There are a lot of bloggers out there just getting started. They want to make it big. They want traffic. They want to make money. Great! Today, I make six figures per year as a professional blogger. It was a long road for me. What I thought I would do is share a quick, step-by-step approach to how I would start all over again, right now.

Realize that this is a broad overview of steps. I will not get into detail on each one in this particular post. The idea is to provide you a roadmap so that you don’t forget what I consider to be very crucial steps. Also, this overview is focused on the development of your blog into a money-making venture. A hobby blog is a completely different animal.

With that in mind, away we go!

1. Decide on your blog’s target market. Do this by finding the intersection between what is popular to others and what you are interested in or good at. Your interest and knowledge is very important here. Within that subset, you do market research to determine what has the best likelihood of developing into a money-producing market. Also, create an idea file for blog post ideas. You should have no problem creating this list and, if you do have difficulty, you should question whether the potential market is a good fit for you.
2. Secure hosting and a domain name. I recommend self-hosting your blog and using your own dot-com domain name. Sub-domains are unprofessional. Simultaneous to choosing a domain is, of course, naming your blog. When doing this, think about your long-range plan. Think about brandability. Memorability. Find a domain which can be stated verbally without spelling clarification.
3. Set up WordPress. I am an evangelist for WordPress and I simply don’t recommend you go with any other blog software. I would install the All-In-One SEO plug-in and the Google Sitemaps plug-in and set those up from day one. Also, change your permalinks to a more SEO friendly version.
4. Set up a blog theme. When first starting, I recommend using a free theme and modifying it enough to make you happy. If you want, you can have somebody design a logo for your blog. 99 Designs is a great site for getting this kind of work done for you. But, don’t get overly focused on your blog’s appearance at this point.
5. Start Your Mailing List. Yes, you should start it from day one. Ideally, the moment your first reader arrives on your blog, they should have the option to get onto your mailing list. Use a system which allows broadcast mailings, but also allows people to receive your latest blog posts via email. I highly recommend Aweber.
6. Create Your Pillar Content. It is time to get started writing. Create 5-10 really killer pieces of very valuable content for your new blog. This is your showcase of your best stuff so as to “sell” your blog to new readers when they arrive. Since nobody is yet reading your blog, just publish each piece of content as soon as you finish it.
7. Create Some Back-up Draft Content. I always recommend having around 5 posts in draft in your blog so that you can publish when time is short.
8. Sign up For Twitter. Use a Twitter handle which is either related to your blogging niche or perhaps just your name. Be sure to use a real picture of yourself as your Twitter profile. Link your Twitter account to your about page on your blog, and enter a bio into Twitter which is descriptive of your market. With your profile created, find other Twitter users which are in your market and start following them.
9. Set up Twitterfeed. Use Twitterfeed to tweet your latest blog posts directly to your new Twitter account.
10. Set up a Facebook account. Set it up the same way as you did Twitter. After that, install the Facebook Twitter application so as to get your tweets piped into Facebook automatically.
11. Keep Writing. Just throwing this in as a reminder that you need to keep on writing for your blog. You might have your pillar content there already, but you need to keep producing at least a few new posts per week in order to keep your blog fresh. So, don’t forget this part! It’s crucial!
12. Start Connecting. Using Twitter and Facebook (and any other social network you feel like joining), start conversing and connecting with people. Track down the opinion leaders in your market and start conversing with them. Do not approach them with a pitch for your blog! Instead, keep it real and be real. You can mention your blog if it is applicable and relevant.
13. Research and find relevant blogs in your market. You want to find several of the leading blogs in your market and subscribe to their RSS feeds. Start becoming a regular reader and a regular commenter on those blogs. Obviously, when you leave a comment, use the website field to link to your blog. Ensure all your comments are useful and not self-promotional.

Realize that there is no “launch button” on your blog. The moment you upload it the web, your blog is live. Chances are, though, that nobody knows about it. So, get it all set up and get your pillar content created before you start telling people about it. Then, the moment you start connecting and networking on other blogs and on social media, that’s more or less how you flip the switch and launch your blog.

So, all this time, you need to be producing regular, quality content. This is the most important thing. Assuming that you’ve begun networking on social media, other blogs and that you’re continuing to produce content, you should expand your marketing strategy a little bit more. For example…

1. Start authoring guest blog posts for other leading blogs in your market and send them to those bloggers. Read these guidelines for guest posting.
2. Start taking some of your pillar content, doing any necessary editing you feel necessary, then submitting to the major article directories such as EzineArticles. You could also use a site like Isnare to submit to multiple directories. Be sure to author a bio to go along with your article which links to your blog. Better yet, link it to a landing page within your blog which will work on getting new readers subscribed to your mailing list.
3. Set up an autoresponder on your mailing list to begin sending useful, relevant content by email to your subscribers automatically. Your first message can be a simple welcome message, perhaps asking them to follow you on Twitter, etc. Subsequent messages provide useful content and link to your pillar content.
4. Start planning and working on your first information product. Remember, if the aim is to make money, you need to quickly start laying the groundwork for your offer – even if you’re still building up your list and your traffic.
5. Author a highly relevant and high quality PDF report to make available to new email subscribers. Use this free report to attract new subscribers to your list.
6. Join up on Meetup.com and start finding, attending and/or starting relevant meeting groups. Personal networking is very important to online business!
7. Continue to be active on social media and on other, relevant blogs. This is an activity that, along with writing, will never cease for as long as you are in the business of blogging.

As you move through these steps, you’ll probably be learning all kinds of new tactics and strategies for traffic building. That’s great. But, be careful not to become overwhelmed. Don’t get so interested in tactics that you forget the basics: networking and producing quality content.

With that, welcome to the world of strategic blogging. You’re well on your way.