by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Have you noticed that blogs are popping up online everywhere?
Yes, blogging is the phenomenon of the age. You just need to know
how to profit from it. These suggestions will help.
1) Be clear on your objective.
The people who are successful with blogging, that is the people who are
making money from it, all are very clear on what they are writing their blog to
accomplish. If you’re writing a business blog your objective is crystal clear:
you blog to profit and for no other reason.
Too many (particularly new) blogsters have mixed objectives. Sure, they want
to make money but, perhaps even more (and dangerously) they write to get their
share of the limelight.
Don’t make that mistake.
When you’re in business your blog exists for one reason and one reason only:
to put money in your pocket, as quickly and substantially as possible.
2) Never forget the deal you have with your readers.
People who run successful (that is to say money-making) blogs never lose sight
of the implicit deal they have with their readers, viz.
Publisher: I will email you information of value and consequence. I shall also
send you (in the same issue) ad copy for your earnest and honest consideration.
Reader: So long as you email me superior copy, I shall do two important things:
I will read this copy, and I shall also (at least ) glance at your ads.
This is the basis for a mutually satisfactory relationship.
3) Understand your role as a publisher.
Publishers become publishers for two major reasons: because they have something
important to say and want to influence the world AND to make money. Thus in every
issue you must offer superior content…and prospect-centered ad copy. The key here
is keeping this equation balanced.
If you run nothing but superior content, your readers may be delighted… but you’ll
make no money and, in short order, give up the enterprise.
If you run nothing but (or even too many) ads, your reader will immediately get
bored…and punish you not just by trashing your current issue but trashing all
future issues without even a glance.
Publishing, then, is all about balance.
4) Study the great publishers and their empire-building methods and procedures.
The minute you have a blog, you have become a publisher… and the minute you become
a publisher you become a card-carrying member of the greatest professional association
on earth: publishering. Now you are part of a grand tradition. Make it a point to understand
what that means by studying the great practitioners of your business. This includes
people like Gutenberg and his Bible (1455)… Canadian Lord Beaverbrook who seized English
newspapers the better to manipulate ministries and imperial politics and his tenacious
rival Viscount Rothermere… and the great publishing families of America whose names
alone remind us of what publishers can do to generate wealth for themselves while shaping
the course of a great nation starting with William Randolph Hearst…
The Taylors of Boston… the McCormicks of Chicago… the Chandlers of Los Angeles….
and their counterparts in every significant city on earth.
You, you!, are now one of their number, and I can tell you this about such people, they
were all, to a person,
* big thinkers
* people who meant to shape events, not just witness them
* determined to have their point of view not just seen but dominant.
The small, the trivial, the inconsequential and insignificant had absolutely no place
in their publications or their lives. These are the people, your professional ancestors,
it behooves us all to study and emulate.
These were people of amazing, irrepressible energies and imaginations. They didn’t
moan and groan about their "work", the time it took, the sacrifices they had to make
to do it. They were grateful for the opportunity to create vehicles of wealth and influence,
thrilled to get up each and every day and set about their work, stamping the world with
their mark… and eager, too.
Is this how you approach the business of your blog? If it isn’t, re-examine your reasons
for creating and publishing a blog and once you have done so absorb these home truths
about the business:
* Say something significant in every issue. We all want to "make a difference" with
our lives. When you’re a with-it publisher, this is easy to do. Make it clear that yours
is a blog designed to make this a better world; there is no higher calling than that.
* Always ask your readers to respond. "Bribe" them, if necessary, to do so… offer them
something of value that induces them to respond quickly and meaningfully. Such people
become your best customers.
* Publish to a schedule. The best way to blog is daily. If you aspire to significance and
substantial rewards no other schedule should even be considered.
* Talk directly, frankly to your readers. Be for them what every great publisher must be:
a candid, direct, honest to a fault advocate of humane and progressive change. Publishing,
you see, is never merely about transmitting information; it is about seizing minds and
changing lives… about throwing down gauntlets and taking up causes… and always
informing, motivating, energizing, enthusing and transforming.
Make today the day you rethink and recreate your blog.
The most stimulating game on earth is influencing others and so shaping the world you
want. This is the gift all (good) blog publishers get… but you get it if and only if you
focus on providing people with blog posts of interest, significance, and value. Nothing
less can or should be set before the most important people in your business life: your
blog readers.
From now on, focus each day on what you want to share with them; what you know
that can change and improve their lives… and how you will present it to them for maximum
impact and long-lasting effect. They must see you for what you are: their great and valued
friend and counselor, operating through and touching their lives in your blog.
When you are producing a blog of value and influence, your entire outlook on life shifts;
no problem is too big, too oppressive, over powering: problems are merely challenges
which you can help your readers surmount and conquer, one step at a time.
You see, publishing, all publishing, is about the business of improving lives. That is
what publishers do; that is what you as a publisher must do… with your ever-improving and
life-transforming blog the vehicle to hand. Do this and the golden benefits of blogging, not
least the systematic and continuing improvement of lives, will all be yours.
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc. at
www.worldprofit.com, providing a wide range of online services for
small and-home based businesses.
To see Dr. Lant’s blog go to www.jeffreylantarticles.com
Dr. Lant is happy to give all readers 50,000 free guaranteed
visitors for attending his live webcast today. Visit Worldprofit
for details.