Ready to earn a living writing topics you’re passionate about? Here’s your step-by-step roadmap guide.
Launching a blog to share your thoughts with the world and grow a community who wants to read those thoughts, is an amazing way to explore your passions.
And monetizing that blog so that you can create a passive revenue stream is even better!
I started my blog back in 2014 with the intention to build a brand that spoke to people like me: Mothers and career-driven women who want to learn the secret to manifesting the lives of their dreams.
As a serial entrepreneur, I found a way to turn my passion into profit and scaled my blog into a business. There are so many benefits to running a blog business, like:
- Expressing yourself and your zone of genius
- Building a brand that resonates and connects with people
- Making a living doing what you love!
If you want to start your blog business but feel there are already too many blogs for people to notice yours (which, trust me, isn’t true because you’re unique!), or you’re not sure where to begin, keep reading!
Affirmation to Manifest Your Blog Business: “I know I have what it takes to make a living doing what I love.”
Your Roadmap to Manifest Your Blog Business
So, let’s start at the beginning: You want to start a blog so you need to ask yourself five essential questions.
- What is your passion to blog about? What are the theme and topic(s) you want to write about?
- Why do you want a blog? What’s the main reason you want to share your thoughts with the world?
- Who do you want to talk to? Who are your readers and why should they read your blog? Download my free Client Avatar Worksheet to build your dream client here!
- How do you want to help them? What problem do they struggle with the most?
- What solution can you provide to this problem? How can you transform their lives for the better?
Once you’ve answered these questions, you’re able to start building the roadmap to your blog business. Let’s break it down into five steps.
Step 1: Create your blog
Choose Your Blog Name
Before you write a single word for your blog, pick a blog name that represents you, your voice, and your blog theme. For example, my blog is titled “a Curvy Mom” because I’m a curvy mom who writes on all topics related to motherhood and business!
Set Up Your Business/Legal Structure
As a blog business, it’s important to establish the type of business you want to manage before you start earning income. Here are the most common business/legal (aka how you’ll pay your income taxes) structures:
- Sole Proprietor
- Limited Liability Company (LLC)
- S Corporation
Learn more about business structures and which one is best suited for you here.
Choose Your Website Platform, Hosting, and Domain Name
First, it’s important to choose a website builder that brings traffic to your blog. Sites like WordPress and Squarespace are SEO-friendly and easy-to-navigate for beginners.
Be sure when building the pages of your blog (like your home, about, and blog pages) to include a privacy policy page. Your privacy policy ensures that you will protect any data your readers provide while on your website (like their name, email, etc.)
Next, once you choose your site builder, pick the hosting (aka what makes your website “live” and findable to online users). Two of the best website hosting services are Yoast and Siteground.
Finally, you’re ready to choose your domain name (aka your URL). This should be short, sweet, to the point, and a reflection of your blog name so it’s easy for your readers to remember. Once you land on a domain name, make sure you file a trademark and/or copyright it to protect your intellectual property (and so no one else can make money off your brand).
Build Your Payment Carts and Contracts
As a blog business, you may have an online shop and/or affiliate links on your site that your readers can purchase from. You’ll want to set up your payment cart (which you can add to your website builder as a plugin) to allow secure transactions.
You’ll also want to build contract templates for anyone you work with for your blog, like freelancers who you may have guest-write on your blog, or sponsored posts where a fellow business owner can purchase a featured blog post about their business. Contracts protect both you and the people you work with so you both honor the agreed upon work and get paid accordingly.
Set Up Your Website Newsletter Funnel
You’re done building your website…now what? It’s almost time to promote! Pick an email newsletter platform (which can also be added to your site via a plugin) to get your readers excited pre-launch by having them subscribe for notifications when you’re live, and receive updates and other goodies post-launch!
Step 2: Build your brand
Build your credibility
You have your blog and your brand name, but what else should your readers know about you? Help them learn about what an expert you are in your industry by establishing the following:
- Your brand voice: Ask yourself, “Who am I?” and create an elevator pitch for you and your blog business that you can tell someone in 60 seconds.
- Your personality: What personal story do you want to share that relates to your business?
