-in for a professional pre-made blogging business plan . 

Over the years, businessyield consult has solely debuted its time and efforts into creating professional business plans for entrepreneurs. We have so far helped millions of businesses stand on their feet and we are happy to help you too. Get hold of your business plan here and watch your blog grow.

It is one thing to open a blog website, and it’s another to plan what its activities are going to look like. But when a business plan is brought into the spotlight, it makes the journey easier. You should remember that you really do have to use a well-composed blogging business plan like this to experience valid results. More than just a blogging business plan, running a profitable blog also requires a lot of discipline, commitment and consistency. 

Yes, blogging has proven to be one of the most effective ways to make money across the globe. The only thing a blogger needs to do is to pick up a profitable niche idea, be consistent with it and then monetize it with any promotional platform.

Blogging becomes a form of business when the blogger’s real intention is to make a profit from it. If the blogger’s intention is solely out of passion, then it should not be regarded as a form of business. Most bloggers monetize their blogs and hence tag them as their business.

Choosing a topic for what to write for your blog can be daunting, but to make the process easier, you can look at your past content, uncover topics that have generated the most engagement and pick inspiration from there. You can choose a similar topic within the niche and give it your best.

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Kenechukwu Muoghalu

Kenny, an accomplished business writer with a decade of experience, excels in translating intricate industry insights into engaging articles. Her passion revolves around distilling the latest trends, offering actionable advice, and nurturing a comprehensive understanding of the business landscape. With a proven track record of delivering insightful content, Kenny is dedicated to empowering her readers with the knowledge needed to thrive in the dynamic and ever-evolving world of business.

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A Guide To Create Successful Blogging Business Plan (Step-By-Step)

A blog provides an excellent way to share content with your audiences. You can also monetize it and make a fantastic income from it. Talk to the thousands of people who have discovered how to do it well, and they will tell you need a plan. A proper business plan for blogging  will guide your activities, allowing you to achieve better results. It would not be a good idea to go into it without having a plan. You may have the best Website design and very responsive themes, and yet you are not able to attract the right traffic.

From that, you need to understand that you are not the only blogger on the online platform. You need a way to stand above the competition . Our article below will show you how to write a business plan for a blog .

Follow our step-by-step guide and see the money-making potential of your website.

What Is A Business Plan For A Blog?

Think about your business plan for a blog, much like you would any other business plan. It is a document that gives the blueprint for your business. This incorporates different aspects such as the goals, strategy, company mission, financial liabilities, and the competition. It is a critical document because it guides all your activities. The lack of one could mean the difference between succeeding and failing in your Ventures.

The Process of Creating a Succeccful Business Plan for a Blog

The online platform has a lot of people, all competing for a very limited audience base. You may have installed the latest plugins, and the experience on your website is fantastic. However, if you do not plan your blogs well, you will lose a lot of traffic. All your marketing efforts will not achieve much because you have not invested in coming up with a good strategy. You end up looking like an amateur on the online platform and can do repairable damage to your reputation. Developing a business plan gives you a step up and will set you apart. Take note of the following when developing a business plan. It should have:

• An executive summary of the business.
• The brand identifiers
• The overall business strategy
• An analysis of the market and audiences
• Competitor analysis
• The financial or budgetary aspects
• Marketing plan

Let us look at each of the factors in more detail below.

1. The Executive Summary

The business plan must incorporate a well-thought-out executive summary. Think about it much as you would an elevator pitch or portfolio. It summarizes everything about your business in the shortest way possible. With a simple glance at the executive summary, the audience should know who you are and what you’re all about. Come up with the following:

• A mission statement that tells the audiences what you hope to achieve. Think about it like a compass, which shows you the direction you should take.
• Brief background of your blog highlighting areas of growth and any other areas you’re particularly proud of.
• Author overview, which is especially critical for individual entrepreneurs. Include a little bit of your background information, and why you position yourself as an authority in your area.
• A brief overview of your services and products and how you are planning to monetize your blog .
• A brand name by which people will refer to your blog. Carefully think about the name you choose. It should be easy to remember, easy to spell, and attractive enough to get the right attention.
• Target audience overview
• A vision statement that talks about your hopes and aspirations for the future.
• Highlight what makes your blog unique , and why anyone should want to engage with the content

2. Have Business Goals and Brand Guidelines

A business plan cannot be complete without focusing on your goals and how you hope to achieve them. Audiences want to know what you are planning for the future and are not around for a short time only. The main reason why you’re developing a business plan for your blog should be to earn some money.

The brand guidelines set the tone for the conversations, and are basically the foundation for any communication. They include aspects such as the name of your blog, the topics, the different categories, and hashtags, among others.

If you’re focusing on a particular niche, let the people know how it is unique and how they will benefit from it. The guidelines also focus on any process you will need to take for posting content. It goes as deep as highlighting the fonts, images, videos, and guest blogs, among others. Brand guidelines ensure there is uniformity on your website and any other platforms you may be on. If you need to develop any merchandising or marketing material, they will also apply here.

3. Brand Values

Like starting any other business, you need to decide what your brand values are from early on. People will associate your business with these values. If, for example, you pick a no-nonsense and very professional look, that is what people will know you by. You, however, must have a good understanding of your audiences so that you align lying your values to what you know about them.

If, for example, you are targeting a very young demographic, you may want to ditch the rigid professional look, you will be better off going with a more informal, very modern theme for the website. You want to come across as fun and engaging because that is what the younger people understand more.

To find success in making money from your blog, you need to understand how the market is. One crucial step is to carry out SWOT analysis . Focus on the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats with regards to your blog.

• Strengths – focus on your key strengths and showcase your capabilities, thus allowing you to build your profile as an expert in that particular area.
• Weaknesses – we all have some deficiencies in our chosen areas. Being honest about it is the first step to overcoming them. by laying it out in the document, you know the exact obstacles you need to tackle so that you make your blog a success
• Opportunities – identify any opportunities that you can take advantage of. There are, for example, fantastic plugins on platforms such as WordPress that are specific to bloggers. other opportunities include the free advertising packages you can get online, free web hosting among others
• Threats – one of the greatest threats you have as a blogger, is the amount of competition present on the online platform. It is important that you understand what you’re coming up against, and layout the tactics you will use to overcome them.

4. Who is the Target Audience?

You are setting up your website and starting a blog business with an audience in mind, we would assume. However, there is so much more that goes into identifying and refining your target audience. The market research will help in these aspects. You will need to develop a persona target for that ideal audience you hope to reach. It is a process that is very critical because it will determine what content you post on your blog.

Focus on different factors, such as gender, age, economic status, hobbies, and marital status. It is also important to understand what they interact with, and which media they prefer. Those who have found success at blogging first identify the audience and then think about the content.

5. Understand Your Competitors

As highlighted above, one of the biggest threats is that which comes from competitors. You need to dedicate a whole section to understanding your competitors and what they are doing. Learn everything they’re doing with regards to blogging and making money out of it. See what type of content they post and look at the kind of reviews and comments they get. You will get invaluable lessons by taking the time to do a competitor analysis. You can get to avoid costly mistakes while borrowing those that seem to be working. Do not feel shy about doing a competitor analysis because you can be sure they will be doing the same.

Focusing on your competitors does not mean that you go into the business ready for battle. You can actually achieve much more if you think about relationships and collaboration. It is a good idea for you to join relevant groups for networking opportunities. You will learn a lot from other like minds. Be active in the groups while learning as much as you possibly can.

Facebook groups, for example, are becoming popular and provide excellent research material if you want to learn about the competition. You should, however, not lose focus on the bigger picture by concentrating all your attention on the competitors. Once you have the relevant information, do not stalk them constantly; focus more on creating your own path.

6. Layout Your Financial Plan

As much as you are getting into the blogging business to make money, you will need to spend some, especially in the initial stages. Think about it like any other business that requires capital to get it off the ground. The financial plan should highlight how much you have and what you need to achieve with it.

Setting up a website , for example, requires getting a good web hosting company. While you have free options, they may not be the best because of the limitations they have. You may, therefore, have to set aside some money to go for the paid options. The better the subscription package, the more benefits you get.

Other costs you may need to take into consideration include:

• Any resources you may need, such as web and graphic designers, models, among others.
• You may consider hiring freelancers to help you in the development of the blog posts.
• Money for any images that you may need to purchase. You could also consider investing in a good camera so that you can take your pictures and footage.
• Any merchandising or promotions
• Registration fees for your business
• Other supplies that you need such as hardware, software, and office supplies

7. Highlight – How You Will Monetize Your Blog?

The financial plan will also include how you plan to make money from your blog. A part of your competitor analysis requires that you look at how they price their products or services/ you do not want to overprice or underprice because either way, you will lose. You have very many opportunities with regards to monetization ideas such as:

• Affiliate marketing where you sell a company’s products by posting links on your website
• Pay per click advertising
• Email Marketing
• Selling of eBooks or online courses
• Selling digital products
• Offering coaching services
• Looking for sponsorships
• Selling memberships to your online business.
• Selling ad space for digital advertising, among others.

8. Set Up a Website

You cannot start a blog without having a website. You must ensure that the experience on your website is very good ; otherwise, people will not visit your blog. You have probably been to sites that are slow loading, and navigating the pages is very difficult. You may be reading an article, and you click on the link, and it takes you nowhere. Remember, the attention span and patience of anyone who is on the online platform is very low. They have so much variety that they will not spend time on a slow, unresponsive website.

Factors you need to consider when setting up a website are:

• Is the user interface friendly; this has a lot to do with the design, so keep it clean and simple.
• How fast do the pages load; you will lose a lot of online traffic if your pages take more than five seconds to load. Strive for 3 seconds or less.
• Pick the right host provider who can give you sufficient bandwidth and storage space.
• Is it aesthetically pleasing? You have no excuse not to have an attractive website. There are so many themes and templates you can use. Remember, one of the key ways to get people to your website is by having an attractive site. Be careful not to go crazy on the different design aspects because you can end up confusing people. Too much clutter on the website can also look very unattractive.
• Optimize your website for mobile; almost 50% of internet users will access content from their mobile devices.
• How do you plan to launch your new website? Your launch strategy must be exciting enough to get attention right from the get-go.
• Develop terms and conditions that will act as guides for guest bloggers, clients, and your audiences.

9. Plan Your Content

The truth of the matter is that having a successful business blog is difficult. You need to keep attracting the right audiences, which will, in turn, improve your ability to monetize your website. Content generation can be very difficult if you do not plan it well. Have a spreadsheet of topics that you intend to cover. Even if you’re using video content, you need to do the same. Not planning well could lead to fatigue, and within a short time, you will find that you cannot sustain the blogs.

Encourage feedback and comments so that you get more ideas around topics you can explore. Use the information you gathered from your market research, especially around what needs your target audiences have. Not planning well will lead to situations where you may find you are lagging. In trying to catch up, you could suffer from a serious case of writer’s fatigue. Before you know it, you will not have any fresh content going out. How can you hope to make an income if no one is coming to your website?

Useful Read: Top 12 Content Marketing Tools [You Can’t Miss]

10. Incorporate Email Marketing

Email marketing is critical in letting the audiences know what you have for them. Develop an email list, which you will keep on updating. With an understanding of the target audience, you can segment it in a way that you send targeted information. Many people will send your emails to junk if the content you’re sending has no relevance to them. You will find tools online that can help you with the process, whether free or paid.

11. Layout Your Marketing Strategy

You will need to have a solid marketing strategy in place if you hope to increase awareness of your website. Fortunately, the online platform gives a lot of very cost-effective marketing opportunities . You have options such as:

• Syndicating or sharing your content onto other platforms such as Medium or LinkedIn
• Networking with other bloggers in a scratch my back, I will scratch yours kind of relationship. You can feature their work on your blog, and they will do the same for your content
• Guest blogging which is critical for link building
• Optimizing your blog for search engines by applying the right SEO strategy
• Starting a podcast or live broadcasts
• Vlogging and webinars
• Boosting your posts on social media , among others

12. Take Advantage of Social Media Marketing

The business plan for your blog must incorporate the use of social media . Social media gives access to a broad audience base and a lot of leeway in what you can post. Use it to build an organic community, and increase traffic to your website . Pick the channels that work well for your audiences and focus on them.

You may feel that you need to be on all the social media platforms, but it could be counterproductive. You will find it strenuous trying to manage all the platforms.

If you are, for example, selling clothes for teenagers, focus on platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat. If your website targets the working classes and professionals, LinkedIn will make a lot of sense for you. Facebook has the advantage of having a broader audience base.

You will, however, find a lot of competitors on it. Pay attention to developing different messages for different platforms. Copying and pasting your messages across the different platforms may backfire on you.

13. Outline Your Growth Strategy

Have a good strategy in mind for your blogging business. After all, who starts a business with the mindset of stagnation? Your plan should focus on both long-term and short-term goals . The former will look at how you plan to keep your business around for years to come.

You may, for example, have as a long-term goal, setting up eCommerce on your website. You could be thinking of scaling up the monetization strategies for more income. Whatever your long-term goals, make sure you have put in place the strategies you will need to achieve them.

