Free Blogging Business Plan Printable

by Mandi on February 14, 2011

blogging business plan

If you blog professionally — even if you’re not yet earning money from your blog — then it’s important to treat your blog as a business. One way you can do that is by putting together an actual business plan.

Your business plan doesn’t need to be a formal document since you’re probably not working with investors and financing, but it should be a place where you record your goals, think critically about your strengths and weaknesses, outlined expected expenses and create a plan for your blog.

My friend Shannon from For the Mommas is one of the most business-minded people I know, and she’s a huge proponent of putting together a business plan, no matter how big or small your blog is. Although I’ve thought through each of these items individually, I’ve never taken the time to put them in writing in one place, and so I’ve put together this printable business plan for you as well as myself.

Click here download or print the free blogging business plan.

Or get all of the Life Your Way printables in a single download when you buy the complete download pack for just $7! The complete set includes all printables published to date, organized by folder within a single download. It also includes free monthly email updates with any new or updated printables in a single download as well. Read more about download packs here.


  • Pingback: Tweets that mention Free Blogging Business Plan Printable -- Topsy.com

  • http://joyceandnorm.wordpress.com/ Joyce

    This came at the perfect time! Thanks!!

    • http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

      You’re welcome!

  • Mindi

    Analyzing the weakness of your competition before you even work out your business plan?

    Figuring out “strategic partnerships” as opposed to growing relationships organically?

    For a major corporation? That’s fine. But Bloggers pride themselves on building “community”, not building themselves up by undercutting other bloggers.

    Of course, if you are looking to be a cut-throat blogger, this is the PERFECT business plan!

    • http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

      I’m sorry that that’s the way the printable appears to you. I spend most of
      my time and energy looking for ways to promote other bloggers, and I think
      the bloggers I work with would tell you that I do that sincerely.

      I suppose that terms like weakness and strategic partnership could come
      across the way you’ve taken them, but that’s not what a business plan is
      intended to do. Weaknesses could mean gaps in the niche that you could fill.
      Strategic partnerships can refer to creating a series with a blogger you’re
      already friends with.

      For those of us who blog for business, these are important questions. A few
      bloggers get lucky and experience organic growth without any plan, but most
      of us need a plan in place if we want to make what we do worth our time.

    • Amysfinerthings

      Hi Mindi — I don’t know you or your blog, but I *do* know Mandi. She is nothing but helpful and encouraging where blogging is concerned, and I only wish I had known her when I started my site.

      Actually, when I started I had no idea that blogging could be profitable, so I likely would have scoffed at this information in much the same way you are. 2 1/2 years in, though, and I now know better.

      Yes, relationships are still the most important thing to me with my blog, but wow… I can’t continue to invest as much time as I do without a monetary result. Yay for the business plan!

      • http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

        This is key for me too, Amy: “I can’t continue to invest as much time as I
        do without a monetary result.” I love what I do, but it’s more than just a
        hobby, and I can’t justify the time it takes without a real plan in place.

        Thanks for chiming in!

        Mandi

        –

        :: founder & editor, Life Your Way
        :: ad director, Advertising Your Way

        :: project administrator, Deal Seeking Mom

  • Mindi

    Analyzing the weakness of your competition before you even work out your business plan?

    Figuring out “strategic partnerships” as opposed to growing relationships organically?

    For a major corporation? That’s fine. But Bloggers pride themselves on building “community”, not building themselves up by undercutting other bloggers.

    Of course, if you are looking to be a cut-throat blogger, this is the PERFECT business plan!

  • Mindi

    Oh – and just FYI – I have a screen-shot of this reply in case you decide to delete it.

    Don’t try to promote a community when your posts/printables inspire other bloggers to build themselves up at the expense of others.

    • http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

      I’m not sure why you think I’d delete your reply. The only replies I ever
      delete are spam, but it sounds like my you want me to delete it so you can
      turn this into a fight?

