6 Tactics That Turn a Blog Into a Business Engine

6 Tactics That Turn a Blog Into a Business Engine

Reader Comments (44)

  1. *What other tactics are important for making sure your blog drives business (and not just the other way around)?*

    Email out-reach. If you make a reference to a website or to a person in your article, send out a courtesy email simply letting them know that they have been highlighted in your blog post.

    Its a great way to build relationships within your niche, gives them a chance to clarify any points you may have made about them in your article. And often times they will even help you drive traffic to that blog post.

  2. Link bait! Content that’s designed to attract links in and out of your market.

    My favorite link bait tactic is creating a world-class resource page that’s continually updated.

  3. Hi Smith,
    Great contribution… actually the basic success for a blogger is that his user/reader are satisfied.

    “#4: Confirmation pages” is the point actually i want to focus. I guess this is the best way to satisfy your reader by giving him reliable content, products or information. This may build good relationship between a blogger and reader.

    Good Effort!
    Thanks!

    • Thanks Jack. Confirmation pages are often ignored. They are the first thing your reader sees after committing to take an action on your behalf (subscriptions or purchase). Adding the “next step” will keep them engaged.

  4. Stanford, you are providing a lot of important advice in this post. Honestly, it’s very important and very overwhelming at the same time. Knowing what to write based on where I’m going to post, and also WHY I should post there, well, it makes my head spin. It makes me dizzy just thinking about it, and I know I’m not alone. Thanks for helping us navigate, “like an aircraft carrier sailing in the midst of cruisers and destroyers,” as you put it.

  5. Don’t forget your traditional marketing campaigns…. those can help you. Provide a link to your website when you use direct mail and catalogs.

  6. I’ve been on the fence about offering an autoresponder in addition to my eBook, but I went and reread the article you linked to that Sonia wrote about auto responders and I think I’ve finally seen the light.

    Off to go outline my series – thanks for the reminder that this is good (and super efficient) practice.

  7. Thanks, Stan, for the great ideas for helping to build our businesses, not just our blogs.

    One thing I have to add is that building an online business is just that – building and building. It’s important to be passionate about what we’re doing. The passion drives everything else. When we’re passionate about something it helps us get through the times when we feel like throwing in the towel, when we aren’t getting enough traffic, not making sales. If we’re passionate about what we’re doing, we’ll keep pressing on, making changes, doing what it takes to continue to grow and build our business.

    Like you said in the beginning, we can’t just write a post and expect to make money. There are a lot of aspects to running a business and our blogs are just a part of that business. Passion and perseverance. I’m not sure if they are actually tactics, but they are a part of what drives our business.

  8. Hi Stan,

    Great blog tips. These tips are helpful for your business blogging. Landing pages and email marketing software are important tools to plan your future business success. You can use leadpages for landing pages and aweber or get response both are great and effective. Content plays important role to manage all that these thing for effective business blogging.
    Thank you for this wonderful post…

  9. This is a great guideline for bloggers, Stan.

    Blogging really is a dance.

    You’ve shown folks the way to the “dance”, but when we get there, we’ve got to get on the floor and try some things out.

    Whether it’s thank you pages, email sequences or just simple FB posts, blogging is about being social. Got to engage and build relationships, and that all begins with being authentic.

    People don’t care how well you dance, as long as you’re out there having fun and sharing good times with them. That’s what I love about webinars… it’s a great place to engage, bring value and let people know who you are.

    Thanks for the great ideas, Stan.

  10. First of all, congratulations on an awesome post being featured right here on Copyblogger! What an amazing opportunity you have been given.

    I agree that content landing pages seem to really drive traffic and provide a great service to readers. This is something I am going to implement more of right away.

    I also really like the monthly webinar idea. I have used Google Hangouts many times and see where it can be an effective tool to build relationships.

    Another way of doing this could be Facebook groups. This requires more time, but it’s a way of staying in contact with your readers (and customers) every day.

    After all, isn’t it really the relationships that build the business?

