Lisa Steele of Fresh Eggs Daily

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January 2012

-Brand new blog

-Year old Facebook page

-No prior Social Media, writing or HTML coding experience

January 2015

-25,000+ Blog followers with 300,000+ monthly page views

-425,000+ Facebook likes

-More than three dozen corporate sponsors

-Two book deals

-Freelance magazine articles

-Radio and television appearances

-Blogging pays the bills…and then some

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THREE-YEAR GROWTH

BLOGGING LIKE A BUSINESSFive Tips to Successfully Brand, Grow and Monetize your Blog

1. Find your Own Unique Niche

2. Create your Brand – Be Consistent

3. Add a Face to your Brand

4.Treat your Blog like a Business

5. Focus on What Works

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FIND YOUR NICHE

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- A unique niche will help you stand out among other bloggers in your field

- Choose a niche that you think is possibly up-and-coming

- Can’t be too narrow a niche as to severely limit interested readers, but should be narrow enough that you can ‘dominate’ it

- Focus on something you are passionate about, readers can spot a ‘fake’ a mile away

CREATE YOUR BRAND

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-Decide on a ‘company’ name and use it on every platform

-Design a logo and ‘look’

-Add a descriptive tagline

-Be consistent across all social media channels

-Have a presence everywhere even if you aren’t active everywhere

-Add easy-to-find-and-follow links

BE CONSISTENT

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Blog Banner

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Facebook Banner

Google+ Banner

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YouTube Banner

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Twitter Banner

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Etsy Banner

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ADD A FACE TO YOUR BLOG

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- Personalize your blog by adding an ‘about me’ tab- Add a photo of yourself to your blog sidebar- ‘Sign’ your blog posts

TREAT YOUR BLOG LIKE A BUSINESS

- Order business cards

- Set up a ‘business’ email

- Open a business bank account

- Design professional-looking invoices

- Considering incorporating

- Consider Trademarking your name

- Track income and expenses

- Expect to regularly put in a full work week

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FOCUS ON WHAT WORKS FOR YOU

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- Don’t put all your eggs in one basket- Pursue multiple revenue streams/diversify!- Don’t worry if what is working for others doesn’t work for you- If something isn’t’ working, try something else

PURSUE MULTIPLE REVENUE STREAMS

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SUMMARY

- There are no set ‘rules’

- Follow your gut and your heart, don’t sell out

- There are no shortcuts or easy ways to build your brand/blog

- Plan on working hard

- Focus on your long-term goals and choose projects that will help achieve them

- Don’t get caught up in SEO or analytics

- Put out a consistently good-quality product and you will attract not only loyal followers, but top-tier sponsors and other opportunities

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