Every entrepreneur has struggles, bloggers included. However, if you don’t find a way to overcome the areas that are the most problematic to you, you’ll soon find that your blogging business is dead in its tracks.
Although many bloggers realize this, they don’t necessarily know what they can do to move past the hurdles in their way and really grow their blog. So, if this is where you currently find yourself, leaving you unsure what to do to take your blog to higher levels, here is a simple 3-step process that can help.
Step 1: Identify Your Own Personal Obstacles
If there is one thing that is true in business it is that no two entrepreneurs take the exact same path. By default, this also means that no two entrepreneurs share the exact same struggles.
Before you can overcome the obstacles unique to you, you need to first identify them. This requires taking a few minutes to sit down and list out the things that are feeling most problematic to you.
The Social Ms shares that some of the most common challenges experienced by new bloggers include staying motivated, trying to be perfect, getting enough traffic, staying active on social media, and not giving up.
Make a list of your own personal challenges so you know which areas you need to address in order to fully grow your blogging business.
Step 2: Create a Blogging Business Growth Plan
Once you know what is currently stopping you from achieving the level of growth you’d like with your blog, the next step is to develop a plan to overcome these obstacles.
In a CEO Spotlight provided by CEOWORLD magazine, Russell Ruffino talks about scaling your business. According to Ruffino, who is the founder and CEO of Clients on Demand, the key to achieving growth is to concentrate on these three key business functions: “Attract new leads, Convert them into clients, and Deliver your service as powerfully and profitably as possible.”
With this in mind, where do most of your current obstacles fall? Is it bringing in new leads that is presenting the most issues for you or are you good at that, yet having trouble converting these leads into lifelong, loyal clients?
Develop a plan that addresses your most problematic area. Aim to tackle it little by little so as not to overwhelm yourself. By simply taking one step at a time, you’ll eventually get where you want to go.
Step 3: Measure Your Results
The only way to know whether you’re truly overcoming your obstacles is to have some type of measurement in place. This will help you quickly identify whether the actions you’re taking are moving you forward with your blogging business.
You can do this is by regularly visiting your site’s analytics so you know whether your blog is getting more visitors or subscribers. If your site doesn’t provide this type of information automatically, Google Analytics supplies this type of data as well. All you have to do is create an account.
Another option is to keep track of how many times your posts are shared on social media. If you’re not familiar with how to do this, Razor Social shares that Google Campaign URL Builder (which tracks your shares using Google Analytics), Bit.ly, and ClickMeter all work well for this purpose.
By identifying your blogging-related obstacles, making a plan to overcome them, and then measuring whether your plan is actually working (or if it’s not), you are better able to grow your blogging business. Additionally, revisiting this same process regularly can and will keep you on the right path.
