There is a saying I use while target practicing that goes, “Aim small, miss small.” When you’re marketing yourself or your brand, you need a marketing plan. The number one reason you are not making money or the kind of money you would like on your blog is due to your lack of a plan. If you have a plan already, I would recommend revisiting that plan to make sure you are on target.

If you want to make money from your blog, then you must treat it like a business. When you start a business and need to get a small business loan or venture capital funding, you will have a business plan. For blogging, I don’t think you need to go out and gather every last detail and analyze it on a spread sheet. But, I do think that it is very important to have some direction and a target to aim for. Not all blogs are designed to make money, but this post is for the ones that are.

First, establish what it is you want to accomplish with your blog or website. Do you want to have the #1 dog blog on the Internet, or do you want to be another Internet millionaire? The truth is, the person with a goal and a plan will accomplish his goals much quicker and easier than the person without. Once you have figured out the direction you want to go, finding the way to get there is much easier.

Form your plan around something you love. If you are just chasing dollar signs, you will probably see few of them. If you look forward to waking up in the morning and starting your day because you can’t wait to share that new thought or story with your readers, you will generate income. If you are not doing it for the love of whatever your blog is about, it will become increasingly hard for you to stick with it. Anyone can make a million dollars, I believe it. But making that much money is a lot easier when you love what you are doing. In the world of blogging, affiliate marketing, SEO, widgets and so on, it becomes easy to blend in with the rest. The people who separates themselves from others are the ones who truly love what they are doing and will continue to do so without making a penny.

Once you have your plan and you’re ready to begin, set some goals for yourself. I have set some challenging but doable goals for myself and this blog. In fact, I post those goals on the sidebar so everyone can see how I am doing. I am a firm believer in writing or posting goals. This does a couple of things to help you achieve them. First, you see them constantly and will work to achieve them. Second, making those goals public will force you to work even harder in order to achieve them. But when you do, you can point it out to everyone that you not only accomplished your goals, but you exceed them (makes for a great post and helps to inspire people).

Remember that success and the Internet run a natural course together. The Internet is full of thousands of success stories from average people finding or creating a need and making it rich. With your computer, you have the ability to affect hundreds if not thousands of lives in just a short time. When you provide value to someone else, you will be rewarded or compensated for that value. Focus on the value you can provide to others.

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