14. Measuring Success

There is no business plan that will be complete without a way of measuring success. What is the point of doing all the above if you have no metrics to show whether you are succeeding or failing? You need to be able to check the progress, track what you are doing, review the steps, and make the necessary changes. Your blog business plan is a document that you will need to tweak every now and then. You will need to discard what is not working and improve upon those that are. You can, however, only do this effectively if you have the necessary data.

Also Read: Top 10 Blog Layout Best Practices in 2020

Final Thoughts

We have gone into an in-depth description of everything you need to do when writing a business plan for a blog. It is a critical aspect of running an online blog business. You will, however, note that most of the things we have highlighted are very similar to developing a normal business plan. Do your research well so that you understand what the market situation is like. Look at what your competitors are doing so that you can borrow some aspects and avoid doing things that could negatively impact your business.

Have clear goals on how you hope to achieve them. Most importantly, dedicate the necessary time and attention to your blogging business. Be realistic about your expectations to avoid any disappointments. Like any other business, do not expect overnight results. You must go through the process before you start to see the returns.

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It's All You Boo

How to Create A Successful Blog Business Plan

October 7, 2018 60 Comments

How do you create a blog business plan?

What’s the best way to start a money making blog?

One of the most overwhelming parts of blogging is…well, actually starting a blog .

There’s so much info out there. There are so many blogging resources, right?

Sometimes you don’t know who to turn to or listen to. You’re worried you’ll make mistakes. You’re wondering how to turn all that info into actionable steps .

But after poring through tons of info online, you end up back where you started: Lost and confused.

I realized most newbie bloggers feel this way becaus e they’re not approaching blogging from a business mindset .

When you treat your blog like a business from the get-go, your vision for your blog becomes clear.

And the way you do that is by creating a superstar blog business plan you can refer back to whenever you’re feeling even a tad confused. Business plans exist to keep business owners on track.

Below, I’ve outlined the *most* important steps to create a stellar blog business plan that’ll give you clarity, vision, and direction.

Ready for a fresh look at your blogging dreams?

Then let’s begin with Step 1 below.

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase from these links, I may earn a commission. You can read my full disclaimer here .

6 steps to creating a blog business plan, step #1: define your brand identity.

Branding isn’t just your visuals and how your blog looks. It’s how your blog makes your audience feel.

So, how does good branding relate to your blog business plan? Believe it or not, a successful brand boosts customer loyalty and improves your blog’s relatability.

Think of good branding as the way your audience connects to your brand. The stronger the connection, the better the brand loyalty your audience has.

Every successful blog has a defined brand identity . You can get a glimpse of a blog’s brand identity based on personality traits that come to mind when you interact with a brand.

Let’s take a look at the brand identity of It’s All You Boo:

What are some brand personality traits that come to mind when you read this snippet from Nadalie’s homepage?

• Trustworthy

Notice how these personality traits make Nadalie, and her blog feel soo approachable. You relate to Nadalie almost immediately just based on her warm introduction on her homepage, making you want to stick around her blog for more.

Blog Business Plan Action Step 1:

Define the top 5 personality traits you want people to associate with your blog. Make sure these are traits you value, too, since you’re going to be the face of your blogging brand. Down the line, make sure each interaction you have with your readers allows those personality traits to shine through.

Step #2: Research Your Niche

If you’re just starting out blogging, how do you know what’s the “standard” for your niche?

How do you know the kinds of services bloggers in your niche provide? Or the way these bloggers monetize their blogs?

An essential step of creating a blog business plan is knowing your niche inside-out.

Here’s the good news:

Getting to know your blogging niche is easier than you think. Why? Because you have a world of successful bloggers in your niche already!

Here’s what to look for when you’re doing niche research:

• The blog’s target audience : who the blog is written for (you can usually find this on the homepage or about page)
• Any opt-in offers : the lead magnets the blog owner uses to get visitors to subscribe
• Monetization methods : how the blog owner monetizes his or her blog
• Product and service price points : the services and/or products the blog has for sale and how much they cost
• Your opportunities : anywhere you feel the blog doesn’t provide full value (this is where you can fill in the gap with your own blog)

Great business owners understand the standard for their market and niche so that they know exactly how to stand out. This step is crucial in your blog business plan.

Let’s say I’m a budding food blogger, and I want to get to know my niche better. I’ll do some research on several big food blogs. I know a popular food blog is Pinch of Yum :

Based on my research, I find:

• The blog’s target audience : people who want to cook simple and healthy recipes
• Any opt-in offers : one primary lead magnet for a free e-cookbook featuring a collection of top 25 recipes from the blog
• Monetization methods : display advertising, food blogging online course, affiliate marketing, brand partnerships/sponsorships
• Product and service price points : food blogging online course (price unknown — the course is closed for now — but estimating it is $499+)
• Your opportunities : hard to say; Pinch of Yum has great photography, recipes, and resources. However, they offer one main lead magnet — a collection of recipes — maybe there’s a better lead magnet I can offer here? Maybe a grocery list plus a collection of recipes?

See how much information you can gain just by doing a bit of research from one blog?

The lesson? Get to know your niche!

You’ll be happy you did, and you’ll be prepared to take on the gaps in value for your audience.

Blog Business Plan Action Step 2 :

Research 5 top blogs in your niche . Get to understand their target audience, their opt-in offers, monetization methods, product and services they offer, and opportunities where you can do better.

Step #3: Create Your USP

Ah, the USP. So misunderstood.

And so often neglected by new bloggers as part of their new blog business plan.

What’s a USP, you ask?

World-famous business strategist Jay Abraham couldn’t put it any better in his book, Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got :

“You must identify and understand what it is you or your company do or can start doing for your clients that provides them with a result or an advantage superior to the competition’s. This is called the unique selling proposition (USP).”

The USP is what sets you apart. It’s the thing you want to be known for.

It’s the thing you will be known for as your blogging biz grows. If you define your USP early on, you’ll be clear on the value you provide in your blog.

If you don’t define your blog’s USP, then you’re in big danger of confusing not only your audience but also yourself!

So, think about what it is you want to be known for. Do you…

• Want to have the most comprehensive collection of blog content for your niche?
• Get your audience’s fitness results in 30 minutes or less a day?
• Have the first-ever (proven) system for beating procrastination?
• Have lead magnets that are as good as paid products?

Example time:

Can you figure out what Natalie Bacon’s USP is based on her homepage ?

Natalie offers blogging and marketing advice on her blog. But a lot of other bloggers do, too! How is she differentiating herself from the competition?

By having a USP.

Her blog’s USP is along the lines of: “A blog that helps you redesign your life by teaching you how to build a blog.”

Natalie approaches teaching blogging from a lifestyle design aspect. This is what sets her apart and makes her stand out in her niche.

There are limitless ways you can frame your USP for your blogging biz. Follow the exercise below to get ideas for yours.

Blog Business Plan Action Step 3:

Define your USP! Jot down 10 different ways you can differentiate your blog from the competition. Just keep writing, even if the ideas sound crazy. Glance over your brainstorm when you’re done and ask yourself: What do I want my blog to be known for?

Step #4: Get to Know Your Audience

Your audience is what keeps your business moving. Treat them right, and you’ll treat your business.

The same goes for the converse: Neglect your audience, and you’ll neglect your business.

That’s why it’s key to get to know your audience like the back of your hand.

After all, if you don’t “get” your audiences biggest wishes, desires, pain points, dreams, hopes, fears, and pet peeves, how will you possibly provide services and products they’ll need?

Doing a bit of research on your target audience goes a long way in your blog business plan.

Don’t have an audience yet because you just started blogging? That’s totally ok.

You can get to know your would-be audience by checking out the comments in popular blog posts in your niche .

Chances are, you’re solving similar problems as your competitors (but differently, of course). You can infer what your audience’s biggest problems will be based on what they talk about on fellow blogs in your niche.

Go back to the blogs you researched in Step 2 and find their most popular blog posts . Check out the comments section and start to get a feel for how your audience talks and the issues they struggle with the most.

Let’s say I was starting a blog that teaches how to be a successful blogger. Here’s one comment I found from a blog post titled, How to Write A Blog Business Plan .

Notice the wealth of info you get just from one blog comment.

Specifically, look at the highlighted part: The reader says, “It’s a bit overwhelming if I am honest…”

From this one comment, we’ve learned that people who have already started their blog procrastinate writing a blog business plan. It seems overwhelming and scary to start, feelings echoed in multiple comments.

You now have inspiration for a series of blog posts, lead magnets, and even a paid product just by paying attention to what people are struggling with in blog comments.

Blog Business Plan Action Step 4:

Read through the comments from a popular blog post in your niche. Write down 10-15 things (big or small) readers in your niche seem to be struggling with. You can quote them directly, too.

Step #5: Decide How You Want to Make Money

You wouldn’t have a blog business plan if you didn’t know how you’d make money, right?

Thankfully, there are tons of way to monetize a new blog .

And no: You don’t need thousands of page views to make money on your blog.

You don’t need to sell a high-priced course.

Nor do you need to become an affiliate for every affiliate program out there.

You just need to see what works best in your niche (based on research you did in Step 2) and go from there.

Here are some common ways to monetize a blog, to get you started:

• Display advertising
• Brand sponsorships
• Influencer marketing
• Paid products
• Online stores : physical products
• Dropshipping
• Online stores: printables and digital products
• Affiliate marketing

I’ve found that most niches do well to start with a small introductory product, like a mini-course or an ebook, in the price range of $7 to $37.

How do you come up with an idea for a product?

Go back to the blog comments you found in Step 4! There’s plenty of inspiration in them for a paid product.

And the best part is that you know your audience is genuinely struggling with this problem because they’ve voiced it in the comments.

Blog Business Plan Action Step 5:

Go back to the comments you found in Step 4. See if you can group several of those comments together based on a central problem readers are trying to solve. See how you can package the solutions to these problems as a small information product (<$37).

Step #6: Follow a Doable Social Media Marketing Strategy

You need to know how you’re going to get traffic to your blog. That’s why every blog business plan needs a doable marketing strategy.

Many newbie bloggers make the mistake of trying to be everywhere on social media.

They’ll start a Pinterest account and start pinning.

They’ll post to their Facebook page 2x a day.

Or they’ll tweet 17 random quotes and generic links back to their blog.

Here’s the problem with this approach: You’ll burn yourself out just as quickly as you started your blog!

Here’s the reality: You do not need to be *everywhere* on social media.

You just need to master one social media platform from the start . Why is that?

Because every social media platform requires a certain skill-set for you to learn to grab that social traffic and redirect it back to your blog.

Successful bloggers know where to place their emphasis on social media from the start. Take a look at how active Adrian of Adrian’s Crazy Life is on Pinterest:

• 1.7 million monthly viewers on her Pinterest profile, with 27,000 followers.
• And her Facebook profile? 363 ‘Likes’ from the date I wrote this post.

Now, this doesn’t mean the monthly viewers on your Pinterest profile or your follower numbers are a sign of blogging success (most of these numbers are vanity metrics).

I’m showing you these numbers to prove that smart bloggers choose where they spend their time the most on social media. Pinterest clearly gives Adrian good results, which is why she spends most of her time there.

I suggest beginner bloggers start off with Pinterest because it’s relatively easy to grow your organic traffic on Pinterest compared to other platforms.

Blog Business Plan Action Step 6:

Start your Pinterest business account or current your current profile to a business one (it’s free). Add searchable keywords to your name and Pinterest page description. Next, create boards related to your blogging niche with searchable keywords, too. Start to pin relevant content (starting at 15 pins/day) to these boards, including your own. Do this consistently, and you’ll build your Pinterest traffic over time.

How to Create a Blog Business Plan

If you want to have a clear vision on your blog, then a solid blog business plan is a must.

Just to recap, here were the steps to creating a stellar one:

• Define your brand identity
• Research your niche
• Create your USP
• Get to know your audience
• Decide how you want to make money
• Follow a doable social media marketing strategy

Take the FREE Start a Blog Challenge

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Have any questions about your blog business plan?

Having trouble finding a profitable blogging niche?

Maybe you need some clarification on your blog strategy?

Then ask away in the comments below!

Ready to create your blog business plan?

More About Guest Contributor 

Alex runs the marketing blog, Unicorn Copy. Want to work out your blog’s business plan even more? Connect with her.

Last Updated on July 11, 2021

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Nadalie Bardo

Nadalie Bardo is here to help you slay your goals, so you can pursue your boss life with confidence + action. As the Founder of It's All You Boo, a personal development blog, she curates the very best content to keep you motivated and inspired to slay your goals in life and business. Her first book, Conquer Procrastination, is now available wherever books are sold, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Nadalie is also the creator of the Slay Your Goals Planner, the only planner dedicated to helping you actually achieve your goals.

Reader Interactions

Marijke Doldersum says

October 9, 2018 at 11:33 am

Very useful information and quite timely for me as I am redefining my niche, audience and steps to attract readers. Thanks for sharing and I am sure I will read your post again!

October 17, 2018 at 2:21 pm

Hi Marijke,

I’m glad you found this useful! Creating a blog business plan is super helpful — I think most people forget we’re actually starting a business when we start a blog! When we approach blogging with a business mindset, we’re clear on our vision and goals from the start.

