10 Ways to Build Your Business with a Blog

A blog is a tool like any other tool- email, twitter, etc. that enables you to do what you want and need to do. It could be to share your life with a few friends; it could be to build a platform of fans to buy an upcoming book; it could be a place to sell your art or business services. When I talk about blogs, it will be as a platform to market yourself and/or your business.

Your business might be your full‑time calling, or it might simply be a smart way to bring in a little extra income that helps your family breathe easier. Either way is valid. What is not real is the idea of a get‑rich‑quick blog. If someone promises that, they are not on your team.

I also want to take this opportunity to say that your business may be either a full time endeavor, or it could be a way to earn extra income on the side that allows you or your family to stretch your budgets a little further. No blog should ever be considered a get rich quick plan, and anyone who promises a get rich quick plan is not on your side! 

Growing a business with a blog, just like any other strategy, takes intention, patience, and a thoughtful plan.

The good news is there are so many ways to use a blog to grow your business, and today I’m sharing 10 of my favorites.

1. Build your Reputation with your Domain Expertise

Think of your blog as your billboard, your living resume, the place where your expertise gets to shine in real time.

If you are an incredible speaker with something to say, or you know you’d make a powerful keynote speaker, let your blog show it. Share what you do and how you do it. Use video to highlight your speaking skills while giving your readers something valuable they can actually use.

And here is a little pro tip. There is a huge need for strong writers who understand how to create content people actually want to read online. Big companies finally understand that branded micro sites don’t drive interest on their own. Great content does. Keep writing, keep showing your skill, and if you want professional writing opportunities, start building relationships online on LinkedIn and offline at industry events. Doors open quickly when people can see what you can do.

2. Build Trust and Credibility

People love to buy from people they feel like they know. Even if they have never met you in person, if you have built a real connection online, spoken their language, shown that you understand their struggles, sat with them in their living room through your words, and helped them in some meaningful way, then when it is time to make a purchase, they remember you because they know you.

Tsh Oxenreider, author of Notes from a Blue Bike, is a beautiful example of this. She built trust and community with her readers long before she built a business from her platform. Her work grew into books, both traditionally published and self‑published, along with affiliate income and thoughtful, integrated advertising. She built a business by first building a relationship.

3. Build a Community

I’ve said this before, but it matters: your tribe is made up of the people who share your interests, your goals, your season of life, or your business focus. In the beginning, your tribe starts with your readers. Over time, as you consistently serve them, something shifts. They begin to trust you because you show up for them.

They start to value your voice. And if you lead them well, those readers naturally become followers, and those followers eventually become customers. Your only job is to build your tribe with intention and lead them with integrity.

Jeff Goins is a great example of this. His ability to write meaningful, generous content built a loyal community long before he ever launched anything. That trust is what fueled the success of his books and his online course on building an audience.

4.  Build an Email List

Blogs help you find your voice, but if you have a product or a service, your email list is what actually sells it.

Your list doesn’t need to be huge. It just needs to be filled with the right people. You can have a massive list, but if those subscribers would never need what you offer, it won’t move your business forward.

Here’s a pro tip. The people who join your list should feel cared for. Give them something that feels special, something they can’t get on your public site. For example, my subscribers get occasional personal notes from me, helpful content I don’t publish anywhere else, and first access to reserve spots in my classes and courses before they open to the public.

5. Build a Pain Reliever for the Pain Points of Your Audience

Pain points are the things in your audience’s life that are driving them crazy, slowing them down, or keeping them from the business or life they want. And here’s the truth about pain. People do not like it. They will pay to make it go away. They will pay you to make it go away if your product or service genuinely helps.

If you want lifelong customer loyalty, ease their daily pain. When you solve real problems, people stay with you.

So how do you figure out what their pain points are? Ask them. I know. Revolutionary.

People don’t want to stay stuck. Find out what hurts, and then use your product or service to help.

There are endless ways to do this, depending on your audience. What would make their life easier?

• Create an online course. (If your readers desperately want to learn how to make homemade bacon crafts and knit adorable things, then help them do it!)
• Develop a product that solves a problem. (Bacon‑shaped knitting patterns for the guys who knit. Yes, men knit too.)

You know your people. Serve them well.

Brian Clark of Copyblogger is a fantastic example. He spent years listening to his audience, learning what they needed, and then created online marketing courses and powerful software that solved their biggest challenges.

He reminded all of us starry‑eyed social media folks back in the day that blogs still need to be businesses. We rolled our eyes and said, “It’s a new era. That thinking is outdated.” Turns out he was right. If you want your blog to become a business, you need a product or a service.

6. Build an Audience that will Help you Get a Better Book Deal

Unless you are famous or infamous it can be hard to get a book deal. Sure, self publishing is great, but what if you want an advance and any support launching your book? You want a deal with a publisher.

The best way to get your (unknown) foot in the door with agents who can help you get that deal is to write amazingly epic content on a blog and build an audience.

That audience gives you the online street cred to get a deal for your first book.

7. Build a Larger Customer Base with Content Marketing

For years, people leaned hard on SEO to get traffic, but today, content marketing is the real powerhouse.

Actually, it’s more than the powerhouse. It’s the whole kingdom. If you want to bring more people to your site and grow your customer base, you need standout content that truly serves.

People are looking for in‑depth, helpful content they can apply to their lives and businesses right away. And they’re looking to you to provide it.

If content marketing isn’t your strength, hire someone who can do it well. It really is that simple.

And remember that little hint I dropped earlier about the huge need for talented copywriters who understand online readability? Yes. That was on purpose.

8. Build a Portfolio of Work for Potential Clients to See and Love You

This is an important and often overlooked step.  Your portfolio may be difficult to build until you actually have customers, but even before then, you can create samples of the work you “can” do.

If you are just building your portfolio, by all means work for free to build your portfolio. Help everyone you can, create your art and get moving. Don’t wait for the perfect client to appear. Get out there and practice, get some experience under your belt and then it’s time to actually take on clients.

9. Build your Brand and Position Yourself from Competitors

And as incredible as you are, (and you ARE fabulous) there are likely to be a gazillion other companies, consultants, online courses out there very similar to yours.

So how do you stand out in a crowd?  Differentiate.  Some part of what you do has to be different from what everyone else does, or they may as well just hire someone else or buy someone else’s product.

No one can be uniquely you. It is crucial that you find your unique positioning that will help you stand out from the crowd.

As you build your tribe, build trust, develop your list, and follow the other guidelines I’ve given you, your customers will begin to notice that you are different from your competitors, and they’ll come flocking to your * digital * door.

There are very few “new” things under the sun.

10. Build a Method to Validate Your Ideas

And last, but certainly not least, let your audience give feedback on your ideas for your next book, product or service offering.

This helps you not waste time and money on something only you like. (I’ve been there. It’s super hard on the ego.)  Your audience will be brutally honest with you (trust me, I know!)  

They’ll tell you what they want, what they need, and what they want you to do for them (and stop doing).At the end of the day,  if you want to build the business of your dreams online, then you will need to build a stellar online platform, and get yourself a sound business strategy.

But I know you can do it.  That is why you are here. We aren’t messing around. I’m going to continue to give you sound business advice, and you and your brilliant self are going to keep working hard at building the business of your dreams and a life of meaning.

If you are interested in business coaching or my upcoming step by step business course click here to get connected.