- Your social media platform: Which social media website(s) do you thrive on, and does your dream client hang out online there, too? You can market your blog and reach your dream clients on social media platforms like:
- TikTok
- YouTube
Partner with others in your industry
When other credible businesses can vouch for yours, it only adds to your brand authority! Make a point to partner with other blog and business owners to showcase your brand and connect with new readers.
Research the best SEO strategy for your blog
To grow your brand is to learn what engages your readers and makes them want to visit your blog. SEO (search engine optimization) is how you do it. Learn what SEO keywords (aka words and phrases often searched by your readers) you can add to your blog posts so 1) you can rank on Google and 2) your readers can find your blog easier!
Build your content calendar
Content is queen and you’ll want to ensure your blog is stacked with content that expresses your brand and connects with your readers. I recommend creating a 30-day content calendar with a blog and social media scheduled to post each day to drive traffic to your blog.
Overwhelmed with the thought of writing a big bulk of content? Not to worry. You can start with just one to two strong, on-brand blog posts during your first month online to start engaging your readers.
✨ Bonus Tip: Recycle your content! Create a 6-week marketing plan for each blog post and recycle old topics after that 6-week period so you never run out of content ideas. ✨
Step 3: Organize your business systems and processes
So, steps 1 and 2 handle almost exclusively what I like to call “front of the house” operations, or things that your readers will engage with. Now let’s talk about “back of the house” operations, or things that only you will see as you manage your blog business.
Elevate Your Mindset
Unlearning those negative beliefs you may have about yourself and shifting your mindset to welcome positivity as you manifest the life of your dreams is a must!
If you want your blog business to be successful, you have to believe that it already is. And the best way to do that is to speak it into existence and proclaim affirmations that speak more life into you and your goals.
Repeat these affirmations in the morning or evening as you start or end your day to encourage yourself as you grow your new business:
- I am driven by passion and purpose.
- I started my business at precisely the right time.
- My work makes me feel happier and stronger each day.
- Money and wealth come to me effortlessly.
- My goals are constantly manifesting and coming true.
Once you’ve aligned yourself with your goals, you’re ready to set your systems and processes so your blog business flows with ease.
Ready to manifest your profits and make your dream career your reality? Enroll in the Manifest Your Profits course to elevate your mindset and become a Boss CEO.
Creating your Digital Workspace
Let’s talk about how to create the space to work from home and get into your zone of genius to write for your blog once it launches.
Building your daily routine for productivity
- Create time blocks during the week with “do not disturbs” (making a sign so your kids understand you’re working and/or turning off your phone) so you can focus on writing.
- Ensure your space is safe and peaceful for writing and creating.
- Make monthly, weekly, and daily to-do lists to organize your business and life. Your to-do lists should include:
- What days you will write and create social content/images
- What days you will pitch for business and create a pitch list of 10-20 businesses to email and connect with
- What days you will market and where online
- What day you will schedule an admin/meeting day to keep yourself and team on track with projects and tasks
- What days you will rest and relax to avoid burnout!
Organizing your workflow
- Automate your writing process by using voice notes (Google Keep Notes) to transcribe your thoughts to the page quicker.
- Use a CRM (client relationship manager) to organize your blog business’s accounting, emails (like welcome funnels and out-of-office replies), proposals, client intake and feedback, and much more! You can use Honeybook or Wave Apps as they are easy-to-learn and have free versions to get started right away.
✨ Bonus Tip: Use the 24-rule when interacting with new readers, subscribers, and clients, aka don’t interact with them within the first 24 hours of them discovering your business, unless they have given permission, to avoid flagging your business as spam. ✨
- Write and schedule content in advance by batching (writing a bulk of content) and planning to publish on the best days (when your dream client is most active online). You can use content planners and schedulers like Asana, Later, WordPress, or Excel for content calendars.
- Use an online appointment booking tool, like Calendly, to optimize your time with clients (as well as ensure you have those rest days blocked from anyone scheduling a meeting with you).
Want to streamline your blog business to grow and make money easier? Invest in a business audit to ensure your systems and processes are working for you!
Step 4: Grow your trusted business team
You can’t run your blog business all alone, nor should you if you want it to grow to the heights you know it can reach! You’ll need a team of people who share your vision and have the skills needed to help you scale. Here’s how you build your team in three phases:
Phase #1: Team I
When you’re just getting started, you may be the CEO, talent, admin, market, accountant, and public relations for your blog business. As a team of one (aka a solopreneur), you wear all hats.
