How to Make Money from a Blog, Step 1 of 7: Discover Your Niche, Define Your Audience

Yesterday I announced that I would be doing a series on how to make money from a blog using a seven-step “Blog Launch Plan” method. First on the docket: Step 1: Discover Your Niche, Define Your Audience.

Step 1.1: Ask Yourself: Is Making Money Right for Me?

First thing’s first: when venturing to the world of blogging, you have to ask yourself the first big question: “Am I sure I actually want to make money from a blog?”

It’s important you ask yourself this up front because, like most anything in life, if you want it to be successful, you have to be in it for the long haul. Anyone can write a blog; if you don’t put much forethought or effort into it, you can literally set up one up in less than 30 minutes. But, making money from a blog is different. It requires planning. It requires focus and dedication. It requires content calendars, consistent writing (or videoing), diversified monetization methods, persistent social media promotion, unique and detailed content, and technological and design savvy (or, at least an interest in self-learning those things). It also requires you to track income for (ahem) taxes, and it requires you to think with a business mindset: staying on top of branding, marketing, and sales. Also…it requires a lot of time.

Starting a blog is basically like starting a business—blogs are just much cheaper to get up and running than most businesses. One of the many appeals of blogging is that just about anyone can afford to do one (you can start one with less than $50 in your pocket) and you can reach, literally, millions of people. Also, it’s a fairly low-risk venture, it provides opportunities to be creative, and it lets you explore and develop your own talents and professional opportunities. Blogging can be really fun. And, for most people, that’s all it really ever becomes—a fun outlet to write and post about the things their doing. But if it’s your dream to make money—whether that be just minimal amounts to cover the costs of internet and webhosting, modest amounts that serve as a consistent side income, or a full-time self-supporting income—you have to be conscious and strategic about what your goals are.

Step 1.2: Define Your Goals

Knowing that running a money-making blog is like running a business is key to setting goals. What really matters to you in the long run? How much time do you actually want to spend running the blog? How much money do you want to make? How much effort are you willing to put into the blog to make it happen? While every blog and and the person behind it will see varying levels of success for different amounts of time, it’s fairly safe to say that if you want the blog to be a full-time supporting income, you’ll have to put in full-time amounts of work. That may not be realistic for you at first. So…what is? Can you commit an hour a day? Two? Four? And…based on that time, what makes it worth it to you? Do you want to eventually get to where you’re making, say $100/month? $1,000/month? $10,000/month?

Define your goal up front. Then you’ll know what you’re shooting for. Recognize that it’s good to put timelines on goals as well, though it’s hard to set these if you’re new to blogging. Recognize that making money at first takes time. It’s likely you won’t make more than a few pennies the first few months after launch, no matter how good your blog is. Until you build consistent traffic and readership, money won’t just appear in your wallet. It’s useful to say, “by the end of the first six months, I hope to make _______, and by the end of my first year blogging, I will make ________.” Note that if it’s your first blog, that first year may not make much unless you put a lot of time into it.

Step 1.3: Identify Your Topic AND Your Niche

Blogs do best, especially when they are new to the World Wide Web, when they zero in on a very specific topic. A blog entitled, “The Life of Curtis,” where I post about random, disconnected ideas—like what I ate for breakfast and what I felt about my latest Netflix binge—is far less likely to succeed than if I pick a topic about, say, visual communication or education or sports or travel or health. So start there: what’s your big topic?

Note, though, that even a topic isn’t enough. You might, for example, want to start a blog about travel. Well, that’s great, but there are a thousand other travel blogs out there. What your niche? In other words, what you’re unique take on travel and what are the people like that really care about your unique take? Your niche can be a very specific subject within your broader topic (national park travel tips for college students on a budget) OR your niche can be your unique approach (going off the beaten path, writing humorously, searching for shapes that look like hearts while you travel–whatever).

Whatever it is you choose, recognize that understanding your niche early on will really help your broader brand, which will likely see more success in gaining consistent followers and readers. Try to ask yourself three questions, seeing if you can narrow your topic to the fourth level:

• What is your broad topic? (Travel, beauty, sports, spirituality, art, photography, etc.)
• What is your second-level theme? (Travel tips, fashion news, NBA, museum guides, etc.)
• What is your most narrow focus? (European travel hacks, celebrity fashion gossip, Utah Jazz off-the-court, etc.)
• What is your unique style and approach? (Humor, crassness, detail, vulnerability, expertise, satire, etc.)

Step 1.4: Come Up With an Effective Blog Name

Once you know your blog topic and unique niche, you can begin thinking about the name of your blog. Some bloggers simply use their name as their blog, others come up with catchy titles. Check out these popular blogs, which all use varying blog titles to lure people in:

• A Cup of Jo
• Cupcakes and Cashmere
• Pink Peonies (she changed the name of her blog to her own name, Rachel Parcell)
• Dan Flying Solo
• Run Blogger
• Six Sisters’ Stuff

You’ll note that there is nothing real specific that makes any of these blog names more effective than another. Some are creative (“A Cup of Jo”), others totally boring (“Run Blogger”). Some use alliteration (“Six Sisters’ Stuff” and “Cupcakes and Cashmere”), while others just use terms that suggest what the blog is about (“Dan Flying Solo”). Some are two words, others are four.

While there is no perfect formula for coming up with a blog name, I do have some pointers. Here are a few key things to think about:

• Make sure the URL is available (you need a domain name [web address], so make sure that you can actually purchase it and no one else is using it) and that it doesn’t cost too much. You can just go to GoDaddy.com to search available domain names and their costs.
• Make it easy to spell, say, and remember. While “Run Blogger” isn’t exactly fun or catchy, it’s easy to say and remember. Avoid long, complex blog names or words that are made up or difficult to spell. Remember that people have to type that name into a web browser! In general, two to four short words is a good idea (and I say this wishing I had named my own blog, The Visual Communication Guy, something shorter!)
• Consider a name that says something about your topic. While this isn’t necessary (“Pink Peonies” doesn’t immediately say “fashion blog,” nor does “Cup of Jo” immediately say “motherhood and relationships”), it can help orient people who may otherwise wonder what your blog is about. A popular family budget site is funcheaporfree.com. The words “Fun, Cheap, or Free” help communicate what the site is about.
• Find something you like. Recognize that it’s pretty hard to change the name of your blog (not impossible, but hard) once you get it going. Make it something you can live with for a long time.
• See how the name looks in different logos and fonts. You’ll need to brand the site, so make sure the words and letters give the look and feel you want.

Step 1.5: Recognize Your Value Proposition (and Write It Down Somewhere)

Recognize that, whatever your topic, there is likely another website or blog like it. You need to give people a reason to come to yours. Even if you don’t explicitly state your value proposition on your blog (and you rarely will), it’s important that, in your own head, you know what you’re giving of value to your readers. What is it they will care about? Why will they value it? What will make them keep reading and coming back? Realize that people have a very short attention span and the likelihood of them staying on your website for very long isn’t high. Give people information that is quick, digestible, visual, and useful.

Again, there isn’t a perfect method for this and you may not actually post this on your blog, but you should write out your value proposition following these five steps:

1. Identify every possible benefit your readers may be able to get from reading or scanning your blog.
2. Describe, in detail, what makes these benefits valuable.
3. State your perceived primary audience’s main question, problem, or reason for seeking out your site.
4. Make connections between your readers’ problem or question and the values that your blog provides.
5. State what differentiate’s you from similar websites in establishing yourself in a unique position to help readers with what matters to them.

Step 1.6: Write a Tagline

Wait. What’s a tagline? Most of us are ultra familiar with “slogans,” catchy phrases that large and established companies use to help us remember them by. We’re familiar with “I’m Lovin’ It” (McDonald’s); “Just Do It” (Nike); “You’re In Good Hands” (Allstate); and “Think Different” (Apple). Note, though, that these slogans say nothing about the company, product, or service. Slogans are valuable for established brands where people are already familiar with what they do.

But…if your blog is relatively new or unfamiliar to many people, you can really benefit from a strong tagline that clarifies what your site is about. I don’t want to say that the tagline on my website is perfect, but it showcases what I’m talking about: “Designing Information to Engage, Educate, and Inspire People.” That tagline, in addition to the blog name “The Visual Communication Guy,” hopefully give some clarity to new readers about what my site covers. When you write a tagline, try to do three things:

• Keep it to 5 – 9 words. Taglines that are shorter than 5 words usually don’t give enough information to clarify what the site is or does. Taglines longer than 9 words are hard to remember and generally don’t look good on a webpage.
• State what your blog topic is. Let people know if you cover lifestyle, travel, food, money, or anything else. If it’s not clear from the name, the tagline gives you the opportunity to clarify.
• Imply a value proposition. While you don’t need to explicitly state your detailed value proposition, you should hint at what makes your website unique and valuable. A tagline like “Recipe’s that make your heart sing” suggests the website will provide recipes that make you happy. That’s a value proposition. Or…”Finance Tips that Will Make You Rich” makes a pretty clear proposition about gaining wealth.

The idea with a tagline is that you’re helping people understand what it is your blog is about and why they should care.

Step 1.7: Create Some Personas

Lastly, as you begin to launch your blog, you’ll want to develop three or four personas. That is, you’ll want to know exactly the type of person you are writing to, so you’ll want to create a profile that explains them. When you can picture a realistic person and you know their age, gender, financial status, income, what they value, what they fear and love, and why they would come to your website in the first place, you can really begin writing and designing content that they’ll love. And…if they love it, they’ll keep coming back and sharing your material…a recipe for financially successful blogs.

I’ve written in detail about developing personas (also known as consumer profiles), so I’m just going to link to the tips here.

Conclusion

That’s it for Step 1. Stay tuned for Step 2: Scope Your Competition and Plan Your Content