Do You Have Any Long-Term Assets In Your Blogging?

by Robb Sutton

I do not believe anyone got into blogging as a business to be a slave everyday to your latest article. For this reason, it is essential to build up a portfolio of long-term blogging assets that continue to grow your blog and make you money over time. This way…you are not just as good as the last time you hit the publish button.

Any successful company (blogging or not) has tangible assets that drive the growth and sustainability of the business. The day to day operations support and promote those assets to insure long-term growth within a specific market. As you continue to look at ways to grow your blogging, you need to think outside of the box and start planning for the future. What are you adding to your blog today that is going to be a marketable asset in the long-term? Are you only worry about tomorrow’s article?

3 Examples of Long-Term Blogging Assets

  1. eBooks and Digital Goods – Ebooks and digital goods are probably the most recognized and popular form of a long term blogging asset. On robbsutton.com, I have released two free ebooks (Ramped Mindset and Ramped Blogging) and one premium paid ebook (Ramped Reviews). These are tangible blogging assets that will continue to grow the blogs monetary value and increase blog readership and credibility for years. By creating these ebooks, I am able to continue to market the blog and promote useful content that helps other bloggers and increase the bottom line at the same time. Is there something your niche needs that you can provide through a book or program? Other popular forms of digital goods are plugins, coaching programs and consulting. Each of these items increase your brand awareness and expand your offerings as a blogger.
  2. Forums and Community – By creating a forum or strong commenting community around your blog, you are investing in your readers and making their viral capacity an asset to your blogging. Forums are incredibly hard to get started, but – once rolling – generate conversation and content on autopilot with almost no input (minus moderators, database management, etc.). There are several blogs on the net that have made their forums a cornerstone in their industry to get information and converse with other like minded individuals. When managed correctly, forums continue to grow with time, regardless of yesterday’s article.
  3. Pillar Articles and Link Bait – Have a great idea for an article that is going to be so useful readers are going to refer to it for years to come? There are some articles that are just timeless and by writing these long works of literary art, you are insuring viral content and search engine traffic for years. This sort of content is just so good that your readers can’t not link to it. These articles should blow everyone away to the point they are surprised all of that useful information is contained on one page.

The Road Block For Blogging Assets

So, if these items grow your blog exponentially, why don’t more bloggers have them? Time…it takes a massive amount of time to invest in your future as a blogger. Ebooks are not going to get put together on their own, it takes a lot of time and effort to build a strong community and pillar/link bait articles are not your run of the mill blog article. Many bloggers still believe that if they just write their content on a regular basis, everything will just come into place. That is not true and it never will be. You have to invest time in longer term assets and then promote those assets within your niche if you want sustainability for the future.

As you look at your own blog, what are you offering? Are you just stringing blog articles together and hoping for the best? Are you in the process of brainstorming how you can grow your blog for the future? Have you hit a plateau and are trying to figure out how to get to that “next level”? Long term blogging assets are your ticket to blog security.

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9 comments

Rob Mangiafico October 29, 2009 - 10:03 am

3 strong tactics for long term blogging. Getting a forum started is the easy part. The hard part is keeping it alive, moderating it, actively posting, and growing the forum. It’s a full time job in many cases and requires a few talented moderators to keep it running optimally.

A white paper / ebook is a great way to offer something of value. It takes time to put one together and fill it with valuable content, but it usually pays great dividends.

For pillar articles, we aim for one a month. That works for us in terms of attracting new visitors and getting some long term value out of the blog.

Rob – LexiConn

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Robb Sutton October 29, 2009 - 8:34 pm

One a month will really start to add up over time. Great work.

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Tim Bourquin - MemberCon.com October 29, 2009 - 5:43 pm

Good thoughts, Robb. Far too many bloggers don’t treat their blogs as a business in the first place. I would go a step further and say that every single post a blogger publishes should be considered for it’s long term value to their “company” (even if your “company” is simply you as an individual).

Like many large businesses, I even try to calculate the value of every post I make and determine how much it will add to my bottom line on an annual basis.

Found your blog from your comment on Yaro’s blog. You’re in my RSS reader now. Thanks!

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Robb Sutton October 29, 2009 - 8:35 pm

Thanks for subscribing Tim!

You are completely right. Most bloggers that want to earn income from their blogging never make that first step to treating their blog like a business. Long term goals are necessary for sustained growth.

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Gordon Cindric October 29, 2009 - 8:41 pm

Hmm, interesting blog post. I have thought about it a lot and for me, a community around my blog would be a great goal. That could eventually evolve into a nicely moderated forum where people would share ideas. I’ve been to a few of those kinds of forums that evolved from a How-to website or a blog and they seem pretty nice.
Only thing I don’t like is people registering on those forums just to post their blog link to get a few clicks … that’s just pathetic, not contributing to the community and trying to get the max out of it.

Nice post anyway! 🙂

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Robb Sutton October 29, 2009 - 8:43 pm

I know exactly what you mean. They typically ask for blog critiques or something of that nature to try to get a few clicks and subscribers before they have actually done anything. With forums…you get out what you put in…and some people still don’t get that.

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Gordon Cindric October 29, 2009 - 9:27 pm

“You get out what you put in…” – Well said! That’s exactly it.
I guess people are taking shortcuts, trying to earn quick money. There is still a lot of missconception about making money online. It takes a lot of work for it to start coming in.
Nice blog by the way, I will take the time and skim through it entirely.

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Robb Sutton October 29, 2009 - 9:36 pm

There will always be that wrong assumption about earning an income online. Just the name of the game I guess. The reality is that making money online requires the same thought processes as any other beginning business.

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Review: How To Launch The **** Out Of Your Ebook | robb sutton dot com November 4, 2009 - 8:57 am

[…] techniques. They are also the easiest way to build a large amount of credibility and add long-term assets to your blog.When I asked if I wanted to review Dave Navarro’s “How To Launch The **** […]

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