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BLOG SMARTER DASHBOARD :: COMMUNITY

Well, this is it.

We’ve spent the last 12 weeks together, day in and day out. You wrestled with the toughest business decisions any CEO has to make, and you made them. Not only did you build a strong brand that will serve your target market more deeply and set your business up for long-term success, you also learned the phrase “give it a whangdoodle.” 😉

Looking back at where you started and where you are now, you’ve come so far. And if you don’t believe me, go back and find your Week 1 Learning Log and read through your Gold Nuggets and the questions you had back then. Odds are those Gold Nuggets are old hat to you now – and the questions you’re asking this week compared to those first few questions show how very much you’ve learned in a relatively short time.

But what now?! We’ve spent so much time together and supported each other through so many tough CEO decisions that next week might feel a bit…empty.

Below, you’ll find some suggested next steps to keep you on track, plus a powerful Blog Smarter technique to help you sustain your momentum over the long haul.

And if you find yourself craving a space like this where you can continue learning alongside your fellow CEOs and hold each other accountable, tune into our last coaching call this week for a special announcement about a members-only working group just for Blog Smarter grads. 🙌

Not Quite Done?

If life got in the way and you’re still working your way through the program, remember that you get lifetime access, so you don’t need to rush.

Keep moving forward through the program and completing the assignments in order to apply the strategy directly to your business. Take it at your own pace and trust the process. Jumping around won’t do you (or your business) any good!

If you’re serious about making your business more profitable, completing the brand-building work outlined in this program should be your top priority for your business before tackling any other big project. A strong brand is a prerequisite for a growing business, so focus on that first and foremost.

Bonuses Coming Soon!

To celebrate you making it to the end of this program, next Monday, any bonuses you qualified for when you first registered for the program will unlock in your dashboard.  So if you’ve finished the program and you’re ready to keep learning right away, you’ll have those to tide you over!

Your Next Steps

Over the last 12 weeks, you worked hard to build a strong brand that will serve as a powerful foundation for your business moving forward. But at this point in the program, you’ve probably already started thinking about your next big audacious goal. You might want to create your first product, launch a membership program, write a book, automate your marketing systems, write a nurture sequence to take new subscribers through your best content, grow your search traffic through SEO – the possibilities are endless.

First, take a deep breath. You have big goals for your business, and that’s a good thing! But if those big goals become so overwhelming that they paralyze you into not even knowing where to start, that won’t move your business forward or help you serve your target market more deeply.

Assuming you’ve finished the program (and if you haven’t, do that first!), pick ONE goal for yourself for the next month, 3 months, or however long you think it might take you. Know that it will probably take longer than you think it will upfront. That’s just how the human brain works, and that’s perfectly okay.

After you have that goal picked out, focus on that ONE goal and resist the temptation to be distracted away by the next shiny object that crosses your path.

While we can’t cover every conceivable blogging goal in this one program, you’ll have the best success when you rely on the Listen-Plan-Deliver cycle, no matter your goal.

And wherever possible, use the strategies you learned in this program to blow your goals out of the water. For example:

• If you want to create your first product, kick off a session of the Listen-Plan-Deliver cycle to make sure you come up with something your target market will actually buy.
• Or if you want to grow your traffic with the best kind of page views, use the Snowball Technique from Module Five to grow your audience and win over new super fans.
• Or if you want to write an automated email sequence for your subscribers, revisit the bonus Set It + Forget It lesson from Module Four to make sure every email you create drives the reader to open and click, open and click.
• Or if you want to improve your subscriber conversion rate, go back to the Tiny Taste lead magnet steps in Module Four and create an offer that will magnetically attract your target market.

But…Which Goal to Pick First?

If you’re struggling to pick just ONE goal to focus on next, remember that you don’t have to do everything right now. Every step you take towards a more profitable business is something to celebrate, no matter how small or big that step is.

But if you’re having trouble with prioritizing what to focus on first, below you’ll find a set of questions to help guide you.

Note: Because these techniques build on top of each other, it’s important to make sure your foundation is solid before moving forward to the next question. For example, if you have a very low open rate for your email list, developing a product will likely not do you much good because your subscribers won’t even open the email where you announce the product.

1. Have you finished all the brand-building assignments inside the Blog Smarter program?
   • No: Do that.
   • Yes: Continue to the next question.
2. Did your Tiny Taste lead magnet increase your subscriber conversion rate?
   • No: Revisit Module Four and evaluate your lead magnet with fresh eyes. Your site is like a bucket with holes in the bottom, and an irresistible lead magnet will plug more of those holes.
   • Yes: Continue to the next question.
3. Did the improvements you made to your onboarding process increase the open and click rate for your first welcome email?
   • No: Revisit Module Four and evaluate your onboarding process with fresh eyes. These are the people who’ve already said “yes” to your brand and will be most likely to become customers down the line, so it’s important to make them feel cared for.
   • Yes: Continue to the next question.
4. Did switching to the Brand Ambassador Boot Camp Technique increase the average open and click rate for your regular emails to your list?
   • No: Revisit Module Four and evaluate your approach to emails with fresh eyes. If you want your subscribers to become brand ambassadors, you must train them to open and click.
   • Yes: Continue to the next question.
5. After publishing more on-brand content and/or reworking old content to bring it in line with your strong brand, did your traffic increase? (Several factors influence page views such as social media algorithms, search engine updates, and so on, so you’ll want to look at the bigger picture over several weeks or months to evaluate this.)
   • No: Revisit Module Five and use the Snowball Technique to grow your traffic and find your super fans.
   • Yes: Continue to the next question.
6. Have you started a Listen-Plan-Deliver cycle for a small product or service to help your target market?
   • No: Revisit Module Six and do that.
   • Yes: Continue to the next question.
7. Want to keep improving from there? To increase…
   • Subscriber conversion rate: Revisit Module Four and brainstorm a new lead magnet.
   • Open rate or click rate: Revisit the bonus Set It + Forget It lesson from Module Four.
   • Profit: Revisit Module Six and kick off a Listen-Plan-Deliver cycle to brainstorm a new product/service or evaluate an existing product/service. Also, revisit the bonus Set It + Forget It lesson from Module Four and think about how you can let your subscribers know about your products on a more regular basis.
   • Page views: Revisit Module Five, then brainstorm new on-brand content and use the Snowball Technique.

How to Keep Your Momentum Going

While it would be nice if we could wave our magic wands and turn our blogs into massive income-generating machines that run 100 percent on autopilot, the truth is that no business decision you can make—no business plan—will last forever.

But here’s the good news: You already have all the tools you need to get you 5, 10, or even 20 years down the road.

Because you now have the Blog Smarter system.

This program isn’t just a one-time deal. The Blog Smarter approach is a way of running your business every day. And you can return to this process any time you feel stuck, like if your business experiences a slow-down or if you feel the momentum shift with your business.

And so every six months or so, you’ll want to return to this process. You’ll set a date and time for your 6-month Blog + Business Review.

Here’s what that will look like…

Step One: Listen + Observe

First, measure what’s currently working on your blog. You’ll return to the principles from Module One and revisit:

• Who are the people showing up on your blog?
• What do they need? What do they desire?
• What’s standing in the way of their success?
• Does what you’re currently doing match up with what your people need?

You’ll also want to revisit the Zoom and Pan Technique:

• Which topics have you covered in the last six months? What has been the most successful? What has been least successful?
• Do you need to zoom in further?
• Is it time to pan around to another area of your authority?

As always, you’ll make decisions based on your actual observations of what’s happening on your blog: in your Google Analytics, yes, but also in all the ways you’ve connected with your people and in all the things you’ve gleaned as you’ve listened during your regular Listen-Plan-Deliver cycles of business.

Step Two: Revisit Your Brand

Time will pass. Life will change. What’s true for you today may not be true in six months.

That’s normal.

After you’ve taken inventory of what’s currently working for you—what your subscribers are saying—it’s time to revisit your brand using the tools you learned in Module Two.

• Do you still aspire to the same character traits? The same qualities? If not, it’s time to update your personal brand.
• Do you still believe the same things about the topic you write about? As you grow in your own understanding of your topic, you’ll gain new insights that will lead to changing beliefs. Craft a new Anchor Belief and continue to move forward.
• Revisit your Signature Story. Has anything changed? Are you hearing things from where your readers are in their lives that would mean you need to refocus your Signature Story on a different aspect?
• You might have developed new skills and abilities in the last six months. So based on what your readers need, craft a new Brand Promise so you can serve your target market even more deeply.

Step Three: Hone Your Visible Brand

If you’ve made any adjustments to your core brand elements, revisit the areas of your website you learned about in Module Three, plus any social media profiles or other places you have a presence. You’ll take a look at:

• Your About page
• Blog title
• Tagline
• Navigation
• Messaging (including sidebar areas and what shows up on your home page)
• Your personal presence (photo)—especially if you’ve had any life changes like a totally new hairstyle
• Logo and other visual brand elements

Everywhere you have an opportunity to connect with your target market, you need to communicate your strong brand.

Step Four: Refresh Your Subscribe Machine

If you’ve made any major changes with the people you serve or what you write about, revisit your lead magnet and make sure it’s still positioned to attract your target market and still serves them.

Also, use what you learned in Module Four to take a fresh look at your subscriber gateways and the touchpoints in your onboarding system, then make adjustments as necessary.

Step Five: Take a Content Inventory

In Module Five, you developed a plan for creating only evergreen authority-building content for your blog. Check in to find out how that went.

What did you try that didn’t work? What turned into an unexpected smash-hit success?

Also, revisit your content plan and brainstorm new content. Use these techniques to develop a rough game plan for the next six months:

• Treasure Trove Raid
• Active Listening
• Success Tower
• Need to Know
• Past Success
• Bonus: Viral Content Spying
• Bonus: Consulting or Coaching

Step Six: Master Your Money

As the Smart CEO of your business, you have a choice about how you’ll make money to sustain your operations and help you serve your readers more deeply. Take an honest look at where you decided to focus your monetization efforts in Module Six, and ask yourself:

• How is that working? For example, have you developed any winning affiliate relationships, or do you need to research more?
• What would you like to achieve in the next six months?

Your Assignment

Today, set a reminder in your calendar for six months from today to complete your Blog + Business Review. Then after that review rolls around, you’ll set another reminder for your next Blog + Business Review session.

As you move through this review of your business, rely on the Blog Smarter system to inform your next steps. That will help you see what’s working and help you make the decisions that will carry your target market and your business forward.

And I’ll be right here, cheering you on!

Kelly

Steps to success…

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