Bloggers who want to earn income using their blog as the drive must organize a business around the blog. This presentation to BlogPaws 2014 conference introduces bloggers to the Business Model Canvas. Using a simple, one-page form and answering 9 questions, a blogger (or anyone else who wants to own and run a business) will understand how to organize their assets to connect with customers and produce a profit.

1. Not Just a Blog
(And Stand Out)
Build a Business
Mary Anne Shew
www.BuildBlogBiz.com
BlogPaws 2014

2. 2
Help pets
Run a blog
Make a living
Your Dreams

3. 3
Subscriber list growing
slowly
Hard to earn income
as a blogger
Problems

4. 4
The Solution

5. 5
The Business Recipe

6. 6
Produce
a Profit
Answer 9 questions to:
Connect
to
Customers
Activate
Your
Assets

7. 1. Activate Your Assets
(Answer 3 questions)
2. Connect to Customers
(Answer 3 questions)
3. Produce a Profit
(Answer 3 questions)
7
What we’ll cover

8. 8
But wait a minute…

9. How do I keep track
of all this??
9

10. The Business Model YOU
(BMY) Canvas
10

11. 11

12. 12
That raises another question…

13. 13
What’s a
business model?

14. 14
It’s a recipe for business
Running a business is
like making birthday
cakes

15. 15
Biz recipe guides you
Activate your Assets.
Do key tasks:
• Measuring, mixing
• Fill pans, put in oven
• Build cake, decorate

16. 16
Biz recipe guides you
Activate your Assets.
Use skills, resources:
• Design, baking skills
• Ingredients
• Bowls, utensils, oven

17. 17
Biz recipe guides you
Activate your Assets.
Get outside help:
• Recipe sources
• Baking class
• Helpful friend

18. 18
Connect to Customers.
Know who cake is for:
• Age, gender
• Their likes, dislikes
• Allergies, special diet
Biz recipe guides you

19. 19
Connect to Customers.
What is your relationship
to recipient / requester:
• Family, friend
• Co-worker
• Neighbor
Biz recipe guides you

20. 20
Connect to Customers.
• How they know you
like to bake and are
good at it.
• How to get cake to
party.
Biz recipe guides you

21. 21
Produce your Profit.
How you help:
• A great cake
• The guests’ pleasure
• Adds to celebration
Biz recipe guides you

22. 22
Produce your Profit.
What cake costs you:
• Ingredients
• Special equipment
• Time:
Thought, planning,
making
Biz recipe guides you

23. 23
Produce your Profit.
What you got out of
giving a cake:
• Sense of pride
• Appreciation
• Compliments
• Expressed your love
Biz recipe guides you

24. 24
Produce
a Profit
Connect
to
Customers
Activate
Your
Assets
Use the BMY Recipe to

25. 25
9 boxes

26. 26
Measuring
Mixing
Fill pans
Put in oven
Construct cake
Recipe
sources
Baking class
Helpful
friend
Activate Your Assets
Design, decorati
ng skills
Bowls, utensils
Ingredients
Mixer, oven

27. Activate Your Assets
27
Measuring
Mixing
Fill pans
Put in oven
Construct cake
Recipe
sources
Baking class
Helpful
friend Design, decorati
ng skills
Bowls, utensils
Ingredients
Mixer, oven

28. Activate Your Assets
28
Measuring
Mixing
Fill pans
Put in oven
Construct cake
Recipe
sources
Baking class
Helpful
friend Design, decorati
ng skills
Bowls, utensils
Ingredients
Mixer, oven

29. 29
Connect to Customers
Who is cake
for
---
Kind of
cake they
like
Volunteered to
make? Or asked?
How to get it
there
Relationship to
recipient:
parent, friend,
etc.

30. Connect to Customers
30
Who is cake
for
---
Kind of
cake they
like
Volunteered to
make? Or asked?
How to get it
there
Relationship to
recipient:
parent, friend,
etc.

