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As writers, we’re always under time pressure to complete more. Whether it’s delivering an item or engaging with customers on the new social networking, the blogger’s task list can appear overwhelming sometimes.
I believe a number of that overwhelm originates from the granularity that we tend to check out our work. While breaking large challenges lower into littler ones is a great way to tackle things, concentrating on the small odds and ends in our work can stop us seeing the problem, and also the natural connections between your individual things we’re doing.
Lately on #blogchat we'd attorney at law about where social networking suits blogging. Should you see that question on the really granular basis—”What will my next status update actually cover?”—then it can be hard to determine where social networking might or may not work nicely. But when you consider the problem, you’ll most likely be more prone to request, “Where doesn’t social networking squeeze into blogging?”
Obviously we want a little more direction than that to sort out the best way to invest our time as writers, so today I figured I’d explain a little about my method of connecting blogging, social networking, and email.
Image by Phillip C, licensed under Creative CommonsBlogging is in the centre of the items I actually do. My blog is my home base and is how I put the majority of my efforts. My blog is really a place that another company like Twitter, or Facebook or G can’t remove from me basically break their tos or maybe they alter their approach. It’s within my control and it is where I ultimately build my logo and community.
My blog is really a place where conversation and conversion certainly happens, but when I needed to title my primary focus in my blog it might be that it's a place that we use to create content that’s helpful to my visitors.
My hope is the fact that each day on my small blogs, I help solve problems large and small in my visitors with the content I produce there.
My blog is really a place that's frequently the very first reason for connection with people. It’s a location where I really hope I’m in a position to create an impact upon them which will bring them for connecting more meaningfully in some manner.
Social networking is really a place that we mainly use for conversation and community. While this stuff also happen around the blog in comments, I've found progressively that individuals wish to connect and converse off my blog.
I am inclined to concentrate on Twitter mainly, but Facebook has progressively be a place where my photography blog visitors go and G can also be growing for me personally in by doing this.
I actually do use social networking for other purposes—I utilize it to drive traffic towards my blog for instance, I from time to time produce content onto it (particularly on G where I frequently think aloud), and that i even promote my e-books onto it every so often too (although I've found it doesn’t convert anywhere near in addition to email—more with that in just a minute).
Each one of these things can be achieved on social networking, however for me it's more a spot for conversation and interaction.
I’ve discussed the significance of email many occasions on ProBlogger—it may be the best element I’ve put into my blogging since i have began out 10 years ago.
Email does a lot of things for me—it’s a terrific way to bring customers, it can benefit with building community and driving individuals to points of engagement, it can also be accustomed to deliver content. However for me its stand-out benefit has existed driving sales: conversion.
Read this graphic which shows where sales in our e-books originate from.
You can observe here that:
87% in our sales originate from email7% originate from our blog posts3% originate from social media3% originate from our affiliate marketers.Since we began to write e-books, I’ve attempted many different ways to advertise them, however the top-transforming method each time I’ve examined continues to be email.
Blogging, social networking and email have become vital facets of my company. I can’t imagine departing one of these simple elements out.
All of them is helpful in a number of ways—in fact, I frequently use each one of the elements to advertise others, when i find they work nicely to strengthen each other.
For instance, when someone subscribes to the e-newsletter on dPS they have an email soon after that informs them about our social networking accounts. Every so often on our social accounts we promote the e-mail e-newsletter, and that we regularly promote your blog posts we publish there, too.
In delivering people backwards and forwards towards the different aspects of what we should do, I've found they be built-into the city. The brand’s recognition develops among a larger audiences by doing this, but individuals’ connections using the brand deepen, too.
In using this discussion one step or two further, tomorrow’s publish examines some good situation good examples of the methods email and blogging could be integrated to aid a effective affiliate marketing, so I’ll have an interest to listen to that which you think about individuals approaches.
And then week, we’ll be taking an in-depth take a look at how writers are utilizing social media—specifically Pinterest—to support their blogging goals.
The mixing of social networking and email with blogging is a nice topical dilemma for several people, so let’s hear your sights within the comments.
This guest post is by Steve of thecodeofextraordinarychange.com.
The U.S. General Accounting Office has estimated that purchases of equipment by the military that feature new technology are delivered on time and on budget just 1% of the time.1
The worldwide scientific community has agreed unanimously that human activity on planet Earth is responsible for climate change, yet more than half of the people in the U.S. remain incredulous.
