A niche blog business can be a fantastic money-spinner, provided you follow sage advice. A business blog must feature a structured business plan to be effective. It all begins with laying a solid foundation, which requires extensive planning and preparation.
Step #1 – A Blueprint for Your Business Blog
Think of a blueprint as a strategic plan; a roadmap. This serves as the framework for your niche blog. Naturally, you will need to choose a domain name and host. You can opt for a free hosting service, or a premium hosting service. Many first-time bloggers choose WordPress by default. Be sure to pick the right hosting plan so that your blog stays online with maximum uptime.
Your domain name is an important consideration and it should represent the essence of your niche blog business. A catchy and memorable domain name is always the best way to go. You may be required to do a little legwork to uncover the best domain name for your online venture.
Step #2 – Host Your Niche Blog
Website hosting services are a dime a dozen. Be sure to conduct the necessary research to get the best bang for your buck. Your website host is responsible for securely maintaining and managing all your website files. You will always get a better service with a premium provider of high-quality hosting than you would with a free hosting service.
Experts agree that it’s better to own your own blog since you have much greater control over your content and your business that way. It is highly recommended to use a paid hosting provider over a free service. Among others, pick a blog hosting service with high speed, feature-rich elements, safety and security, attentive customer support, and analytics.
Step #3 – Pick a Content Management System
A CMS (content management system) is the place where you will be adding your content, multimedia, and publishing your posts. The best content management systems are intuitive and easy-to-use.
WordPress is an example of an easy-to-use CMS, although there are others to choose from including Medium, Wix, and Ghost. Self-hosted blogs are best.
Step #4 – Pick a Niche and Prepare Your Blogging Plan
Why do people read niche blogs? Is it because the blogger is prolific at preparing content? Is it because the blogger has beautiful pictures? Probably not. People read a niche blog because it provides valuable information about a specific topic. That means the blogger is either passionate about the niche or highly experienced about the subject matter. The niche you pick is so much more than a specific topic that you will be addressing. It’s the type of target market you will be catering to. You will be far more successful writing about a niche topic if you have an interest in that area, or if you’re expertly skilled at it.
Step #5 – Get Your Blog Design Ready
Now you know what you’re going to be blogging about, which web hosting service you are using, and the name of your blog. At this stage of the game you must start designing the blog to be as attractive and appealing as possible. A user-friendly design is best. If you are using a premium WordPress hosting service, you’ll have thousands of templates to choose from. If you use a free service, your options are much more limited. Design is everything with a blog. If your design is intuitive and attractive, it’ll be much easier for your niche audience to navigate your blog and enjoy it.
To this end, you will want to pay particular attention to branding issues. Your theme should fit well with your design. Here are a few quick tips to remember: simplicity is best. Your blog must be responsive on all hardware devices (PC, Mac, Android and iOS). Your niche blog should also display well on all browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, Explorer, Safari and the like. Remember to include SEO (search engine optimization) elements in your blog to rank better with your audience. If your blog has been optimized with the right keywords, tags and titles, you will gain much greater visibility on search engines. That’s your goal.
Step #6 – Create Niche Blog Pages
Think of a blog, any blog. Every blog has pages for different elements. About us, product pages, contact us pages, help pages, privacy policy pages, terms and conditions of use, services and so forth. Each page should be tailored to perfection. Content on static pages should be limited to the bare essentials. Provide compelling content where needed, and create a transparent and credible business profile. One of the most important pages for any niche blog is the About Us page. If people like what you are writing about, they will invariably search your About Us page to learn more about you. Be sure to put your best foot forward.
Step #7 – What Are You Going to Be Blogging about?
What separates one blog from another? A million different things. However, most people agree that content is the dividing line between successful blogs and unsuccessful blogs. Once you have crafted the right content, you will need to create a content strategy to cater to the needs of your readers. Experts agree that any business which solves a problem in society (or a need) is better positioned for success. Add value to your blog by crafting expert content. A good place to start is an audience persona. This is a composite of your ideal reader. Ultimately, a niche business blog is geared towards your audience, not you. Talk to them, connect with them, emote with them.
Step #8 – Design a Logo for Your Blog
We briefly addressed your design in step #5. Now it’s time to make your blog logo.
There are lots of logo ideas you can choose from. Your niche should be professionally represented by the right logo. Comic book? Communications? Gaming? Culinary? Security? Start-up? Automotive? Fashion? As you can imagine, there are a seemingly endless supply of categories for your logo design. You may even opt for a professional logo maker for your niche blog. The fact of the matter is that every business needs a professional logo. It’s your calling card; your personal brand.
Step #9 – Get Ready for Launch
Once you’ve reached this point, you are well on your way to making a big splash with your niche business blog. At this stage of the game, your blog and all your landing pages, category pages, and SEO is probably ready on your CMS. All you need to do is launch your site.
Step #10 – Publish Exciting and Compelling Content to Keep Your Readers Happy
Static blogs become dead blogs. Search engines routinely crawl through cyberspace looking for fresh content, novel ideas, and feedback. Once your niche business blog is up and running, you want to keep it updated by committing to a consistent publishing schedule. Your readers will come to expect new content from you, and this means you will need to put in the necessary effort to create that content. A content calendar is a great place to start. Be sure to include multimedia content in your blog posts to make them more appealing and engaging to readers.
There you have it folks 10 steps to creating a successful niche business blog!