blogger business plan

How to Create a Blog Business Plan (Free Template) 7 Easy Steps to Write a Blog Business Plan: How I've Earned $1 Million+ Blogging

If you want to become a successful blogger, you’re going to need a smart blog business plan that can guide your decision-making, tell you what to invest your time in and keep pointing you toward the next stage in the growth of your blog business. Here’s how to write a blog business plan, including my free downloadable template.

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For more than 10 years since I started my blog , I’ve been strategically implementing my own blog business plans with great results. This guide pulls from that exact plan—and you can download my (free) template to follow along as you grow your blog too.

Want My Free Blog Business Plan Template?

Grab my free blog business plan template in both Google Doc and PDF format (that’s helped me build a six-figure blog) and reach 500,000+ monthly readers today.

Last year alone, my blog generated $449,107 in revenue (see more in my blog income reports ), and it’s been earning in the six-figures for several years now.

Despite the numbers, it hasn’t always been easy—like all entrepreneurs will tell you as any small business owner, there are ups and downs with business blogging, too.

A blog business plan helps you navigate the storm and can keep you on track, working toward your most impactful goals despite short-term fluctuations. At the end of the day, I’m living proof that you can turn your passions into a profitable small business as an entrepreneur through blogging.

To turn your blog into a viable business, though, you need to create a strategic  blog business plan .

How to Create a Blog Business Plan in 7 Easy Steps (Free Template)

• Define Your Blog Business Plans and Set Meaningful Goals
• Do a Competitive Analysis of Other Blogs
• Start and Grow Your Blog (the Profitable Way)
• Map Out Your Traffic Generation Strategy
• Formulate Your Blog’s Work Process
• Launch (and Optimize) Your Blog
• Download My Free Blog Business Plan Template

Disclosure:  Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I’ll earn a commission. When you purchase a product or service using my affiliate link, I’m compensated, which helps me create content like my ultimate guide about how to start a blog free of charge. Know that I only recommend products and services I’ve personally used and stand behind.

What Makes a Blog a Business?

Any blog can easily make you a small business owner with the right level of strategy, care and time investment. The basic foundation of a blog business is that you’ve:

• Developed a repeatable process for publishing content
• Learned how to bring in traffic consistently
• Figured out how to monetize that traffic through a variety of channels

The monetization aspect is where much of your efforts will (soon) be going as your blog evolves into a real business. You’ll experiment with tactics like running ads, taking sponsorships, joining affiliate programs , selling your own physical or digital products, and many other blog monetization strategies .

And in order to execute on these three core components, it helps immensely to have a solid blog business plan telling you what to do next.

What is a Blog Business Plan (and Why Should You Create One)?

A business plan, in its simplest form , is a roadmap for your business. It outlines your business and blogging goals and maps out how you’re going to achieve them. And in order to be effective, your business plan must be written down (so you can reference it often) and must include timelines wherever possible.

So why do you need a blog business plan ?

These are the four main ways you stand to benefit from creating a blog business plan, particularly for beginners:

• A blog business plan gives you a clear picture of what you want to achieve
• It helps you create a greater sense of accountability
• It forces you to set clear priorities (that ladder up to your overall goals)
• It shows you some of the challenges to expect along the way

A smart blog business plan is like a road map. If you follow it closely—and expect to spend some time experimenting, navigating detours and bumpy roads along the way—both the journey and the end destination will be very rewarding.

How do you write a business plan for a blog?

The first step to writing a business plan for your blog, is to define  what your blog business is going to be (the main ways you expect to generate revenue)—and set meaningful, realistic goals that can help you make daily, weekly, monthly progress toward achieving those goals that ladder up to success with your blog business.

From there, you’ll want to research your competitors, start your blog (if you haven’t already), make sure it’s set up the right way with the correct themes & plugins, put in place winning habits that’ll help you achieve your goals, figure out the best ways to drive in traffic and promote your blog content—then begin to work on monetizing.

For a step-by-step walkthrough on the process of writing your blog business plan, grab my free template right here in this guide (through the form just a little bit above here).

Now, let’s discuss how to create a blog business plan that will guide you to your desired goals in the coming weeks, months, and years.

We’ll start by helping you develop your own blog business plans, which will set you on the path to generating revenue as quickly as possible.

1. Define Your Blog Business Plans and Set Meaningful Goals

The very first step in creating a blog business plan is to define what your business is going to be. That’s where we’ll be talking about things like your mission statement (why you’re blogging in the first place)—and while I don’t  love the corporate term, executive summary, defining your blog business will be the closest thing we cover to that.

That means laying the foundation for everything from which niche you’ll be blogging in, who your target audience is going to be , which (tangible) blogging goals are most important for you to aim for, and at least a loose sense of how you’ll plan to make money from your blog in the near future.

Picking a niche

Picking a niche to blog about is one of the most important steps you can take to eventually generate an income from your blog.

A niche is simply a specific range of related topics (segment of a target market or target audience ) that you want to specialize your blog around being a trusted resource. Examples of some highly lucrative niche topics you can blog about include things like:

• Photography
• Personal Finance
• Career Development

When it comes to choosing a niche, the sky truly is the limit. If there’s a topic area that has enough demand—and you’re genuinely interested in building a blog business around it—then you’ve got the makings of a potentially profitable niche. Check out my guide for much more: How to Pick a Niche to Blog About (+ Examples) .

The reason why picking a niche comes first when laying out your blog business plans—is that how your blog functions as a business will be heavily influenced by the niche you’re operating in. It’s only after you’ve landed on a clear niche that you can move into defining and learning more about the audience you’ll be serving.

Learning about your target audience

After your niche, the next most important business decision you need to make is deciding who your target audience will be—and committing to learning more about them.

In a world with billions of people using the Internet , the reality is that not everyone will discover or even resonate with your blog, let alone be willing to buy whatever you’re selling when you eventually start monetizing your content.

You have to research your target audience and understand their pain points and how you can help them through your blog.

Think about your readers in terms of the demographics and psychographics that define them:

• Demographics: The quantitative traits of your readers. Like age, gender, location, and job title.
• Psychographics: More unmeasurable traits like values, interests, attitudes, and belief systems.

In short, who are your target readers, and which problems will you be solving for them?

The answer to that pivotal question will also help you determine the kind of content you’ll create and the best channels to monetize that content.

Determine how you’ll monetize your blog

There are many ways to make money blogging , but it’s extremely important to remember that you can only generate revenue from your blog—once you’ve started attracting an audience.

Still, it helps to plan today for which ways you’d like to monetize your blog (ideally in a manner that engages your own unique strengths & experience).

A few of the most time-tested blog monetization channels include:

• Sponsored Blog Content
• Affiliate Marketing (like how I generate sales from my Bluehost reviews roundup)
• Blog Advertisements
• Sell Online Courses (like my blogging courses and Built to Blog in particular)
• Physical Products
• Release a Software Tool
• Selling Your Own Services
• Writing an eBook and Selling Them (like my blogging books )
• Launch a Virtual Summit
• Business Partnerships
• Podcast Sponsorships (see my guide on starting a podcast )
• Freelancing and more

I’d caution you not to pursue a particular monetization path simply because it’s a money-making opportunity. Your most important task at this stage, is to decide which monetization channels will be best for your niche, the type of audience you plan to attract and how you can best engage your own interests.

Again, keep in mind that your audience will be the lifeblood of your blog—so learning from them in the early days will be key in collecting valuable feedback about how you can best help them. For an in-depth look at my best blog monetization strategies, check out my guide: How to Make Money Blogging This Year .

Setting blog business goals

Lastly, when defining your blog as a business, you have to set clear blog business goals to begin working toward.

This will help you break down the big-picture objectives into bite-sized tasks that won’t overwhelm you on a daily and weekly basis.

Setting smart goals will also help you stay ultra-focused on doing only the activities that move you closer to those goals.

