#BlogFullTime THE STEP-BY-STEP OUTLINE FOR TURNING YOUR BLOG INTO A BUZZING, PROFITABLE COMMUNITY. By Melyssa Griffin The Nectar Collective, LLC

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1 #BlogFullTime THE STEP-BY-STEP OUTLINE FOR TURNING YOUR BLOG INTO A BUZZING, PROFITABLE COMMUNITY. By Melyssa Griffin The Nectar Collective, LLC

2 1. Find your voice In order to truly turn your blog into a community and full-time job, you need to find your voice. It s an old case of, if I don t believe in myself, how can I expect others to believe in me? If you re struggling to find your voice as a blogger, then try thinking about your personality in these two situations: when you re with your friends and when you re in the zone. When you re with your friends, your true personality shines. You re likely your most authentic self -- channel that authenticity! What quirks and unique qualities show up for you? Who are you deep down? Now, also consider who you are when you re "in the zone." WHEN are you in the zone? What do you feel crazy passionate about? Identifying what makes you come alive is a stellar way to find your voice and share that excitement and knowledge with others. Lastly, try surrounding yourself with people who get you and support you. It s hard to feel confident in the empire we re creating when we don t have a support system to lift us up along the way. 2. Decide on your ideal reader and customer Have you heard this advice a million times? GOOD! It s important, yo. Before you can build a community around your blog or turn it into a business, you need to know WHO you re targeting. And most importantly? You gotta be specific! How old are they? What gender are they? What magazines do they

3 read? What are they passionate about? Consider creating an Avatar, which is a paragraph that describes your ideal audience as one specific person (you can even give your avatar a name!). This makes it easier to decide if your new post or product idea is fitting for your ideal audience...now you just need to decide if your avatar would like it! 3. Create a recognizable brand for your blog Creating a blog brand boils down to this: it doesn t matter if someone discovers you on Instagram or your blog...they ll immediately understand that it s all a part of your blog s brand. They won t have to sift through pictures of yesterday s lunch or tweet rants about your bad day at work. Everything will be related to and useful for your ideal audience. It will also all look cohesive. So, if you are truly aiming to build a strong brand, then you need to remember two things: 1) Everything you publish (no matter where it is!) should be relevant to your ideal audience 2) All of your design elements (like social media images, blog post graphics, and your blog design) should feel cohesive and similar. 4. Create killer content Creating awesome content doesn t just mean that you re

4 writing great blog posts. Your brand exists outside of your blog, too, friend! So, when creating killer content, don t forget to apply this suggestion to all of the content you re creating, whether it s a YouTube video, Instagram post, or Periscope broadcast. It all matters, capice? Two tips for creating kickin content: 1) Create the best post you can find on a given topic. You can do some research! Type your post s keywords into Google and look through the top few posts that pop up. See if there s anything awesome that they didn t include, such as a tutorial video, free download, or infographic. Look for "holes" in their content so that YOU can create something even better (clearly, do not copy what they ve created...just search for ways to make yours even more valuable). 2) Include multimedia in your post. People rarely do this, so it will certainly help you to stand out. Instead of just writing a blog post or publishing a video onto YouTube, include additional forms of media for your readers. So, if you publish a blog post, consider recording a video to go along with it. Or if you create a YouTube video, then include an audio download or free worksheets. 5. Grow your traffic Ahhh "grow your traffic" makes it sound so easy, right? There are tons of ways to grow your traffic, and if you ve thoughtfully implemented the first four steps in this guide, then you

5 should already begin seeing organic growth. However, there are certainly things you can do to speed up the process. Here are my favorite areas to focus on if you re looking to boost your traffic: 1) Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO is what gets your content found in search engines, like Google and Pinterest. Putting a focus on SEO means that your content will organically be found and spread across the web. Ziiiinng! 2) Pinterest: Pinterest is my #1 traffic referral site and is an excellent way to get more of the right traffic to your site (when used with sound strategies). 3) Social media: It may seem like you re talking to an empty room at first, but sharing your content and connecting with others on social media is a stellar way to grow your traffic. 4) Guest post on larger sites: So long as a link to your site is in your author bio or within the post itself, you can expect many people to click over and check you out. 5) Leave comments on other blogs regularly: Leaving comments is so valuable that it would be worth it to post one less piece of content on your blog each week if it meant you had an extra two hours to spend commenting on other blogs. It s a great way to build rapport and get your name out there. 6. Grow your list Growing your list is absolutely essential if you want to make an income through your blog. It is the ONLY list

6 of subscribers that you have complete control over and is the best way to communicate with your subscribers when you want to. Start growing your list as soon as possible by utilizing lead magnets, content upgrades, and adding multiple subscription forms to your site. 7. Communicate with your list regularly Once you ve started to build your subscribers, you need to communicate with them regularly. I know, you might be like, "wait, who has time for all this?!" I get that, but communicating with your list is so vital that it would be worth it to spend less time on other to-do list items to focus more on your list. When communicating with them, make sure you re consistently providing value, like free resources, tips, or helpful personal stories, in order to connect with your list and show them your knowledge and relatability. 8. Increase engagement and build community This step is often skipped by waaaay too many people. It s easy to dive into blogging and go right from "create content" to "sell my first product." Nah, girl. You can t do it that way. Before selling an e-course or workshop, you need to build true engagement and community with your subscribers, readers, and followers. Plus, this is one of the most fun aspects of blogging! It s the difference between sharing a piece of content that gets zero comments and sharing something that gets

7 comments, shares on social media, and gracious s from people who are obsessed with what you publish. In order to truly build an online community, you need to humanize your brand and show people that you are relatable. 9. Choose how you will monetize your blog with e-products E-products are a fantastic, scalable way to grow your blog and turn it into a full-time business. Before launching your first product, it s important to consider which type of product you want to launch and which would fit your experience and audience the best. The most common e-products include e-courses, e-books, paid workshops, and membership sites. Which one will you pursue? 10. Market your new e-product Once you ve decided on and created your new e-product, it s time to market it to the community you ve been building. Before you even launch your product, work on creating "hype" and buzz around it. You want people eager for it once it is released. As for marketing your new product, you will want to combine several different strategies for the most robust marketing plan. Consider using things like webinars, sequences, your own affiliates, social media advertising, and guest posts in order to successfully market your new e-product.