In 1964, the front page of The New York Times declared the detection of the afterglow of the big bang, finally settling the question of how the universe came to be. Or so you’d think. Even thirty years later, proponents of the “steady state” theory—the idea that the universe has always been around and didn’t start with a big bang—still believed in iterated versions of the steady state theory rather than the big bang.2
In the UK, half of the population believes in heaven, but only a quarter believes in hell.
The common thread that links each of these facts is this:
People reject evidence where it doesn’t support what they already believe to be true.
Your brain is pretty clever. It doesn’t know everything and it knows that it doesn’t know everything, so it’s become incredibly efficient at painting a picture of yourself and the world that’s based on limited, incomplete and inaccurate data.
It does this without you even knowing what it’s up to, presenting your conscious mind with a complete picture of “how things are” and “who you are” that’s been composited together from different visual cues, memories, and emotions, then Photoshopped to add sunshine and a lens flare.
This mechanism helps you select, filter and even create evidence to support your own beliefs. It also inflates your own competence and feeds the belief that you’re in control and “right.”
Social psychologists call this motivated reasoning, and recent research using FMRI brain scans shows that when you make a logical, objective assessment of what’s in front of you, it is in fact anything but logical and objective.
When attempting to objectively process data that’s emotionally relevant (such as starting a business, creating a service or marketing yourself), your limbic system lights up and your brain automatically weaves in the things you want, dream, admire, crave, and desire.
When information enters your brain that favours those things you mark it with an A. “Looking good,” you say, patting yourself on the back.
And when information enters your brain that doesn’t favour the way you want to see yourself and the world, you mark it down to a D-. ”I’m not going to listen to that nonsense,” you say, congratulating yourself for being smart enough not to be duped.
Your choices are not so much based on fact and logic as they are centred on who think you are and what you really want.
This automatic deception is normally one step ahead of you, having you do things you wouldn’t do if you knew the real cost.
It’s an in-built defence mechanism that purges the uncomfortable, painful or contradictory information that threatens your core beliefs, even if those same beliefs aren’t serving you well (such as a belief that you’re not good enough, not up to scratch or less than others, for example).
It can have you making a decision about your business based on your desire to fit in.
It can have you wasting your energy on something that your brain tells you will get you lifestyle you think you want, even if you don’t really want it.
It can have you investing time and money in a new project to gain the validation your brain craves.
Letting your brain automatically call the shots is what might ultimately kill your business.
Luckily, there are two antidotes to the unconscious biases created by motivated reasoning.
It’s hard for assumptions about yourself and your business to remain unchallenged when you’re asking the right questions.
Ask questions about what’s fun, resonant, playful, daring, meaningful, silly, and important, and be willing to explore your own undiscovered country.
Asking questions can open doors that give you valuable insights, but you can only step through those doors and hear those insights when you foster a deliberate awareness and ‘fess up to what you find.
So, notice.
Notice how you’re feeling when you’re making choices. Notice the thoughts in your head related to your circumstances, business offering, and value. Notice the thoughts you have about how you feel about what you’re doing.
Motivated reasoning will always have you dancing to the same ol’ tune; well-worn steps that hide the truth, constrain your growth, and ultimately limit your business.
So don’t let your brain make decisions on your behalf that you wouldn’t make while keenly awake and aware.
Wake up to it. Rampant curiosity. Deliberate awareness. That’s where your success lies in 2013 and beyond.
References
1. Ross Buehler, Dale Griffin and Michael Ross, “Inside the Planning Fallacy: The Causes and Consequences of Optimistic Time Predictions”, in “Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgement”, Cambridge University Press, 2002. Cambridge Books Online. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511808098.016
2. George Smoot and Keay Davidson, Wrinkles in Time: Witness to the Birth of the Universe (Haper Perennial, 2007) 79-86.
Steve is a confidence coach who helps you find your natural confidence so that you can put your dent in the universe – which basically means doing what really matters to you in ways that work for you. He also likes smiling, and likes this picture of a happy horse. See more of Steve on Twitter and Facebook.
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 2:57 pm by Christy Grant in Mobile
You want your website to be mobile. You want it to work well on desktop monitors, on tablets, and on smartphones. You want it to shift in layout and design so that all of your customers get a great experience no matter what device they happen to use.
This seems overwhelming. Why?
Re-designing a site to work well on mobile devices is like moving from a 3,500 square-foot house to a 750 square-foot apartment. Do you still need a table and chairs? Sure. Do you still need a bed? Sure. Do you need cabinets, a fridge, a sink? Yes. You will need most of the same stuff. You will not need duplicates or all of the extraneous pieces that covered walls and sat on floors. It’ll likely be hard to let go of some things and to let go of that space. But what happens in the process?