A few examples of goals you  could consider setting for your blog during the first year include:

• Getting to 10,000 monthly visitors (within 12 months)
• Working 15 hours per week on creating and promoting blog content
• Attracting 1,000 email subscribers (within 6 months)
• Earning $1,000 in revenue from your blog (in the first 6 months)

Whichever goals you decide to set for yourself, make sure they’re as realistic as possible, clearly actionable and measurable—so that you can regularly look back and reassess how you’re doing.

Once you’ve laid this solid foundation for your blog business plan, we can move on to analyzing competitors and learning more about how they make it work in your niche.

2. Do a Competitive Analysis of Other Blogs

Before you even launch your own blog (or transform an existing blog into a proper business), you need to learn from your competition.

Yes, that’s allowed. And no, you don’t need to do anything shady—or involve Russian spies.

Spying on your competitors and gathering insights is a great way to validate your own ideas for how to bring a blog business plan to life best. Take a peek at my top small business ideas to see if they inspire any new angles for your full-time (or part-time) business blogging efforts, too.

It’s also a fantastic way to learn what it takes to become successful within your niche. These are the three main things you’ll want to do when it comes to competitor analysis.

Identify your main competitors

Identifying your competitors helps you see the potential your blog business has within the niche you’re operating in.

Even more importantly, it also helps you clearly see the kinds of products your audience loves and is already paying (someone else) for.

So, how do you identify  who your competitors are?

• Do some keyword research to determine which top words & phrases you want your blog to rank for in Google results (considering setting up Google Alerts to monitor them, too)
• Take a careful look at the articles & sites already ranking on the first few pages of those search results
• Examine their content, looking for ads, links to affiliate programs , products they’re selling, and other monetization efforts

For just about every keyword phrase related to your niche, there will already be competitive blogs, websites, and companies intentionally trying to rank their content at the top of those search results (in order to bring in readers and generate revenue somehow). For that reason, learning from the competition can provide meaningful insights to incorporate into your own blog business plans.

Use My Free Keyword Research Tool

Try my free AI-Powered Keyword Tool to get dozens of research-backed ideas for keywords & topics to write about on your blog today.

Research their strengths, weaknesses and top ranking keywords

Another smart reason to do competitor analysis is that it helps you identify your competitor’s unique strengths and weaknesses.

Doing this will help you identify some gaps in the market research that you can (profitably) fill by thoughtfully positioning yourself toward a segment of the audience, learning how to write a blog post that’s more impactful to readers, crafting catchier blog headlines and other ways to grow your blog .

As I’ve already alluded to, one of the best ways to gather this intel is through keyword research .

Keywords are simple words or phrases commonly used by people to search for something on the Internet.

You can use that information to thoughtfully position your own content to rank at the top of those search results.

Thanks to the awesomeness of technology, you can use many free tools (and free blogging resources ) for conducting keyword research today—including my very own free keyword tool . Type in your keyword phrase and get monthly search volume, difficulty & suggestions for other keyword phrases to target for your blog content:

I built this free AI-Powered Keyword Tool to solve a problem I’ve had in the blogging industry for nearly a decade. Anytime a new (free) keyword research tool comes out and gains popularity, a switch flips and it’s suddenly only a paid tool—or has dramatic limitations on usage. This keyword research tool was build to be forever free.

When you type in a keyword you’re considering blogging about, you’ll get dozens of research-backed ideas for keywords & topics to write about on your blog today. You’ll get insights like:

• Monthly Search Volume: A snapshot of how many people search for a particular keyword phrase each month on major search engines like Google.
• Difficulty Level: The difficulty level of ranking for a particular keyword phrase based on the amount of existing (and anticipated future) competition from established websites.
• Country Targeting: The default country view is for the US (United States), but you can select other countries from a dropdown menu to see what regional search volume & difficulty look like for your target keyword phrases.
• Ideas: Use the ideas tab (or click the lightbulb) to get dozens of AI-powered blog topic ideas related to the keyword you’ve chosen. It may even inspire some real business ideas to pursue with your business blogging efforts.

When it comes to competitor analysis, identifying the (most valuable) keywords your competitors are ranking for is a great leg up.

Sure, you can plug in your own keywords you think could be valuable (and attract the right audience), but you also risk choosing keywords that may miss the mark when it comes to driving traffic and ranking well in the search engine results.

Competitor analysis is a great way to find high-ROI keywords that others have already done the research on quickly. It’s also a good way to find lower-competition keyword opportunities to capitalize on yourself.

Which strategies do competitors appear to be using?

Competitor analysis isn’t complete until you have a clear picture of the strategies they’re using, too.

• How do they appear to be monetizing their blog?
• What do they do to promote their content?
• How are they driving traffic to their blog?
• Which keywords are they going after?
• Is there a clear opportunity for creating better (more helpful) content than theirs?

This is particularly effective if your competitors are doing well.

You can learn a lot by studying how they operate—without spending a dime.

Decide how to set your blog apart

At the end of the day, the most important insight to come away with from doing competitor analysis is how you can set yourself apart from the crowd.

With thousands of blogs launched every day, one of the only ways you can succeed in the long term is by carving out a unique position for yourself within your niche.

To do that well, observe out what others aren’t doing—and make a call as to whether or not there’s a need you can fill in the market.

After you’ve spent some time analyzing the competition, let’s build another layer into your blog business plan.

3. Start and Grow Your Blog (the Profitable Way)

Now we come to the fun part—actually starting your blog .

If you already have a blog that’s live, you can skip down to the next section on mapping out your traffic generation strategy by clicking right here .

Starting a blog is very easy, but getting everything set up for being able to (soon) maximize your profit potential is a bit more nuanced.

The main difference is that you need to pay careful attention to your decisions and settings, as your blog is your primary business asset.

All of this is broken down in clear, step-by-step detail in this guide: How to Start a Blog (and Make Money) , but here’s the overview. These are the two most important aspects of setting up your blog.

Get your domain name and blog hosting

In its simplest form, a domain name is the name you give to your blog (.com, .co, .net, or otherwise).

And just like any business name, your domain name has to be registered. Try as much as possible to get a domain name that fits in with your brand, mission statement, or niche you’ll be blogging about. Use my free domain name generator to get tons of clever domain ideas.

Your web hosting plan on the other hand, is the service that actually gets your blog online (and discoverable on the Internet). That hosting service you choose will host your blog on their servers and keep your pages loading fast for the readers that discover your content.

It goes without saying, that you need to invest in a reliable hosting service to make sure you’re maximizing your opportunity to succeed.

I personally recommend Bluehost as they’re one of the most reliable, affordable and capable hosting companies that has a great team to help with technical support as you go.

Plus, they offer free domain registration when you sign up for your hosting plan.

If you’re not quite sure how to best name your blog, then dive a little deeper into this guide: How to Name a Blog (+ Examples) . And if you wan to shop around with your hosting options, check out these comparison guides, I keep regularly updated here on my blog:

• The best month-to-month hosting plans on the market today
• 9 of the best cheap hosting plans for blogging on a tight budget
• My list of the top free hosting plans to get started without a budget

Design your blog with branding in mind

Another advantage of using Bluehost to power your blog is that they offer a one-click, easy WordPress installation immediately after you’ve signed up.

What is WordPress? WordPress is a simple blogging platform started in 2003 to help publishers, bloggers, and businesses quickly build, publish, and maintain websites without having to hire a technical team to do it, but WordPress has since become the most popular publishing platform in the world. Here’s what WordPress looks like behind the scenes:

The fact that WordPress also comes free makes it a no-brainer, as it means cutting down on your expenses (a bonus in any blog business plan).

As you design your website, make sure it feels professional enough to establish trust with the types of readers you want to attract and retain.

