The following is a guest post by Chris Richardson, who has been working as an editor at a publishing agency in London, UK for 5 years. He is also a professional content writing expert in such topics as career growth, self-improvement, blogging, and technology innovations. Feel free to connect with him on Google+.

Blogging is a good opportunity to expand your business. According to a HubSpot survey, more than 60% of businesses who blog gain more customers. This great marketing strategy will help you develop closer relationships with clients and be a step ahead of your competition.

However, creating your own blog is a challenging step. You’ll have to put in a lot of hard-work, commitment, and persuasiveness. The results are definitely worth it, but time and effort are two important factors to consider. Here is a list of essential steps to examine.

1. Map Out a Plan

Map out a plan of your project. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What’s your vision?
• What do you want out of your business?
• What’s the reason for opening up a blog?
• Can you reach out to a wide audience?
• What are you short-time and long-time goals?

Your personal perspective will influence your business and your blog content, so make sure you answer the above questions sincerely.

2. Who’s Your Audience?

It is important to understand your niche and know how to address it to the broad public. Sometimes, clients can be difficult to collaborate with. They might be looking for different resources than the ones you can provide. That’s why you must know whom you’re speaking to.

Consider these questions:

• What is your targeted public?
• What do they want to read? What are they interested in?

3. What Do You Specialize In?

Choose your specialty before entering the market. Since there are so many health education blogs available online, your niche must make a difference.

If you have not decided yet, here are some ideas you could choose from:

• Weight loss
• Fitness training
• Meditation and Mindfulness
• Healthy Eating
• Running

4. Become Visible

It’s time to take your first steps towards success.

Become visible online by:

• Opening up a professional Facebook page
• Signing your company up for Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Tumblr
• Designing special videos to introduce yourself
• Partnering up with people specialized in your field of interest

After you’ve checked the above to-dos, choose a blogging platform, pick a domain name and host, and start designing your website.

5. Meet an Important Need

One of the most important questions to consider before choosing your favourite niche is: what important need are you going to meet?

• Analyze the market size and its net worth
• Study the prevalence of certain niches throughout the blog industry
• Compare and contrast

6. Be Original

With more than 150 million blogs present on the market today, you can’t afford to be boring. Creating original content and designing quality posts are two essential requirements of success.

Thus:

• Brainstorm ideas before creating content
• Ask for external opinions
• Keep your mind open
• Track your progress (by keeping a journal)

7. Improve Constantly

Always care for your blog’s improvement.

Expand your site’s usability by:

• Adding links to your social media content
• Conducting surveys and asking your clients what they’re interested in
• Improving user-friendly interface
• Captivating clients with interesting stories
• Using SEO tools to rank higher

8. How’s the Money?

It’s time to see where you stand financially. Your profits show how successful your blog is. No profits means that a change must be made.

If you are not thriving financially, consider redesigning your business plan (back to point 1). A company’s blog must bring in money nonetheless.

9. Build an E-mail List

If your business goes well, build your personal e-mail list. How? By emailing relatives, friends, or people you’ve met before.

Tips:

• Introduce yourself to the public
• Continue with a catchy joke/ice breaker
• Talk about your experiences and passions
• Tell them about your goals
• Include a link to your first article

10. Design Tempting Offers

Now that your clients are hooked, you should start designing tempting offers.

• Make the outcome clear as day – why should they buy your product?
• Emphasize how the product meets their needs
• Ask for reviews and testimonials beforehand and include them in the e-mail
• Show them that the benefits outweigh the costs
• Give them a guarantee – maybe money back?

11. Network, Network, Network

Increase your number of subscribers by networking. Listen to various perspectives, accept opinions different than your own, keep an open mind (again!), ask for business cards, and finally, shake hands.

12. Start Outsourcing

If you don’t have enough time to finish your daily work, consider outsourcing. Carey Longwood, CEO at Craigslist and former freelancer, says, “Look up writers online and pass the tedious tasks to them. Essay Geeks writers or Upwork freelancers are just few of the many remote workers you could reach out to.”

13. Don’t Compare Yourself to Others

Do not be influenced by others’ success. It takes time to build long e-mail lists, designate tasks to others, or even gain money from blogging. Patience is the key.

14. Listen to Your Inner Soul

Sometimes, business doesn’t go well even if you try hard. If something tells you to continue the path you’ve taken, do it. If your soul doesn’t agree, stop. It’s important to listen to yourself, and conduct a deep analysis of your feelings. “Is it still worth it?” If the answer is “yes,” then go for it, don’t stop, reach your goals, and increase those profits!

15. If Needed, Embrace Failure

If your project fails, and there is nothing else that can be done, embrace failure and restart planning. Failing is learning.Maybe next time!

Conclusion

To build a successful health blog, you’ll need to: map out a detailed plan of your business project, target your audience, improve constantly, keep an open mind, and go with the flow

Building a blog, getting, growing your business

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