  • http://www.fortysomethingbride.com/ Colleen Cole

    I’m not sure why Mindi considers this to be a cut throat business plan. Let’s take my blog as an example. http://www.fortysomethingbride.com It is targeted at – now this is a surprise – mature brides. If I do a competitive analysis of my “competitors” blogs, the weaknesses I would identify would be “targeted to 20′s” “targeted to 30′s” “targeted to big budget”, etc. Or it could be that they aren’t updated frequently, have too many ads, etc. If a competitor looked at my site, they would list a weakness as “too many giveaways, not enough advise”. (That is about to change).

    I wouldn’t consider that to be a cut-throat way to look at blogging. Looking at your competitors strengths and weaknesses allows you to find a space for your blog. A “hole” to fill.

    If you decide to jump into the very, very crowded mommy blogging field, your analysis would be different. You might look at some competing sites and decide that they are “from a different city”, are written by several bloggers but “doesn’t seem to have a consistent voice”, “focuses on life with twins” when you want yours to be general, etc.

    I think doing a competitive analysis is one of the smarter things that you can do when you are starting a blog. (Or in my case, restarting.)

    Thanks for the printable!

    • http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

      Thanks, Colleen — that’s certainly how I intended it, and as a business
      major, that’s what we were taught business plans were for, not just for “cut
      throat” business.

  • http://www.savingwithshellie.com Shellie (Saving with Shellie)

    Mindi – I love you but I’m going to respectfully disagree here. While I’m sure there are bloggers out there who will exploit others’ weaknesses in order to further their own site, I don’t think that is the intent of having a business plan.

    I think this is a valuable tool, especially for new bloggers. By determining the weaknesses of competitors you can find an untapped niche and not further saturate an existing one. You can also learn from other’s strengths. And the strategic partnerships is sense of community in my opinion. I also think without realizing it many of us already do these things with our own blogs.

    For example, I do Safeway deal matchups every week. There’s another large blogger who does them also. She has some great strengths that I’ve learned from but her weakness: she lives in an area that doesn’t offer double coupons. I do. So in my matchups each week I really try to highlight great deals with double coupons. I also seek out other bloggers in double coupon regions and email them my list. I don’t try to undermine her relationships with the other bloggers she already shares her deals with. I’ve just found my own that are a better fit for my site. As for strategic partnership, this blogger and I are friends. We share deals we find and link to each other often. She is a valuable resource for me and a good friend. This relationship was cultivated from community and not cutthroat in any way. I don’t try to steal her traffic or take her down and I applaud her for being as successful as she is.

    As for threat aspect of the plan, I think you can view that in a community sort of way too. I used to be the only main blogger in my city. There’s a new one now that has become fairly popular. Instead of finding ways to take her out, I’ve developed a friendly relationship with her. We share deals and help each other quite a bit. So while she is still a competitor, I no longer see her as a threat because of the relationship we’ve built.

    So, I think a business plan can be a valuable tool for anyone. Plus it’s always a good idea to analyze your own strengths and weaknesses so you can improve. Keep in mind that bloggers who are interested in community will likely use the business plan as a chance to further their blog through community, learning and mentoring. Bloggers who are just in it for the money will likely be more cut throat in general and more often than not we already know who they are. So their using a business plan in an exploitative way will be nothing new.

    • http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

      I think you hit the nail on the head, Shellie — bloggers who are cut throat
      will build their business that way, and those of us that are invested in
      each other’s successes will build ours a completely different way. It
      doesn’t lessen the importance of planning for those of us who are invested,
      though!

      Thanks for chiming in!

      Mandi

      –

      :: founder & editor, Life Your Way
      :: ad director, Advertising Your Way

      :: project administrator, Deal Seeking Mom

  • http://mominmanagement.com Daria @ Mom in Management

    I think it’s great that you shared this Mandi and much appreciate the information. I disagree with Mindi and support what you are doing and the idea of a business plan.

    • http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

      Thanks, Daria!

      Mandi

      –

      :: founder & editor, Life Your Way
      :: ad director, Advertising Your Way

      :: project administrator, Deal Seeking Mom

  • Pingback: Freebie Friday: Atkins, Origins, eBooks, and More! — Kingdom First Mom

  • Pingback: Freebies, Freebies & more Freebies! – Penny Pinchin Livin

  • Mindi

    My big problem is putting the SWOT on page 2, not page 1.