Thanks! -Alex

Maria Mason says

October 9, 2018 at 12:36 pm

All super great information. I especially appreciated the Pinterest tips. Thanks so much.

October 17, 2018 at 2:24 pm

I’m glad you found this useful! Yes, people tend to take the “firehouse” approach when it comes to social media, but it’s always best to start with one social channel and get really good at it. Pinterest is always a good start for (most) types of bloggers.

Deepti says

October 9, 2018 at 5:10 pm

Extremely useful post. Crisp and to the point. I am new to the world of blogging and still exploring my niche. Do you think it is ok to take your time to find one while still posting? Also to wait to grow your followers before you attach to monetization and your own website

October 17, 2018 at 2:29 pm

I’m glad you found this post useful!

Here’s my thought on narrowing down as you’re posting:

1) Pick a general category, like beauty, for example. 2) Keep posting and trying out different topics to see what YOU like to write about PLUS (and most importantly) what your readers love to hear about and what they find useful.

But I don’t recommend your interests are as broad as gardening + beauty at once, for example (unless you’re spinning those two somehow!).

And you don’t have to wait to grow your followers until you monetize. The beauty of planning out your blog from a business mindset is that you can create the foundation for monetization right away. Believe it or not, a lot of what makes monetization successful is understanding your target audience, growing your subscriber list and following, etc. The rest to monetization is simply tactics (which you can always learn).

Hope this helps, and let me know if I can clarify anything else for you.

Annick says

October 9, 2018 at 9:46 pm

Thank you for writing such an informative post! I mostly blog because I love writing but this definitely puts things in perspective and makes me want to start taking blogging more seriously! The way you divided all he steps makes it look super easy and I love it! I will be “pinning” this on my Pinterest to come back and read it again as I continue on my blogging journey! Thank you for sharing 🙂

October 17, 2018 at 2:32 pm

Thank YOU for reading! 🙂

Yes — people sometimes forget that blogging strategically is actually a business. The difference is that your services, products, audience, and “storefront” is all online. I’m glad this post has reshaped your approach to your own blog.

Thanks for the comment! -Alex

Pracreation says

October 10, 2018 at 12:56 pm

Very useful resource, thanks for sharing.

October 17, 2018 at 2:33 pm

Glad you found it useful! Let me know if you have any questions 🙂

October 11, 2018 at 11:21 am

Wow this is an incredibly extensive guide on how to start a blogging business – you’ve thought of everything! I can’t imagine the pressure of trying to make money though your blog – it can’t be easy! I’ve had my blog for two years and I haven’t monetised it, I can imagine I’d be so stressed if I did!

October 17, 2018 at 2:36 pm

I’m happy you found this guide useful!

Yes, I wanted something comprehensive yet “overview-y” enough that readers could understand the bigger picture behind blogging for profit 🙂

Growing a business (online or otherwise) traditionally isn’t known to be a cakewalk… 😅 but that’s ok. You learn so much and I highly recommend taking a stab at monetizing your own blog, especially if it’s in a subject you and your readers are into.

Thanks for the comment!

Mirley Guerra Graf says

October 11, 2018 at 2:38 pm

This is very thorough! Thank you!

October 17, 2018 at 2:37 pm

Glad you found it so! I tried to make it thorough without overwhelming, especially to any beginner bloggers wondering about monetizing a blog.

Thanks for your comment!

Melanie says

October 11, 2018 at 3:26 pm

Oh my goodness so many helpful tips – definitely changed my thought process with a few things

October 17, 2018 at 2:41 pm

Hi Melanie,

So glad you found this useful!

Your thoughts echo some of the others in the comment thread here 🙂

It never hurts to approach ANYTHING you start (hobby or otherwise) from a business perspective, especially where the audience pool is nearly unlimited (online, for example). Always good to ask yourself, “what do I know/what can I do to add value to other people? What problems do they need to solve? And will people pay for this?”

Basic questions, but solving people’s problems, whether big of small, is how some of the best businesses are born 🙂

October 11, 2018 at 4:23 pm

These are all valid and helpful tips. I have been blogging for a long time and have been in-need of some refreshing. Nothing picks me up more than listening to other bloggers share what works for them. It really helps motivate me. I’m bookmarking this post so I can refer back to it when I have more time.

October 17, 2018 at 6:41 pm

Sometimes when we do something for a long time we get tunnel vision.

That’s why I always read up on other blogs / industries / businesses entirely different than my own so I can keep “fresh” ideas and perspectives coming (something recommended in the book, Blue Ocean Strategy, which teaches you to tap into markets using unique ways, some even uncommon to your current niche).

Thanks for your note!

Christine says

October 11, 2018 at 5:20 pm

Excellent tips and strategies. This sounds like a plan for success. I can definitely use this. Thank you!

October 17, 2018 at 6:43 pm

Hi Christine,

Glad you found the advice useful!

Janine Ella says

October 12, 2018 at 2:07 am

Thank you for these tips! I totally agree with the social media thing. You don’t have to be everywhere. Right now, I’m focusing on building my brand on Instagram so I spend a lot of time there than on Facebook.

October 17, 2018 at 6:45 pm

I agree with you 100%! Each social media platform is so unique and attracts its own unique set of users. Trying to be everywhere at the same time is just spreading yourself thin, right?!

Glad you intuitively knew to focus on one and really nail it!

October 12, 2018 at 3:09 am

Understanding your niche and your audience is indeed very important. And defining your brand of course. See what your goals are and where you want to take your blog.

October 17, 2018 at 6:48 pm

Niching down and speaking to your audience — these are so, so important! People can tell when you’re not speaking to them (what copywriters call, writing with “empathy”), and it turns people off.

That’s why it’s good to know (even generally) who you want your target audience to be (a lot of this is also determined by your niche or blog topic!).

Moni//OmTripsBlog says

October 12, 2018 at 9:15 am

You always give such a great advice! Thanks! It is good to have a plan!

October 17, 2018 at 6:50 pm

Thanks for the kind words!

Yes, I agree — plans are good because they prove you gave it some thought. Especially if you’re starting a blog you want to monetize, a business plan puts the “big picture” into perspective.

I think the ONLY downside to plans is sometimes people try to follow them to a “T” without giving themselves some wiggle room (because life happens, right?).

October 12, 2018 at 9:26 am

An extremely thorough post on blogging for all new beginners. Thanks for sharing and def pinning

October 17, 2018 at 6:52 pm

Thanks — I tried my best to make this beginner-friendly!

And thanks for pinning, that makes me (and I’m sure, Nadalie) happy 🙂

GiGi Eats says

October 12, 2018 at 9:42 am

I defined my brand identity longggg ago and I have to admit, knowing what my brand is and living it on a daily basis makes me feel like I have a purpose 🙂

October 17, 2018 at 6:59 pm

I agree! A unified brand reminds you you’re working towards some greater vision, right?

I think there’s something powerful in deciding, “This is what I want this to be,” when it comes to your brand choices.

It’s also important for consumers. Creative directors at large-scale companies spend millions each year just on branding and brand awareness campaigns. They understand how important a brand is to a consumer — branding is what lives in people’s perception, and good branding boosts memorability, positive impressions, etc.

As an example: think of the “Amazon Prime” tape that comes wrapped around your Amazon shipment. Why would Amazon spend the extra money to print this on packing tape? It’s brand awareness, and you seeing their logo reaffirms how happy you are with their speedy, 2-day shipment.

So, to wrap up my point, I’m glad you took the time to focus on solidifying your brand — I’m sure it was worth it!

October 12, 2018 at 10:08 am

This was super informative. I’ve never given too much thought to my brand’s personality. Hmm…I’m sure I have one though. Thanks also for the examples. One the best posts I’ve read on this subject. Well done. Very well done.

October 17, 2018 at 7:05 pm

Thank you for the kind words!

Check my response to the comment above for a bit of what I had to say about branding and brand awareness and how they impact readers, consumers, etc.

I’ve worked with some clients who didn’t narrow down their brand and this reflected in their other areas of business — their product was often all over the place, the content wasn’t consistent, etc.

Not that a lack of a brand directly means your product or content will be bad. But a unified brand DOES mean you gave all these elements a lot of thought.

Usually, When someone has thought deeply a bit about their 1) niche, 2) own personality, 3) audience, and 4) what they want to sell, the brand starts to form itself and they just need to solidify certain elements (visual, “messaging,” or otherwise).

Thanks again for your comment!

Justyna says

October 12, 2018 at 2:07 pm

Thank you for writing such an informative post! Now I am focusing on Pinterest as well as I can see most my page views from there!

October 17, 2018 at 7:12 pm

Hi Justyna,

YES! That’s the best thing you can do!

Ever heard of the Pareto Principle?

It basically says that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts.

This has been observed in MANY areas, especially business (where we seem to chase every “shiny object,” thinking each shiny object is our one-and-done solution).

That means *most* of what we do to achieve a certain goal doesn’t push the needle much.

I like to think in terms of efficiency and when I’m working with clients and bloggers; I always try to find that “golden egg” of an opportunity they have — the thing that’s working FAR better than anything else — and scale, scale, scale it!

Sometimes people know their golden egg. 🙂

Sometimes they don’t. 🙁

So, if you find that Pinterest works for you, then by all means, use it to skyrocket your blog’s growth. And don’t focus on anyone suggesting you try anything else until you feel like you’ve mastered Pinterest and everything you can get out of it in terms of traffic (test different strategies, different images, on-image text, call-to-actions, etc).

And thanks for your comment!

Fatima Torres says

October 12, 2018 at 2:29 pm

It’s important to develop a relationship with your audience. You just never know when a reader might turn into a customer for a brand you’re working with. It’s happened several times throughout my blogging journey.

October 17, 2018 at 7:36 pm

It’s so true. Actually, I think sometimes people forget that the good relationship comes before the purchase! Lifetime customers happen this tried-and-true way. 🙂

Latte Lindsay says

October 12, 2018 at 5:35 pm

This is a great post that is great for anyone starting out. Thanks for all the info 🙂

October 17, 2018 at 7:37 pm

Hi Lindsay,

I’m glad you found this useful, and I hope it helps you along with your blogging journey! 🙂

Denay DeGuzman says

October 12, 2018 at 7:33 pm

What a wonderful informative post about a blogging business plan! I’ve bookmarked this for reading a second time to completely absorb all of the advice and suggestions. I enjoy learning new things every single day!

October 17, 2018 at 7:38 pm

So happy you found this helpful!

Thanks for bookmarking and feel free to reach out to me or Nadalie if you have any questions.

Daneisha Smith says

October 12, 2018 at 10:26 pm

I’ve been blogging for almost 2 years now and I can definitely say that everything on your list is pretty much correct. There is a lot that goes into creating a successful blog. It’s touch

October 17, 2018 at 7:40 pm

Hi Daneisha,

Yes, I agree, a lot DOES go into creating a successful blog.

That’s why I’m ok with people frontloading some old-fashioned planning in the beginning so they know what they really want out of their blogs and the overview of how to get there.

Thanks for leaving a comment!

CARMEN | wellingtonworldtravels.com says

October 13, 2018 at 3:00 am

This is very informative! This is one of those things where I wished I have done/known before I started blogging. 1.7m monthly viewers??? That’s one of my #goals!!! I have bookmarked this for future reference!

October 17, 2018 at 7:45 pm

Thanks for your feedback!

Ah, yes — but we all have to learn by trial and error at some point, right?!

1.7m monthly viewers is a bit, isn’t it? Adrian now helps people grow their blogs using Pinterest (she got really good at it herself, after all).

Thanks again for your comment 🙂

Fashion and Style Police says

October 13, 2018 at 4:12 am

Great tips here. Good to have your blog strategy and plans written out for clarity.

October 17, 2018 at 8:01 pm

Yes, I agree — As I mentioned in the comments of this post, the clarity you get by mapping all of this out in the beginning is invaluable.

It’ll stop you from getting off-track and spend time / money / energy on the things in your blog that don’t really need it. 🙂

Glad you found this useful!

Amy - All about a Mummy says

October 13, 2018 at 9:14 am

Wow, such a thorough advice. Really great tips for newbie bloggers.

October 17, 2018 at 8:02 pm

Glad you found this advice useful! Hope this helps in your blogging journey. 🙂

Marjie Mare says

October 13, 2018 at 11:45 am

It’s been 11 months since I have been blogging for fun. Your post will help me take my blog to the next level.

October 17, 2018 at 8:03 pm

So glad to hear you’re ready for the next phase in your blogging career! Hope the content of this post nudges you along in the right direction for your blog’s success. 🙂

October 13, 2018 at 12:48 pm

Thank you! Always, I get reminded when I visit your blog that being organized is the way to go…I hope I get to apply these. Bookmarked!

October 17, 2018 at 8:04 pm

I’m glad you found this post useful, and I’m excited for you to apply them to your goals.

Nadalie has tons of great posts on planning and organization on her blog, so I suggest checking those out, too!

Meg Kerns says

October 13, 2018 at 1:26 pm

THIS is actionable and helpful. When I started out I pinned ALL of the blog tip pieces yet I didn’t ever find a good step-by-step, until yours! THANK YOU and I hope all new bloggers find and can execute their best blog with your tips.