One aspect to nail right from the beginning is how you brand your blog. I’m not just talking about a beautiful logo (although that doesn’t hurt). Branding also includes:

• Blog aesthetics : Aesthetics have to do with the visual appeal of your blog. Craft your blog layout in such a way that it’ll be attractive to your ideal audience and easy to navigate.
• Blog personality : Your blog’s personality encompasses your writing tone, style, color palettes, and the vibe you want your readers to pick up on.
• Your vision and mission : This will help dictate the content you produce. For example, my blog is all about helping fellow bloggers (like you) become more successful in turning their interests into a profitable online business.

For more, be sure to read my detailed guide: How to Start a Blog (and Make Money) to get all of the basic foundations squared away on your blog—before switching over to the traffic driving and revenue generating aspects of your blog business plan. And be sure to peek at these blog examples to see how successful blogs operate today.

4. Map Out Your Traffic Generation Strategy

Traffic is the currency of the Internet and one of the primary goals to work toward in your blog business plans. Without traffic, you won’t be able to monetize your blog.

Last year alone, my blog brought in over 4.4 Million readers—and it’s the helpful content I’ve provided for those readers that has helped me to generate in excess of $50,000/mo during some months of the year (through a combination of the many different ways I make money blogging ).

The math is pretty simple here: more visitors = more revenue (potential) .

That’s why mapping out a clear plan for how you’ll bring more traffic to your blog over the long run is a critical step in creating your blog business plan.

Figure out how to nail your traffic sources for the types of readers you want to attract—and your blog business is almost guaranteed to thrive.

So how do you drive traffic to your blog?

Pulled from my (larger) guide: How to Drive Traffic to Your Blog , we’re going to break down a few of the highest-impact strategies for attracting readers to your blog.

Create niche-specific SEO optimized content

The largest single factor that’ll get more people to your blog is creating extremely value content within your niche.

If you can create content that’s worthy of being shared by your readers, then more people who stumble upon your article—whether it be from social media sites, search engines, online communities or otherwise—are going to want to spread the word to others they know.

The foundation for making that happen is providing real value within your niche.

However, no matter how great your content is, it still has to be discoverable on the search engines of the Internet (mainly Google, today).

That’s why you need to learn how to follow SEO best practices that can get your content discovered by more people. That includes things like:

• Nailing your keyword research
• Focusing on user intent and understanding the needs of searchers (not just search engines)
• Taking your time writing SEO-friendly headlines
• Using the right heading tags
• Optimizing your page URL
• Being strategic with your links
• Crafting an enticing meta description
• Optimizing your images
• Ensuring mobile friendliness and reducing page loading times
• Promoting your content (where your audience is spending their time online)

For a deep dive in how to quickly optimize your blog content, read my guide: 10 Blog SEO Strategies to Get More Readers today.

Use guest blogging to increase your reach

Guest blogging is hands down the #1 way to drive the best quality, highly targeted traffic to your blog (from the websites where your ideal readers are already spending their time).

Check out the spike in traffic I got from my very first guest post back in 2014 on the Buffer blog:

So, what’s guest blogging? It’s very simple, really.

Guest blogging is the act of writing a blog post that you publish on another website which is not your own—presumably one that has the right kind of audience you’re trying to tap into. It’s a win-win for the blog or publication that accepts your (high quality) guest post, because they’re getting free content that they want for their readers, and you’re getting the opportunity to tastefully link back to your own blog within the guest article.

Four of the biggest advantages you’ll get from guest blogging are:

• Relevant traffic . This is extremely important, so make sure you’re guest blogging on sites frequented by your targeted audience (this comes down to smart blogger outreach ).
• Build quality backlinks . Guest blogging is a great way to build your portfolio of reputable sites that link back to your blog (which is a positive signal search engines look at when evaluating the trust and credibility of a website). This in turn, will help improve your organic search rankings for your content over time.
• Build brand awareness . Another great benefit of guest blogging as a new blogger is that it helps get your brand in front of more people, giving your new blog an opportunity to connect with new readers.
• Establish your authority . One way you can set yourself apart from your competitors is by establishing yourself as an authority in your niche. Guest posting helps you do just that.

Now, it goes without saying that your guest posts have to be of the highest standards if you hope for your campaign to actually pay off on that objective of attracting readers who want more of your content. This far into your blog business plan though, I have no doubt you’re committed.

Build and grow an email list

Another dependable way of driving traffic (back) to your blog, is by building an email list of readers who’ve already consumed your content—and want to return for more.

Growing your email list (over time) is one of the best ways to consistently bring more people to your blog. And blog email marketing isn’t as daunting a task as it may sound—it can even help you monetize faster with affiliate marketing & create a more successful business for you.

One of the most important ways of ensuring that you build an active and engaged email list, is to create a truly beneficial lead magnet that your target audience will find worthy of signing up to your email list, in order to get access to your gated content.

You’ll also need a reliable email service provider to help you with delivering your subscriber emails, eventually setting up automations and more.

If you want a deeper dive on how to be a better email marketer with your blog, read my guide: Email Marketing for Bloggers This Year .

Craft a creative social media marketing strategy

Social media—whether it be Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest (or otherwise)—is a great channel you can use to promote your blog content and drive traffic back to it.

Make sure to genuinely connect with members of your community on the social platform(s) you choose to invest your time on—and be sure you grow a following on the main social media channel that your ideal audience actually spends time on.

If you use Instagram to promote your blog , use an Instagram follower tracker tool. If you see no increase in the number of followers, it means you should improve your content and create more engaging posts.

When you’re just getting started and still on a tight blog budget , organically sharing your content is the best way to go (as it’s completely free), and you can focus on connecting individually with people who seem to fit the profile of a potential reader.

However, as you grow (and start generating revenue on your blog), you can also increase your reach by promoting your posts and targeting a specific audience.

If you can drive traffic to your website (the right traffic, that is), then turning your blog into a money-making machine becomes a matter of giving your audience what they need… and finding win-win ways to provide more value in exchange for a payment.

5. Formulate Your Blog’s Work Process

Formulating a true process by which you’ll bring your blog business plan off the paper and into the real world is a critical step.

Your work process will be the roadmap that’ll direct the activities you spend your time on (creating content, promoting it, monetizing it) in order to push yourself forward and up to hitting your blog business goals. Some of the processes you’ll need to develop a clear game plan for include:

Deciding how often you’ll create and post content

Content, be it written, audio, or video, is the backbone of every successful blog.

The better your content, the more attractive (and profitable) your blog will be. For this reason, you need to develop both a smart blog strategy and a logical content marketing strategy , then stick to it.

Here’s a quick preview of what my content editorial calendar looks like. You can grab a free copy of it right here —and I recommend picking up my free blog post templates too.

Aside from just the editorial calendar that dictates when you should publish new articles (and what those topics/titles should be), other aspects of content creation you’ll need to decide on include answering questions like:

• How are you thinking about your blog titles ? Use my free blog title generator tool to help.
• Will you be doing all of the writing yourself? If not, can you afford to hire writing help?
• What’s a realistic goal for how often you can expect to publish a new article?
• How will you promote your content ?
• Are you going to get any custom designs or images for your content? Who will be in charge of your designs?

The bottom line, as far as content creation goes, is that you have to create high quality content that positively impacts outcomes for your readers (consistently).

When and why you should outsource

As with every business, growth eventually leads to one thing—work overload.

While it may not be today, you do need to anticipate and prepare for this stage in your blog business by determining when you should start outsourcing certain components of your process. The simple reality is that you can’t always do everything, and you’ll stand to get much quicker results on your blog if you can afford to bring on some help every now and then. Plus on the positive side, hiring contractors to help with tasks on your blog can make for a nice deduction when it comes to doing your taxes for bloggers at the end of the year.

It’s also important that you know which tasks you’ll outsource first, and strive to outline that early on in your blog business plans so that you have a set of rules to fall back upon when processes start to break down.