31. Connect to Customers
31
Who is cake
for
---
Kind of
cake they
like
Volunteered to
make? Or asked?
How to get it
there
Relationship to
recipient:
parent, friend,
etc.

32. 32
Produce a Profit
A great
cake
---
Guests’
pleasure
---
Adds to
celebration
Sense of
pride, appreciation, compliments,
expressed your love
Cost of ingredients, special equip
Time to plan, make

33. Produce a Profit
33
A great
cake
---
Guests’
pleasure
---
Adds to
celebration
Cost of ingredients, special equip
Time to plan, make
Sense of
pride, appreciation, compliments,
expressed your love

34. Produce a Profit
34
A great
cake
---
Guests’
pleasure
---
Adds to
celebration
Cost of ingredients, special equip
Time to plan, make
Sense of
pride, appreciation, compliments,
expressed your love

35. 3 Sets of 3 Boxes
35
Who is cake
for
---
Kind of
cake they
like
Measuring
Mixing
Fill pans
Put in oven
Construct cake
Design, decorati
ng skills
Bowls, utensils
Ingredients
Mixer, oven
Recipe
sources
Baking class
Helpful
friend
A great
cake
---
Guests’
pleasure
---
Adds to
celebration
Volunteered to
make? Or asked?
How to get it
there
Relationship to
recipient:
parent, friend,
etc.
Cost of ingredients, special equip
Time to plan, make
Sense of
pride, appreciation, compliments,
expressed your love

36. 36
9 Boxes = 9 Questions
Who is cake
for
---
Kind of
cake they
like
Measuring
Mixing
Fill pans
Put in oven
Construct cake
Recipe
sources
Baking class
Helpful
friend
A great
cake
---
Guests’
pleasure
---
Adds to
celebration
Cost of ingredients, special equip
Time to plan, make
Volunteered to
make? Or asked?
How many guests
How to get it
there
Relationship to
recipient:
parent, friend,
etc.
Design, decorati
ng skills
Bowls, utensils
Ingredients
Mixer, oven
Sense of
pride, appreciation, compliments,
expressed your love

37. 37
What else is a
model good for?

38. 38
Think
through
ideas

39. 39
Solve
problems

40. 40
Answer
“What if…?”

41. Cooking with the BMY Recipe
41

42. Cooking tips for the BMY Recipe
42
It’s easier to start by listing your Assets
One answer may change the others
The only “right” answers are the ones
that work for you

43. Cooking tools for the BMY Recipe
43

44. 44
• A printed copy of BMY blank form
• A pen
• 1.5” x 2” sticky notes
• A camera
Cooking tools for the BMY Recipe

45. 45
BMY Recipe directions
1. Write your answer to one of the 9
questions on a small sticky note
using the pen—just a few words

46. 46
2. Stick the sticky in the appropriate
box on the BMY form
• Stickies make it easy to change
the recipe
BMY Recipe directions

47. 47
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you have
answered all 9 questions and are
happy with your answers
BMY Recipe directions

48. 48
4. Take a picture of your BMY for
future reference
BMY Recipe directions

49. 49
5. Get feedback on your BMY from
trusted associates, friends, family
• Take a picture of each version
BMY Recipe directions

50. First Look:
The 9 Questions
50

51. Part 1
Activate Your Assets
51

52. Activate Your Assets
First set of three questions:
1. What you do
2. Who you are (a) & what you
have (b)
3. Who helps you
52

53. Activate Your Assets
53

54. Part 2
Connect to Customers
54

55. Connect to Customers
Second set of three questions:
4. Whom you help
5. How you interact
6. How they know you (a) & how
you deliver (b)
55

56. 56
Connect to Customers

57. Part 3
Produce a Profit
57

58. Produce a Profit
Last set of three questions:
7. How you help
8. What you give
9. What you get
58

59. Produce a Profit
59

60. 60
9 Boxes = 9 Questions

61. 61
A Closer Look:
The 9 Questions

62. 62
Why go through all
this?