You notice what is most valuable. You make choices. The things you select for the new, smaller space mean a lot. You might have a new appreciation for them. You might decide that much of the stuff wasn’t needed even in the large house. And friends who come over might find it refreshing.
Not even taking into consideration the capabilities of mobile devices that we don’t have on desktops, the space alone forces a hard look at the goals set for a website. What is the business goal? What does the user need? What is the primary activity to perform on the site? How is all of that best supported?
Mobile is an opportunity to focus. Designing a site to flow well and look good on any device size is an opportunity to improve the site even if no smartphones existed. The fact that they do, and the fact that more and more people are using mobile devices and expect sites to be mobile friendly, makes the need to improve for mobile necessary and valuable for any business.
Tags: Mobile-Friendly Website435 Digital helps businesses build brands on the web. Visit here for inspiration on how to stand out and grow your business.
I’ve talked a lot about MOBE (even offered a great MOBE bonus) in the past week, and I’ve received a ton of questions about it from readers and commentators. The main questions seems to be what is it and can it work for me?
To help answer these questions, I have an 80 minute long video of Matt Lloyd talking about MOBE from the stage of Unstoppable Entrepreneur 2. No opt in is required to watch the video. Just play and enjoy. I guarantee you’re going to have a few epiphanies.
I was going through the comments in the video and noticed this one from Deborah Robertson:
Deborah is in Matt’s MOBE License Rights Program. She probably would not refer to herself as an internet marketing guru. Like many people (possibly you) she’s bought a ton of internet marketing “systems”, and has got little to zero results with any of them.
But, recently she made her first $1,000 commission from her involvement in the MOBE License Rights program and I think that is awesome because it shows that you don’t need to be like me to make money from this.
The reason why so many people have become Licensees in the last few months, is because this system symplifies the role of the parnters. To get results, you only need to do one thing: Get leads.
Here’s what it doesn’t require:
You building your own list, and coming up with content to email them dailyYou creating dozens of your own products You setting up blogs or websites, doing coding, or any of that ‘techy’ stuffYou hiring a team of staff, and having to manage / babysit themInstead, you can spend that time doing the things you like. Now, am I saying that you should never do any of that stuff? Absolutely not. If you want to build a 7 figure business in this, or any other niche, then YES – you will need to build your own list, create your own products, etc., eventually.
But for most people, being able to start making commissions TODAY, would make them happy. And it would also shut up those people around them, who keep asking, “why are you spending all that time on the computer? Have you even made your first dollar yet?”
If you’d be happy just to finally start getting real results, then you need to do what Deborah did:
Become a MOBE Licensee.Claim my MOBE bonus of an Apple iPad and over $8,500 of my best products.Start driving some traffic to your MOBE links.Increase Your brand by Partnering with MOBE
For those of you who are ready to start building your list, and branding yourself, Matt’s team have something for that too. They’ve just spent a small fortune, having their programmers create a new “co-branding” sales funnel the MOBE Licensees can promote.
It not only allows you to build your own email list (with popular autoresponders like Aweber), but you also get to put your name and photo on the sales material, next to Matt’s, so you can be branding yourself. Here’s an example, with MOBE Licensee Samith Pich:
See how his name and photo is alongside Matt’s? Every time Samith now generates a lead, he’ll also be building his own list, along with his own brand.
My point is, whatever stage you’re at, whether it’s new or experienced, the MOBE License Rights Program is better at converting traffic to dollars than any other system on the market today. That’s a bold claim, I know. However, based on my results (I made over $20K in the first month with MOBE), no other system has came close to doing what Matt’s team does.
Matt’s goal over the next 12 months is to grow his companie’s revenue from its current $2 million to $20 million. And it’s the partners like me (and possibly you) who stand to take a huge share of that.
If you’d like to know more, leave your phone number below the video, and one of Matt’s staff will call you back. They won’t try and hard sell you either. They’ll simply answer your questions, and help you determine if this is the right program for you, based on your unique circumstances. Otherwise, you can enroll in the MOBE License Rights program at the bottom of the page.
Extending My MOBE Bonus
Originally, my MOBE bonus of a free Apple iPad and over $8,500 of my best products expires after ten licenses or until the end month, which ever comes first. The ten came and went pretty quick, but I’ve decided to keep the bonus open for a few more days. To get the bonus, I recommend you get your MOBE License right now.
