Starting a business in a field you’re passionate about? That is a very good idea today. This is the age of start-ups and it is easier than ever.
Traditionally, it was an uphill task. First of all, starting a business meant you had to look for capital investment, and then taking that important decision to quit your day job. Today, one can start a business without investing a large amount of time or money. Of course, it will take some time before you can look at a life of luxury. But, you can rest assured that it will definitely bring in some income, increase your understanding of the business. Plus, it will be a launching pad for you to dive into a business full time!
Here are some steps:
Start a blog
If you’re passionate about a topic, start a blog about a subject, which interests you. Keep the objective in mind that you need a lead to a profitable side business. You can think about a blog as a magazine which is published online. Before you write the first post, you should consider the following:
What is the topic of the blog? Be as focused and to-the-point as possible. Who is the target audience of this blog? Again, be as specific as possible. Who else is trying to serve this audience? Are they doing a good job? Who is interested in reaching or marketing to this audience? Essentially, you’re going to be writing a business plan for the blog.
Keyword research
Once you have decided on the topic, you need to do some keyword research. This involves finding out what information people are searching for related to your topic. This research is critical for two reasons:
- It’s very easy to think that everyone interested in a similar topic. By seeing what keywords people are searching, one can get a better understanding of how other people view a topic.
- A large portion of the traffic for most blogs comes from search engines like Google. To get traffic from them, one needs to write around the words that people are searching. Now you can move to keyword research.
Define your audience. Who do you want to have reading your blog? Depending on the topic, zero in on your readers. What are their demographics and psychographics? Your keyword research should help you gauge the level of traffic.
Analyze the competition. Do a research on whether there are already blogs which cover this topic for this audience. You would want to know if there is audience for content, and you should aim at creating better quality articles.
Answer the key question: Can you make money if you create a successful blog for this audience? You can put Google AdSense on your blog. After you put up AdSense, you will have information about how much advertisers are willing to pay to have your audience click on ads on your site, and how willing your audience is to click on ads.
Another way to analyze how easy it is to monetize your site. See if there are companies that offer performance marketing deals in your space. While performance marketing deals come in all shapes and sizes, earning 5-15% of the sales you generate is not unusual.
Putting together a blog on a topic you’re passionate about can actually turn into a nice side business!
Avtar Madan
Himanshu
Shree Lahiri
