Do you have a vision for your business blog?

I was reading an article on Inc.com recently. The article – Management Secrets: Core Beliefs of Great Bosses – was a collection of ways the best bosses manage their companies and employees. The article is worth reading entirely so take a few minutes to check it out.

There was one snapshot of the article that got me thinking about blogging in particular.

Here is the snapshot:

Extraordinary bosses inspire people to see a better future and how they’ll be a part of it. As a result, employees work harder because they believe in the organization’s goals, truly enjoy what they’re doing and (of course) know they’ll share in the rewards.

This insight is powerful.

A vision is something essential to a successful blogging strategy. We’ve touched on this subject once before here at GBW.

Please see: Create A Blogging Mission & Vision Statement

I thought the idea of vision and blogging was strong enough to warrant another post.

Let’s examine the topic further…

The Need for a Blogging Vision

When you started your business you probably had a vision. There was a lot of work to be done, but you probably had an idea of what you wanted the business to look like in the future. Most entrepreneurs have visions of being busy all the time, but having the freedom to work on their own terms while providing a valuable service for a select number of clients. As the business grew the vision probably became more specific. There could have been specific goals added to the vision. When addressing co-workers and others vested in the company you probably spoke about the future outlook including your vision for how things might change.

I’m a big fan of vision from the leadership of a company. Employees appreciate the insight.

A business blog is no different from the overall business. A vision for the future of the blog is crucial to its success.

A vision provides direction. It provides purpose. It’s provides a challenge to each person involved so they can do the work necessary to reach that vision.

Personal Responsibility

The first important reason vision is needed for a business blog is personal responsibility. If you go into a blog with no vision or idea at all about how it will look in one, two, five years then you’re setting things up to fail. You can reach out to peers in the industry to see how their blogging efforts have gone. You can speak with bloggers in other areas about their success. This provides the proper expectations for your potential business blog and sets things up well for you to create the vision for yourself. Once it’s set you can hold yourself responsible for the execution and that’s probably most important.

Allow yourself to take a risk here. Just as with anything in business, not everything will look like a sure thing. Accept the risk, but prepare as best as you can for the attainable goals of your business blog.

Blogger Inspiration

The next important aspect of a blog vision is to inspire your bloggers. Whether they’re employers or freelancers, it’s important to allow your bloggers to see the vision for the blog. If they know the expectations and can see the potential it will help them work to achieve goals and make the vision a reality. If you are truly behind your business blog your bloggers will see the passion and excitement. They will want to be part of the success. They want to have successful items to their credit and a growing business blog is something great for them as well as for your business.

Creating a Blogging Vision

The next step is to work on creating your business blogging vision. It starts with the simple question:

Where do you see your blog in five years?

The number of years isn’t important. Just as yourself where you want the blog to be in a few years. You asked yourself the same question when you were first starting your business. You still do it with your general business. Apply those thoughts to your business blog and then share it with your bloggers.

It’s the best way to become an amazing business blogging boss.