Trying to do everything on your own can lead to quality issues or worse—result in burnout that can lead to abandoning your blog altogether.

How much time you’ll spend on your blog business

One of the biggest advantages of running a blog is that you can do it as a side business for as long as you’d like.

However, just because it’s a side business, doesn’t mean you can neglect your blog and expect it to continue growing in spite of your lack of attention.

You have to decide from the beginning:

• How many hours each day (and week) you can safely commit to your blog business
• Find the exact blocks of time you’ll be using during the day—and put placeholders on your calendar
• Respect the commitment you’ve made to the growth of your blog
• Know that however much time you’re able to invest determines how much bloggers make
• Set realistic expectations for how long it’ll take to make money from your blog

All the planning in the world isn’t worth a thing if you don’t stick to the times you’ve allocated for working on your blog. As a quick aside, if you’re having trouble with your content planning efforts, you can grab my free blog planner bundle and turn things up a notch today.

Carve out as much time as you can realistically spend—and naturally, the more, the better. It’ll not only help you grow your blog (and income) faster, but it’ll also help you view and value your blog as a serious business.

Make sure to detail your work process within your blog business plan (and follow it as strictly as possible).

It’ll require the formation of new habits and a level of discipline on your part—but so does everything in life that’s worth working hard to achieve.

6. Launch (and Optimize) Your Blog

Starting a blog is certainly not the lazy person’s ticket to riches (as many claim it to be). I’ll be the first to tell you it’s a ton of work.

Building a profitable blog takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears… as you can see from my personal journey executing my own blog business plan. But the rewards are well worth the effort.

If you make it this far in your blog business plan—to launching your blog and shifting over to working hard on growing it— then congratulations! You need to reward yourself.

By this point, you’ll have:

• Set your blog business goals
• Carved out a clear niche for yourself
• Researched your audience
• Designed and built your blog (optimizing it for SEO)

And you’ve probably figured out an article or two you’re ready to start writing by now as well. Be sure to try my free AI article writer tool if you want to experiment with how AI writing tools can amplify your blogging efforts.

So… once you officially launch your blog, it’s time to boost the awareness and begin attracting readers.

Tap into the right online communities

There’s an art and science to figuring out exactly where your ideal readers spend their time online. Start by asking them!

My best blogging advice is to experiment with these platforms as well:

• Start answering questions on Quora (and tastefully link back to your blog when appropriate)
• Engage in thoughtful discussion on sites like Reddit and carefully test the waters promoting your blog after building your credibility in a space
• Find niche communities on Slack, groups on Facebook, and forums on LinkedIn, and track down independently owned community sites that focus on your vertical

This is one of the most important times to  start building your good will in relevant online communities within your niche.

It’s these relationships you begin forming today that can lead to years-long collaborations, an influx of targeted readers, and more.

Promote your content on social media

If you already have some followers or friends on a particular social media platform, then start there.

Ask for support, build some buzz to lead up to your launch day and see how involved you can get your social network into your content creation process.

Now, if you don’t have much of a social presence today—that’s ok. It’s time to start planting the seeds of how you’re going to build one .

Check out my in-depth guide about how to promote your blog for several more proven strategies that’ve helped thousands of my readers build more profitable blogs.

Ask your network for help in getting the word out

One of the biggest benefits of blogging, is that it helps you build a network of like-minded people… and the chances are high that you  already have at least a small network of people you relate well with—ranging from friends to family, co-workers, former classmates, industry associates or otherwise.

And guess what? The person behind every meaningful relationship in your life wants to see you succeed.

Don’t be afraid to ask your friends to help you launch your blog. A few ways you can do this is by asking them to:

• Announce your launch by re-sharing your social media posts
• Take a guest post from you for their blog (if it’s a relevant destination)
• Be a featured guest on their podcast—or ask for an introduction to a more relevant show host

There are many other ways you can leverage your network, but this gives you a pretty good idea of where you can start.

7. Download My Free Blog Business Plan Template (Google Doc and PDF)

Your blog business plan only works if you do (first). A blog can become a very meaningful, profitable business venture.

But in order to grow your site to that stage, it requires a strategic blog business plan. I’d highly recommend downloading my free blog business plan template today.

Grab my free blog business planning template in both Google Doc and PDF format (that’s helped me build a six-figure blog) and reach 500,000+ monthly readers today.

More than just a blog business plan, running a profitable blog requires a lot of commitment, discipline, and consistent hard work.

If you can pull it off though, you stand to increase your chances of escaping the 9-to-5 employment world—and give yourself the freedom to live life on your own terms as a full-time blogger with a real business model powering your long-term growth.

So, if you haven’t already, start drafting your own blog business plan using the structure I’ve broken down in this guide.

And if you need more actionable steps on how to turn your blog into a viable business, read my ultimate guide: How to Make Money Blogging This Year .

Hi I'm Ryan Robinson

I'm a blogger, but I'm not my blog. I am not my business either. Occasional podcaster and very-much-recovering side project addict. Co-Founder at RightBlogger . Join me here, on ryrob.com to learn how to start a blog and build a purpose-connected business. Be sure to take my free blogging tools for a spin... especially my wildly popular free keyword research tool & AI article writer . They rule. Somehow, I also find time to write for publications like Fast Company , Forbes , Entrepreneur , The Next Web , Business Insider , and more. Let’s chat on Twitter (X?) and YouTube about our feelings (and business, of course).

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147 replies to “How to Create a Blog Business Plan (Free Template) in 7 Easy Steps: How I’ve Earned $1 Million+ Blogging”

Wonderful, thank you

I really need this information, thank you so much for sharing amazing information. I am currently building a website. Little nervous but I am going to make it.

Wishing you all the luck, Tanmai! You can do it 🙂

Thank you so much for this free blog business plan. I want to create a blog, but didn’t have any idea where to start. Honestly, I rarely give my email address to a website because I don’t think the freebies are worth it. In this case, I’m so glad I did. Your How to Create a Blog Business Plan provided everything a new blogger needs to get their ideas organized and understand the purpose behind it. I will be checking out your site in the future for more guidance as my blog gets rolling. Thanks again for the great content!

You’re welcome, Erin! Looking forward to seeing how you do with your blog soon 🙂 and please let me know anytime you have a question I can help with!

Should I use a pen name? In these polarized times, I am not so sure I would want someone to Google my uncommon, generally unpronoucable, unspellable French Canadian surname and find me, or even worse, since my town posts its tax list online, show up at my door.

Writing would be a new business for me, so no loss of continuity. I have a junk Facebook to join a couple of groups, but my hopes of moving have been put on hold so the information is irrevelant until I can. I have not interacted with anyone there. I doubt I even used my real name!

Is there an advantage to incorporating in a state different than the one of residence? When I Googled “ryanrob” to take me back to this site, I noted a different place of incorporation and was curious.

Good question! Using a pen name is totally your choice, I don’t personally go that route but there’s nothing wrong with it. My business is incorporated in California (where I live), and in my experience there are only advantages to be had by incorporating in more tax-friendly states like Delaware (or other countries) once you have a very substantial amount of income—though I’m personally an advocate of contributing my share 🙂

Want my free blog business plan template?

Grab a copy of my blog business plan template (in a Google Doc and PDF) that helped me build a six-figure blog and reach 500,000+ monthly readers today.

• Sample Plans
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Blog Business Plan

Planning to launch your own blogging business? Explore this step-by-step guide and a free template to get valuable insights into your business plan creation. It also guides you on how to write comprehensive plans that help win investors and secure funding.

Millions of people turn to blogs for answers everyday. Whether it's simple questions like how to brew a good coffee or tackling complex topics like app development, blogs have an answer.

So, it's THE time to jump into the world of blogging if you've been wanting to turn your writing passion into a thriving business. Because it’ll never go out of style.

