What is your blog’ USP?

To earn a substantial blog income you need to define your USP (Unique Selling Proposition).  If you did not include this part in your original plan development this is a good time to revisit the process.

What is the feature of your blog?

What is the benefit?

We know the importance of USP when it comes to selling tangible items, but when it comes to the non-tangibles the lines begin to blur.  Consider:

Car
Feature: Heated/cooled seats and back rest in car
Benefit:  instant body comfort no matter what the temperature is outside.

Restaurant
Features:  authentic home-made Italian;
Benefits:  better tasting than others

A blog by definition is not a tangible, you can’t pick it up, package it and deliver it to someone.  But it is a product. To uncover the USP of your blog ask yourself these questions:

  1. BENEFITS
    What are the benefits of the blog?
  2. NICHE APPROPRIATE
    Are the benefits appropriate to your niche?  i.e.  does it solve a major problem?
    Helps people eliminate debt?
    Improve self esteem?
    Shows how to plant patio gardens?
  3. MEANINGFUL SPECIFICS
    What are the action steps
    What are the best tools
    What to look for when purchasing equipment
  4. EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS
    Whom do you appeal to and why do they keep coming back  time and time again?
    You can get a profile of your visitor at Alexa.  Alexa is not just a ranking system but is a good source of info on the type of traffic you attract.  So if your traffic is made up of mostly 50+  women, who have a college education, are empty nesters and looking to retirement in the near future, what are some of the emotional triggers that would keep them engaged with your blog?
  5. TIED TO MARKETING SALES PROCESS?
    Is it tied in to a marketing sales process?  i.e., do you offer products, either affiliate or your own that would be of interest to your niche?  If your blog is all about patio gardening and you attract women in their fifties who are empty nesters, what could you offer as an affiliate?  Videos on how to plant in planters, how to choose planters.  How to position them.  Outdoor living room. Show off your green thumb without spending hours of backbreaking work.   Maybe you are a horticulturalist.  Have you thought of making your own videos or DVDs and marketing  them to your traffic
  6. WOWFACTOR
    After your visitor finishes reading your latest post, is he intrigued?  Did he feel that you gave value for the 2 – 4  (or more) minutes it took him to read it.  So what do you think your WOW factor is?  AHA!  Could that be your blog’s USP?

I think that what each blogger brings to the net is their unique voice and that is difficult to define in a USP – unless the “voice” is a dog that publishes a blog, or a celebrity or a well known personality, but other than that, how do you try and differentiate your blog from that of your competitors?  Or do you follow the successful ones and use their formula with your own spin on the topic?  What has worked for you.  The comment section below is all yours.

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