October 17, 2018 at 8:12 pm

Aw, thanks for the kind words!

Years ago when I got into marketing and consulting, I also found a lot of lame-o “fluff” posts that didn’t help.

Fortunately, for people like you and me, we can learn from others’ mistakes and avoid creating content that doesn’t help (or worse, frustrates) our target readers.

No one likes “fluff” posts and these kinds of posts actually build a poor brand identity — people will start associating a name with bad content. Chances of a reader coming back to visit those sites again? Close to zero, you bet.

That’s why I love blog’s like Nadalie’s — you can tell the author cares about her readers and what’s in it for them.

Happy this helped you, and hope you can apply these tips to your own growth strategy!

All She Things says

October 13, 2018 at 2:24 pm

As a marketing professional, i must say your blogging business plan is comprehensive and covers all that one needs to think about when starting a new venture!

October 17, 2018 at 8:18 pm

Thanks for the feedback!

I felt a little sheepish throwing around words like “USP,” thinking it would be irrelevant. But I see blogging as a way to grow a business and I’d love for those who are in the business of blogging to start using terms like these more.

I think applying business-sense to blogging will remove some of the “mystery” blogging tends to have around subscriber growth, making money, etc!

Thanks again for your comment. 🙂

Jillian Bell says

October 14, 2018 at 5:21 am

Very informative and insightful. Thank you for the advice…Now I am still struggling how to make money..Adsense or Amazon affiliate?

October 17, 2018 at 8:26 pm

Hi Jillian,

Thanks so much for your feedback!

Typically, Adsense doesn’t offer high payouts, so people avoid it for that reason. However, since you’re just starting out monetizing, I actually recommend you try both Adsense and Amazon affiliate.

Adsense requires pure traffic to make money. Amazon affiliate requires traffic AND strategic content + affiliate marketing to make money (like where you would place affiliate links, how to get people to click through, how to get people to engage with your content in the first place).

It doesn’t take much to set up Adsense — it’s mostly a “set it and forget it” thing. And making money off Amazon will require some more strategy in content and affiliate marketing, as I said.

When you’re starting out, focus on nailing down your strategy — see, for example, what can drive the most traffic to your blog, and what blog posts resonate with your readers the most, which posts they tend to click on, which affiliate products they like, etc.

Once your narrow this part down, then you can focus on scaling and making more money.

Hope this helps!!

P.S. And of course, my best recommendation will always be to create your own mini-product first as your main monetization strategy!

Reese Evans says

February 20, 2021 at 4:13 am

I really like this great post of yours. You will benefit a lot from reading this wonderful information.

It's All You Boo says

February 22, 2021 at 9:15 am

Glad this post about creating a successful blog business plan caught your attention. There is truly a lot of information you can find on here. Thanks for reading!

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Free Blog Business Plan to Earn Your First $100k in 2024

• Updated: 03/04/24
• Comments: 2

We partner with bada$$ companies that offer products that help our readers achieve their goals! If you purchase through our partner links, we get paid for the referral at no additional cost to you! Read our disclosure for more info.

Are you looking to start a blog business and make your first $100k in 2024? If so, then developing a blog business plan is essential.

A blog business plan can help you create realistic goals and provide the structure needed to reach them. It will also allow you to identify potential challenges and develop strategies for overcoming them.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss how to create an effective blog business plan that will put you on track toward achieving the financial success of your dreams.

We’ll cover topics such as setting goals and objectives, creating content plans, monetizing strategies, budgeting techniques, marketing tactics, and more!

So if you’re ready to get started on your blog business journey – read on! Before we get started, let’s go over the definition of a blog business plan.

What is a Blog Business Plan?

A blog business plan is a document that outlines your blog’s objectives and overall strategy for launch, growth, and success.

It should include a comprehensive analysis of your blog’s current standing, a detailed marketing plan, and a budget outlining the costs associated with running the blog.

The business plan should outline your overall vision for the blog in terms of its potential direction and growth over time. You won’t always know this upfront, but it can help a lot to consider the potential for multiple directions or paths to growth.

You should create realistic goals for yourself that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-sensitive. You can read more about creating SMART goals here.

When creating your blog business plan, you should consider several factors such as what services or products will you be offering, who your audience is, and what type of content you need to create.

We will dive into these factors in more detail throughout this article.

When it comes to monetization, scaling, and growth, it’s important to explore strategies that fit best with your blog’s purpose.

Some factors to consider here include pricing strategies, potential revenue streams, and ways in which to maximize profits.

Blog Business Plan Executive Summary

An executive summary is a key component of any blog business plan.

Your executive summary is an overview of the blog and its goals, objectives, strategies, and financial projections.

It should be concise yet comprehensive enough to give a clear picture of what your blog business plan entails.

Write Your Executive Summary

Use the headings and descriptions below to create your own executive summary for your blog business plan.

I recommend revisiting this summary after you’ve made it through the rest of this article and have a better idea of your blog overview.

We will cover each of these topics in more depth later on in the article when you are creating your detailed business plan for your blog.

Goals and Objectives

When it comes to deciding on the goals and objectives for your blog, it is important to create realistic and achievable targets.

What do you hope to achieve with this blog?

Create a few simple goals to start with and then make sure to revisit this step to turn them into SMART goals after you have outlined more of your blog business plan and have a better idea of what direction you plan to go in.

You can also create a mission statement for your blog if you’d like.

Blog Topic and Niche

Decide on a blog topic, or blog niche, for your blog. Ideally, you should have some experience in this area or a desire to learn a great deal more.

Your blog niche should also be specific and narrow enough that you can identify a target market and create content specifically for those people.

Competition

Identify some of your biggest competitors and the most successful blogs in your niche so that you can do a competitive analysis on these blogs.

Research the competition in your blog niche by looking at how other successful bloggers are targeting their audience.

Try to identify trends so that you can use them in your own blog business plan and ensure that your blog appeals to potential readers as well as stands out from the crowd.

Target Market

Who would you like to reach with your audience? Who do you want your ideal audience to be?

Make sure to be specific when you outline exactly who you are trying to reach, including their age, gender, lifestyle, preferred method to consume information, other typical habits, and more.

This will also go hand-in-hand with the type of content that you want to create.

Content Plan

What kind of content will you create? This should be a marriage of the kind of content you desire to create with the kind of content that your ideal audience likes to consume.

If you don’t want to create videos, you don’t have to. But if your audience prefers video content and it would help you sell products, you may have to make some concessions.

Decide on 1-2 different types of content that you want to create and which platforms you want to share them on.

Products and Services

What monetization methods will you use? Outline the different types of products or services that you plan to sell on your blog.

Consider starting out with ads or affiliate marketing if you need some time to gather data and feedback from your audience before creating your own products.

Create a solid monetization strategy and plan for how you will achieve it.

Marketing and Sales

Great products need a great marketing strategy or they are dead in the water, no matter how great they are.

Decide what kind of sales-centered content you can create to help you sell your products or services.

Consider what strategies you can implement to continue to grow and scale your monetization efforts.

This may or may not be a consideration for you, but it’s important to have an idea of how much starting an online business will cost you.

As I explain in more depth in the section on building your foundation and starting your blog, you can start a blog business very affordably if you take the right steps.

Create an effective budget that outlines all expenses associated with running the blog including hosting fees, content creation costs, marketing costs, and more.

Create a start-up budget and a monthly budget for your blog business to set the right expectations for at least the first year of operations.

Create Your Blog Business Plan

Throughout the rest of this article, we will take a deeper dive into the high-level topics we mentioned in the executive summary.

Ideally, you should create this summary after reading the entirety of this article.

Keep it open and use it as a business plan template to create your own!

1. Set Business Goals and Objectives

Let’s set some overall goals and objectives for your blog business plan. What do you hope to achieve with this blog?

Start by asking yourself what you hope to achieve with your blog — whether it’s increasing traffic, building a following, or generating profits.

Once you have identified your blog’s key goals, create SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and timely) objectives that will help you reach those goals.

Breaking down blog objectives into smaller steps will make them more manageable and easier to track progress.

For example, if your blog’s key goal is increasing traffic, an objective could be creating two blog posts per week for the next six months.

Or if the goal is generating profits from your blog, an objective could be launching an e-commerce store in six months with 20 products.

When writing a blogging business plan, make sure that the objectives are attainable in a reasonable timeframe and that they accurately reflect the blog’s purpose.

It is also important to consider ROI – or return on investment – when setting blog business objectives so that you are able to measure success.

Also, consider how you will achieve these goals.

Breaking down blog objectives into milestone tasks can help ensure that you stay on track and reach them in a timely manner. Milestones should include activities such as market research for driving traffic and developing content plans for blog posts.

2. Ideas and Niche Exploration

Let’s get to the fun part! It’s time to come up with potential blog topics and content ideas for your blog.

Brainstorm Blog Topics

What do you want your blog to be about? What topics of content do you want to share?

When it comes to blog ideas, it is important to think outside the box a bit and get a little creative, if you can.

Start by thinking of topics that are related to your blog’s purpose or niche and then brainstorm ways to make the topic more interesting and relevant.

Asking yourself questions such as:

• What do I know?
• What do I have personal or professional experience in?
• What problems could I solve?
• What information would be useful for my readers?
• What is trending right now?

These questions can help guide your blog ideas in the right direction.

Narrow Down Your Niche

Choosing a blog niche is an important part of creating a blog business plan because it could help determine your overall happiness and satisfaction with your blog as well as how successful your blog will become.

It’s important to choose a niche that you are passionate about and knowledgeable in so that you can provide helpful content for your audience

It should also be specific enough that there are not a lot of other blogs out there talking about the exact same thing.

Narrowing down your niche and blog topic can help make sure that your blog stands out from the competition and attracts the right audience.

Now, there will likely already be hundreds or thousands of blogs blogging on the same topics and this shouldn’t necessarily deter you.

But consider how you can narrow in on your target audience.

For example, “Weight Loss” and even “Weight Loss for Women” is too broad of a blog topic.

Here are a few better blog topics:

• Weight Loss for Men with a Keto Diet
• Vegan and Sustainable Dieting for Weight Loss and the Environment
• Fast Weight Loss for Women Over 200 Lbs

These are all more specific and speak to a more targeted audience.

Potential for Monetization

You should also consider how much potential there is for monetizing the blog within a certain niche.

Some blog niches are also known to make more money than others, so you may want to take that into consideration as well.

You won’t always know this information when you’re just starting out, but that’s okay.

You can do research on keywords related to your blog topic so you can gain insight into what people are searching for online and what drives website traffic.

Also, consider exploring multiple niches if you want to diversify your blog’s content offering.

You can also look into potential collaborations with other bloggers or influencers in order to reach new audiences.

Consider how you might make money from this topic, and then you can explore the potential in your competitive analysis.

3. Build Your Blog Foundation

One of the most important parts of your business plan is to outline how you will start your blog.

Make sure to build your blog on a solid foundation, and that always starts with your domain name and hosting company.

Domain Name and Hosting Company

Truthfully, your blog name doesn’t matter quite as much as you think it does and shouldn’t be something you dwell on for too long.

A lot of popular domain names are already taken, so you might have to get a little creative here.

My best advice is to come up with a name that is:

• easy to spell,
• easy to remember,
• and easy to pronounce.

It also helps to consider keeping it flexible in case you decide to change your blog’s direction at some point in the future.

Once you come up with a domain name, it’s time to choose a blogging platform and hosting company.

WordPress is the most widely used platform by successful bloggers and the only one that we recommend. It’s what this blog uses.

For blog hosting, we use and recommend Bluehost because it’s one of the most affordable hosting companies for beginners and has great customer service.

You can use our link to get a discount and get a hosting plan for as little as $2.75/month.

Blog Setup and Design

If you want some help setting up your blog quickly, easily, and as affordably as possible, check out our full guide on how to start a successful blog.

In that guide, we outline all of the steps on how to set up your domain name, hosting, website theme, and more.

When it comes to what theme you want to use, I recommend starting out with an affordable, beginner-friendly theme rather than getting caught up too much in what your competitors are using.

Good web design takes time, patience, and some skills and is something you’ll want to work on over time as you define your blog more and start creating content.

That being said, the competitive analysis is a great place to start with getting inspiration on the overall theme and design of your blog.

4. Competitive Analysis

A competitive analysis is an essential part of blog business planning that is often overlooked or even skipped entirely.

Competitive analysis involves researching and analyzing what your competitors are doing in order to gain insight into how you can be successful and stand out from the competition.

Analyzing what’s working for other blogs in your niche can also give you inspiration and ideas on potential blog topics and other strategies.

If you notice that certain blog posts receive more engagement than others on competitor’s blogs, this could be something worth exploring on your blog too.

It could also be helpful to analyze which keywords they use so that you can incorporate them into your own content strategy.

Identifying Your Competitors

When conducting a competitive analysis for your blog business plan, it’s important to take a close look at both direct and indirect competitors.

Direct competitors are those that blog about the exact same topics as you, while indirect competitors are those who blog about related topics.

Both types of competition can offer valuable insights when it comes to developing a strategy for success.