Watch Anatomy Of A $315,000 Per Month Business | Enroll In MOBE
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If you have ever attended one of my seminars, webinars, or keynote speeches, then you know one piece of advice that I always recommend to new bloggers is to treat your blog like a real business. Well, part of treating the blog like a real business means making it into a real business.
Too many bloggers just try to wing it. They don’t separate personal expense from business/blogging expense, nor do they do monthly/quarterly financial reviews. The biggest mistake of all: they forget about taxes and don’t set anything aside for it. One thing you can count on is tax man will catch up to you. It’s just a matter of time. Make no mistakes about it. If you make money by blogging, you will owe taxes on it. Therefore, it’s to your advantage to set things up to pay as little income tax as possible.
When starting a new business, you must decide what form of business entity to establish. Your form of business determines which income tax return form you have to file. The most common forms of business are the sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, and S corporation. A Limited Liability Company (LLC) is a relatively new business structure allowed by state statute. Legal and tax considerations enter into selecting a business structure.
While I can give you the advantage and disadvantage of each, I recommend you consult a professional to help you decide which is best for you. I run my blog as a corporation because it’s the best way for me. However, it may not be the best method for you. Here’s a rundown on the different business structures you ca use.
Sole Proprietorship
A sole proprietor is someone who owns an unincorporated business by himself or herself. However, if you are the sole member of a domestic limited liability company (LLC), you are not a sole proprietor if you elect to treat the LLC as a corporation. A sole proprietor is the most common business structure because it’s the less expensive to set up. The main disadvantage is it exposes you to unlimited liabilities.
Partnership
A partnership is the relationship existing between two or more persons who join to carry on a trade or business. Each person contributes money, property, labor or skill, and expects to share in the profits and losses of the business.
A partnership must file an annual information return to report the income, deductions, gains, losses, etc., from its operations, but it does not pay income tax. Instead, it “passes through” any profits or losses to its partners. Each partner includes his or her share of the partnership’s income or loss on his or her tax return.
Corporation
In forming a corporation, prospective shareholders exchange money, property, or both, for the corporation’s capital stock. A corporation generally takes the same deductions as a sole proprietorship to figure its taxable income.
A corporation can also take special deductions. For federal income tax purposes, a C corporation is recognized as a separate taxpaying entity. A corporation conducts business, realizes net income or loss, pays taxes and distributes profits to shareholders.
The profit of a corporation is taxed to the corporation when earned, and then is taxed to the shareholders when distributed as dividends. This creates a double tax. The corporation does not get a tax deduction when it distributes dividends to shareholders. Shareholders cannot deduct any loss of the corporation.
S Corporation
S corporations are corporations that elect to pass corporate income, losses, deductions and credit through to their shareholders for federal tax purposes. Shareholders of S corporations report the flow-through of income and losses on their personal tax returns and are assessed tax at their individual income tax rates.
This allows S corporations to avoid double taxation on the corporate income. S corporations are responsible for tax on certain built-in gains and passive income.
To qualify for S corporation status, the corporation must meet the following requirements:
Be a domestic corporationHave only allowable shareholdersIncluding individuals, certain trust, and estates andMay not include partnerships, corporations or non-resident alien shareholdersHave no more than 100 shareholdersHave one class of stockNot be an ineligible corporation i.e. certain financial institutions, insurance companies, and domestic international sales corporations.Limited Liability Company (LLC)
A Limited Liability Company (LLC) is a business structure allowed by state statute. LLCs are popular because, similar to a corporation, owners have limited personal liability for the debts and actions of the LLC. Other features of LLCs are more like a partnership, providing management flexibility and the benefit of pass-through taxation.
Owners of an LLC are called members. Since most states do not restrict ownership, members may include individuals, corporations, other LLCs and foreign entities. There is no maximum number of members. Most states also permit “single member” LLCs, those having only one owner.
Like I said previously, you need to consult your accountant or lawyer to help you decide which business structure is best for your blogging business. Most bloggers start off as a sole proprietorship and then convert to one of the other structures as they grow from a hobby to real business.
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Do you know what the biggest mistake is when starting your own blog?
I’d argue that it’s probably lack of proper planning. At the starting point, you should consider writing a business plan for your blog.
“A business plan?” you might ask. “A blog is not necessarily a business!” I have guest posted over at branding personality about this topic. Blogging is a tool to promote your business or brand. So it’s essential that bloggers too have a business plan.
