The Importance of a Blogging Strategy: Why and How to Develop One

This is not my first blog. You know that thing where you start off all excited and fired up....but by the fourth month you're putting out half the content you started with, and by the sixth month you can't remember what your blog URL even was? Yeah, I've done that thing and I don't want to do that thing again.

So, this time, I'm setting myself up for success by having a blog strategy and planning my blog content. I will be creating a content calendar to keep me on track so I don't ever have to waste time trying to figure out what on earth to write about on any given week. These are just some of the things I've realized I need to do better this time around to set up my blog for success. I'll be discussing these and more in this post.

Why even blog?

Blogs get some of the greatest traffic on a website's page. That and the 'About' page, for similar reasons. It's where readers get to interact with the person behind the website. It's the heart of the website, so to speak. Chances are your website provides some sort of service and/ or product (or you plan for it to do so in the future). Having a blog is a great way to break up that 'all serious business' feel. It's the perfect place to provide a more laid-back and friendly space for your readers to congregate.

Blogging is also a great way to build trust. Think about it, a reader lands on your site and sees your product/ services page, but they don't know anything about you yet and they aren't about to give you their money. But then, they notice your blog and decide to peek in there for a little bit. If they see great, relevant, thoughtful, and helpful content that helps them solve their problem, they'll probably stick around. They might even bookmark it and come back again and again.

Over time, they will come to see you as a great resource for that particular problem- they will start to trust you. Now, when a similar problem arises that perhaps needs more specific expert help (i.e. requires a more in-depth analysis/ solution than what you provide in your blogs), they won't hesitate to buy your products/ services because they trust you to help them- because you've been doing it all this time.

Why you need a Blogging Strategy

I believe in the content that I put out, I believe it provides great value for my audience. And honestly, I love to do it. I also know that it takes a great deal time of time and effort to put out consistently. I want the blog to give to me, financially that is, as I pour into it. Having a blogging strategy will keep me on track to achieve my goals.

My blog goals

Starting in March 2022, I decided to commit to the goal of posting a new blog twice a week- that's 8-9 posts a month. Coming from an 'I'll blog when I feel like it' approach, that's a lot! But I feel that it's important. I have goals for my bog and if I want to achieve them I have to put in the work. These goals include gaining increased, steady traffic at a high enough volume so I can achieve my main goal of monetizing my blog.

My Blogging Strategy

Blogging is one of the best ways to grow organic traffic to a website because each post is new content that helps to convince search engines that you're an authority on the topic that you choose to write about. The goal of search engines, like Google, is to lead their customers (anybody searching for a topic on the engine) to the best possible answer. That is an answer that Google believes is written by someone trustworthy and knowledgeable on that particular subject- essentially, an expert.

My strategy is a two-part system.

First, I'm going to build steady traffic to my website

I'm going to do this by:

• Blogging consistently- Content is king. Great content is still the best cornerstone of a blog growth strategy. Writing helpful and useful content that your audience wants to come back for is the best way to build a loyal base that will want to support your work. Content is also how you stay relevant in search engines. I will be writing SEO optimized content to rank for my niche (bloggers, copywriters, authors- basically, anyone who wants to make money from writing). Google rewards new content, as well as having a lot of content on a particular subject. Blogging allows me to do both.

• Expanding my blog niche to include Mommy content- In this post, I discuss the importance of a niche which might seem contradictory to this strategy point. However, it's a conscious decision and I'm doing it for a few reasons. First, I'd like to a/b test what sort of content does better without starting a whole new blog. I already have a blog so I'm going to use it. Second, I want to write about being a mom. I fought it for a long time because I want this to be an author-focused website, but I am a mom and honestly, that's the biggest part of my life right now and I'd like to honor that the best way I know how-by writing about it.

• Growing my email list- we all know at this point that having a large email list is the secret to online business success. Your email list is a group of people who have chosen to have you send your content to them consistently because they want it, they are your perfect audience. In my case, it's aspiring authors who want to learn how to write a book; or bloggers or copywriters who want to learn how to find their ideal clients so they can have a successful writing career from home. An email list is the best way to ensure the success of any products you launch. Email marketing has an ROI of between $36 and $44 for every $1 spent- that's insane and obviously worth building. I'll be doing this, in part, by joining relevant Facebook groups and presenting content freebies that request an email address in exchange.

• Guest blogging- I'll be doing this to increase my reach by getting my writing in front of new audiences. Hopefully, they resonate with it enough to check out my website and find that useful enough to sign on to get all my new content. My goal is to guest blog on a new platform once a month.

Second, I'm going to monetize my blog:

I'm obviously still quite far from this, I don't have anywhere near the traffic needed to make it worthwhile. But when the time comes, I will monetize by:

• Joining appropriate affiliate programs- and adding affiliate links to my site. This way, if my audience reads a post where I talk about a certain product that I am an affiliate for, and they buy it through my link and I will make money.

• Selling digital products directly from my site- this includes workbooks, eBooks, courses, etc. There are so many ways I can help my audience that can be made into products they can buy- this is over and above the help I provide via my blog.

• Potentially having ads on my website- I'm not sold on this one, as I don't want to disrupt the reader experience. Ads can be annoying and take away from the intention of the site. If I can have control and be able to avoid this, then I'll seriously consider ad revenue.

The importance of a niche

Choosing a niche will naturally move you toward being an 'expert' as far as search engines are concerned because it will narrow the number of topics that you cover, and thus deepen the scope of those topics. Also, writing within a limited number of topics will mean that you naturally begin to utilize the keywords that are specific to your niche. However, you should still research the keywords that are best for you to use based on how you rank for them.

Writing within a niche also means that you widen the traffic that Google sends to you with regards to the keywords you rank for.

For example, if you solely write about surfing, you'll get traffic from people searching for 'how to surf'. But, you may also get traffic from people searching for the 'best places to surf in Durban'. These people probably won't stay long on your site because you didn't answer their problem (they still don't know where to surf in Durban), but you still get that traffic. And since your site is about surfing and they do care about surfing, they might still stay and look around or bookmark it and come back later.

Building the muscle

Writing can be cumbersome. It can be downright boring and frustrating at times- and this is coming from someone who loves to write. The best way to get through a writing slump is to power through, and the best way to ensure you power through is to build your power-through muscle. It can be so tempting to tell yourself 'I'll just rest tonight and make the words up in tomorrow's session', but that path often leads to months of no blogging and you waking up one day next year and thinking 'how did I let this happen again?!'

It happens because you don't have discipline, and the only way to have it is to cultivate it. Stick to your writing goals. Make writing important and get it done.

This is not a hobby

This has proven to be important for me. I realize now that I have never actually looked at my blog as a serious and money-making business. It was a hobby and a way to stay creative where I could hopefully help some people. Being an author and a copywriter, writing books and copy for clients- that was serious. But not blogging. It's no wonder then really that I treated it as a thing I loved but would get to when I could.

It's been a whole mindset shift for me to think of my blog as something I want to monetize, and a part of my business that I want to have financial and metric goals for. I welcome the change and the challenge, and I'm looking forward to documenting it. I know how useful and motivational it has been for me to read other peoples journey's as they've taken their blogs from hobby to side hustle, to full-time income, to business empire. I know with strategic work and perseverance, I can do the same.

Conclusion

I'm purposefully growing my blog this year for the purpose of monetizing it. I'll be utilizing the strategy outlined above, and more as I learn I'm sure. I'm inviting you to take the journey with me, and I will be posting a blog growth update every 3 months. I think this interval is long enough to test out new strategies and get useful feedback, while also being short enough to feel like I'm giving constant updates.

Please let me know what's worked for you, or what you're trying now. I'm open to suggestions.

Let's grow these blogs,

Nonjabulo