Metrics to Measure

Some things to analyze include blog content, audience engagement, website design, keywords used, and other factors that can help you determine the best direction for your blog.

More specifically, you should analyze metrics such as blog post frequency, length, engagement, and the span of topics that they cover.

Look and see how they drive their traffic, whether that’s through social media, Google, or other platforms.

Here are a few questions to consider in your analysis:

• What are their traffic sources?
• How much do they engage with their audience?
• How are they driving their sales?
• What are they selling?
• Are there other ways that they are monetizing their content?
• Do they have an email list and a lead magnet?

This will give you an overall picture of how other successful blogs are structured, attracting customers, and driving sales.

Once you have conducted a competitive analysis for your blog business plan, you should have some better insight into what strategies might work best in your niche or for your blog.

From there, consider how you can implement some of these strategies but in your own way that might set you apart from the competition. How can you do it better?

5. Target Audience and Community

When deciding on your blog’s target audience, it’s important to take into account several factors.

Blog Content

First, consider the type of blog you’re creating and what topics you’ll be covering.

Knowing who you are creating content for will help you determine the type of content that will appeal to them.

Honestly, your content strategy and target audience should both be considered together to make sure these two align.

You can decide what kind of content you want to create and then decide on which target audience this content would appeal to most OR you can decide what audience you most want to reach and then decide on what type of content would appeal most to them.

Just remember that different demographics of people like and respond differently to different types of content.

Audience Demographic

Now, let’s think about your blog’s demographic.

Demographic factors like age range, gender, location, interests, occupation, and lifestyle are all crucial components in helping you identify your blog’s target audience.

Think not just about who you could reach but about who you truly want to reach.

Understanding who your ideal reader or customer is will enable you to create content that resonates with them and is tailored specifically to their needs and interests.

For example, if you’re sharing weight loss advice with someone, the advice will have to look very different for an older woman compared to a younger man, because their interests and lifestyle will vary greatly.

These two types of people also spend time on very different platforms. An older woman likely spends more time on Facebook and Google and a younger man might spend more time on TikTok or YouTube.

This brings us full circle back to blog content again, which we’ll dive deeper into in the next section.

Before we move on to blog content, let’s first talk about community.

It’s important in the blogging world to be able to build a community around your blog or website.

When you build relationships with your audience, they begin to trust you and are more likely to purchase from you and continue to support your success.

You can build a community around your blog in a variety of ways, including through Facebook Groups or other community platforms.

You can also build community simply by being engaged with your audience on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or through an email list.

When you engage with your audience through your content, comments, or other communications, you make them feel valued and more connected.

All of these things lead to additional trust built and the potential for more sales down the road.

6. Content Plan

When deciding on the different types of content you can create for a blog, it’s important to think about a couple of things.

The most important thing is to identify what type of content will be most engaging and beneficial for your blog’s target audience.

Content should be tailored to match your blog’s purpose, whether it be providing informative blog posts or inspiring stories.

But the second most important thing to identify is what type of content YOU want to create.

This is important because if you don’t enjoy the content you are creating (or worse, if you hate it), you likely won’t give it the time and dedication that it needs to be successful.

You don’t have to love every part of the process, but if you absolutely hate being on camera, starting a YouTube channel may not be for you.

Type of Content

As I’m sure you are aware, there are a lot of different types of content on the internet these days.

Traditionally, blog posts have been associated with blogs as the main source of traffic.

While that is still true and Google SEO (search engine optimization) remains one of the best sources of traffic for bloggers, there are also a lot of other types of content that you can create for or alongside your blog.

I like to think of the blog as the “home” for your business and your blog posts, but you can repurpose your blog posts and content for other platforms to reach wider audiences.

TikTok has become a great source of revenue for many bloggers and influencers, as well as Instagram , and YouTube .

If creating videos isn’t your thing, you can always consider Pinterest or focus on Google SEO .

Now, keep in mind that different types of content are popular or successful on different platforms.

What works on TikTok will likely have different results on Pinterest or may have to be changed considerably.

Each platform typically has its own way of sharing content and engaging with followers, although there is some overlap on some platforms.

Structure of Content

What platform you decide to use will also somewhat dictate the structure of your content.

Informative blog posts are great for helping readers learn more about a certain topic and should include plenty of facts and data, backed up by reliable sources, to ensure accuracy and authority.

This type of content is ideal for Pinterest marketing or a Google SEO strategy.

You can also share this type of educational content on a platform like YouTube, but it’s significantly harder to convey longer messages on platforms like Instagram and YouTube.

Inspirational stories are another type of content that can also be very powerful to help you build trust and connection with your audience.

This type of content should focus on real experiences or stories that illustrate how you or someone was able to accomplish something or overcome challenges.

This type of content is relatable and is a great way for you to get personal with your audience. It’s also great for story-centric platforms like Instagram.

Videos are another popular form of content for blogs because they give you the chance to show off your personality and engage viewers on a deeper level than text-based content.

They make a great supplemental source of traffic alongside blog posts and there are a variety of ways to do this, including platforms like Twitch or YouTube Live, which you may have not used or considered before.

Lastly, podcasts can also be an easy way to repurpose content with an added level of personalization beyond text.

They’re easier to create than videos and your listeners can tune in without looking at their computers.

7. Product or Service Offering

Creating a product or service offering and outlining your monetization strategies is a key part of your blog business plan.

There are a lot of monetization methods for blogs , and it’s important to take the time to research potential ideas that align with your blog’s purpose, values, and target market.

Start by brainstorming ideas for products and services that would fit with the blog topics you cover.

Types of Products, Services, and Revenue Streams

The most successful blog businesses generally sell their own products and services, whether that be digital products like online courses or e-commerce stores that are targeted to their blog’s audience and niche.

Other examples of popular products and services include selling eBooks and other downloadables, online coaching, or even other people’s products and services.

This is called affiliate marketing , and it’s a very popular way that many blogs start earning their first bit of income, before selling their own products.

Another way that many bloggers start out monetizing their content is by partnering with ad networks to place ads in their content.

Mediavine is probably the most popular amongst bloggers but requires a lot of traffic to get started . If you have less than 50,000 website views per month, Ezoic is a better option to start with.

You can also create paid communities and memberships for a variety of different platforms.

Product or Service Viability

Look for gaps in the market related to your blog topic.

Ask yourself these questions to get ideas and then validate those ideas:

• Is there a need for this type of product or service?
• Who is my target customer?
• Are there any existing solutions similar to what I am offering?

By thoroughly researching these questions before launching a product or service offering, you can ensure that your business plan is well thought out and able to generate more sales.

Pricing Strategy

Finally, come up with a pricing strategy for your products and services that reflects their value and quality while still being attractive to customers.

Consider adding multiple tiers of pricing options so customers can choose the level of value they need from your offerings.

One of the best ways to get ideas of market prices for your products or services is to do research and see what other people are selling for similar products.

Stay competitive with your pricing or consider even going a little lower than you’d like to start off with if you need some time to gain momentum, customers, and positive reviews and testimonials.

But even the best products won’t sell with a poor marketing strategy.

8. Marketing and Sales (Traffic)

An effective marketing and sales strategy is absolutely crucial to your blog business plan to make sure that you give your monetization strategy its best chance at success.

Marketing your content and products isn’t always easy and it’s important to experiment with different strategies when targeting your audience and learning how to best serve their needs.

Content Marketing Strategy

One of the best ways to market your products and services is to create sales-centered content around the topics that your products or services cover.

For example, if you sell a course on dieting relating to being vegan and environmentally conscious, you should create a lot of content on these topics and related topics.

This content helps to bring in a very targeted audience of people who will have a higher interest in what you’re selling.

Consider writing content, creating videos, or creating content for whatever platforms you are marketing your content on.

Share more about your product and how it can help the end user, as well as clear call-to-actions in your content with links on where to find out more or purchase.

Sales Marketing Strategy

Consider what platform you’re selling products on — here is a list of platforms for online courses .

Make sure to design your sales pages in a way that converts customers and utilize promotion strategies like discounts, sales, and coupon codes when you can.

One of the best ways that bloggers sell their own products is through email marketing: creating an email funnel to sell their products.

You can send a few emails with the sales-centered content that we just discussed and follow it up with a limited-time sale on your product.

Limited-time offerings create scarcity and a reason for people to buy now and buy from you.

You can also consider using paid ads to increase traffic to your products or email opt-ins (that sell your products), but this is definitely a more lucrative and advanced step because ads are very competitive and usually pretty expensive.

Lastly, consider using surveys to get feedback from your audience about what they would like to see from your blog and then use those insights in order to shape future content plans, marketing strategies, and product ideas.

Next Steps: Grow and Scale

What’s great about creating a business plan for your blog is that you can outline the path and plan to success.

Sometimes it doesn’t always work out according to plan, but it will keep you from getting stuck in the water and unsure of what the next steps are.

This is why it’s important to continue to review and revise your blog business plan as your blog grows.

There will undoubtedly be times when you have to pivot (sometimes hard). We’ve been there multiple times over the years.

We’ve had waves of Pinterest traffic, waves of paid ads, waves of YouTube traffic, and each time, we’ve ridden the wave until it crashes.

Then, we get up, and we find the next wave.

Being flexible and aware enough to pivot when necessary and create new strategies is the most important factor to maintaining your success and creating a sustainable business.

Some of our favorite strategies for growing and scaling include the following:

Build a Team and Outsource Work

You may reach a point in which you can no longer do everything on your own. That’s totally understandable and completely expected.

Most bloggers start out by hiring a virtual assistant, freelance writer, or social media manager to help with the workload.

This will help you free up your time from the menial-but-still-important tasks and allow you to focus on the higher-level stuff like marketing and growth.

I already briefly mentioned it before but ads can be a really great way to scale what you’re doing.

If you already have a system in place that drives traffic to your blog and successfully sells a product, turning on paid ads can simply scale up a system that already works.

It can be time-consuming and expensive, but it can also be totally worth it.

Your ads can also be a lot more effective when paired with a good email marketing strategy.

Consider this if you have a budget for it and you think it will work in your niche and with your target audience.

Building Partnerships

Lastly, one of our other favorite ways to scale our business and income is to form partnerships with other successful bloggers and brands in our niche.

We have built great relationships and partnerships with important players in the blogging industry, including Bluehost , Teachable , and ConvertKit .

These are all tools that we already love and use in our business and we’ve partnered with them to offer joint webinars and discounts to our audience.

We’ve been featured on podcasts by tons of other bloggers and have also built out our own affiliate marketing program for our blogging courses.

The possibilities are endless, so consider how you might want to grow and scale your blogging business and include this in your business plan.

Blog Business Plan Summary

Creating a blog business plan can be an overwhelming process but it is necessary for achieving success.

Remember that you can also do this in your own way. We recommend using this guide as a business plan template that ou can customize, but also don’t feel that much can really be omitted.

But if you don’t think that identifying your company’s mission statement is super important right now, then you do you.

We didn’t personally outline that before beginning and it’s very subject to change in the first few months anyway.

But having a blog business plan does help you keep focused on reaching your goals while providing clarity on how to reach them.

It also helps motivate you by giving you something concrete to work towards each day.

Having a clear understanding of your blog’s content direction can also help you make informed decisions related to resource allocation, marketing, and more.

We hope that you found this blog business plan helpful. Let us know if you have any questions in the comments!

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The Business Blogging Plan: 50 Best Practices

• August 31, 2016

Barry Feldman

• Blogging , Content marketing

I must admit: I’m a latecomer to business blogging. I joined the party in 2011 and got off to a rocky start. Nearly all bloggers do.

Five years later, I know what works. I’m working the strategies to great effect—on my website, for a long list of top marketing blogs, and for many clients. And regardless of where you are in your business blogging journey, I believe this collection of ideas will help you publish an even more effective business blog.

Here, now, are my top ideas organized as 50 best practices. But first…

I present a quick history of business blogging from the historical point of view of yours truly. And then… Grabba’ cuppa’ something tasty and enjoy The Business Blogging Plan.

Here you go…  The Business Blogging Plan:  50 Best Practices

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Targeting: Start with why, who, what and where

As a business blogger, you become an online publisher. Your starting point is to document a concise plan to address the fundamental why, who, what and where questions.

1. Why will you have a business blog?  Most business bloggers aim to establish expertise in their niche and generate interest in products and services to support the growth of their company. Business blog objectives are likely to include:

• Raise brand awareness
• Increase web traffic
• Start conversions
• Establish trust
• Develop authority

Establish your goals by using any or all of the above in your plan or edit the list to address your specific objectives.

2. Who’s the blog for?  Create a persona (or multiple personas) to describe a prototype reader. Include both demographic and psychographic details. The goal is to develop a clear understanding of what pushes the reader’s buttons, intellectually and emotionally.

3. What will the blog offer?  How will your content satisfy the needs of its readers? My blog aims to deliver actionable digital marketing advice to help readers get traffic, leads and sales. Note the statement I just wrote answers what the blog offers AND its value.

4. Where will it be published?  Business blogs should not be published offsite, that is, on platforms such as Blogger.com, WordPress.com, Tumblr, Medium, LinkedIn, etc. You may want to take advantage of these channels that make publishing a cinch—in addition to your blog—however, your interests are best served by hosting your main blog on your domain.

• Your blog can simply be your website: CompanyName.com
• Or your blog can be a sub-domain or sub-directory: CompanyName.com (blog.FeldmanCreative.com), or CompanyName.com/blog (FeldmanCreative.com), or CompanyName.com/NameOfBlog (FeldmanCreative.com/ThePoint)  

After considering each issue above, document a mission statement to define, in a sentence or two, what you will publish, for whom, and the specific value of the content.

Topics: Create an editorial plan

Your business blog needs to focus on specific topics, but be broad enough to allow you to perpetually create new and useful content. Let’s get into some practical approaches for identifying topics and extracting ways to use them to publish relevant content regularly.

5. ID the questions prospects ask— You need to discover your prospects’ interests, concerns and challenges and interpret them as questions. What would they enter in search?

Your prospect’s questions come at you (or someone in the company) all day, everyday, and in all kinds of ways: chat, email, phone calls, blog commentary, etc. As a business blogger, you need to tune-in closely and document the questions. Gather them from people in customer-facing departments across the company.

Also, spend time on the social media channels your prospects use. Look for questions and conversations about business challenges. Make and maintain a list of them. You’re going to answer them on your blog.

6. Swipe ideas— On an ongoing basis, you should read the content published in your niche: in blogs, social media and books. When you discover something promising, swipe the idea and document it. Of course, you don’t want to plagiarize headlines or copy, but you want great ideas to inspire yours. Create a “swipe file” of inspiring ideas.

7. Monitor your market— Stay plugged into what’s going on in your field . You can keep tabs on industry news with alerts, feeds and media monitoring tools. Stay on top of breaking news, new solutions, activities of your competitors, and anything published about your company.

8. Extend ideas— Don’t let a big idea be a singular idea. Use mind mapping apps, a whiteboard, flipchart, sticky notes or whatever you prefer to brainstorm subtopics and ideas that relate to the core idea and build a bigger story.

Over time, the response you get will help you understand the type of editorial content your readers like. Look for ways to extend the winners by updating posts (rewrite, add ideas, add video, etc.), expanding them, giving them new twists, and finding additional media outlets for them.

9. Ask your readers— Ask your readers how you can publish content that will help them succeed. You can do this via email invitations to surveys, with on-site survey tools, through groups and forums, and yes, in conversation.

10. Log your ideas— When you start blogging regularly, creative ideas will come at you constantly. You can’t get to them all, not immediately. Archive them. Whether it’s with a notepad, computer, cloud app or recorder, summarize the idea to the point where it will make good sense when you return to it.

Presentation: Make your blog inviting

Cluttered pages repel readers. The inverse is true too. Tidy, good-looking blogs make the user experience a pleasure, increase time-on-site and help you gain loyal subscribers.

You have options here, but ignoring graphic design isn’t one of them. You can purchase a professionally designed template, hire a web designer, or learn the ropes. Make it a priority to make your blog look great.

11. White space —Compare a page densely populated with copy to another with a more “air,” that is, ample white space, and you’ll choose the latter every time. Pay attention to margins, breaks, and leading (the space between the lines of copy) to ensure your page is generously white (or a light and pleasing background color).

12. Create and use images —Blogs with no images look dull and monotonous. Add visual interest to your posts with:

• Word clouds
• Illustrations
• Infographics
• Screen shots

Of course, you can buy images and/or use non-copyrighted works, but it’s best to create something original. Avoid corny stock photos.

13. Bullet points —Readers love lists. Use bullets or numbers to set apart sequential ideas, even if you have just two or three. The more you enable speed-reading, the more visitors will want to read.

14. Subheads —Break up your blog posts by “chapterizing” them with subheads. Subheads help make your page look cleaner and your post more skimmer-friendly. And search engines may recognize them (so choose your words wisely).

Blog post ideas: Publish an interesting mix

Many blogs are one-trick ponies. For instance, every post is a deep, 1,000-plus- tutorial on a narrow niche. You run the risk of boring readers with this type of predictability.

I believe a great blog delivers variety. This section offers ideas to vary the content of your blog to make it interesting to more people.

15. List posts —It may be an unsurprising first tip, but I want you to succeed. List posts work. Create them often.

16. Resources posts —Another dependable staple of the business blogosphere is the resource post that aims to enlighten readers by listing high quality books, blogs, shows, products, services, apps, or just about any type of resource.

17. Roundup posts —A roundup is a resource post, of sorts, but instead of pointing readers to resources, you pull the resources into your story. A popular example is a post where an expert panel is asked the same question (often rounded up via email). You can grab material various ways from various sources.

18. Interviews —Interviews are great for variety and bring various points of view and personalities to your blog. You can conduct them from a variety of places with a variety of approaches. You can vary the form too by presenting written, audio and video interviews.

19. Reviews —Be a voice of authority and industry curator by reviewing books or any form of media. Review anything you deem relevant and potentially useful. Reviews of conferences are a good example. 

20. Contrarians —Your blog should inspire readers. So yes, be positive. But if you vow to be eternally positive you could risk getting yawned to death. Take a contrarian stance now and then. Tackle myths, mistakes, misconceptions, and miscellaneous material to demonstrate you know wrong from right.

21. Stories — Storytelling takes practice. So start small. Open with a little anecdote, prediction, flashback, a conversation you heard, something you saw, a joke, whatever. Your stories will get richer, more personal, more you. Your blog will get more interesting—your readers, more interested.

22. Curate —Curation is presenting the works of others. It doesn’t mean your brain gets to go on vacation. If you want your readers to get a lot out of the content you curate, put some effort into it. You can tee-up favorite stories with an explanation of why you like them. Roll a collection of ideas together to support a story you want to tell. Present opposing views. Curation can be good fun for everyone.  

23. Invite guests —Invite guest bloggers to contribute to your blog. Consider new authors. If you’ve made influential friends on your blogging journey, offer to trade guest posts. Or find someone with writing chops that would welcome the opportunity to find a new audience and could breathe new life into your blog.

Writing: Communicate with verve

Most business blogs suck. The writing simply has no heartbeat. It often feels forced and phony.

You need to bring passion to your blog. Does that mean you need to be a great writer to create a successful blog? Probably not. You need to aspire to become one.

Work at it and you will. Experiment. Gather feedback. You’ll learn what does and doesn’t work. Your writing skills will progress.

Identify a short list of blogs and bloggers that appeal to you and make a deliberate attempt at understanding why. Is it the writing style? The depth? Honesty? Humor? Wit? Sarcasm? The use of stories and examples? Data? Emulate stylistic ideas from some of your favorites. Your style will begin to emerge.

Here are some tips to put you on the path to becoming an effective writer.

24. Write several headlines — Lazy bloggers write a headline and then a post. Not good. The headline or title of your post is the most important line you’ll write. Put ample effort into making it great.

Don’t settle for your first idea. Challenge yourself to improve it. When your post comes together, revisit what you wrote and try writing five to ten alternative headlines. My bet is you’ll arrive at an even stronger one.

25. Identify with the reader in your lead —Most readers won’t get deep into or finish your posts. After your headline, your lead or opening is the most important passage.

It has to have sucking-in power. Communicate to the reader why your post is going to be meaningful to them. Arouse curiosity about what’s to come.

Writers tend to stare at their screens obsessing over the lead for too long. If this problem plagues you, skip the lead and start writing. Your first sentence or paragraph may become much easier after you get a first draft down.

26. Have a point of view —Don’t try to make everybody happy with everything you write. Write what you feel. Great bloggers share their opinions and present a strong point of view. That’s my opinion. I’m perfectly fine if you disagree.

27. Write naturally —I think (and we just established bloggers should freely express their opinions) nothing is more tedious than a blogger posturing as a journalist. Relax. Lighten up. Be yourself and write in your unique, real, natural voice.  

28. Increase your word power —Powerful blog headlines and copy feature powerful words. I’m not talking about big words. I’m talking about words that trigger emotions. Review your drafts looking for opportunities to tighten your copy, inject active verbs, and dramatize your story.

29. Respect grammar — You need not obsess about grammar like you would with a report. Blog posts don’t need the approval of a professor. Understand what does and doesn’t abide by grammatical standards, but don’t be afraid to bend the rules in the interest of style. Just don’t embarrass yourself with careless grammar.

30. Give it rhythm —Short sentence. Short sentence. Boring, right? On the other hand, when you run on and on and on with ideas that could be broken up, you run the risk of making reading a chore. Strive to give your writing rhythm. Pacing’s important.

31. Cite research and data —Use the web as your library. Put some effort into enhancing the credibility of your posts with research and data that supports your story.

32. Proofread — Writing and editing all by your lonesome is a tough task. You’ll benefit from a second set of eyes. If an editor or proofreader is not an option, step up your own internal checking system. For spelling, try proofreading your posts backwards—yes, one sentence and word at a time. It also helps to incubate your posts, that is, let them lie for a day or more and return with fresh eyes. Far fewer mistakes will slip by.

Influence: Make connections to build your audience

You’ll achieve your business blogging objectives faster by building influence. To accelerate the process, savvy business bloggers create connections with the movers and shakers in their industry: the leading bloggers, authors and speakers. You’ll learn a lot, gain new opportunities and grow your audience.

33. Comment on blogs —Subscribe to and read the best blogs in your niche. Then join the conversation in the comment streams. You can do better than simply complementing the authors of posts you like. Write meaningful comments and you’re sure to get on the radar of influential bloggers.

34. Respond to comments —Big, multi-author blogs sometimes do away with comment streams. You shouldn’t. As an up-and-comer, you should encourage readers to contribute comments. Pay close attention to the comments. Respond to any questions you’re asked. Thank those that applaud your work and contribute thoughtful comments.

35. Create communities —Explore ways to communicate, exchange ideas, and create content with your fans, friends, and bloggers you admire. You can create a forum, join or start your own LinkedIn or Facebook group, host Twitter chats, and conduct webinars and meetups. Online and off, there are countless opportunities to commune with your audience and other bloggers.

36. Attend conferences —The top business bloggers are usually speakers too. They create content about what they’ve done, seen and learned at industry conferences.

You’ll need to carve time out of your schedule and dollars out of your bank account to get involved in conferences, but you’ll be rewarded for the investment. When you’re aiming to build influence by associating with leaders who author prominent blogs, nothing beats getting to know them.

Promotion: Invest heavily in increasing your reach

Millions of posts are published daily. Most reach very few readers and the majority doesn’t get shared via social media.

Serious business bloggers need to continuously amplify their reach by promoting their content. Let’s look at some key distribution strategies you’ll use to find an audience or help an audience find you.

37. Create social media updates —Content marketing and social media marketing are bedfellows. In fact, blogging, by most people’s definition, is social media. I’m forever shocked by business bloggers who hit “publish” and call it a day.

You must relentlessly promote your blog posts via the social media channels your potential customers frequent. Make your social media updates interesting, urgent, and creative. Feature images to increase their visibility and stopping power.

38. Try paid posts —Small investments in sponsored posts on social media channels are likely to have a big effect on your reach. Most popular networks now offer a variety of ad programs, which will allow you to apply a number of targeting options to zero-in on the audience you seek.

39. Send email updates —Get an email marketing program in place pronto. Use pop-ups, slide-ins and/or call-to-action boxes to make your readers aware you deliver updates via email and set your email service up to generate blog updates via email.

40. Build your email list —It’s crucial to build your email list. Put opt-in forms in the path of your website visitors on all popular pages and your posts. You might even create a page expressly for capturing new subscribers.

Creating gated offers is the best way to gather readers’ email addresses. Put some thought into it and create an eBook or another type of lead magnet that’s remarkably valuable.

41. Encourage sharing —Install a social media share bar. Though your share numbers may be low, I recommend turning the counters on. Deliberately ask your readers to share your posts. Consider using a “Click to Tweet” WordPress plugin to make it easy for readers to share pre-formatted tweets.

42. Get syndicated —While guest blogging is hard work, syndicating your blog posts is not. The work’s all front-loaded. Identify blogs that republish the works of bloggers in your niche and give the editor a good reason to consider running your stuff. They don’t pay you; you don’t pay them. But you both benefit.

Search: Optimize your blog posts for visibility

Does SEO sound scary? It’s really not the beast you fear. And it need not be slimy.

Google has chased away most of the schlocksters who gave SEO a bad name and now rewards great content creators who do the little things it takes to indicate to the search engine how the posts are relevant to readers’ requests.

43. Do keyword research —Though search has become increasingly semantic, keywords are still your key to getting discovered via search. Identify long tail keyword phrases (3 or more words) for which you have a chance to earn high rankings. Include them in your headlines. Include derivatives of them in your copy. Tag your images with your keywords too.

44. Tighten your URLs —Pay some attention to the URL of your post before you publish. If you’re using WordPress or another CRM and operating on autopilot, paying attention to the content, but not the code, the platform may be generating long, tedious URLs with unnecessary words and numbers that get in the way. Use Yoast or another WordPress plugin to shorten and simplify the URL thereby placing an emphasis on your keywords.

