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.
Just Starting Out? Click here to Sign Up For My Free 10-Day Blog Starter Mini Course >>
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?
Pin this bad boy!
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:
1. BRAND
- Brand name
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.
3. WEBSITE
- 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.
- 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.
If you have started your blog but struggle with getting traffic and subscribers, check out my free 7-day course – the Turbo Your Blog Traffic + Email List Mini Course 🙂
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.
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.
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.
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.
God bless,
Raelyn
P.S. Although a great part of this blog post focuses on how you can get traffic and subscribers, I know that many of you want comprehensive guidance on how you can attract an online audience and get more traffic.
That’s where my course, Traffic Subscribers Yours, will help. It’s my step-by-step system to grow your blog traffic and get your first 1K subscribers and beyond. Check it out here. 🙂
Working a plan on a music centered site.
Great! Please do feel free to download the Google doc template and let me know what you think about it, Betty 🙂 x
That sounds really interesting, Betty. Thanks for stopping by!
Raelyn, thanks for writing this awesome post! I look forward to writing my business plan.
You’re welcome, Tommy!
Hi Raelyn,
Good information for bloggers. Every blogger should follow this plan.
Thanks for sharing
Thanks Raghunath!
Brand new blogger (still trying to figure out how to run my site lol) and super excited to check these out! Thanks!
Great! Keep going.
awesome and You are an amazing and awesome person who helps me so much more than I’ve ever been able to find out, Thanks a lot
Thanks, Rosie!
I really liked the way you distributed the complete business plan in some unique headings. I second that action plan is to be implemented surgically. I appreciate your effect and it is helpful.
Awesome! 😀
Thanks for breaking this down in such a simple, yet detailed format. I’ve been meaning to create a plan of my own for months now and have been dreading it. But I know it’s SO necessary for the success of my blog! This post totally makes me feel like I can do this! Super helpful! Thanks Raelyn!
xo, Kristi
Hey Kristi, thank you for your kind words. Have a good one! 🙂
Branding, List Building and Taking Action! Those are my three favorites. Great overall review for blogging ideas. Makes sense to treat your blog like a business and have a plan.
Thanks, Brandi! 🙂