Blogging for business is an absolutely essential element of any online business marketing and sales-building strategy. The average blog attracts 55% more visitors and gets indexed 400% more by search engines than a traditional website, giving you massive opportunities for exposure for your business.
Nonetheless, business blogging is painfully misunderstood, and even successful companies with extended marketing strategies — and multi-million dollar revenues — are often in the dark regarding how to fit a blogging strategy into their overall outreach, advertising and marketing strategy.
Lucky for you, if you’re not one of these multi-million dollar companies, your job’s gonna be a little easier. Just don’t waste your precious time…
What This is Not, and Who It’s For:
When I first set out to write this article, I was just planning on writing a short 500-600 word post about the benefits of blogging for your business, and how to do it right. As the article unfolded, however, it became clear that I would have to go WAY deeper down the proverbial rabbit hole, and back this stuff up with some real concrete examples of online entrepreneurs who are actually doing it right.
Now, I’ll tell you what this isn’t — it’s not an exhaustive, overarching view at all the greatest possible online blogging strategies of our times, or a “list post” on the top-ten blogging strategies for your business. On the contrary, this article is really just a concise and straight-forward primer on establishing your primary purpose, and using that to drive your online business blogging strategy.
If your someone who’s running a business with a purpose, or a greater driving mission, this is for you. That’s what I’m doing, anyway, and that’s what this is about.
Hint: It’s a lot easier than you may think, and it involves a simple basic truth — your blog is essentially just a powerful arm to sweep in traffic, build relationships, and accomplish the core strategic mission and objective of your business.
In a minute, I’m going to ask you three simple questions to help you accomplish that purpose, but first…
The Simple Truth
The simple truth is, there are a thousand different possible approaches to running a successful business and blogging strategy. The strongest approach will incorporate some of the tricks and trades of the best out there, with the understanding that there is a precedence, and there is a path.
You may or may not wish to follow any of these paths — in fact, as it has been said, “there is no path in the jungle, you make your own path.”
It always helps, of course, to pay attention to the work of others who have struck out ahead of you, and use this knowledge to strike out on your own. There is perhaps no greater truth than this: That knowledge is power, and when wielded skillfully, and wisely, this knowledge carries more potential strength and power than a thousand allied armies, or multi-million dollar marketing strategies.
That’s really the key actually — and it’s the key, because, even if you have a great strategy or system in place, one that you’ve learned from observing or actually following an established “system,” the likelihood of someone-else’s system working for you, without any significant modification or customization to apply to your particular niche and your audience — the likelihood of such a system to succeed in action is SLIM TO NONE.
You simply have no choice, but to apply your own knowledge, and make the strategies your own.
The way that some of these online leaders approach the sometimes daunting task of carving out a niche, establishing a strong personal space for their own audience, and building their business, is truly an art in itself.
Here, we begin to scratch the surface of strategy for some of these current and emerging online leaders, with the understanding that the basic principles will require, and demand modification to suit your particular audience and strategy.
There’s Really Only One Thing That Matters
The only thing that REALLY matters in all this — the only thing that’s really going to make a difference in your success — is that you have a clear head, a strong intention, and the FIRE to make it come to life. When it comes down to it, though, the fire is all that really matters.
If you go no further than this, just remember, the fire and passion that burns in your heart to accomplish your personal mission — whatever that may be — and to succeed in executing that goal, however long it takes, and at whatever price necessary, is all you really need.
…that is, as long as you can sustain, build and leverage that fire and passion over time — and do it for as long as it takes, however difficult it may get.
There’s fire, and there’s passion, and then there’s sustained and intelligent strategy… I wouldn’t leave any of them out.
Finally, when it comes down to it…
The business of blogging is really a business of building a strong foundation, establishing and promoting your business, and your goals, and nurturing your audience into “fans with money,” as the wildly successful online marketing entrepreneur Frank Kern of Mass Control would put it. But it’s all FULL BS and useless if there’s no passion, no commitment, and no fire to sustain it.
The Great Advantage of the Online Entrepreneur
Chances are, if you’re reading this, you run your own company, own your own blog, or you head up the social strategy for a smaller company or start-up — if any of these scenarios fit the bill for you, it’s time to break out the champagne ’cause your business-blogging strategy is gonna be a HELLUVA lot easier, than that of any ginormous multi-million dollar company.