    If you are building a business plan, you should build it on your OWN strengths, not the weaknesses of your “competition”. Blogging is about building community…both with readers AND your fellow bloggers. We all succeed when we build each other up.

    But building a blog by figuring out how to screw other bloggers from Day 1? No thanks!

    • http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

      I don’t think the idea is to “screw other bloggers”. The idea is to figure
      out what’s not being covered already so that you can meet a need rather than
      over-saturating the market by trying to do the same thing that 243 people
      are already doing.

      I agree that the order of the pages could be different, but I think
      evaluating where there is room in the market for your blog is a really,
      really good thing to do.

      For deal bloggers, that could mean not covering Giant of PA because you’re
      already doing it or covering Weis because no one is yet. For an organizing
      blog, it can be providing lots of free printables because no one’s doing it,
      or NOT providing printables because Life Your Way is already doing that.

      Evaluating strengths and weaknesses isn’t about anything other than figuring
      out where you fit in the market and what you can bring to your audience
      that’s unique and worthwhile.

  • http://embracinglife-rose.blogspot.com Rose

    Thank you for providing this blogging business plan printable. Your site is one of the first I come to when looking for a needed printable and one I also enjoy browsing just for fun. I came across the accidentally but will be using it in the future.

  • Pingback: Private Investors Virginia - Private Lenders

  • Pingback: Your Questions About Tattooing | Tattooing Ideas and Tips

  • Pingback: List Building 101 Tip #45 — Put An Opt-In Box On Every Page Of Your Site | Internet Marketing Muscle

  • http://www.kanegosyo.com.ph/p/whats-new/ franchise business philippines

    This is definitely a blog worth following. You’ve got a
    great deal to say about this business plan, and so much knowledge.

  • Pingback: Intiative to work at home | Earn Money At Home

  • Pingback: Top Reasons Why Entrepreneurs Fail | Make Money Online

  • Pingback: How To Market Your Business

  • Pingback: Your Questions About Owning A Business | Owning Your Own Business

  • Pingback: » Business Analysis and Planning Process from an Experienced Business Consultant

  • Pingback: The 10 Steps To Work At Home Success | VivaZine News Magazine

  • Pingback: Next Step Online Business Your Questions | Tenant Background Check Companies

  • Pingback: How To Prepare A Business Plan That Guarantees Big Profits by Julia Tang - completedigitalproducts.com : completedigitalproducts.com

  • Pingback: Your Questions About Trading Business Plan | eConsumer Product Reviews

  • Pingback: Your Questions About Niche Marketing Ideas - The Niche Market - The Niche Market

  • Pingback: Next Step Online Business Your Questions | Tenant Background Check Companies

  • Pingback: Promoting Your Offline Business With Great Content | Internet Marketing with Wordpress

  • Pingback: Your Questions About Finance |

  • Pingback: Your Questions About Make Money Online Free Paypal | blog.onlinemoneyinfo.org

  • Pingback: Your Questions About Web Business Plan | Internet Marketing Blog | Make Extra Money Online Quick

  • Pingback: Your Questions About Building Business Plan | Top Apprentice Blog

  • Pingback: Maintaining a Balance Between Your Business and Personal Life - Just another WordPress site - Mikey Likes It

  • Pingback: Next Step Online Banking Your Questions | Tenant Background Check Companies

  • Pingback: Business Plan Secrets Revealed!

  • Pingback: Your Questions About Finance |

  • Pingback: 5 Dollar Money Bomb Reveals The Secrets Of Social Media | Cash Cow Blog

  • Pingback: The particular #1 Component coming from all Productive Companies |

  • Pingback: Business Plan Preparation – Market Share, Sales And Business Plan Preparation | New NLP Technology

  • Pingback: Your Questions About Web Business Plan | Internet Marketing Blog | Make Extra Money Online Quick

  • Pingback: If You Lost Your Job Would You Make Money Online Fast?

  • Pingback: Your Questions About Home Based Business Plan | Cash Cow Blog

Previous post:

Next post: