PB103: How to Blog Smart – 9 Areas to Think Strategically About in Your Blogging

Note: this episode is available to listen to in the player above, on iTunes and Stitcher.

9 Different Things to Help You Blog Smart

ProBlogger is designed to help bloggers reach their potential along with how to monetize and build a sustainable blog, but I am also interested in blogs that change people’s lives.

Today’s show is a continuation of episode 102 where I talked about how many bloggers start out blogging from the heart while others have a strategic, clinical formula.

The last podcast told the story of two bloggers who took these very different approaches. Both were ready to give up because neither approach tends to work alone. You have to blog with heart and have a strategy for success.

In the last episode I suggested 7 ways to add heart and soul to your blog, and today I’m going to suggest 9 different ways to be strategic with your blogging.

In Today’s Episode 9 Different Ways to Be Strategic with Your Blogging

• If you want your blog to be a business – treat it as one, change your mindset and treat your blog as a business today
• Have goals – If you don’t know what you are aiming for you won’t get far, define what success means to you, write down your goals then use as a filter for what you do
• Be strategic about your reader – do some work to understand who your reader is and what their needs, challenges, and dreams are, create an avatar as in episode 33
• Know about your brand – What do you want your brand to be, define what you want people to say about you when you are not in the room
• Develop an editorial strategy – Don’t just write whatever pops into your head, put some strategy behind your content
  • Define the change you are trying to bring about and map out the strategy
  • What type of content will your readers respond to, think strategically about what mediums get the best response
  • Think strategically about the length and frequency of content
  • Experiment, learn and adapt
• Think about marketing – move beyond the build it and they will come strategy
  • Where are your potential readers gathering? How can you participate in those places? What new technologies are they using, adapt your approach.
  • What type of content do you need to create to attract these readers and get them to share. Check out episode 34 on shareable content.
• Hooks – How will you get them to connect and keep coming back. Find a hook to get your readers to come back.
  • Ask them to subscribe, (for us email lists are always #1) and find secondary points of connection.
  • Keep in mind what comes after they subscribe, find a process to lead them through
• Monetization – How are you going to make your blog sustainable? Research available strategies, I give a money map in episode 37 that lists a whole bunch of different ways to monetize. Building something of your own is a good option. Diversifying is a good strategy.
• Constantly be experimenting, tweaking and evolving – Run constant experiments on all of these different areas.

These strategies may sound overwhelming, but just pick one area to focus on. Goal setting or branding can be great methods for kicking off your blog strategy. Then move on to the editorial strategy, or marketing, or whatever you need to fill in the gaps.

Further Resources on Strategic Blogging Combined with Blogging from the Heart

• Episode 102: How to Blog from the Heart
• Episode 100: 10 Things I Wish I’d Known About Blogging
• Episode 33: 2 Questions to Ask to Help You Find Readers for Your Blog
• Episode 34: 2 Types of Content that Help You to Find Readers for Your Blog
• Episode 37: Grow Traffic to Your Blog Through Guest Posting and Creating Content for Other Blogs, Forums, Media and Events

How did you go with today’s episode?

I hope this wasn’t too overwhelming. Remember this episode intersects with episode 102. I think the blogging magic happens when blogging with heart is combined with a strategic strategy.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on what areas bloggers need to be strategic in.

Got a Question You’d Like Me to Answer?

I base many episodes of this podcast upon questions answered by ProBlogger Podcast listeners and Blog readers.

You can use the following widget to ask a question. Please include your name and blog name (if you have a blog).

Enjoy this podcast? Sign up to our ProBloggerPLUS newsletter to get notified of all new tutorials and podcasts below.

The post PB103: How to Blog Smart – 9 Areas to Think Strategically About in Your Blogging appeared first on ProBlogger.