Today I received an email from someone asks what my "methods" are for building an online business. That is always a difficult question — especially since I have a feeling that it was asked by someone looking for a easy and quick reply.
Here is my answer. I'd love to hear what would you have added or said.
Thanks for the email.
It's hard to sum it all in an email (I published about 6,000 posts on ProBlogger on the topic and also written a book), but really, if I summarize what I had to do, it would be:
Blog about topics you know about and enjoy (I blog about the topics I had blog about for free).Try to blog something interesting and useful for others every day, for a very long time (I've been doing it for nine years). In touch with other bloggers and other places where people go around the topics that you write on (such as social media, forums, etc.). Put yourself "out there" on a daily basis find new readers for your blog.Build community around your blogs. Reader questions, stimulate discussions, make your readers feel engaged and involved. Love them to death!Experiment with different ways to make money from your blog (and because). There is no way to do this-it could be through a combination of methods, including selling formats do affiliate promotions, advertising, writing sponsored posts, creating and selling your own products, etc.None of these is easily or quickly. It takes time and daily work in the long run.There is no blueprint for guaranteed success in this space.In the end it is about continued useful to people and building a relationship with them. A byproduct of that is that they will keep coming back, bring their friends and to respond to your calls to action.Thanks for your email address — in something I hope this helps.
Darren Rowse
