The Ultimate Business Plan Template for Bloggers Hey bloggers, here’s a potential newsflash for you. It’s OK to make money from your blog. You don’t have to feel guilty or like a “sell out” for doing so. Lots of people are earning a living from blogs these days and there’s no reason you can’t join that growing group. But before you run off and slap some advertising on your site in hopes of making millions, let’s talk about the reality of earning a living from a blog. First, a blog isn’t a business. A blog is simply a good way to reach an audience online. If you want to build a business around your blog, that’s completely doable, but you need to think about the business end of things just like you would with any other business. Second, a little planning can go a long way. Yes, if you build a giant audience online, chances are you’ll be able to make money somehow even without planning. But most people don’t build giant audiences. Most people build modest audiences. Bloggers who plan ahead can still earn a comfortable or even great living from a modest-sized audience. Bloggers who don’t plan ahead are usually stuck with some unpleasant choices when they realize they aren’t on track to build the next Boing Boing or Zen Habits. I built the simple and effective business plan template for bloggers below based on my own journey and from watching and helping dozens of other bloggers build real businesses over the past two years. This isn’t your typical business-school type plan. It’s the kind of plan that aims to get you thinking about what matters instead of creating random 5-year revenue numbers out of thin air. Planning is guessing after all, but simple planning has been shown to increase a business’s chances of succeeding. Answer these questions and you’ll have a better shot at building a successful business around your blog. Let’s begin. Foundation - Why should anyone read your blog? Why are you starting this blog and why do you want to build this business? It’s important to have at least two goals to build a successful business: you need to genuinely care about helping (or entertaining, or both) other people, and you need to want to build a business and support yourself. Think about your own reasons for starting this blog. List your honest answers here. hat goals do you have for your blog personally, both monetary and otherwise? What would you like your blog to provide you with? How much money would you like to earn? List your answers for six months from now, one year from now, two years from now and three years from now. Also list intangible goals you might have, like lifestyle or emotional goals. What problem will your blog solve, or (alternately), what need or desire will it fill? To build a business around your blog, it needs to follow the same rules that all successful businesses follow. Your site needs to solve a problem or address a need or desire. Why should anyone read your blog vs. the millions of other blogs out there? Whether you admit it or not, your blog will be competing for attention with thousands of other sites out there. Why should someone read yours instead of the other fantastic choices that exist? How are you especially qualified to produce a blog on this particular topic? You have to care about a topic and be knowledgeable about it (or have the ability to bring in experts to share knowledge) in order to produce compelling content. Are you qualified in this way? How is your blog different from what already exists on the same topic? Differentiation is the cornerstone of successful marketing. Without being different no one will have a reason to read your blog. How will yours be different? What kinds of people will read your blog? Who is your ideal reader? Describe the kinds of people who will read your blog. Where do they hang out online already? Do you consider yourself part of those communities? What kinds of competition exist already in this space? Competition isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It proves that there is demand. Without competition you may be making a crap shoot about whether anyone will actually care about your topic.