Do You Consider Yourself A Brand? Your Pet Blog A Business?

Post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

As a pet blogger do you consider yourself a brand? A business? Or are you a hobbyist? Regardless of what
league you feel you fall in, if you want to be taken seriously as a blogger or if you're looking to elevate your blog to money-making or business status, you need to employ a few tactics to get yourself there. 

Now that 2013 is halfway over, it might be a great time to evaluate your blog and its purpose (if you haven't already) and see where you want to be by year's end. If you attended BlogPaws 2013 and are planning to attend BlogPaws 2014 this time, before the year ends may just be a jump start to get you going. 

Why you should, and how you can, take your blogging seriously and treat it as a business: 

• You have expertise to share. Whether you're an expert groomer, product provider, writer on pet-related topics, or other niche market, if you have expertise, you want to share it and the best way to do that is through your blog and your social media platforms. 
• If you haven't already done so, claim your domain name. Don't rely on using a blog hosting platform that gets Google love by being in all of your posts. What do I mean? If you are robbithepetblogger at blogger.com, Blogger is getting Google searchability with each post. You should buy the domain robbithepetblogger and claim it as your own. 
• Speaking of claiming a domain name… robbithepetblogger doesn't say too much and may not help me rank on Google. If however I was robbitheminiaturepoodleblogger that helps because I am being more specific about who I am and what I do. How searchable is your domain/business name? Be careful though to not get a domain that is too limiting, for example, robbiandhersummerpettraveltips — what do I do when it's no longer summer? 
• Blog consistently as a way to be taken seriously and to be found in the search engines. Do you find you have limited opportunities to get your blogging done? Take advantage of those writing times and use the calendar function in your blog platform and write in batches and schedule them in advance. 
• Don't know what to write about? Keep up on industry trends. Keep an idea notebook to capture ideas when they strike. Interview experts in your niche. See what people are talking about on social media. Ask your readers and followers what is on their minds. Keep track of hoidays and blog about them with a slant toward your niche. 
• Find a guest blogger for your site. It amps up your standing in the pet blogging community if you're networking with others and getting them a guest spot on your blog. Getting a guest blogger also frees you up from writing for a day. Remember if you get a guest blogger, promote their post and share the love so they will come back! 
• Photos, photos, photos. Readers love to see photos of pets. If you have a pet, chances are you have photos. Choose a day a week to highlight your pet in photos. 

What steps can you take to move your pet blogging from from a hobby (if that's your goal) to a business? What steps have you taken?