However, you'll need to create an actionable business plan to stand out in the crowd as there are around 31 million active bloggers in the US who post at least once a month.

Wondering how to craft one for your blog business?

Explore this blog business plan template that walks you through all the key steps to create a comprehensive yet effective business plan for your blog.

But before that...

What is a Blog Business Plan?

A blog business plan is a strategic document for starting and growing a blog into a successful business.

It typically summarizes your blog’s specific niche, target audience, content schedule, operational plans, monetization strategies, marketing tactics, financial goals, projected earnings, as well as net profit margins.

All in all, this plan serves as a clear roadmap to organize your blogging efforts, expand your readership, and achieve financial success.

Why do you need a Business Plan for a Blog Business?

Whether you’re a professional blogger or a newcomer, you need a well-thought-out business plan to confidently navigate the competitive marketplace.

Here are some primary benefits of writing a blog business plan:

• Gives you clarity on your blogging goals and creates a greater sense of accountability.
• Helps you set financial objectives and budget plans so you have enough funds to grow and sustain your business.
• Allows you to establish realistic milestones and helps you stay organized and aligned with your long-term goals.
• Acts as a benchmark to measure your business's progress over time and identify areas for improvement.

So, having a blog business plan is very crucial for navigating the strategic planning and sustainable growth of your blog business.

How to Write a Blog Business Plan?

While writing a blog business plan, you should consider including several key components to articulate your blogging business and its concept.

Here’s a detailed guide to help you write each section of your business plan:

1) Executive summary

An executive summary would be your blog business plan's first section that offers a quick introduction to your blog business.

Writing your plan summary section would be easier at the very end once all the other key sections are drafted. This is so because it summarizes the most important points from your plan.

Typically, your executive summary must include the following details:

• Name of your blog and its URL (web address)
• Audience you intend to reach
• Mission statement
• vision statement
• Marketing efforts
• Monetization strategies
• Financial projections

Overall, this section presents a clear snapshot of your entire plan and helps potential investors or backers quickly understand your business idea.

Liking the plan you're reading? It's AI generated.

Generate Your Own Using Bizplanr AI

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2) Business overview

The business overview section provides detailed information about your blog business, from its basic information to its long-term plans. So, this is your opportunity to present your business concept in detail.

While drafting this section, consider including these points:

• The niche and the content types you will create
• Founder or partner names
• Background history
• Key achievements & milestones (if any)
• Short-term and long-term goals

In short, this section gives an in-depth understanding of what your blog business is about and what are the foundational elements that every potential backer wants to know.

Make sure you keep this section more specific, to the point, and engaging.

3) Market analysis

The market analysis section offers a thorough understanding of the industry, along with the target market, competitors, and growth opportunities.

You should incorporate the following essential components in your market analysis:

• Overview of the blogging industry
• The specific niche you’re targeting
• Target audience (demographics & psychographics of ideal readers)
• Primary competitors
• Competitive advantages

In addition to that, you may conduct a SWOT analysis to easily identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your business. For example:

Doing so will help you recognize the potential opportunities and challenges as well as allow you to position your blog effectively.

4) Content strategy

This section highlights your plan for creating and sharing content that aligns with your target audience's needs and interests. It includes subject matters, formats, and a publishing schedule.

So, first, you must decide on content types, including articles, videos, podcasts, and infographics. Likewise, you need to get details about:

• Which topics will it cover?
• How often will you publish new content?
• Will it be an e-course? If any, then how many modules will it have?
• How much do you plan to sell it for?
• How will it meet the intent of the audience?

Besides that, you may specify what unique perspectives or expertise you offer. Or how you differentiate your blog from others. Identifying your USPs will help you add value or benefits to your readers.

5) Marketing and promotional plan

Your marketing and promotional strategies describe a list of techniques or methods you'll use to promote or advertise your blog business.

A well-crafted marketing plan can help you devise effective promotional campaigns and streamline your marketing efforts. This will also allow you to keep track of the marketing budget and maximize return on investment.

To plan this section, consider highlighting how you'll attract and retain your clients. Here are some strategies:

• Social media marketing
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• Email newsletter distributions
• Paid advertisements or guest blogging
• Influencer collaborations or partnerships

This way, you show potential investors that you have a clear plan to build a community and engage with a targeted audience.

So, have a specific, realistic, and data-driven approach while developing marketing and promotional strategies for your blog business.

6) Organization and management

The ultimate success of a blog business is not only determined by the content strategy or marketing efforts. It also depends on the organization's structure and strong management team.

And as the name indicates, this section outlines your blog business's structure, leadership team, and key managers.

You need to mention all the key roles, such as owner, content manager, marketing executive, as well as content creators, editors, and marketers. Try to include their roles and responsibilities, qualifications, and work experience.

Also, create an organizational chart to present how your team is structured and how the key roles interconnect. Here’s an example:

Moreover, you may discuss additional team members or freelancers you plan to hire, including their roles, responsibilities, and how you'll manage them.

7) Monetization strategy

Creating monetization strategies allows you to focus more on how your blog will make money and achieve profitability.

Here, you'll need to explain different types of revenue streams in this section, such as

• Ad networks, ad types (display ads, native ads), and projected revenue
• Criteria for accepting sponsored posts and your pricing strategy
• Affiliate programs and strategies to promote affiliate products effectively
• Products (eBooks, courses) or services (consulting) you plan to sell
• Membership subscriptions and benefits for members

Simply put, these monetization strategies play an important role in showing investors the revenue generation methods and profitability potential.

8) Financial projections

Well, the financial projections section is the most crucial aspect of your blogging business planning. It will provide valuable insights into your projected financial statements and detailed budget plan.

As a blogger and business owner, you have to consider all the initial and ongoing expenses required to start and grow a blog business, including:

• Website domain and hosting
• Business registration fees
• Your internet subscription
• Marketing and advertising expenses
• Content creation (e.g., hiring writers, photographers)
• Tools and software (SEO tools, email marketing services)
• Hardware or office supplies

After accounting for all expenses, estimate your revenue projections (monthly and annually) from various monetization strategies as well as calculate expected profit margins.

For instance, you may consider developing the key financial projections as shown below:

• Income statement (profit and loss statement)

Cash flow projections

• Balance sheet

This will significantly benefit you in terms of getting funding or securing capital investment.

Want to make your business appealing to potential funders? Develop comprehensive yet realistic financial projections and allow them to see your blog's financial foresight and sustainability.

9) Appendix

In the business plan appendix , you may include any additional information or documents that support the main content but don't fit into the specific sections.

Consider adding the following details to your blog business plan:

• Detailed market research reports
• Samples of your best content
• Legal documents (business licenses or terms of service)
• Partnership agreements
• Management team resumes

Remember, this section adds credibility and depth to your blog business plan and gives investors a complete understanding of your business.

Now that you've explored all the key sections and a guide on how to draft a blog business plan, it should be much easier for you to create a professional-looking plan.

But if you still need some extra guidance on presenting your plan, consider using a free AI business plan generator . It will help you write an actionable business plan more efficiently, so you can concentrate on your business growth and success!

Get Your Business Plan Ready In Minutes

Answer a few questions, and AI will generate a detailed business plan.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I change my business plan once my blog is running?

Yes, you can change your blog business plan according to your specific needs and requirements. It's also important to regularly review and update your plan as your business evolves.

Doing so will help you avoid common business plan mistakes and ensure your plan remains relevant and accurate.

What financial projections should I include in my blog business plan?

Include the following key financial projections in your blog business plan:

• Revenue forecasts
• Cash flow estimates
• Break-even analysis

What tools and resources can help me create a blog business plan?

You may consider using business planning tools like Upmetrics as well as business resources, such as business plan templates, examples, step-by-step guides, and video tutorials to create comprehensive blog business plans.

How do you get funding for your blog business?