63. Competing for Attention
63

64. 64
 BlogPaws members:
 5/15/13: 2200 members
 5/03/14: 3575 members
Competing for Attention
 72M Wordpress blogs
 184.5M Tumblr blogs: 93M posts/day

65. 65
Competing Against Others

66. 66
 Successful bloggers, over time, adjusted
the Recipe to fit them and their audience.
 The vast majority of blogs aren’t run as a
business.
 Running your blog as a business makes
you more competitive.
Competing Against Others

67. 67
Ready?
Let’s Dive In

68. Part 1
Activate Your Assets
68

69. Activate Your Assets
69

70. Activate Your Assets
1. What You Do
What are the physical and/or
mental activities you perform on
behalf of your Customers?
70

71. 71
Activate Your Assets
1. What You Do
Sample
Answers

72. Describe your:
Interests: What excites you
Abilities: Natural, easy talents
Skills: Learned/acquired talents
Personality: Style of interaction
with others
72
Activate Your Assets
2a. Who You Are

73. 73
Activate Your Assets
2b. What You Have
Describe your:
Knowledge: Pet care, feeding
Expertise: Your pet niche(s)
Other personal resources: Subscribe
to professional magazines, journals;
contacts, etc.

74. 74
Activate Your Assets
2a+b. Are&Have
Sample
Answers

75. Who supports you in your role as a
professional blogger?
75
Activate Your Assets
3. Who Helps You

76. 76
Sample
Answers
Activate Your Assets
3. Who Helps You

77. 77
Part 1: Activate Your Assets: Summary

78. Part 2
Connect to Customers
78

79. Connect to Customers
79

80. Connect to Customers
4. Whom You Help
Who pays you directly to receive a
benefit?
Who receives a benefit at no cost
and is subsidized by paying
customers?
80

81. Connect to Customers
4. Whom You Help
81
Sample
Answers

82. Connect to Customers
5. How You Interact
• Personal or face-to-face
• Blog, email, social media, text
• Single transaction or ongoing
• Focus on more customers or
keeping the ones you have?
82

83. Connect to Customers
5. How You Interact
83
Sample
Answers

84. Connect to Customers
6a. How Know You
How Prospects discover
you, decide to buy, how they buy
84

85. Connect to Customers
6b. How You Deliver
How you deliver, follow up after
the sale
85

86. Connect to Customers
6a+b. Know&Deliver
86
Sample
Answers

87. 87
Connect to Customers: Summary

88. We’re in the home stretch…
88

89. Part 3
Produce a Profit
89

90. Produce a Profit
90

91. Produce a Profit
7. How You Help
91
What job(s) are Customers hiring
you to perform?
What benefits do Customers gain
as a result of that job?

92. 92
Sample
Answers
Produce a Profit
7. How You Help

93. Produce a Profit
8. What You Give
• Your time, your energy
• Your out-of-pocket expenses
• Stress, disappointments
• Long hours
93

94. 94
Sample
Answers
Produce a Profit
8. What You Give

95. Produce a Profit
9. What You Get
• Fees, royalties, commissions
• Free products to review
• Satisfaction, recognition, contrib
ution
95

96. 96
Sample
Answers
Produce a Profit
9. What You Get

97. 97
Part 3: Produce a Profit: Summary

98. 98
Want Some
Blog Revenue Ideas?

99. 99
Darren Rowse
• Blogger since 2002
• Problogger.net (public site)
• Problogger.com (member site)
• Digital-photography-school.com

100. 100
http://www.problogger.net/moneymap/

101. 101
Final Summary:
The 9 Questions

102. 102
Part 1: Activate Your Assets: Summary

103. 103
Part 2: Connect to Customers: Summary

104. 104
Part 3: Produce a Profit: Summary

105. 105
A Pet Blogger’s Recipe

106. 106
Mary Anne Shew
www.BuildBlogBiz.com
BlogPaws@ShewBlogs.com
Make a Splash!