Ten years ago, I registered a domain name, set up WordPress, and faced a blank screen with my blood boiling - this time I will definitely be able to support myself by writing! What happened? Six months later, I was slumped in front of the computer: no one read my articles, my income was zero, and even my mother asked me: "Can you make a living by tinkering with this thing at home all day?"
The turning point came at a bloggers’ gathering. When I was complaining for the 10th time that “I work so hard but can’t make any money”, the man in a plaid shirt across from me suddenly interrupted and asked, “Have you read the business plan for your blog?”
“Huh? You need a business plan for a blog?” I stared at him like he was an alien.
Three months later, this “alien” became my mentor. Today, I want to break down this pitfall experience and tell you why 99% of bloggers without a business plan are working in vain.
1. Why did I almost give up blogging?
You would never guess that I didn’t even decide on a topic at first! I wrote a mood diary today, and imitated SEO masters to make tutorials tomorrow, but the backend data was always like an electrocardiogram: it would jump twice when I published a new article, and then return to zero after three days.
Until my mentor gave me a set of data: 85% of failed blogs were ruined by "three no's" - no direction, no strategy, and no planning.
1. Focus is a scarce resource
I once spent three days writing an in-depth film review. As soon as I published it, I saw my peers posting sales data. I immediately deleted the article and rewrote the e-commerce guide. My mentor was heartbroken: "Do you think you are an octopus? You grab everything, but in the end you grab nothing."
Solution:
- Reread your business plan every Monday morning
- Put a sticky note on the computer: "Does today's content meet the core direction?"
2. Short-term pleasure destroys long-term value
I used to be addicted to the false sense of accomplishment brought by daily updates, until I discovered that the traffic brought by 30 scattered articles could not match the long-tail effect of a hit article.
My schedule now looks like this:
- Quarterly goal: Build a knowledge payment framework
- Monthly goal: Test 3 topic selection directions
- Weekly goal: produce 2 in-depth long articles + 5 short videos
3. Lessons from Missing a $30,000 Investment
An investor did approach me! But when he asked me "what is your user profile and monetization path", I was hesitant and couldn't answer. Later I found out that he turned around and invested in a fashion blogger with clear data.
2. My Secret to Resurrection: 11-Step Business Plan
Step 1: Find your life and death line
My mentor forced me to write a "death notice": If the blog is closed tomorrow, what will make readers most sad? I spent three days trying to figure it out and finally wrote: "Provide a side job avoidance guide that novices can operate" - this is my mission anchor.
Step 2: Naming is very important
My blog used to be called "The Road to Career Advancement" and had very low traffic. After changing it to "Side Job Lightning Rod", the search volume soared by 200%. Secret: Brand name = demand + memorable point
Step 3: Break down “making money” into its components
Don’t be like me and just say “earn over 10,000 yuan a month”! My current goal breakdown is:
- Traffic layer: 3 SEO long articles + 2 live broadcasts per week
- Conversion layer: 1 free resource package per month to attract traffic
- Monetization layer: 1 course per quarter at a price of 299 yuan
Step 4: Get inside the user’s head
I once wrote a "side job guide for moms" and the data was a disastrous failure. Later, I spent 398 yuan to buy an industry report and found out that 68% of my real readers were male office workers! Tool recommendations:
- Google Trends to see search trends
- AnswerThePublic digs into user pain points
Step 5: Let your competitors do the work for you
I specially built an "Enemy Situation Observation Table":
- A earns 50,000 yuan a month by writing? Dismantle his entire article writing structure
- B's course is always criticized for being too expensive? Then I will make a cheaper version
Step 6: Face your weaknesses
When doing SWOT analysis, I found that my fatal flaw was my technical blindness. Now I have a fixed monthly budget of 2,000 yuan for outsourcing, saving time to focus on content.
Step 7: Be honest with your money
I once used a 30-yuan/year hosting service because I was greedy for cheapness, but the website crashed and I lost the cooperation. Now my financial iron rule is:
- Infrastructure budget accounts for 30% ( Bluehost hosting + paid themes)
- Traffic purchasing budget accounts for 20% ( precise information flow advertising )
- Risk reserve accounts for 10%
3. The cruel truths that no one tells you
Executive Summary = Elevator Speech
Once at an industry summit, I got a resource exchange with this sentence: "We focus on helping bloggers with 1,000-5,000 followers break through the bottleneck of monetization. Currently, through the case disassembly model, we have helped more than 3,000 bloggers earn more than 10,000 yuan per month."
Personal branding requires labeling
My profile changed from “freelance writer” to: “Mine clearance soldier in the side business track | Leading 50+ new bloggers to monetize from 0 to 1”, and the number of consultations doubled.
Exit plan is courage, not a curse
Earlier this year, I wrote a blog acquisition plan and found out more about the value of it:
- Basic price: number of fans × 3 yuan + annual profit × 5 times
- Premium space: exclusive methodology package valuation
Your blog marketing plan
How are you going to tell the world that you have something they need? How are you going to attract your target audience to your blog?
- How much are you willing to spend to promote your blog?
- Do you plan to promote your blog in print media, on television, online, or all of these?
- Which marketing strategy will produce more results? Search optimization, joint ventures, free campaigns or paid campaigns?
- What marketing tools are needed?
- Who are the main competitors in your market segment?
- How do they attract traffic to their blog?
- How do they make money from blogging?
- What percentage of the market share do they control?
All of the above issues need to be sorted out in the blog marketing section of your business plan.
Also Read: 7 Strategies You Must Follow for Marketing Your Blog
4. Final Thoughts
Last week, I was cleaning up old stuff and found the first version of my business plan, which was just three pages long and full of childish fantasies. Compared with the current 28-page version 3.0, every modification was a lesson learned with real money.
If you want to transform your blog, do three things right now:
- Open a blank document and write down “Why does my blog exist?”
- Look up the data from the last three months and find the 1% that actually make money
- Put your phone in airplane mode and read this article carefully for the second time.
Remember: passion without a plan is like a race car without navigation. The harder you step on the accelerator, the further you will deviate from the finish line.
(If you are rereading this for the fourth time, it’s time to open Excel and make a plan.)
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