Monetization Strategies for Food Bloggers
In episode 092, Megan chats about the importance of creating a business plan for your blogging or entrepreneurial business!
HOW TO CREATE BLOG BUSINESS PLAN: If you are a blogger or entrepreneur, it is important for you to have a plan if you want to run a successful business. A plan helps you think through important aspects of your business so you can efficiently strategize and so you know which projects will move the needle forward.
Listen on the player below or on iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast player. Or scroll down to read a full transcript.
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Takeaways
- Have a business plan so you can efficiently strategize and so you know which projects will move the needle forward.
- Without a plan it is impossible to know what to focus on or where and how to spend your precious time and energy.
- The content you create will be more relevant and traffic will increase.
- Define and serve your audience.
- Define your business.
- Find and evaluate competition.
- Network and collaborate with your peers.
- Create vision, goals and an action plan.
Transcript
Click for full text.
Business Plans Are Vital for YOU, Bloggers and Entrepreneurs!
NOW is the time for entrepreneurs to dig in like we have never dug in before. This business plan will help to bring clarity and vision to your business.
Whether you use this plan or a different one, I want to stress that it’s important that you use something. If you are a blogger or entrepreneur, it is important for you to have a plan if you want to run a successful business.
Having a plan helps you think through important aspects of your business so you can efficiently strategize and so you know which projects will move the needle forward. Without a plan it is impossible to know what to focus on or where and how to spend your precious time and energy.
My History With Business Plans (or a lack of them!)
For the first 8 years of running my food blog, I had no direction. I worked A LOT, but there was no rhyme or reason to what I was doing or how I was doing it. My days were always busy. I worked nights and weekends. But I never figured out how to move the needle forward with my business because I didn’t have a plan.
Once I put a plan into place, everything changed. The content I created was more relevant, traffic increased and I suddenly had a bunch of amazing, inspiring blogging friends. Plans. Are. Vital.
Download your planning guide by filling out the form on this page and meet me in the EBT forum to discuss as we go along!
How to Create a Blog Business Plan (this plan applies to all entrepreneurs and is not exclusive to bloggers)
This plan is a comprehensive all-in-one guide that will take you step by step through the easy process of creating a solid business plan for your blogging or entrepreneurial business!
There are 5 sections inside The Blogger Business Plan:
1. Define and serve your audience. If you’ve completed the Avatar Creation Guide, you already have a good chunk of this section completed!
Also, be sure to listen to and nurture your audience and don’t leave this part out.
2. Define your business.
- Create a mission statement.
- Define your niche.
- Highlight what makes your brand stand out.
- List the products and services you provide and brainstorm ways you wish to diversify.
- Write out your current monetization avenues and how you wish to diversify these, as well.
- Compile a detailed list of all tasks performed within your job and pinpoint potential changes to streamline to increase productivity.
3. Find and evaluate competition
- Pinpoint influencers in your field who inspire you.
- Evaluate your competition’s content and note what you love about it and which strategies clearly work well for them.
4. Network and collaborate with your peers. This step is super important!
- Find avenues to network and stay in touch with your peers.
- Brainstorm ways to collaborate with peers in order to grow your business
5. Create visions, goals and an action plan!
- In this last section you will wrap up all of your thoughts and findings to create an action plan for your business.
- Also include in your plan things you do NOT want to do. Create an UNPLAN!
Beyond the Business Plan
This is more than just a plan. It is something to reference often. Review it weekly in order to stay on track and to keep your plans and goals relevant.
Completing the plan is not the end goal! Keeping a close eye on it as you grow throughout the next year is the end goal. If you do this, your business will thrive in incredible new ways.
The Best, Most Comprehensive Business Plan for Entrepreneurs You’ll Find
This plan dives deep! It will cause you to think about every single aspect of your business, which will stir up creativity and motivation. As previously mentioned, there are 5 sections inside all with fillable fields to make your life easier!
At the end of each section you will find a Summary and Action page to help you summarize all of the information you gathered and put it in a single place.
Guides That Will Help You Grow Your Business!
In order to launch your business into a new realm of success, complete the guides below in the following order:
- Avatar Creation
- Business Plan
- Content Strategy
- Editorial Calendar
💥 Join the free EBT community, where you will connect with food bloggers, gain confidence and clarity as a food blogger so you don’t feel so overwhelmed by ALL THE THINGS!
Want to achieve your goals faster than you ever thought possible? Stop by Eat Blog Talk to get the details on our Mastermind program. This transformative 12-month experience will help you accomplish more than you would be able to in 5+ years when forging ahead alone.
Click the button below to learn what a mastermind program is, what your commitment is and what Eat Blog Talk’s commitment to you is.
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