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Before starting any good business one creates a business plan, just as you should create a blog plan before starting your own blog. A blog plan assures that your blog reaches its full potential.



1. Goal

What do you want out of blogging? The goal is simple. Some people want to make money from blogging, some want to get their name out, or some just want to blog for fun.

2. Research

Who are your competitors? Are there tools that can help you? What blogging platform should you use? Who is the authority in my niche? Research is the key to any marketing campaign. Ask yourself the questions above. Identify who you competitors are (other blogs that are in your niche and other similar niches). See if you can look for any tools that can help make your blogging experience a little easier. Look at other blogs and see what plugins they are using. Plugins will not only make your life easier, they will help optimize your blog for search engines and improve the usability of your blog. Find as much information as you can about blogs in your niche, other niches and read up on how to blog. It is better to have too much information than too little.



3. Audience

Who is your ideal audience? Who is actually going to read your blog? What is the best feature of your blog? What will your audience think of your blog? What does your audience want? These are questions you should ask yourself before you start blogging; unfortunately not all of these questions will be answered initially. Knowing your audience and knowing what they want is the key to having quality content. Once you know who they are and want they want, all thatâ€™s left is giving it to them.

4. Purpose

There are 62 million blogs, why should people read yours? What are you offering your audience? Your blogâ€™s purpose is different from your goals. Your blogâ€™s purpose is for your audience while your goal is for you, the blogger. Give your blog a purpose:

Example: I am an SEO and my blog provides information to help market websites. My goal is to get my name out as an SEO specialist. My purpose is to provide bloggers with information about SEO, PPC or blog optimization.

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