That is — your job in creating a successful business blogging strategy is going to be a lot easier, at least.
You still may have to push yourself beyond your comfort limits to take that success over the top for your business, but if you’re TRULY clear about what your purpose is, what the mission of your business is, and who your target audience REALLY is — I mean crystal clear, or pretty damn close — let me tell you, your going to be WAY ahead of the other 20,000 or so blogs that are started every day…
You can go as complicated as you can possibly imagine with your blogging strategy, and you can get as far as you want to go, but the truth is it doesn’t have to be all that complex. I’m going to show you what I mean…
The Only Real Purpose of Blogging for Your Business
OK, well if you actually read the last section, or the introductory paragraphs, you might have noticed that I already leaked the little secret there, but I’m gonna spell it out super clear right now.
If you have a business online, there should really just be one purpose — and i mean only ONE purpose — to blogging for your business:
The one and only real purpose of your business blog is to fully support your mission to accomplish the primary purpose of your business, and your longer-term goals — whatever they may be.
Please read that again, and take a moment to fully take it in. All the other stuff — the side stuff, the self-importance, the ego boosts, the countless distractions, fears and worries are ABSOLUTELY TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY. In fact, they run completely counter to your mission.
The basic problem is — us humans, we get PAINFULLY caught up in our own egos, our pride, our inflated sense of self-purpose. Now this is only natural, right? We’re only human. Unfortunately, it’s these same essential character flaws that nag us all, and threaten to destroy our chances at any real success — and I don’t need to remind you of the grim failure-rate statistics for ANY business, online or off.
Are You Totally 100% Clear on the Purpose of Your Business?
For instance, if you’re an aspiring writer, your goal may actually be to get a book deal, or it MAY be to get a position as a junior reporter for The New York Times — God only knows why you’d want that, but let’s just go with that for now. Let’s say that as an aspiring professional journalist, while you’re working on your long-term goal, you’ve decided to create a website/blog to advertise your copy-writing skills for potential clients and their websites and sales pages. It’s a reasonable path to take, and a potentially very lucrative one at that…
Nonetheless, while your copy-writing business blog may support the other more lofty goal in the long-run, the ACTUAL blogging, and the strategy you must use to attain each of these two separate goals, is COMPLETELY different
Here Are Your Three Questions:
1. What’s the primary, number one goal of your business?
If you can’t say it right now, without hesitating, it’s time to do some soul-searching. You might read Leo’s Short but Powerful Guide to Finding Your Passion for inspiration.
If you can answer that first one in a flash, cool. Now answer this:
2. What are the real, practical, nitty-gritty actual secondary goals of your business?
Get real clear on these first two questions — write them out. Somewhere in your answer to these questions, lies the mission of your business, your core purpose and the driving force. Write it all down, and then polish it down to a 1-2 sentence mission statement that resonates deeply in your heart.
These two questions are more important than you might imagine… more important even than continuing on with this article, if you’re not 100% clear on them. And i actually recommend you open a new text document, and write them out before you go any further.
And finally:
3. What are you actually doing to accomplish your goals?
What are you actually doing, in practice, to get where you want to go — what are you working at, and how? What are you doing that doesn’t serve your mission…?
These three points are the foundation of any business. As basic as it seems, this is almost everything you need to build a successful business. Most people will have a vague idea, and be able to answer blithely. Resist the temptation to gloss over these questions, because they are the core, and the more clear you are on these 3 inner-game questions, the stronger your foundation will be.
Use your answers to drive your content creation, and always seek out other leaders, bloggers, online personalities you resonate with, who share similar core values, and similar missions. These are your allies, and they’re also your ticket to building a strong core audience, as they will already be surrounded by people with similar interests — people who will also likely be interested in what you have to say.
Leverage Your Blog For Your Business, but Try Not to F*** it Up
I could go on for pages about the many ways you can royally screw yourself in your blogging, but I’ll leave that for another article where I’ll tear into some of my own lessons in blogging failures…
Suffice it to say: Your blog is a vehicle to drive traffic and business to your REAL Business. It’s not a broadcasting station for your latest product ads, or a place to run a string of lame press releases for your latest and greatest achievements. The bottom line is — even if your blog readers are slightly interested in your products/services, they don’t want to be sold to — who wants that? Learn to think like your audience, by putting yourself in their shoes.
Your visitors will click away from your site, as quickly as you’d change the TV channel or hit that mute button and step to the kitchen for a commercial break from your favorite show, as soon as they smell the stink of that desperate product selling push.
Don’t sell shit… leverage your passion instead.
Are You Creating a Freedom Business, or a Legacy Business…?
Recently, I was having a rare phone chat with Clay Collins, of Project Mojave, the “freedom business” maven. He leveraged a quirky and fairly popular personal development blog into a “financial freedom” blog, and finally into a well-into-the-six-figures online business training system that blows anything else i’ve seen out of the water when it comes to building a sustainable and HIGHLY profitable online business in just a few months.
One of the things that stuck in my head from our conversation, and i don’t think he’ll mind me sharing it: (roughly paraphrased) “Of all the blog posts I’ve written, the ones with the most comments have never been the ones that brought in the most money.”
And if you see some of his more controversial blog posts, you’ll notice he’s got a handle on using his unique voice, experience and flair for drama, to convey a powerful message, and build a buzz. Especially when it relates to his personal mission, his purpose, and his business.
But he never takes his eyes off the goal:
Yes, getting people talking, sharing and commenting on your blog is great, but you know what’ s a helluva lot better? Making a living from doing what you love, and making it happen by your will, your fire, a little applied intelligence, and determination … Project Mojave is off the market now, but it will re-open again, and you can click here to be notified when the opportunity to join arises again… (note, this is an affiliate link for Project Mojave, which is a program that has helped me immensely in accomplishing my mission, and I wholeheartedly support Clay and his work)
Millions of people are doing it, right now, and experiencing massive success. Clay’s just one of them.
Don’t Get Lost in Your “Legacy”
Chris Guillebeau, of The Art of Non-Conformity is one inspiring world traveler, blogger, and info-product internet marketer extraordinaire. He takes “internet geek,” flips it on its head, and makes it cool — for thousands of daily visitors to his website.
He could be the world’s greatest writer, but no one would give a rat’s ass, if he wasn’t a brilliant marketer, with a great story, and a clear mission (“travel to every country in the world before i’m 35″). The truth is, what makes Chris a brilliant marketer and a runaway success, is his ability to understand his audience, and clearly communicate his mission to them in a way that evokes curiosity, interest, and intrigue.
He’s so clear about his mission, and so consistent in communicating it, you’d have to be a complete idiot to not get it, and not see the appeal. It’s 100% clear, and it’s all there…
But he’s not blogging for the hell of it, he’s blogging for his now-fulfilled dream of becoming a published writer. His blogging strategy also encompasses a comprehensive slate of “unconventional products,” each of which have their own carefully crafted website and built-in marketing strategy to boot. His products succeed, I venture to reckon, due to his relentless passion to understand precisely what his growing audience demands, and to deliver them EXACTLY that.
But the defining factor, no matter what: He always sticks to his mission.
If you want evidence of his success, you can download and read his manifesto, 279 Days to Overnight Success.
Chris is big on “Legacy Content” — if you want an example, read the manifesto, or read this 3,000-word article about creating a Legacy Project.
I want to be clear on something — it’s SO important to dig into your passion, and your purpose, and let that drive everything you do. Just don’t get lost in the allure of writing 3,000 word articles like the one your reading now, if you’re not 100% clear about how this sort of “Legacy Content” ties in to the fundamental mission and driving purpose of your business.
A “Freedom Business” can also be a “Legacy Project” founded on a greater purpose and passion for global and personal transformation, but the distinction is still there. You just have to get REALLY CLEAR on what your passion, your purpose, and your mission really is.
Let Me Be Clear, Legacy Content Is Important, But It’s Nowhere Near As Important Than Being Totally 100% Clear On Your Business Mission — And This is Mine:
Simply put — To make it easier for the good people of the world to accomplish their own unique purpose.
That’s the driving force behind this post, that’s why I’m writing now, and that’s why I wrote this post: I’m driven by the fire to succeed in my mission.
That’s also why I created the Rebel Blogger Site: The ultimate video training series for online business and blogging — it contains more than 60 videos that gives you step-by-step instructions on EXACTLY how to use your WordPress blog for your business, how to optimize it, and how to build your online business through blogging.
You can click here to watch the exclusive free video that reveals exactly how to Master the Google keywords research tool, and dominate the search engine results, in just 7 minutes…
Here’s the deal:
You Can Write About Whatever the Heck You Want — Just Remember to Always Tie it Back to Your Core Mission
Penelope Trunk wrote about this once. I couldn’t find the damn article again on her site, that woman just has RIDULOUS amounts of juicy content on her site — let’s just say she truly understands how to push the fine line between salaciousness and super-usefulness — but roughly put, it was something along the lines of this:
Choose your topic, and write about anything in the world you want — but ALWAYS tie it back to your core subject (in this case, your personal/business mission). It’s one of the things that truly sets apart a great blogger from an average writer.
If you want to see an outline of her compelling story about spinning off a successful blog into an even more successful business, couched within the driving mission of her blog, read her article, what makes a blog successful? Just note, Penelope’s adamant in stating that a blog alone will not bring you money. It’s a very fine distinction, however. Blogging CAN AND WILL blow up your business, if you target it right, network and interact with the leaders in your niche, and their blogs, and keep your eyes on your particular target.
You’re Allowed to Have Diverse Goals — Just Create One Blog for Each Goal, and Keep Them Separate
If your goals are diverse, that’s fine, just be clear about what your goals are, and what your blogging for, and try not to mix up the purpose of your divergent goals…
Say you have two divergent purposes, you can just create two blogs: one personal relevant theme-based blog, and one business blog and/or website. You can refer to relevant articles in each one, and use one to promote the other. You can use your particular skills and your particular life-experience to accentuate your unique service/selling proposition (USP) — take 15 minutes to establish that, once you’ve finished here. You can use your life experience to influence your unique voice in your writing. You can also leverage the traffic from one successful blog to build your other business.
Just be super sharp and super clear about what is the purpose of each blog, and each business, and try not to mix them up, unless you can full establish the mutual relevance of both together. Please don’t make the mistake of mixing your divergent content, and your niches, and alienating your readers! (I know, i’ve been guilty of this myself, and it just doesn’t work).
If you want to see a stellar example of this kind of scenario in action, check out the 20-something-year old online marketing whiz Glen Allsopp’s Plugin ID: personal development blog, and then check out his marketing blog, ViperChill, where he analyzes the top 10 most linked-to blog posts ever. I also recommend his post on the top 24 things to do when launching your blog.
(Incidentally — if you plan on going anywhere with your blog/business, I highly recommend you read each of these articles, and look closely at how they tie-in to the personal missions of each of their writers, and pay special attention to how they pull-in and involve their readers, how specifically they apply to their market, and how they incite and invite their readers to action. I know I will.)
In Conclusion
If you’ve gotten this far, I think you probably get the overarching message: Get clear on your purpose/mission, believe in yourself 100% no matter what it takes, and stick to it as if your life depended on it, with the same determination and joy as flies stick to shit… ;-)
Use your passion and determination to fuel your blog posts, and always tie them back to your core purpose — your mission, your goals, your unique products/services and offerings. Just be transparent, give your whole self, and be 100% sure of who you are, and what your purpose is.
There is a conspiracy at work in the universe: the people who are driven to benefit the world in some way, and do it with all their will, all their passion, and all their determination — the universe conspires to help them succeed.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it:
Complete the 3 questions above, if you haven’t so yet. Then click on all the links in the article that interest you, read them, take notes, and see how you can apply them to accomplishing the purpose of your online business and blogging strategy.
If you do get inspired while you’re reading, or you really love some of the articles, just copy the URL’s into a text document so you can remember them, with any notes you may have or thoughts on how they relate to your business. It’s a great jumping-off strategy for creating new blog posts, and outreach strategies. Just don['t wast your time writing about otherwise interesting topics, that don't relate back to your core mission.
Then try and forget everything you've read, and strike out on your own path to fierce success -- led by your fire, your passion, and your determination.
My next article will cover the one "magic bullet" for your online business. Yes, believe it or not, there is such a thing ... :-) If you want to stay in the loop, and be notified about the latest and greatest free content, subscribe with your email below:
