1. Identify Topics Your Target Customer is Interested In

You know your product or service inside and out. You have identified your customer demographic – that group of consumers who will purchase your product or service. Now you need to know more about their interests, their problems, and their pain points. There are several things you can do:

• Survey your current customers
• Do some research on your demographic – it’s all over the web
• Access your competitors’ blogs and see what discussions are occurring
• Access your competitors’ social media pages and accounts and study the topics that are getting lots of conversation

Your topics don’t always have to relate directly to our product or service. They can relate to other things that are important to your demographic or to latest trends and news items. In fact, some of the most popular business blogs have a wide variety of post topics. For example, Dollar Shave Club is a company that sells a subscription-based razor program. Men can take one of three options for razors and have them delivered to their mailboxes every month. It’s convenient and wildly popular. But the company has not forgotten the importance of continuing to engage its demographic by solving problems, and doing it in a humorous way. Its blog is titled “Bathroom Minutes,” and here is a page showing typical topics.

None of these posts have to do with razors – they have to do with problems and questions that their audience has.

2. Spend Lots of Time on Titles/Headlines

Take a look at the post titles above. They’re catchy. They capture attention. You should probably spend as much time on titles as you do on the post itself. This is the first thing that a potential reader sees – it has to pique curiosity, garner a chuckle, or provide shock or awe. When that reader sees our title, s/he has to be motivated to read the post to see what this is all about. There are plenty of online tools, many of them free, which can help you craft great headlines and titles. Use them.

3. Promote those Posts

This is not a case of, “If you build it they will come.” You have to let them know that it has been “built,” so you want to put “teasers” to your posts all over social media. And don’t just do it one time for each post.

If you have written a great post, publish it and then immediately post your “teasers.” On that first day, post those teasers a couple of times, more on platforms like Twitter. Your audience may be online at different times of the day and night.

On the second day and after, post another time, perhaps for the first week. After that you can re-post more infrequently. The goal is to reach those who have missed your earlier promotions.

And if you come upon a conversation and remember that you wrote a post about that six months ago? Pull up that old post, add some new information, and promote it again.

4. Have a Schedule and Don’t Deviate

There is nothing worse than a stale blog. Readers will drop off as fast as leaves in late fall. You have to post often and you have to be consistent. Write some in advance when you have the time and the ideas. When you are “blocked,” get online and find some good content that you add to and curate it. No plagiarism, please.

5. Use Visuals/Media/Videos

If you will notice on Dollar Save Club’s blog, there is a photo or image for every post. If you are telling a customer’s story, ask that customer for a photo; if you are explaining a “how-to” process, don’t write about it. Film a short video instead. It doesn’t have to be professional – your iPhone takes great videos.

Any time that you can replace words with visuals or media your content has become “sticky” – people stay and take it in.

6. Divide Up Text

You should already know this. Sub-titles, bullet points and such break-up text and let the reader scan your post, stopping at points of interest. It’s like when you take a road trip. Some points of interest will grab your attention and you’ll visit them. Others won’t and you skip them. It’s the same with blog posts. Give your reader the wherewithal to “snack.”

7. Make Sure You Have Those Sharing Buttons

They need to be prominent. And you might even consider having scrolling share buttons that follow they eye as the reader moves down. Then, when s/he finds a point that will be of interest to his/her community, the button is right there to click.

8. Have Conversation Plug-Ins

At the end of each post, you want to ask your readers for comments, questions or feedback. Be sure that the plug-in you use allows for discussion, not just comments. And you need to participate too.

9. Check that Readability

You are aiming for about a 6th-7th-grade reading level on your post. Drop the industry jargon and the big words. Write simple sentences and use simple vocabulary. Drop the adverbs too. You can use a couple of tools here. One is Hemingway Editor that will help with the sentence structure and more; the other is Read-able.com – it will give you a reading level

10. Offer Things of Value in the Post

Maybe it’s a discount or a content upgrade. Whatever you know to be of value to your reader, offer it. In exchange, you get an email address – these are all new leads for further conversation.

11. Put a CTA at the End

You will want your reader to do something, take some action. You may want them to share the post with their communities; you may want them to subscribe to your newsletter; maybe you are starting a hashtag campaign and you want them to contribute. Whatever it is, ask for it, because “you don’t get what you don’t ask for.”

Now you have a checklist of 11 things. If there are any that you are not doing, you can start now without much effort. And be patient. It takes time to nurture and build an audience.

1. Selling Products and Services

Many people start their blogs as a way to sell their products and services, or as a way to sell third party products and services. An example of the latter would be creating a blog to sell cosmetics, candles, and gift baskets as an independent sales representative of a larger corporation. You can earn money by driving sales traffic to your eCommerce website, etsy shop, or other location where consumers make purchases. It is important to remember however, that your blog should be focused on providing great content that your readers can use to solve their problems, not on pitching products or services. For example, the following topic would likely not be attractive to your readers:

“10 Reasons my Scented Wax Candles Are Perfect For the Holiday Season”

However, this topic would be:

“10 Innovative and Budget Friendly Holiday Decorating Ideas”

2. Premium Content Sales

If you generate enough interest in the content you give away for free on your blog, people may be willing to pay for content that is more advanced, more involved, and even more insightful. Just remember that people will have much higher standards for premium content than they will free content. Many bloggers have successfully monetized by selling e-books, podcast and video series, and even blog content. In order to sell premium content, you have two options. The first is to offer a subscription based service where others pay a regular fee to access premium content that you produce on a regular basis. The second is to sell premium content by the piece to whomever is interested, either directly from your blog or a third party site like Amazon.

3. Advertising

There are several options if you would like to generate income through paid advertising. The first is to work directly with individuals and businesses who would like to purchase advertising space on your blog. The second is to go through a third party for PPC (paid per click) advertising. Many people use Google Adwords for this. Finally, there are options that are less direct.  For example, you can mention products in your blog content, write product reviews, or create sponsored or underwritten blog posts. Sponsored and underwritten posts are posts where you are either paid to write a post on a specific topic (sponsored), or where you write on any topic but include a note that the post has been made possible thanks to a specific company.

4. Giveaways

If they believe that your audience matches their target customer persona, some companies will pay you to host a giveaway. Essentially, you write a blog post that contains information about the giveaway, and how customers can enter. In return, the company provides the prize. Just be aware that in many cases, the payment offered to you will be in the form of free products or services. If you have relationships with other bloggers who cover subjects in similar niches to yours, you may be able to work as a team to get a company to do a cross blog giveaway.

5. Events Personal Appearances and Presentations

If you have a large enough audience, and have positioned yourself to be an influencer in your space, there may be demand for your knowledge outside of the online world. Here are a few examples:

• In house training, presentations, or in service sessions at corporations or organizations
• Personal appearances at conferences and events
• Speaking engagements

You can market yourself as being available to provide these services, or you can partner with other organizations and event coordinators to create events or become a part of events that are already in the works.

1. Failing to Get Your Own Domain Name

The good news is that thanks to a variety of free blog and website hosting options, anybody can start a blog. The bad news is that thanks to a variety of free blog and website hosting options, anybody can start a blog. The problem is this, too many people take advantage of blog hosting services to create blogs that are extremely low quality or are nothing more than spam sites used to redirect people to malicious websites or that simply exist to sell some rip-off product.

This problem is so widespread that when people see a blog the hosting sites name in the URL they become suspicious. What this means for you is that if somebody sees your blog in search engine results and the URL looks like this: mygreatblog.bloghostingservice.com, you’ll get less traffic than if your URL looks like this: mygreatblog.com.

2. Monetizing Way Too Early

There are many problems with early monetization. The first is traffic. You won’t have much at first, and the traffic you do have will likely be people you know. Do you really want to jump in and start selling things to them right away? It’s not like you would stand to make a big profit. Next, as a new blogger you haven’t established relationships or fostered a sense of trust. Monetizing at this point will make it seem as if your blog was started only for selling.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with making money from your blog. It’s simply best practice to wait until you have a decent amount of traffic, and have published enough posts that you new visitors can see that you have an established track record.

3. Jumping on Trending Topics

If there is a trending topic that dovetails neatly with the purpose of your blog and your audience, that is like finding gold. Unfortunately, too many inexperienced bloggers will post about any trending topic regardless of its relevance to their audience. Usually this is done in hopes of getting a post to go viral.

This almost never works. Instead, followers become confused or annoyed at one more irrelevant posts, and traffic doesn’t go up either. After all, why would people come to a blog to read a post that doesn’t belong there, when they could simply read about the trending topic where it makes sense.

4. Overuse of Widgets And Themes

If you use WordPress or other similar hosting service, you know that there are thousands of widgets, plugins, and themes available for you to use. Many of them are really neat, and you can use them to make your blog a great place to visit. The mistake that many inexperienced bloggers make, however, is using too many of these.

Overuse of widgets, themes, and plugins result in a blog that is too busy and too distracting. If your visitors are focused on the bells and whistles of your blog, they are going to miss your content.

5. Inconsistent Publishing

The problem with blogging is that there are so many blogs out there, and people are extremely choosy about which ones they will read or follow. As a result, people are quick to unfollow a blog if the content is not consistently high quality, or if the blogger goes too long between posts.

If you do not have the time to dedicate to posting on a regular basis, it may not be the right time for you to begin blogging. You may want to wait until you have the resources that you need.

6. Writing That is Too Academic

People who are new to blogging, often make the mistake of writing as if they were producing essays or reports for school or work. They write in the third person, they use long paragraphs and maintain an almost formal tone. Unfortunately, while this type of writing is academically correct, it doesn’t go over well while blogging.

Before you begin publishing your own blog posts, it’s a good idea to take a look at other blogs in your niche. Chances are, you will see lots of white space, lists and bullet points, and writing that has a conversational tone. Bloggers use these techniques to ensure that their posts are readable on smaller devices, to ensure that their blog posts are scannable, and to be more relatable to their audience.

There’s absolutely no way, in today’s plugged-in culture, to grow your startup without being active on social media, or is there? Do you have to be active on social media to grow your business and promote your brand? Maybe not.

There are some businesses, which by their very nature require a social media presence, but not all of them do. Then there is the simple fact that businesses have been successfully run without the use of social networks up until the last decade or so. The next obvious question is; why would you want to run a business without social media? The answers to that question vary. Some people simply do not want to fall into the time suck that is social media personally or professionally. Others don’t want to dedicate the time and resources. For some, they have simply done the research and found that their target customers simply are not interested in engaging with them on social networks. No matter what the reasons are, it is definitely possible to run a business without using social media. Here are 5 ways to do so.

1. Using Direct Marketing Efforts

One of the goals of social media marketing is to collect names and addresses, and then develop relationships with the people behind those names and addresses. With direct marketing, you essentially do the same thing; you just avoid using social media to do so. Direct marketing can include email marketing, cold calling, mailers, and flyers. Don’t forget to include past customers in these efforts as well.

2. Getting Business Through Referrals

Here’s a novel idea. Do you really good work. Then, when your customers are impressed, ask them to support you by recommending you to other people. This is a time-tested, proven way of growing a business that does not require your presence on any social media platform. You can also communicate with friends, friends of friends, and family members and let them know what your new venture is and ask them for referrals as well. You will be amazed at how much growth can happen as long as you keep customers happy enough to recommend you to their friends.

3. Using Paid Advertising Through Multiple Channels

If you are willing and able to invest in it, paid advertising is another option that has proven effective for decades. If you are going to use paid advertising, consider going through multiple channels. This might include placing ads through Google, buying direct ad space on relevant websites, and advertising in online newspapers and trade publications. If you have potential customers who are local to you, it may also be a good idea to invest money in advertising locally via radio, television, and printed publications.

4. Attend Trade Shows and Industry Expos

If you decide against a social media presence, you will have to meet potential customers in other places. Trade shows and expos are a great place to start. You can rent space, demonstrate your products, and connect with potential clients. You may also be able to establish relationships with other business owners. To make the most impact, invest money in professionally designed advertising slicks, signage, and brochures. You’ll want to stand out.

5. Invest in a Powerful And Intuitive Website

If you decide to forgo a social media presence, your website will be the only way for you to connect with your customers online. This means it has to really deliver. The best way to do this is to bring in a professional designer to build your website for you. You’ll want to pay special attention to your home page, product descriptions, and company profile information. You’ll also want to invest in a secure e-commerce solution as well. Most importantly, provide customers with a means to contact you through your website.