    Thanks again for even more great tips and useful ideas! Your success with Pushing Social provides me with much needed inspiration each and every day. Thanks for all you do in helping others.

  11. Great article Stan and perfect timing, as I am getting ready to launch a new blog. Time to refine my plan and take action!

  12. So glad to see you here, Stan!! And how did you know that I wait for the $100 bills to float through my window the moment I hit publish? 🙂

    The blog is the hub and workhorse – words to remember. Still working on the spokes to my hub.

    Question – how do you suggest starting a conversation about a topic before publishing the blog post?

    • Michaela that’s a great question and there are probably a few ways in which you could do this. This is just how I would approach it in broad terms.

      1. Look at comments or questions on blogs and in forums
      2. Initiate the conversation and invite feedback.
      3. Provide value to the conversation by providing a new angle or solution to questions or problems.

      Perhaps an example might help.

      I completely agree with Stan’s thoughts on confirmation pages and content landing pages.

      Another tactic I would add to make sure my blog drives business (and not just the other way around), is to do up a custom landing page for each guest post.

      This is how it would work:

      1. I would have a link back to the custom page from the author bio on the guest post.
      2. The custom page would greet readers from the blog they came from
      3. The custom page would also provide a lead magnet associated with the same topic and or provide links to related articles on my own blog that would interest readers from the blog they came from.

      This would encourage sign ups and in building your blog audience.

    • Answer: Facebook is a great way to connect with potential readers. Several well-crafted questions can spark interest. Other social platforms like Quora can be used the same way.

  13. Good breakdown on the proper sequence of stages. It is like the proverbial sales funnel to establish trust and give people what they want or need.

  14. This is such valuable information! I knew it was important to have a confirmation page after email subscriptions, but I never thought about using this page to direct the subscriber to another sales page (or using the confirmation page itself as another sales page).

    It’s hard to get out of the “blogger” mindset and into the “business” mindset, but this is a great breakdown of exactly how every part of the site can be used to convert more readers. Thanks for sharing!

  15. Terrific article, Stan. I’ve come to expect them when I see Copyblogger as sender of an email. And this certainly didn’t disappoint.

    I’ve been studying Rebekah Radice and Peg Fitzpatrick’s model for a successful editorial calendar. Quality over quantity in blog postings. Engagement over broadcasting in social media.

    Where your plans are not identical, they certainly are compatible. So it is definitely one for my swipe file.

    Thank you so much.

    And yes, I can’t wait for the new and improved Premise and other New Rainmaker packages either!

    • Hi Lori!
      An either / or strategy isn’t cutting it these days.
      Making Quality or Quantity and Engagement or Broadcast decisions will put you at a disadvantage.

      The competition for reader attention and loyalty is forcing creative folks like you to use an “and” strategy that charts a course that says

      “How can we create consistently high quality content on a frequent basis?”

      How can we publish a steady stream of engaging content on our most important social channels?”

      A business that uses “and” will always outflank, outhustle and outwit (sorry I’m a Survivor fan) one that uses an “or” strategy.

  16. Landing pages is a great idea. Too much clutter, too many blog entries and archives can be distracting. And as a blog writer and reader, I personally am turned away from too much blogging. It’s a business tool, not necessarily an online journal of thought. I like interesting content and a unique writing style. Like yours, Stanford, thanks.

    • Since blogging started as an online journal of thoughts I can appreciate people still using it that way. It’s important however to match content with the audience. If *YOU* are the audience then an “stream of thought” blog would be appropriate. But if you are a business then a more customer-focused editorial plan is needed.

  17. Hi Stan! Nice post!

    I would add to your tactics, these two in order to have a blogging success:

    1) focus on a specific theme, with a very specific audience and…
    2) target ONLY to that particular audience (your ideal client).

    Cheers from Argentina!

  18. Blogs are a huge part of the internet and are a brilliant way to share your views with people who are interested. The best tactic I can think of is to share fun and engaging posts readers will enjoy and benefit from.

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