Here's a list of various sources to get enough funding for your blog business:

• Personal savings
• Small business loans
• Crowdfunding platforms
• Angel investors
• Sponsorships
• Affiliate marketing or ad revenue

As the founder and CEO of Upmetrics, Vinay Kevadiya has over 12 years of experience in business planning. He provides valuable insights to help entrepreneurs build and manage successful business plans.

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Related Posts

How to Determine the Legal Structure of a Business

How to Write an Industry Analysis Section in Business Plan

How to Write an Executive Summary for a Business Plan

How to Create a Bangin’ Blog Business Plan (Workbook Included!)

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November 18, 2015

Melyssa Griffin

We offer coaching programs designed to help you reconnect to your inner truth, self expression, and personal alignment as the pathway to a life of flow and freedom.

Hi, I'm Melyssa!

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Get this: I did a recent survey of my audience (hey, like you!) and almost 75% of the people who responded said that they would love to turn their blog into a full-time business. Awesome, right?

Well, kind of.

Of everyone who responded, only about 15% said that they were actually making a living from their blog right now. So, what gives? What’s with all the people who yearn to do it compared to the small amount of people actually making it happen? For one, if you want to turn your blog into a business, you need to have a solid and strategic plan in place. That’s where today’s post comes into play. I’m going to show you how to create a Blog Business Plan , which is one of the first things you should do if you’re interested in one-day earning a full-time income from your blog.

Also, if The Oprah Winfrey Show ever comes back for an encore, I’d love to see Oprah throw out blog businesses to her audience.  You get to earn a full-time income from your blog! And YOU get to earn a full-time income from your blog!  Make it happen, O.

Back to business here. 😉 Business plans, at their core, are used by nearly all profitable businesses in the world. Creating a business plan for your blog gives you the opportunity to nail down all of the specifics, do important research, and create strategies that will propel you forward. It is essentially a roadmap of your blog business, written with your audience in mind.

I’ve even got some free worksheets for you, that will guide you through this post and give you a free Blog Business Plan that you can download, print out, and keep forever. Sound good?

Download your free workbook here:

Now, we’re ready to dive in! Let’s do this, yo. Here are the key components of a Blog Business Plan:

Step 1: Executive Summary

“Executive Summary” sounds really fancy pants, doesn’t it? It’s the very first section of your business plan, which is often written last, after everything else comes together. Here’s what you will want to include in your executive summary:

1. Your Mission Statement

This briefly explains what your business is about. What purpose does it serve? Why did you create it?

2. Highlights of Your Growth

If your blog has been around for any span of time, then you can mention the growth that you’ve already received here. You can mention any sort of growth, from an increase in money earned from your blog, to an increase in social media followers or pageviews. All of your growth contributes to your overall blog business, so this section is important (and motivating, yeah?).

3. Your products or services.

You’ll have the chance to talk more about your products and services in a later section, but here, write a couple brief sentences about the monetization methods you are using or the ones you intend to use.

4. Finally, what are your goals?

Here, you get to do some planning for the future! Always exciting, yes? Where do you plan to take your blog business in the future? What are some holy-crap-I-want-to-accomplish-this-one-day goals you have?

HOLD UP. What if you’re brand new to blogging?

In that case, you may not be able to fill out some of the sections above as easily. Instead, focus on your experience and how YOU are able turn your blog into a business. You can think of it as almost like a cover letter — what kind of research have you done and experience do you have that will make your business succeed? After that, make sure to talk about your future goals. Anyone can plan for the future. 😀

Step 2: Blog Business Description

In this section, we’re going to tackle the organization and culture of your blog business. You may not feel like you have a “company culture” just yet, but you are certainly building a brand, which is nearly the same thing. *hair flip* Let’s do this.

1. What sets your blog apart from others?

Take some time to think about this one — why would someone read  your blog over another, similar blog? In Step 4, we’re going to do some serious competitor analysis, but for now, just think about how you’re different and what you can do to separate yourself from your competition.

2. Who do you serve?

Your Blog Business Plan basically revolves around your target market. Actually, just about everything that you do for your blog should revolve around them! Without an audience, it will be impossible to grow a community around your blog or turn it into a full-time business. So, get really clear about who you serve.

• How old are they?
• What do they do for a living?
• What brought them to your blog?
• How can you help them?
• What are their future goals or aspirations?
• What are their hobbies?

Keep in mind, even if you are new to blogging and don’t have much of an audience to analyze, you can absolutely still take part in this section. Truthfully, blogging is not about creating content and trying to figure out who is reading it. It’s the opposite — deciding who you want to serve and then creating content that helps that specific type of person. Get it? 😉

Related: How to Choose a Focus for Your Blog (And Why It’s the Most Important Thing You’ll Do As a Blogger)

3. What is your “company culture” or brand personality?

You may not be running a business casual office for your blog, but you still have a brand personality and culture to uphold.

• When people interact with you or your blog, what do you want them to feel?
• What words would you use to describe your blog’s personality?
• What purpose does your blog serve?

The answers to these questions will help to analyze what your brand personality is. Developing a true personality for your blog means that you are consistent. It’s okay to try on different hats at first, but the most successful blogs are ones that have a distinct personality (perhaps similar to your own personality, you little blog hustler, you!).

4. What is the organizational structure of your blog business?

This may not be a concern for you at the moment, but in the future you may want to turn your blog into a recognized “corporation,” like an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation). If you are currently running a blog and accepting money as a blogger, then you obviously need to file taxes on that income. However, as you work with more clients and customers, turning your blog biz into an LLC or Incorporation (Inc) can protect your income and business from things like lawsuits.

If you’re just getting started, I would recommend waiting to turn your blog into an LLC or Inc unless you are in some sort of high-risk blogging industry. *Casually puts on sunglasses like and walks off into the sunset.* When I started my first business through my blog, it took me about a year before I turned it into an LLC. If you are the only employee and choose not to create an LLC or Incorporation, then you are simply known as a “sole proprietor,” which is totally legal and fuss-free.

Related: How to File Taxes as a Blogger

Step 3: Competitor Analysis

Before launching your blog into a business, it’s important to research your competitors and similar blogs, so that you can try to stay ahead of the game. A little warning for you though: When doing your research, make sure of two things:

• You’re researching with analysis eyes, not copycat eyes. It can be easy to look at a competitor’s website and get a flood of ideas for your own blog. Don’t do that, k?
• If your competitors are farther along than you, don’t feel let down.  It’s okay if they have a larger following, earn more money, or have some other statistic that has got you feeling like a failure. Remember, you’re here. Right now. Putting in the work. This isn’t about looking at other people and playing the comparison game. This is about being analytical and doing your research so that you can build your own empire. You got this, yo. Promise.

Lastly, I just want to mention that analyzing your competitors is an important part of starting a business, but it doesn’t mean you have to operate from a “competition mindset.” In fact, I’d discourage it. You will get much farther in your blog business if you focus on collaboration and relationships than if you focus on competing with other people. This section is simply another important way for you to do research so that you can build a strong foundation for your future online biz. *fist bump*

Now, when doing your competitor analysis, you’ll want to take the following steps:

1. Identify who your competitors are.

Make a list of all of your competitors. Which other bloggers are in your niche, doing something similar to you or to what you want to do? Which other bloggers have potentially similar products or offerings? Write down who they are, with a link to their website.

Now, if you’re brand new to blogging, then you may not know who your competitors are. Here are a few ways to find them:

• By being active on social media.  The more active you are on social media (so long as you’re sharing content for your niche), the more you’ll naturally discover who your potential competitors are. Observe. See who people are talking about, sharing content from, and engaging with.
• By joining Facebook groups.  Facebook groups are a fabulous place to learn more about your market and competition. Again, observe in Facebook groups. You’re obviously welcomed (and encouraged) to participate, but make sure that you are also observing what people say. Who do they mention? You can also start a new thread in a Facebook group (so long as it’s not against the group rules) to ask who people’s inspirations are in _____ niche. That should deliver some stellar results!
• By searching for relevant keywords on Google and seeing what pops up.  This is one of the easiest strategies. Think of a few “keywords” to describe your blog or niche. For example, if you write about hand-lettering, then some of your keywords might be “hand-letting for beginners” or “best calligraphy tools.” If you type your keywords into Google or Pinterest, whose content pops up first? These may very well be some of your competitors.

2. Research your competitors’ strategies and goals.

Now that you know who your competition is, take some time to research their strategies and goals. Go through their websites and social media accounts.

• What do they promote and how do they promote it?
• Are there any strategies that many of your competitors seem to use (for example, are most of them hosting webinars)?
• What sets them apart from the other competitors on your list?
• What goals do they have? Of course, you may not know the answer to this, but based on your research, what do you feel they are trying to achieve?

3. Know your competitors’ price points and ranges for their products.

If your competition has any products for sale, then write down what the price ranges are for those products. This will give you an overview of how much is typical for a product you may create one day and what your target audience is used to paying.

4. Create a list of your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.

Finally, after reviewing their websites, strategies, and offerings, you’ll probably have a good idea about what exactly “exists” in your niche and how people are creating their businesses and blog communities. Now it’s time to dig a little deeper. Choose 3-5 of your competitors and make a list of some of their strengths and weaknesses. What do they excel at and what can they improve? And how can you use that knowledge to craft your own, well-rounded strategy?

Again, the competitor analysis is a great way to get more tuned in to the trends and strategies that are alive and kickin’ in your niche.

After you’ve done your competitor analysis? Don’t visit your competitors’ sites again.

Yup. Seriously serious. You will  not reach your goals if you spend your time checking in on what everyone else is doing and trying to replicate it. So, do your research, decide what works for you, and then create your own path.

Step 4: Audience Research

In Step 2, you identified who your target market is. Now, we’re going to dig in a little further!

1. Research your audience by doing a survey.

Surveys are a killer way to understand more about your audience without having to guess. You can use free sites like SurveyMonkey or Typeform  to create your survey, and then you just need to share it with your peeps. I recommend sharing it with your email list, on your blog, and on social media multiple times during a 1-2 week span of time.

• What will you use to create your survey?
• What are three of the most important questions you can ask that will help you learn more about your audience?
• How will you deliver your survey to your audience and get people to take it?

If your audience is small or currently non-existent, then rather than doing a survey, you can put on your observation glasses and pay attention on social media. Again, things like Facebook groups and Twitter chats are amazing ways to gain more information about your target audience. Just make sure to join groups and chats where your target market would be hangin’ out.

2. How can you help your audience specifically?

Going back to the Brand Personality that we talked about in Step 2 and the Competitor Analysis that we did in Step 3, how can YOU help your audience? What sets your blog apart from others and allows you to help your peeps in a different way? You don’t need to reinvent the wheel here! You can use many of the same strategies that others do, but it’s just about adding your own flair and personality to the things you create.

Step 5: Building Community

Before you launch a product through your blog, it’s essential to first grow your community and audience. If you want to grow a blog business, then you can buy all the e-courses and books you’d like. But if they only give you strategies for creating and launching product, without strategies for first building a strong audience and growing your traffic, then it’s just unlikely you’ll get the same results. For a successful blog, you totally need both: a community and a product.

1. Social media

One of the best ways to build community is by harnessing the power of social media. Social media is a ridiculously helpful space for growing your tribe and increasing your traffic. You can focus on Pinterest for traffic growth , and Twitter/Facebook/Instagram for finding your potential audience members and engaging with them.

So, for your blog business plan, it’s important to create your social media strategy.

• On which platforms will you put the most emphasis?
• Where does your target market hang out the most?
• What strategies will you use on each platform in order to grow your audience and community?
• How will you find your target audience on social media?

Related: 6 Ways to Create a More Engaged Audience on Instagram

2. Email list

In addition to partying on social media, you also want to put a large focus on your email list. Not only will your email list be essential for selling your products, but it will also be an incredible medium for connecting with your audience.

• Which strategies will you use to grow your email list?
• How often will you communicate with your list?
• Which types of things will you send your email list?
• What will you use for your email list’s lead magnet ?

Related:  8 Things You Can Send to Your Email List (For the Blogger Who Has No Idea What to Say)

3. Humanizing your brand

If you’re going to build a true blog business and community, you have to “humanize your brand.” In other words, what steps will you take so that your audience feels connected to you and can relate to you? Remember, people don’t buy from faceless corporations; they buy from people.

Related: How to Prime and Grow Your Audience for Your First Info Product

Step 6: Your Service or Product

Woop woop! It’s time to start planning your monetization strategies. Exciting, right? Now’s your chance to decide  how you will turn your blog into a biz. Will you launch services? Will you create an e-product? Here are some steps to get you started.

1. What do/will you sell?

What is a product or service that would help your target market or is something that you know they need (because you did a survey or observed them!)?

Don’t be afraid to get a little detailed here.

• Will it be an e-course?
• How many modules will it have?
• Which topics will it cover?
• How much do you plan to sell it for?
• When will you launch it?
• Will it be a set of services?
• What kind of service packages will you offer?

Related: How to Create and Prepare Your First E-Product

2. How does your product or service benefit your peeps?

Remember, your blog business plan is all about serving  your audience . They are the people who can turn your blog into a community and a business, so we want to serve them! Think critically about the monetization method you chose in the previous step…how will that product or service impact the lives of your tribe members? Why do they need or want it?

3. How is your product or service different from what your competitors are selling?

Lastly, go back to your competitor research and take a look at what your competitors are selling and promoting. How is your offering different, or how can you make it different? Is there anything you could add to your offering that would make it feel even more valuable than whatever else is out there?

Step 7: Marketing and Sales Strategy

Holy moly. You are such a trooper for making it this far. Who knew planning a business could be so much work? 😉 But really, you are putting in the effort right now and I am straight up impressed. Finally, we’re going to talk about your marketing and sales strategy, because once you create your products or services, you actually need to promote them! Let’s get started.

1. How will you market your products, services, and blog?

Take a moment to write down the methods that you will use to market your products, services, and blog. Will you use Facebook ads, schedule tweets, create a robust Pinterest strategy ? Write down all of the methods you’ll employ when promoting and marketing your content.

If you’re looking for ways to market your e-product or service, then check out this post where I share a variety of ways to market and launch your offerings.

2. How long will you spend on marketing and promotion per day?

We’re all busy, right? But turning your blog into a business does take some time. Make sure you analyze how much time you’ll realistically be able to spend on marketing and promotion each day and week. You may need to make some sacrifices or move your schedule around, but it will be worth it when you sell your first e-product and realize you’ve got what it takes to create your own business. 🙂

3. If you haven’t started your blog, what strategies will you use to launch it?

Now, if you’re a new blogger, you may need to start by creating a “launch” strategy specifically for your blog! How will your blog come into existence? What are some things you can do to launch your blog with a bang and get people excited about what you create and do?

One simple technique is to launch your blog with 5-10 pre-published (and freakin’ awesome) posts. If you only have one or two posts for your new visitors to browse during your launch, then they might not find anything that’s relevant to them. Creating multiple pieces of content gives them the chance to browse your site for a longer period of time, find something that interests them, and potentially subscribe and get hooked on your brand.

4. What is your growth strategy? In other words, what techniques will you use to continue growing your audience and income?

Finally (finally!), you want to come up with some strategies that you can use to  grow your brand. Imagine that your blog has been around for a few months or even years (maybe it has!) — what types of marketing and promotion strategies will you use to keep your growth on the up and up? Will you do monthly webinars? Biweekly guest posts on bigger sites? Hire an assistant? Launch a new course every quarter? Think about some things that you can add to your tool belt, which will keep your blog business growing and thriving.