One of the successful entrepreneurs I respect the most, Neil Patel, is not a big fan of business plans, and he’s written about why you shouldn’t write a business plan in the first place. However, the plan I am talking about in this article is not based on any traditional models. Most people search the Internet to create a business plan and finally give up. It’s probably because they find it too difficult. I have to agree with this feeling: writing a business plan is no walk in the park.
But there is good news for people looking to start a blog, who want a plan that’ll help.
Unlike traditional business plans, the one you need to create for your blog is fairly simple. You don’t have to worry about structure, wording, or content. Your business plan will be short and easy to prepare.
All entrepreneurs know they need a business plan. But not many know why they actually need one. If I am talking on a high level, I can say that it is needed to acquire venture capital, optimize business operations, and so on, though I bet most bloggers never even remotely think of such things before they start a blog.
In layman’s terms, here’s why you need business plan:
It can give you an overall idea about your business (even before you start one). This makes sure that you approach blogging from a business perspective, and not just the mindset of content creation alone.You will have a better understanding of the requirements of your business. (Can you provide consulting through your blog? Or how is it that you are going to make money from it?)You’ll have a better overview about cash flow in your business. (Cashflow is nothing but how and when money comes in and goes out). How much are you going to invest in your blog, and how much do you expect it to make over a given period of time?It encourages you to take a more realistic approach towards your business.It helps you discover the challenges that lie ahead for your blog and the business associated with it.Here comes the good part, and I must say that it’s actually fun too.
To create a blog, you’ll have to do research on your target market, figure out the operational and start-up costs, and so on. So why not document those things along the way, in a business plan that guides you, and provides a reference for the future?
In this section, you will have to note down what your business idea is. To make it more fun, write down how you actually zeroed down on your business idea. Make it short: don’t go over one page. In fact, try not to go over half a page.
Example: “My business idea is to start an online store which will sell superman merchandise to kids. I wanted to do this since my children love Superman toys and there isn’t any store that exclusively sells them online. I can entertain my kids as well as make some profit. I’ll use my blog to engage my customers and build a loyal following.”
What does your business or blog require to get started? What is the timeframe in which you expect each task to be completed? It’s good to make an Excel spreadsheet and paste it into your business plan so you have all the information in the same document.
Don’t include costs here. When it comes to the timeframes you’ll need to factor in, be realistic. Optimism is good, but your business decisions needs to be based on facts.
Example for small blog business: “My online store will be ready in approximately three months’ time. I’ll also need the help of some web designers and developers to build my online store. Then I need to get a decent hosting for my business website.
“I will spend three hours a day on this project, as I have a full-time job as well. For my blog, I’ll write the contents. I’ll also hire an editor to manage the content of this site (and occasionally contribute to it while I am busy with my main business).”
“Designing the site: 15 days (I am smart so I’ll use the StudioPress theme for my blog—the one that powers problogger.net)Coding for the site: 45 daysTweaks: 5 daysSetting up merchant account with Google Checkout: 5 daysGetting necessary stock: 10 daysPlanning for the launch: 1 dayHiring people to maintain my business: 10 days”“So that makes it a total of around three months for the site to go live. I’ll also need to put some money aside for this. I think I have it in my savings account. If not, maybe I’ll ask my wife really nicely.”
See how I broke down the requirements into smaller requirements? This makes it easier to adjust your plan if something goes off track. Also, don’t try to be formal in the way you phrase things. Your business plan is for your reference, not for someone else.
There are many business models you can choose from. Normally for ecommerce stores, the business model is kind of traditional: you make a product, then customers pay for items they want. But in certain businesses, the model may be different. For your blog, your business model might be selling services, selling other peoples products for commission (affiliate marketing), or something else.
Whatever it is, make sure you have a very clear idea about how you are going to make money from your business. This is very important.
Example 1: “I’m going to use my online store to sell products. I will get product from
“My payment processor will be Google checkout. I have set to receive weekly payments and they will pay straight to my bank account. I will also sell customized services through my blog.”
Example 2: “I have a blog on health and wellness where I post articles on health-related issues. So, my main income source would be Google AdSense. Whenever user clicks on an advertisement on my site, I will get paid. The payment threshold is $100 and I will receive checks via mail when I reach that threshold.”
You need to document this business model very clearly. This will ensure that you do not lose focus on your end goal.
In this section, you need to focus on the start-up costs as well as the running costs of your blog, and your business. Do some research and find out how much it will cost you to keep your online business going.
Again, this is very important as it will help you get an overview about business cash flow and profitability.
Example: “My online store will require the following to get started.
