7 Important Things To Focus On When Building Your Blogging Business

Ever feel overwhelmed by blogging?

You’re not alone.

Overwhelm, and its best friend, frustration, is a large part of my blogging life. I’ve accepted it as being so and I’ve learned ways to manage and overcome this.

It’s a daunting journey with so many things that require your attention. Increasing your traffic and your income will be your most pressing problems to solve.

In the online world things change quite quickly. It’s easy to get caught up in the latest shiny object or chase the wrong things down the rabbit hole. How do you know what to give attention to?

Which social media platforms will help grow your business the most? How can you create content that stands out in a crowded world? How do you get readers AND then keep them? What is the best way to earn money through your blog without draining all your time and making you look like your “selling out.”

That’s a term I completely despise by the way and one I don’t believe you should use or pay attention to. You’re are not selling out by making money from the hard work you put into your blog, you are selling into your dream and the dreams of others.

Best blogging tips and resources — Geeking out at the Social Travel Summit in Austria – learning all I can about travel blogging

The blogging and entrepreneur journey is one that has many ups and downs. That is why it’s important you NEVER stop growing and learning. Finding ways to reinvent the wheel is essential.

That is one reason I spend a lot of time and money on my own personal growth, my energy levels, and learning as much as I can. Just these past six months I have attended three conferences and am flying out to my fourth tomorrow.

It’s an exciting one because we have been nominated as a finalist for a Modern Entrepreneur award. That was a word I never thought could be used to label me. I didn’t believe I was smart enough or creative enough to be an entrepreneur.

But here I am. And you can easily do the same.

Like you, I have moments where I am afraid and get stuck. In this post, I want to share with you the main areas in my blogging business I focus the majority of attention and resources on.

These are the essential core foundations of my business that help me consistently grow – in traffic, opportunities and income.

Is blogging too crowded now?

How to become a travel blogger — There is plenty of room for you in blogging

It may seem like the blogging world is overcrowded and you may be too late to the game. Absolutely not. I can tell you the pie is HUGE and now has never been a better time.

The money people are spending online is increasing into the trillions, online users are increasing everyday and more and more money is being put into digital marketing, especially in the tourist industry.

We live in a world full of abundant opportunity.

Now is your time. It’s important that you learn from the best, develop your skills and create a rocking blogging strategy so you can take advantage of it.

7 important things to focus on when building your blogging business

Sharing valuable blogging information — Sharing my travel blogging campaign insights at the Social Travel Summit conference

Do not let the crazy game of Instagram likes and comments fool you into thinking that is what is vital for your business. Our Instagram engagement is CRAP. It always has been and is only getting worse.

I am so grateful I had the intuition and foresight from the very beginning to know that was not the path to building a solid online business. It was just an arm of it, a weak one that does not impact how my business grows or the money I make.

Every day I see more and more people complaining and crying because of Instagram reach. They have put all their eggs in that one basket and now their business is in the toilet. You cannot build a business on rented land!

Put the focus into your blog – you own it, you control it.

If you continually focus on the following you will have success and your blogging business will grow:

1. Great Content

Great content should always be your number one priority. I am thrilled every time a reader lets me know how helpful our content has been to their travel planning and experiences.

I know from the amount of research I do for our own travel planning, that so much of the content online is absolute rubbish and unhelpful. We know how to create great content because we are, and always have been, full-time travelers.

The key to creating great content is to be your reader. Understand what life is like for them and what they most need. Give this to them in a way that is better than the rest.

I don’t say that for you to play a comparison game, but to really research and focus in on what is missing in the market so you can provide it and stand out.

2. Email List Building

It astounds me how little effort people give to email list building. It is always my first focus, and still I don’t give it as much attention as I’d like.

Forget about putting all your focus on growing your Instagram account, grow your email list! It’s a much more personal and rewarding relationship and they trust you so much more!

The conference I am attending this week is run by Ontraport, my email software system. I can’t wait to learn more advanced strategies from them.

Relevant: Ontraport Review: Kickass Email Marketing Automation for Growth

3. SEO

We recently took an old post that had very poor search optimisation on it and applied the SEO principles we have since learned to update and improve it.

That post went from receiving nearly no traffic to now getting over 6,000 views a month and is in the top 5 position on the first page of Google for several highly searched terms.

SEO is powerful.

This is where you can write one useful post and have it bring traffic to your site, which not only helps people looking for that solution, but can increase your ability to earn money and grow.

Many of our posts that are three years old still bring in 2,000 – 10,00 views a month. And we receive so many emails of gratitude to people who have used that to help them.

This is the most amazing SEO tool ever! IT’s what we use and now can’t live without. It’s expensive but it helps us grow our traffic and income so worth it.

4. Pinterest

Like other social platforms it has tricky algorithms to work out. But with Pinterest, it is just like a search engine. So if you can optimize your posts and pins with the right keywords you can gain a lot of traffic to your site.

So I highly recommend you invest time and resources into growing your Pinterest strategy. Anything that drives traffic to your site, requires attention!

A great course to take on Pinterest is from our friend Claire Robinson called Structur Pinterest for Travel Bloggers

5. YouTube

Although YouTube may seem like you are building a business on rented land, you still retain ownership over your content creation, i.e. videos, and can do what you want with it on your own platform.

What’s great about YouTube is that it is the second biggest search engine, which works in your favor. Video is also the way of the future. At every conference I have attended over the past year this has been the consistent message.

So I highly recommend you find ways to make video a part of your content and blogging strategy.

We are putting more and more of our resources into it and I need as much help as I can get, as it is definitely not a strength of mine.

You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here.

6. Monetization Plan

Of course, how to make money blogging is at the top of your priority list! We have multiple streams of income on our blog – some passive and some very active.

Having this diversity helps us to consistently earn a balanced income. If one income stream has a slow month, we can rely on the other income streams to keep us steady and growing.

You want to always be focused on generating different income streams and increasing your income every month. Without income you don’t have a business, you have a hobby.

7. Mindset

I can promise you, it does not matter how many strategies about business you learn and perfect, if you cannot master your mind you will take yourself out of the game quite quickly.

Entrepreneurship is a roller coaster of emotions. You have to learn how to manage the downs and ride the ups.

This is why I recommend constant and never ending improvement – it is because YOU are your business. That is why you always work on yourself. The more you grow, the more your business will.

With blogging, you are building a business around YOU – your expertise, your passions, your insights. Its essential you have got YOU in tip top shape.