45. Revisit for links —SEO is about relevance and authority. The search engine’s “authority meter” is largely concerned with links. You want your blog posts to link to other websites, and to boost your rankings, you want links to your content on other websites.  Help the search engines understand what’s where with the use of internal and external links.

46. Guest post — Guest blogging is an off-page SEO tactic and invaluable tactic for increasing your reach. The hosts of the sites you contribute to will give you backlinks in your author bio—and provided you don’t overdo itby making your post an encyclopedia of links—most will allow you to include links to posts and other useful resources on your website.

Consistency: Keep at it

I want to offer you some additional thoughts that are best practices in business blogging.

47. Repurpose your posts —A great post is going to be prime pickings for re-using in other formats. Consider the media you do well with and the channels where prospects may discover you then give your content a new media spin. Do you have the makings of a SlideShare? Video? Infographic? Podcast? eBook?

48. Update older posts —From time to time, it will be useful to revisit an earlier work. Something in the news may make an older post worthy of updating and re-publishing. You might have developed a complementary piece of content that begs to be rolled in. You could tinker with the title and give it new life. Chances are, as your blog expands, you can find opportunities to cross-reference material with new links.

49. Stay consistent —The top reason why bloggers fail is they simply stop blogging. Even slowing down can be deadly. Blogs are publications. Try to establish a reasonable release schedule and stick with it. It takes time to build an audience. You need to make a commitment to keep at it.

50. Make an ask —When you blog for business, the idea is to drive business. Like any piece of marketing communications, you should conclude with a call to action.

Your blog posts will seldom be explicitly about a product, so it’s rare you’ll call for a traditional action such as “try” or “buy.” That said, when you’ve succeeded on taking your reader on a journey you’ll want to be a good tour guide and suggest a next step… subscribe, download, read, share. Your options are many.

Barry Feldman Author

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Alan Steinborn

If someone wants to start a successful blog, there is truly no excuse with a post like this. I enjoyed your commentary about what you were up to at the time blogs were evolving. I remember when I first heard about the internet. It was 1991. I walked into a friend’s office and he showed me the cover of a geeky magazine that said ‘The Internet’ and he said, ‘Alan, this is the future.’ I was carrying my sax with me and pointed to it and responded: ‘Bill, this is the future!’ It turns out we were both right! 🙂

Neil Murphy

Barry, where were you when I was blogging my lighting horse to death? Talk about a lesson in how to start a conversation. It’s sharp, concise, witty, clever, emotional & best of all for a simple Irishman, music to my naturally-chatty brain. I’ll be using this as my blogging ‘Elements of Style’

Terrific resource–and beautifully laid out for skimming/reading/usability. Sections I look forward to rereading: 1) Promotion–more crucial now, in the era of Content Shock, than ever before. 2) Consistency–especially suggestions to repurpose and update older posts. Thanks, Barry.

Emmerey Rose

Hi Barry! Awesome post. Bookmarked your article for future reference 🙂 By the way speaking of semantic keywords, I was wondering do you use any LSI tools? which one is your favorite?

I don’t. In fact, I don’t even know what that means.

No problem Barry. Anyway, thanks for the reply! 🙂

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A Strategic Guide to Launching Your Blog in 2024

Introduction:

Embarking on the journey to establish an online presence through blogging in 2024 requires a meticulous blend of professionalism and strategic SEO practices. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the essential steps to launch your blog successfully, ensuring that you not only start a blog but also choose the right blogging platform to lay the foundation for a thriving online venture.

Step 1: Precision in Purpose and Niche

Before delving into the technical aspects, crystallize your blog's purpose and niche. By focusing your content, you not only start a blog with a clear identity but also enhance its discoverability through targeted SEO efforts.

Step 2: Crafting a Distinctive Domain Name

Choosing a domain name that encapsulates your blog's essence is paramount. Leverage domain registration platforms like Namecheap or GoDaddy to secure a professional and memorable online address, strengthening your start in the blogging sphere.

Step 3: Optimal Platform Selection

In the dynamic landscape of 2024, selecting the right blogging platform is a critical decision to ensure a seamless start and sustained growth. WordPress and Blogger are two standout choices.

- WordPress:

• Pros: Versatility, customization, and a robust community.
• Cons: Requires hosting and a learning curve.
• Pros: User-friendly, Google-hosted, and quick setup.
• Cons: Limited customization compared to WordPress.

Align your choice with your technical aptitude and blogging objectives to ensure a smooth start in the blogging journey.

Step 4: Strategic Hosting and Platform Installation

For those opting for WordPress, choose a reliable hosting provider like Bluehost or SiteGround to facilitate a hassle-free start. Most providers offer seamless WordPress installations, allowing you to start a blog with ease. Blogger users can initiate directly on the platform, leveraging Google's hosting for free.

Step 5: Elegance in Customization

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Mayor Bass' plan to have rich people fund homelessness program might just work: LA business leaders

Voters are 'tired' of funding homeless programs in los angeles, local business leader says.

There's a 'lack of oversight' over California's homelessness spending: Steve Garvey

U.S. Senate candidate Steve Garvey, R-Calif., weighs in on California's homelessness crisis and its spending to address the problem.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass' strategy to employ wealthy residents to help fund housing for the homeless is garnering support from local business leaders who say it might be the only solution to effectively tackle the growing crisis.

During her State of the City address on Monday, the Democratic mayor highlighted the city's struggle to house over 40,000 homeless people, declaring that "the crisis on our streets is nothing less than a disaster."

Bass touted the success of her signature Inside Safe program, which moved over 21,000 homeless people into temporary shelters, according to The Associated Press . She insisted this "strategy" and "system" moving the homeless into temporary housing would eventually end the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles.

LA MAYOR PLEADS FOR WEALTHY TO HELP BUY HOUSING FOR THE HOMELESS: ‘UNPRECEDENTED PARTNERSHIP’

The new program to house the homeless will depend on the "humanity and generosity of the private sector," Mayor Bass said. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

To do this, Bass asked the wealthy to help "speed up" housing purchases for the homeless as the basis of her new initiative,"LA4LA."

The new program will depend on the "humanity and generosity of the private sector," the mayor said. "LA4LA can be a sea change for Los Angeles, an unprecedented partnership to confront this emergency, an example of disrupting the status quo to build a new system to save lives."

"Right now, we're working to move past nightly rentals," she added. "We are asking the most fortunate Angelenos to participate in this effort, with personal, private sector and philanthropic funds – to help us acquire more properties, lower the cost of capital and speed up housing."

LA HOMELESS CRISIS DEEPENS, ENGULFS CITY IN CHAOS AS MAYOR EMPOWERS HERSELF WITH EMERGENCY DECLARATION

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaks during a press conference at the start of the annual homeless count in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024.  (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

While some are skeptical that private donations will be enough to fix the problem, other business leaders and local philanthropists are hopeful, arguing that city taxpayers are wary of spending more money to reduce homelessness with little quantifiable progress.

An article by the LA Times titled, "Mayor Bass’ ambitious housing program calls on L.A.’s wealthy. Can she pull it off?" quotes Donna Bojarsky, co-founder of a nonprofit aimed at "reinvigorating LA's civic identity," who said people appear to be "a little less cynical" with the LA4LA initiative than they have been with similar efforts in the past.

"She has shown that things can be done," Bojarsky, said of Bass.

So far, LA4LA has reportedly raised more than $10 million, with former Disney CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of LA4LA’s business leaders, donating $300,000, the Times reported. He told the outlet that the initiative relies on "the flexibility of philanthropy to activate housing units fast, for those who need it now."

Wealthy LA residents and business leaders want to help with the crisis, and they "just need to know how," HACLA Chief Executive Douglas Guthrie told the Times. "We’re trying to give them avenues to do that."

The homeless crisis has affected everyone in the city, Bass said, driving away businesses and customers, costing taxpayers city resources and creating safety issues.

Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., told the Times that the initiative is more sensible than taking the issue back to frustrated voters at the ballot box. He anticipates business leaders will step up in support of LA4LA, the outlet wrote.

LA JUDGE, LOCAL OFFICIALS LAUNCH BOLD REVIEW OF CITY'S HOMELESS SERVICE PROVIDER AMID GROWING CRISIS

Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, and people at a homeless encampment in California, right. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images and Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

Waldman referenced Gov. Gavin Newsom's $6.4 billion ballot measure that passed in March to tackle the state’s spiraling homeless crisis. The measure was approved by 50.2% of nearly 7.2 million voters, a slim majority, which Waldman said is proof of voters' hesitancy to pour more money into homeless initiatives.

"People are tired and done with it," Waldman told the Times. "The only way they are going to get any more money is through private donations."

According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), the city's leading centralized hub for homeless services, more than 75,500 people were considered homeless in 2023, a 9% increase countywide. In the city, about 46,200 were considered homeless, a 10% increase from the previous year. 

Tents housing homeless line a street in downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

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Fox News Digital reported that a coalition of business owners and residents in L.A. filed a lawsuit against the city, arguing it did not honor its 2020 settlement agreement that promised it would build thousands of shelters and sweep out homeless encampments.

Last week, the Los Angeles City Council agreed to pay an outside firm $2.2 million to audit its homelessness programs after a request by a federal judge.

Fox News' Kristine Parks contributed to this report.

Yael Halon is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] . 

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Utility regulators approve plan for Georgia Power to add new generating capacity

FILE - Plant Bowen, commonly known as Bowen Steam Plant, is a Coal power station, operating, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in Euharlee, Ga. The Georgia Public Service Commission approved a deal on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 that allows the company to contract for or build additional generation capacity. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

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ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Power Co. got the go-ahead Tuesday to build and buy more electrical generation from the Georgia Public Service Commission, despite questions from environmentalists about the demand forecast driving the move and who say it’s unwise to let the company burn more fossil fuels.

Four of the Republican commissioners voted to approve the plan put forward by the largest unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co., while Republican Bubba McDonald abstained.

Georgia Power pledges the deal will put downward pressure on rates for existing customers.

Under an agreement negotiated between the utility and commission staff, the company pledges it will credit $615 million a year in revenue toward future rate calculations in 2029 and later, even if all the new customers the company forecasts do not sign up. Georgia Power says that if nothing else changes, that amount of money could cut rates by 1.6%, or $2.89 a month, for a typical residential customer. However, the company is not guaranteeing rates will fall, because other spending could be approved in the meantime.

No rates would change as a result of the deal until 2026.

“Approval of this agreement will preserve and protect the reliability and quality of electric service our customers expect and supports the continued economic development of our state — all while placing downward pressure on rates for all customers,” Georgia Power Chief Financial Officer Aaron Abramowitz said in a statement.

Georgia Power customers have seen their bills rise sharply in recent years because of higher natural gas costs , the cost of construction projects , including two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta , and other factors. A typical Georgia Power residential customer now pays about $157 a month, including taxes.

“Our ratepayers cannot continue to see rate hikes,” said Commissioner Fitz Johnson after the vote. “That message needs to go back loud and clear.”

McDonald said he abstained because he feared that if President Joe Biden was reelected, new fossil fuel units could face obstacles. McDonald also questioned the plan during earlier hearings because Georgia Power has not guaranteed there would be no rate increase.

Environmentalists and customer advocates questioned letting Georgia Power buy power and build new fossil fuel plants without going through a competitive process. Using those sources would mean Georgia Power emits more climate-altering carbon dioxide than using solar generation, other renewable sources and conservation.

The request for more generation capacity is unusual because Georgia regulators usually consider those needs on a three-year cycle, with the next integrated resource plan scheduled for next year. But the company says so many new users, including computer data centers, are seeking power that it needs more generation immediately. Company officials said in testimony that 6,200 megawatts of additional demand have signed up in recent years. That’s almost three times the capacity of the two new Vogtle reactors.

The deal lets Georgia Power contract for generation from a natural gas plant in Pace, Florida, and from Mississippi Power Co., a Southern Co. corporate sibling. Georgia Power would also be approved to build three new combustion turbines at Plant Yates near Newnan that could burn natural gas or oil. However, the company agreed it wouldn’t charge for cost overruns for the turbines unless overruns are caused by factors outside the company’s “reasonable control.”

Opponents said the new capacity at Yates shouldn’t have been approved, saying cheaper, cleaner sources could have been secured through a competitive process.

“It was well-established in by multiple witnesses in the record that the decision on those units can wait,” Bryan Jacob of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy told commissioners last week.

What is Ethical Leadership and Why is it Important?

Ethical leadership is not only the right thing to do, it is key to driving an organization's success.

Valerie Kirk

Errors, bad behavior, and poor judgment in leadership can negatively impact a company’s brand and reputation. For business success, it’s critical for organizations to fill their C-suite with ethical leaders.

Ethical leadership involves leaders and managers making decisions based on the right thing to do for the common good, not just based on what is best for themselves or for the bottom line. While profits are important, ethical leaders take into consideration the needs of customers, communities, and employees in addition to company growth and revenue when making business decisions. 

Ethical leaders encourage their team members to model this behavior, too. They help to build a workplace culture that values transparency, collaboration and inclusion, and where everyone feels safe to share their voice.

They can also help organizations recruit and retain top talent. Professionals are increasingly seeking out companies whose leaders strive to do the right thing. Generation Z, who will make up 25 percent of the workforce by 2025, demands leadership ethics more than generations that came before them. 