When you’re working alone, it’s crucial to set up your time to manage all the tasks your blog business requires so you stay productive without burning out. Write out the roles your blog business will need to run, and that you’ll perform for the time being, like:
- Blog Writer: Since you’re a solopreneur, I recommend writing no more than one blog per week and setting a realistic weekly or biweekly deadline.
- Social Media Manager: Batch five to seven promotional posts at the beginning of the week to post each day of the week.
- Public Relations (aka PR) Manager: Pitch your blog business to three media outlets and/or business per week to form partnerships.
- Bookkeeper or Accountant: Set aside time each week or other week to manage your cash flow, save for tax time, and pay yourself!
Phase # 2: Team Family and Friends
Now it’s time to get rid of the “I” mentality because you cannot build an empire alone. To grow your blog business to the level of success of HuffPost, start building your team by asking your loved ones for help who have the capacity and passion to assist you with your business.
Each role you performed on your own you can now delegate to a trusted team member. Don’t be afraid to delegate the tasks you know you struggle with most (like taking professional business photos or pitching emails to brands or potential clients) to someone who is more capable of handling them!
Phase # 3: Team Freelancers and Staff
This is the final step in building a solid team that you trust to help you grow the business of your dreams. I recommend having a meeting with yourself about your business needs and goals. Where do you need the most support to help grow and build your blog business?
Once you determine which roles you’d like to fill, and your business is profitable to outsource help, bring on your first freelancer. A freelancer is a professional contracted for independent (or one-off) projects. Here are some projects a freelancer could assist you with:
- Assistant Blog Writer: Generate more content for your blog with a second blog writer to submit posts every once in a while when you need help writing.
- Virtual Assistant: Hire a VA to help you schedule your posts and manage your social media engagement (like engaging with your audience and measuring your online analytics to grow).
- PR/Brand Manager: Depending on your blog goals, you may want to hire someone for this role to help you get more eyes on your business and manage your professional relationships.
- Business Consultant: To help you strategically on taking your blog to the next level of where you want to be. Having a clear roadmap with action steps can save you a ton of time and effortless work.
While freelancers are project-based, you may require a full-time staff to help you run your blog business. In this case, you’d hire employees for the roles mentioned above to work with you each month, which means you’d pay each employee a salary and follow the IRS’s guidelines for payroll and taxes for your staff.
Step 5: Monetize your blog business
Scaling your blog to a passive income stream requires turning your blog posts and blog space on your website into a product designed to help your readers. Here’s how:
- Google Ads: Allow Google to place trusted ads on your site that align with your brand to monetize your blog.
- Sponsored Posts: Partner with other businesses (that align with your brand!) and feature their business on your blog or social media with a paid post to showcase to your audience.
- Services: Depending on the theme of your blog, you may be able to offer a service to your readers. For example, if you like to write about recipes and cooking tips, you can offer virtual cooking classes.
- Digital Goods: Similar to services, you can create eBooks, workbooks, PDF files, images, and more to sell to your readers to help them solve their problems with your expertise.
Congrats! You’ve successfully started your blog business!
Blurb: As you follow your passion and turn it into profit, remember to download my free Roadmap to Profit workbook and circle back to it if you ever get lost along the way. I know it can be a lot of moving parts and work to launch and run a business, but if I, a mom of three with several businesses, can do it, so can you!
Write it down and make a plan, mama:
- Step One: Create your blog with your website, domain name, and business structure.
- Step Two: Build your brand and establish your authority with a strong content calendar and partnerships with other credible brands.
- Step Three: Streamline your workflow with systems and processes that help your business run smoothly.
- Step Four: Grow your empire with a team who’s ready to work with you.
- Step Five: Monetize your blog with multiple revenue streams to earn money even when you’re asleep.
And remember: Anything worth having is worth manifesting for. ✨
Ready to build your dream business?
Manifesting the life you know you deserve to live is more than just hopes and wishes. It’s building a plan and organizing your steps to make it happen.
Need help? I’m at your service. As a Business Consultant and Business Blogger, I’m excited to help you launch your blog business and turn your passion into profit.
Feel free to email me or book a free discovery call with me to get started. Can’t wait to see you thrive!