The Reality of Online Entrepreneurship
If you have a passion for a certain topic, or enjoy sharing your thoughts and opinions with others, you might be considering starting your own online blog. In this article, we'll take a look at the reality of running an online business and what you should consider before embarking on this adventure.
Online Entrepreneurship is an incredibly exciting opportunity for many, but it can also be extremely challenging to produce the type of high-quality content that's necessary in today's market without sacrificing attention to the day-to-day tasks needed to run your business. This can lead to burnout or withdrawal from the process altogether.
Before we go any further, it's important to note that this article is not intended to provide exclusive rights to run a successful blog on the network. This isn't a certification of your business acumen or an endorsement from the network, so do not take this article as fact. This article is simply intended to provide you with knowledge you may have needed to start your own online business.
In this blog post, we'll cover some tips for the beginner blogger who would like a good understanding of what they need to consider before starting up their own blog:
Where To Start?
If you want something done right, you need to do it yourself. There are a lot of people who will tell you otherwise, but in this line of work, there is no room for cutting corners.
If you don't feel ready to handle the day-to-day tasks required to run your blog then don't even think about starting your own online business. This could include everything from writing content to updating plugins on WordPress. If you're not prepared to do those things yourself, it's probably time to consider hiring a Virtual Assistant or filling in the gaps with freelance opportunities through Upwork.com or other outsourcing websites.
You'll have to be comfortable with the idea of being your own boss, which may mean giving up an easy part time job for a full-time because of the time commitment required. Decide if this is a realistic goal for you before starting your blog.
The Market
After deciding to pursue an online business, whether you're already in business or just starting out, you need to know what type of consumers are going to be able to benefit from your products and services. There are so many different niches and markets that it's not necessary for you to serve everyone on Earth. Unless you're planning to take over the world in your spare time, you should be focusing on a specific demographic.
You can't target everyone, so don't try. Identify who really needs your product or service and start there. You want to build a community around your blog rather than looking for ways to get out of it.
Will You Have An Audience From The Start?
One of the biggest misconceptions about starting an online business is that you'll have an audience from day one. It's not uncommon for bloggers with very niche topics to struggle with building up a following, even if they have something incredibly valuable to offer their readership.
It's a common misconception that if you're starting from scratch you have nothing to say and no way to reach people. Those who become successful in the blogging world often have an incredibly unique angle on their topics which makes them stand out, but this doesn't mean you should give up if your niche is really dull. You do have something interesting to offer your readership, even if it's not immediately obvious.
Search engines won't always be your best friend either, so don't get discouraged by a lack of traffic right off the bat. You might get lucky and get picked up by Google in the beginning stages, but you should plan on having a consistent strategy for bringing people to your site.
Are You Willing To Make This A Full-time Job?
Almost every successful blogger I know spent a huge amount of their free time developing their blogs before they became well-known. If you want to make your blog a full-time job, it will take a lot of hard work in the beginning. It's not uncommon for bloggers to spend 30 or more hours working on content and other aspects of their business before seeing any results.
In the beginning, you can expect to work pretty much anywhere, but as you begin to produce more content and establish yourself as an authority in your field, there may be opportunities for you to work from home or even from fancier locations. Don't expect this overnight though.
What Are Your Strengths?
When starting your own online business you need to identify what it is about yourself that will make you successful. All of us are different, which is one of the reasons why they call it the 'blogosphere'. It's a giant community of bloggers writing about anything and everything. The more you can learn about yourself in relation to what you're writing about, the more likely it is that your blog will become successful.
Personal branding is a huge component of being successful as an online business owner. If you're passionate about a certain topic, chances are someone else will be too and this means people will be willing to share your thoughts and opinions with others. That's one of the most powerful things about blogging, especially if you have a lot of power in your niche.
Identifying what makes you unique is an important first step in determining your angle for blogging.
What Type Of Content Will You Offer?
At the end of the day, the most important thing you'll have to offer your readership is great content. Content doesn't just mean blog posts either. If you're going to be writing about relevant topics surrounding your niche, this means sharing other people's great content as well.
Let's say that you've identified a market for parenting tips for single mothers over the age of 30. This means there are a few things you should be doing with your time as a blogger:
You should be writing blog posts on topics like 'How to Get Your Child Into College Without Going Broke' and '5 Steps To A Healthy Relationship With Your Teenager'.
You should be sharing other people's great content with similar titles, which will lead to more traffic for you and for them.
You should be including content like relevant parenting quizzes and polls on your site to help engage readers. This means more engagement from them, so they'll be likely to share your content as well.
The bottom line is that if you want to start an online business, you need something to offer people, even if it's just a blog post that helps them on a daily basis. If you can help provide value in some way, shape or form in the form of a blog post or an infographic then there will always be interest in what you have to say.
Conclusion
Starting an online business can be a very lucrative opportunity for people who want to break free of their 9-5. Many people want to take advantage of this but they don't know where to start. Starting an online business requires a lot of hard work and perseverance, but the payoff can be endless.
If you're looking to start your own blog or if you've already started one and you're struggling with some of the basics, then these tips are for you. Use these tips as a guideline for your business and see how much easier it is to get started after reading them.
With focus and determination, anyone can build a successful business in the blogging world.