MAJOR high five to you, friend. I can tell that you’re here because you’re truly ready to take your blog to a new level by turning it into a community and launching your very own blog business. Doing the same for my own blog (this one you’re reading!), was one of the absolute best decisions of my life.

What is something you struggle with in terms of turning your blog into a community and launching your own products? Let’s chat down below!

p.s. If you’re eager to turn your blog into a business, then I’ve got something BIG coming for you at the end of November. Make sure you sign up for the free Blog Business Plan Worksheets here so that you’re notified when more details are released!

Monetize Your Blog: 11 Ways to Successfully Turn Your Blog Into Your Job (Including Two to Avoid) »

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How To Craft Your Blog Business Plan (Template Included!)

If you’re just starting out, chances are that you would want to create a blog business plan for your business.

If you want to create a successful blog + biz, you need a plan. You can’t just launch a website  (although that’s important) and hope that it would work out.

Yes – your blog business plan is your blog’s BLUEPRINT.

But first, if you have not started your blog yet, here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to start a blog .

You’re back? Great! I will share with you the exact blog business plan template I used… when I first started this blog.

Sounds good?

A blog business plan is great because you get real clear on the direction, goals and vision of your business, leaving no stone unturned. When you organize your thoughts and plans into one central place, it increases the chances of you starting a successful blog .

Clarity = better business!

Without further ado, here are the components of my blog business plan:

You should come up with a brand name. This is the same as your blog name. Don’t need to go over the top – keep it simple. Here’s a tutorial on how to pick a blog name , if you need help.

• Vision & mission of your brand

What’s the vision you have for your blog + business? Why are you doing what you are doing?

• Your brand style

Your branding has to look cohesive. Create a cohesive and attractive brand style. Decide on your brand colors, brand fonts and other aesthetic aspects of your brand. This will be incorporated uniformly across your website, social media platforms, and other collaterals.

• Brand vibes/ values

This is threading into the more intangible part of your brand: What vibe/ values do you want people to associate your brand with?

For instance, for me, its no-nonsense, smart, action-oriented, etc.

2. NICHE & TARGET AUDIENCE

• Target audience

Who are you targeting (specifically) with your website? Why? For more info, there’s a tutorial about defining your target audience on this blog as well.

• Competitors (VERY IMPORTANT)

Who are your competitors? Go scope out the situation. I always tell my 1:1 private clients: You don’t open an offline ice-cream store without checking out the other ice-cream stores down the street, do you?

The same applies to your online biz. One does not simply start a blog without knowing who else is in business.

• Points of difference

This is something I always like to do with all my businesses. How are you different from your competitors?

This could be your experience, your personality, certain things you cover, your brand positioning, better design, better service etc. There’s an article about how to make your brand stand out that could be helpful for you.

• Infrastructure

What host will you be on? What domain name provider will you use? Check out this tutorial on how to start a blog for more information about this.

I highly recommend that you use SiteGround as your host – their support is THE BEST, and my website runs perfectly with them. I have lost count of the number of times that SiteGround has saved me from losing sleep because something on my website messed up.

You also need a website theme – I recommend Divi (very customizable, great for beginners) or Genesis (for the more tech savvy ones).

The best option is my done-for-you website kit made with Divi where you can get an amazing website up by this week… all for a fraction of Divi’s website! Check out  Your Stunning Website 🙂

• Content Planning

What topics will you blog about? Having some idea of what your blog content will consist of. This will save you valuable time later. Make sure it is something that your target audience (that you’ve decided earlier) would want.

Also, how often will you post?

4. EMAIL LIST BUILDING

For my long-term readers you would know that I’m big on email marketing.

If you are new and don’t really know why you need an email list ASAP, check out this post:  Why Building an Email List is a MUST for Your Blog & Business

I highly recommend Convertkit . I love Convertkit so much because it’s just so easy to use, while giving me a ton of functions that my business needs at an affordable price. Click here to check out Convertkit  and get your email list started! Feel free to email me if you’ve any questions about using it.

With that out of the way, some things you need to think about:

• What will you be sending to your subscribers?

For more ideas, you can check out my post about newsletter content ideas  to send and engage your subscribers.

• How often will you send an email out to your subscribers?

Best to get this out of the way and decide once and for all. Once a week is a safe decision.

5. MARKETING: SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media is a huge part of marketing your blog + business for most entrepreneurs.

• Facebook fan page strategy

Chances are you will want to create a Facebook business page. You need a plan for that! Some things you’ll have to decide and plan for include: What will you post on the page (make sure it is interesting to your target audience)? How often will you post on your Facebook page?

• Facebook group

Many people decide to create a Facebook group. You can check out mine here .

You don’t need to have a Facebook group. Feel free to skip this section (or any other section in the social media section, actually). Not every business has to be on every single social media platform.

So… do the same for every other social media platform you want to be on:

What’s your Pinterest strategy , if any?

What’s your Instagram strategy, if any?

What’s your Twitter strategy, if any?

Rinse and repeat for any other social media platform that you intend to use to market your online business . REMEMBER, only write a business plan out for social media platforms that you intend to use. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your time. You don’t need to be everywhere.

6. MARKETING: OTHER STRATEGIES

Here, you plan for any other ways that you intend to market your business.

For instance, you could choose to collaborate with other businesses, or do networking events offline, etc. Whatever it is, be sure to include it in your blog business plan.

How will you be marketing your business via these channels? When will you start? Who will you be working with? Etc. [Tweet “Great post on how to craft your blog business plan, template included!”]

7. MONETIZATION

No money, no business. Simple as that. You can’t run a charity, trust me!

• Financial goals

What’s your income goal that you aim to reach for this blog + business? Make sure that it’s a specific income goal, and have a timeframe for it too.

• How do you intend to monetize?

What are some monetization channels that you intend to use for your blog? For extra help, you may find my post about having an online business model as well as my post about different online business ideas (where I explore different monetization methods) helpful.

Relevant posts:

• Why I Switched To Teachable To Host And Sell My Online Courses

The Ultimate Guide: How to Become a Successful Infopreneur Online

• How to Create an Online Course in 72 Hours (With Guided Instructions!)
• How to Sell Online Courses 101
• 10 Highly Effective Tips To Get More Clients Online (From My Personal Experience!)

For me, I do 1:1 coaching (check out how you can work with me here – that’s hands-down the best way you can get success for your blog + biz, as you get personal attention and guidance from a coach that has been there before), courses (I provide step-by-step guidance and give my best tips in my quality courses), and affiliate marketing by recommending helpful blogging tools and resources that you can view  here .

(Update 2021: I no longer do 1:1 coaching. You can check out my programs instead!)

What about you? 🙂

8. ACTION PLAN

Break down what you have to do for your business week by week. I recommend that you have an action plan down for the next 3 months or so.

Having a deadline for certain activities will work wonders for your blog + biz. What will you do each week of your business?

No action, no results! 🙂

That’s all, folks!

I hope that you have found this helpful.

New pin design?

God bless, Raelyn

P.S. Want comprehensive guidance on how you can attract an online audience and get more traffic?

That’s exactly where my signature course, List Building Incubator will help. It’s my step-by-step system to grow & monetize your email list. Check it out here .

A tiny request: If you liked this post, please share this?

I know most people don’t share because they feel that us bloggers don’t need their “tiny” social share. But here’s the truth…

I built this blog piece by piece, one small share at a time, and will continue to do so. So thank you so much for your support, my reader.

A share from you would seriously help a lot with the growth of this blog.

Some great suggestions: –  Pin it!  (I even made a pretty pin for ya!) –  Share it to your favorite blog + biz Facebook group –  Tweet it!

It won’t take more than 10 seconds of your time. The share buttons are right here. 🙂

Thank you so much!

If you enjoyed this post, get updates from me. (it’s FREE)

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