“Gen Z is not going to negotiate. They have really strong values and ethics, and they don’t bend them because of intimidation or because they are just getting a paycheck,” said Michael McCarthy, instructor at Harvard Division of Continuing Education’s Professional & Executive Development and host of the “ Happy at Work ” podcast. “The idea of letting harmful or hurtful behavior slide is not acceptable.”

Leaders who weigh ethical considerations before making key business decisions drive a company’s long-term success. 

The 6 Main Principles of Ethical Leadership

Having ethical leaders isn’t as simple as hiring “good” people. Companies should strive to fill their leadership ranks with people who embody the principles of ethical leadership. The six main principles include: 

Respect includes valuing others’ skills and contributions. While historically respect in the workplace may have been one-way (leaders demanding respect from employees), in an ethical work environment, respect is mutual. 

Mutual respect leads to healthier workplace relationships where both sides appreciate and support what the other is doing and feel secure in talking through issues and challenges. Healthy relationships create positive work environments, which drives increased productivity.

Current and upcoming business leaders should take mutual respect into account as workforce expectations continue to shift.  

“I tell current leadership to respect Gen Z. They have values and morals, and you’re going to have a better organization because of them,” McCarthy said. “They aren’t going to put up with the old hierarchy that doesn’t offer mutual respect.” 

2. Accountability

Ethical leaders hold themselves accountable for their actions. They make decisions based on integrity and stand behind their work. They also lead by example, communicate openly about challenges, and don’t look to place blame on others for any shortfalls.

Leaders make ethical decisions based on doing what is right for employees, customers, and the community. Because these constituents are always top of mind for ethical leaders, they often have a strong sense of service. They engage in activities such as charitable giving and volunteer work to give  back to their communities — and encourage their teams to do the same. 

Leaders who are transparent build trust amongst their organizations and amongst customers. 

To build and maintain trust, leaders must be good communicators who speak openly and honestly about issues. Regardless of the issue’s severity or unpopularity, leaders’ responsibility to be clear and candid  empowers others to make the right decisions with the information they have. 

Honesty and transparency also help to build a brand’s reputation, leading to long-term customer loyalty.

Justice is not just about following the law, but about ensuring that everyone is getting what they deserve. Ethical leaders approach situations with a focus on treating everyone fairly, and they expect their teams to treat each other and customers the same way. Through their actions, they build equitable work environments where everyone feels respected. 

6. Community

Ethical leaders view their companies as communities and consider everyone involved when evaluating situations and making decisions. By viewing their organizations this way, they build equity and inclusion into their decision-making process and create work environments that encourage collaboration across teams. 

Learn more about Harvard DCE’s Ethical Leadership program

Examples of Positive and Negative Ethical Leadership

The following three examples are of companies that were faced with ethical dilemmas and how different leadership styles led to vastly different outcomes. 

Johnson & Johnson

One of the most famous examples of ethical leadership was the case of the Tylenol cyanide poisonings in the early 1980s. Seven people died of cyanide poisoning, and the only connecting factor was that they had all taken extra-strength Tylenol. During investigation, it was discovered that the tablets were laced with cyanide.

Johnson & Johnson’s leaders acted quickly and pulled all Tylenol products off the shelves — 31 million bottles, worth over $100 million — and stopped all production and advertising. The swiftness of their decision, although costly, put customers’ well-being first and saved lives.

They partnered with law enforcement to find the perpetrator and subsequently developed the first-ever tamper-resistant packaging. They were transparent with the public about what they were doing to ensure this tragedy never happened again. 

The Tylenol brand recovered from the incident, largely because of Johnson & Johnson’s ethical leadership team’s swift action and transparent care for customers.

In 2008, JetBlue left passengers stranded on the tarmac at the John F. Kennedy International Airport for more than five hours during a snowstorm. The delay had a ripple effect — JetBlue had to cancel more than 1,000 flights over the following five days.

In response, JetBlue’s CEO wrote a letter of apology to customers. He also directed his team to draft a customer bill of rights, which outlined customers’ rights to information about flights and information about compensation in the event of delays or cancellations.

The CEO also participated in a public apology tour, taking full responsibility for the incident rather than blaming it on the weather.

His transparency and accountability created trust with customers, who stayed loyal to the airline.

Wells Fargo

In September 2016 , it was revealed that employees of Wells Fargo, one of the largest banks in the United States, opened millions of unauthorized accounts in order to meet aggressive sales targets. This widespread fraudulent activity was the result of a work culture that prioritized quantity over quality and pushed employees to engage in unethical practices.

Company leaders denied knowledge of fraudulent practices. The bank was hit with significant financial penalties, but because of the lack of accountability, they damaged the trust of their customers and investors. They reported a 50 percent profit loss in the quarter following the scandal.

Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership

Companies cannot underestimate the power of different leadership styles on their growth and long term success. Those who practice ethical leadership have positive corporate cultures where employees are engaged, motivated, and feel good about coming to work. Companies without ethical leadership face lower productivity and high turnover rates, impacting the organization’s bottom line.

Ethical leaders aren’t just born with these skills — they develop them over years of experience and training. 

Harvard DCE Professional & Executive Development offers a two-day Ethical Leadership program that helps leaders develop skills to make ethical choices and lead companies through challenging dilemmas. 

Topics covered include: 

• Making ethical decisions with conflicting responsibilities 
• Building a moral framework within yourself and the organization
• Understanding the role of employees in both their professional and personal lives 
• Navigating a slippery slope when seemingly good people do bad things
• Building a corporate culture that values moral behavior

Learn more about the ethical leadership program, including how to register.  

Leaders looking to expand their ethical leadership skills should also consider the two-day Authentic Leadership program , where they will learn how to develop mindfulness and authenticity to build trust, create engagement, and promote productivity. 

Explore all Executive Leadership and Management courses

About the Author

Valerie Kirk is a freelance writer and corporate storyteller specializing in customer and community outreach and topics and trends in education, technology, and healthcare. Based in Maryland near the Chesapeake Bay, she spends her free time exploring nature by bike, paddle board, or on long hikes with her family.

How to Successfully Negotiate a Salary Increase

Don’t be intimidated! With some preparation, research, and practice, you can master negotiation strategies to get the salary you deserve.

Harvard Division of Continuing Education

The Division of Continuing Education (DCE) at Harvard University is dedicated to bringing rigorous academics and innovative teaching capabilities to those seeking to improve their lives through education. We make Harvard education accessible to lifelong learners from high school to retirement.

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Germany’s Leader Walks a Fine Line in China

Chancellor Olaf Scholz tried to promote German business interests while delivering warnings from Europe about trade and geopolitical tensions.

By Alexandra Stevenson and Melissa Eddy

Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany tried to strike a delicate balance on a trip to China this week, promoting business ties with his country’s biggest trading partner while raising concerns over its surge of exports to Europe and its support for Russia.

Mr. Scholz met with China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Tuesday, the culmination of a three-day visit with a delegation of German officials and business leaders. He also met with Premier Li Qiang as the two countries navigate relations strained by Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s rivalry with the United States, Germany’s most important ally.

Throughout his trip, Mr. Scholz promoted the interests of German companies that are finding it increasingly hard to compete in China. And he conveyed growing concern in the European Union that the region’s market is becoming a dumping ground for Chinese goods produced at a loss .

But Mr. Scholz chose a conciliatory tone over a combative one in his opening remarks before sitting down with Mr. Xi on Tuesday morning, in a meeting that stretched over three hours and turned into a walk and lunch.

It was the German leader’s first visit to China since his government adopted a strategy last year that defined the Asian power as a “partner, competitor and systemic rival ,” calling on Germany to reduce its dependency on Chinese goods.

Germany’s economy shrank last year, and its weaknesses have exposed a reliance on China for growth. Energy prices have risen because of the war in Ukraine, which has been facilitated by Beijing’s support for the Kremlin. German companies have pushed for more access to China and complained that they face unfair competition .

The chancellor visited German companies with extensive investments in China and met with trade representatives and officials in the sprawling industrial metropolis of Chongqing in China’s southwest and in Shanghai and Beijing.

At a talk with a group of students in Shanghai on Monday, Mr. Scholz fielded a question from a student who planned to study in Germany this year, who said he was “really worried” because the country had partially legalized cannabis. “When you study in Berlin, you can run around the whole time and never meet anyone who does that,” the chancellor assured him.

But he also used the platform to push more serious messages about trade. “Competition must be fair,” Mr. Scholz told the students. “We want a level playing field,” he said.

Mr. Scholz’s trip was an example of the difficult dance that Germany is trying to do: maintaining economic ties with China while managing U.S. pressure to align itself more closely with Washington against Beijing.

In his meetings, Mr. Scholz highlighted Germany’s commitment to doing business with China, but he also warned that Beijing had to curb the flood of Chinese goods into Europe. At the same time, he expressed reservations about the European Union’s investigations into China’s use of subsidies for green technology industries, saying that any discussion about trade must be based on fairness.

“This must be done from a position of self-confident competitiveness and not from protectionist motives,” Mr. Scholz told reporters on Monday.

China’s manufacturing push in green sectors like electric cars and solar panels has touched off trade disputes with Europe and the United States, where such industries have also received government support. But with 5,000 German companies active in the Chinese market, Germany stands to lose more than many of its European partners would if Beijing were to retaliate against the European Union.

“If the E.U. goes too hard against China, we could expect countermeasures and this would be a catastrophe for us,” said Maximilian Butek, the executive director of the German Chamber of Commerce in China.

“For us it’s extremely important that the Chinese market remains open,” he said.

In his meeting with Mr. Xi, Mr. Scholz indicated that Russia’s war on Ukraine and its arms buildup were high on his agenda. “They directly affect our core interests. Indirectly, they damage the entire international order,” he said in opening remarks at the meeting, a transcript of which was provided by Mr. Scholz’s office.

Despite pressing the issue with Mr. Xi, he did not appear to win the commitment that he had sought from the Chinese leader to take part in an international conference for Ukraine planned in June. Germany had hoped that China could use its influence over Russia to help work toward a peace agreement.

Germany would also like China stop selling goods to Russia that have potential uses on the battlefield, and Mr. Scholz told reporters that he had brought up the issue in his meeting. “The point has been made,” he said. “There can be no misunderstanding about how we see things.”

China is hoping to drive a wedge between Europe and the United States by courting leaders such as Mr. Scholz. State media reports depicted his visit as demonstrating the strength of China’s relations with Europe, playing up its economic ties with Germany.

In his opening remarks to Mr. Scholz, Mr. Xi said cooperation between China and Germany, which have the second- and third-largest economies, was beneficial to the world, a remark that could be read as directed at those who have urged Berlin to distance itself from Beijing.

“The two countries should view and develop bilateral relations from a long-term and strategic perspective and work together to inject more stability and certainty into the world,” Mr. Xi told Mr. Scholz, emphasizing the importance of seeking “common ground.”

Beijing is sure to welcome the message that German businesses are committed to China. The Asian giant is trying to court foreign investment to reinvigorate its economy, which has faltered because of a housing slowdown. Some Western businesses and investors have also been rattled by Mr. Xi’s emphasis on national security, which they regard as making it riskier to operate in the country.

From China’s perspective, Germany may be its best hope of delaying or watering down any trade restrictions from Europe, said Noah Barkin, a senior adviser in the China practice at the Rhodium Group, a research firm.

German carmakers have invested billions of dollars in China, and much of their revenue comes from there. Many worry that if the European Commission imposes higher tariffs on Chinese exports, and Beijing retaliates, German businesses will suffer most.

Chinese officials “know that German companies are heavily invested and they use that politically to influence political decision making in Berlin,” Mr. Barkin said.

Germany’s biggest companies, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz and BASF, have large operations in China and strong, effective lobbies in Berlin, Mr. Barkin added. Executives from those companies, along with several others, traveled with Mr. Scholz to China.

“The supply chain in China is stuffed with German goods,” said Joerg Wuttke, a former president of the E.U. Chamber of Commerce in China. “If China has a price war with Germany, then no one will make money anymore.”

Mr. Scholz also brought along the German ministers for agriculture, the environment and transportation, officials who experts said would be particularly interested in working with China.

“You set an agenda with these three ministers, the tonality is overall a cooperative one, these are areas that we want to work on,” said Janka Oertel, director of the Asia Program at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Chinese officials, for their part, have brushed off the European accusations of unfair trading practices, calling them groundless and an act of “ typical protectionism .” They have hinted that they could retaliate for any actions taken by the European Union, saying that China was “strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes” its investigations.

In an interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt, Wu Ken, China’s ambassador to Germany, said the competitive edge of Chinese electric vehicles “relies on innovation, not subsidies.”

“The challenge faced by developed countries lies more in the fact that Chinese companies are more efficient,” the ambassador said.

Vivian Wang contributed reporting from Beijing and Zixu Wang from Hong Kong.

Alexandra Stevenson is the Shanghai bureau chief for The Times, reporting on China’s economy and society. More about Alexandra Stevenson

Melissa Eddy is based in Berlin and reports on Germany’s politics, businesses and its economy. More about Melissa Eddy