Domain: $30 (Registered for three years with Namecheap. Billing is every three years.)Hosting: $85 (Registered with Hostgator for a year. They will bill me yearly.)Design: $250 (Paid a freelancer for the excellent design. Was delivered in PSD format as well as JPEG.)Coding: $3000 (Will pay another freelancer with good reputation on Odesk. Work will be completed in 45 days from start of payment.)Miscellaneous costs: $250 (Includes a launch party for my friends.)Total: $3615
Operational costs
Domain: $40 (Every three years)Hosting: $85 (Every year) [Note: I may need to upgrade to a more expensive plan as my site grows]Shipping costs: $5 (per shipment)Promotions and discounts: Vary from 2% to 10% discount depending on the market conditions”This is just a small example. In some cases the finance required might be very small; in some cases it’ll be huge. If you want to factor in your time as well, then you can come up with an hourly rate that reflects your work, and put it in the operational cost section.
Also note that the running costs will vary over time. When your blog starts getting popular, you might need to move to better hosting, or you might need to develop more features, which will require a larger investment of money.
In this section, you need to set business goals. Make sure they are achievable. Relax your goals a bit. It’s better to achieve a small goal rather than fail to achieve a big goal.
Example 1: “I need to break even in one years’ time. In another year, I will expand my collection to include more toys. After three years, I will launch my own brand of toys. My goal for profits is 0% the first year (that is, I’ll break even), another 5% the second year, and increase by 2% in the coming years.”
Example 2: “Right now I am going to start with just my blog and offer consultation services. Later on I will be adding informational products. So I expect to break even in one year, get a minimum of 1000 subscribers and land two or three consulting gigs. I also want to set a monthly traffic goal of 25,000 site visitors by the end of year one.”
You need to constantly refer to your business goals so that you do not lose focus.
You need to figure out how you’re going to run your business. Is it a one-man show? Are you going to hire employees to manage certain tasks?
Example: “Here is how I plan to operate my blog and the business associated with it:
Work part-time for three hours a day during the first six months.Write content myself. My blogging schedule will be to post three articles each week.Quit my full-time job and work 12 hours a day for my site for the next six months.Allow guest posts from the sixth month onwards. Hire an editor to take care of managing the guest posts.Hire an accountant to maintain records so that I can easily file my tax returns.Hire marketing people to take care of site promotion, or do site promotion myself.Teach my wife how I run this business and ask her to take on some of the roles.”Here you will define how you’ll market your business. Don’t go into depth while laying out your marketing strategy. Marketing strategies vary greatly over time. In the early 1900’s no one would have thought about marketing online. Yet, now online marketing is one of the best ways to get customers for your business.
Put in the main points and leave it at that—you can always revise the plans in more detail as you come to put them into practice. This will also help you evaluate how your previous marketing strategy helped you, and how the new one is doing.
Example: “I am going to promote my online store in the following ways:
Use blogging as a powerful content marketing tool. Create awesome content and post it on my blog. This will attract a loyal audience.Hire a good SEO consultant/learn SEO myself.Ask friends to recommend my site to others.Buy a small ad in my local newspaper about my online store.Write articles on related sites for free, in exchange for a link to my site (guest posts).”This is something not many entrepreneurs want to think about. An exit strategy is something you use when you want to close your business.
People don’t want to think about it because it spreads a negative vibe, and you don’t want anything negative in your business. However, you certainly need an exit plan.
Most entrepreneurs never make an exit strategy the first time, so if their business or blog isn’t as successfully as they’d hoped, they get disheartened and quit. If you have an exit strategy, you can save all the stress and exit gracefully. I have personally started around ten blogs and only few of them were successful. I lost several thousand dollars initially because I did not plan on a proper exit strategy.
Example: “In the rare case that my business fails or I decide to quit my business, here is my plan:
I will try to sell my business online for what it is worth at the time.I will cancel all services associated with my business.Customers will be informed of the business’s sale well in advance.I have kept a reserve amount in my bank account should anything bad happen.I will take a break for one month before I venture into another business again.”So there you have it: eight steps and you’re done. Now you have a well thought out, personal business plans for your internet business.
I highly recommend that each year you review your business plan and create a new, more specific one for the coming 12 months. The old one should be kept to provide a yardstick against which you can manage your business growth, chart the change in strategies, and so on over time.
Have you created a business plan for your blog? Let us know how it’s helped you in the comments.
Adarsh Thampy is a blogger, inbound marketing consultant for small business and a SEO guy. He writes about getting more customers for your business over at ConversionChamp.com. You can add conversionchamp to the Google plus circle.
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