By Dr. Z.

We can learn about online business and blogging success by observing the life cycle of plants.  Plants are among the most successful lifeforms on our planet; and can outlive most animal species.  Plants have grown in domestic settings but can survive for over a thousand years in the wild.  Given the diversity, resiliency, and longevity of plant life, it is befitting that we understand the growth and success of blogs and online businesses using the plant metaphor.  This article highlight 10 POWERful natural secrets from plant life that can be applied to the growth and success of your blog or online business.  These are as follows:

1. The Secret of The Seed: Like plants growing from seeds, successful blogs and online businesses are born from Ideas.
2. The Secret of Germination: Successful blogs and online businesses only take form when they are firmly planted and properly nurtured.
3. The Secret of The Roots: Successful blogs and online businesses must lay down roots for a solid foundation.
4. The Secret of Thorns: Successful blogs and online businesses must be defended, like beautiful roses with thorns.
5. The Secret of Photosynthesis: Like leaves exposed to the sun, successful blogs and online businesses require exposure to a target audience for growth
6. The Secret of The Flowers: Just as flowers attract attention for plant reproduction,  successful blogs and online businesses attract readers, consumers, and resources for growth.
7. The Secret of Pollination: Blogs and online businesses expand and become more successful as the target audience spread the word.  
8. The Secret of The Fruit: As blogs and online businesses grow and succeed, they will produce fruit in the form of profit, resources, and new opportunities.
9. The Secret of The New Seeds: Successful blogs and online businesses will ultimately spawn a network of successful online businesses from new Ideas.
10. The Secret of Adaptation: Like plants, blogs and online businesses must evolve and adapt in order to survive and thrive in a changing world.

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These secrets of plant life are applied below as success strategies for blogs and online businesses:

1. The Secret of The Seed:

Most plants grow from seeds.  These seeds hold the secret genetics for the growth and development of the plant.  For the purposes of this article, plant seeds are metaphors for blog and online business ideas.  Like plants from growing from seeds, successful blogs and online businesses are born from great Ideas that focus on specific niches and target specific audiences or consumers.  However, great ideas will not grow into successful blogs and online businesses on their own.  Action must be taken.  Much like a seed, the blog and online business ideas must be planted to start the process of developing and growing a successful blog and online business.   Blog and business ideas can be planted in the following ways:

1. Develop the blog and business idea around a specific focus within a specific niche for a specific audience
2. Develop and build the brand of the blog or online business.
3. Describe the blog or online business in terms of a specific problem to be solved.
4. Believe in the blog or online business idea.
5. Come up with a name for the blog or online business.
6. Write a vision and mission for the blog or online business.
7. Consider forming a partnership as a blog or online business is an enormous responsibility
8. Write a brief business plan (no more than a few pages).
9. Start taking action toward forming the blog or business.

So, the first secret for your blog and online business success is to plant the idea like a seed.  Once an idea is firmly planted, the blog and online business will start growing.  However, you must make it your goal to successfully grow your blog or online business to into a healthy and reliable haven for followers and consumers.  To realize this goal, the remaining 9 secrets should be considered.

2. The Secret of Germination:

Germination is the biological process which plants grow from seeds that are planted.   However, the process of germination requires a degree of care with careful attention paid to providing much-needed sustenance toward plant growth.  Much in the same way, a firmly planted blog or online business idea will only become successful with the proper care and nurturance.  We have to care for your blog or online businesses in order for it to succeed.  Like a well-attended plant that is watered and fed, your blog or online business needs endless hours of work, funding, supplies, teamwork, participation, and any additional web-based resources in order to grow and succeed.  So, the secret to  the growth and success of your blog and online business is to literally “take care of business.”

3. The Secret of The Roots:

The basic functions of plant roots are to absorb and store resources, anchor and secure the plant to the ground, and to help the plant compete with other plants.   In all, the roots give the plant its foundation so that the plant will successfully grow.  Roots also help plants to weather high winds and powerful storms.  Like the plant, a successful business needs to lay down roots for a solid foundation.  Moreover, the business needs this foundation in order to successfully obtain and use funding and resources that will not only secure the blog or online business, but also help it to grow and compete with other businesses.  The following steps may help to lay down roots for successful blogs and online businesses:

1. Obtain a self-hosted web-domain
2. Obtain essential theme and plugins for the web domain
3. Form an LLC for the blog or online business.
4. Get an Employer Identification Number (EIN).
5. Open a business bank account.
6. Create a PayPal account
7. Invest in online training and resources related to the blog or online business
8. Advertise the blog or online business.
9. Re-invest a significant portion of earnings into the blog or online business

So, if you want your blog or online business to grow, give it roots.  Provide the solid foundation that it needs to succeed.

4. The Secret of Thorns

Plants may be pretty, and in many cases delicious, but they are not defenseless. For example, roses have thorns; raspberry plants have prickles; young persimmon fruit have a bitter-tasting chemical defense; passion flowers mimic butterfly eggs; and, coconuts have armor.  The point is, all of these plants have strong defenses, and so should any blog or online business.  There are numerous potential threats against any blogs and online businesses, such as theft of ideas, plagiarized content, server crashes, malware and viruses, data hacking, unfounded accusations, attempts at hostile acquisition, or cyber-stalking. Therefore, good defenses are necessary to protect the blog or online business.   To illustrate this point, I use the following quote in my own life:  “People shouldn’t fight, but somebody better know how.”  Like it or not, business is sometimes war, and good offensive and defensive measure are needed to protect the blog and online business.  So, here are some ideas to protect your blog or business:

1. Invest in protective software and plugins
2. Back up the web domain and website content
3. Obtain appropriate copyrights, trademarks, and patents.
4. Seek legal counsel at various stages of blog or online business development.
5. Keep accurate records through rigorous documentation.
6. Seek out training and mentors to narrow your learning curve avoid unnecessary business mistakes.
7. Fully vet individuals, organizations, or software affiliated with the business.
8. Protect passwords, logins, and any port of access to the business.
9. Retain legal counsel in preparation for any potential defense.
10. Identify your enemies and competitors quickly, and learn everything about them. Knowledge is power.
11. Understand the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Content Takedown Policies.

5. The Secret of Photosynthesis:

Photosynthesis allows mostly green plants to use exposure to sunlight to synthesize food nutrients.   In fact, plants are not passive in the photosynthetic process.  They actively lean toward the light to maximize their nutrition.  Like plant leaves exposed to the sun, successful blogs and online businesses need exposure in order to grow.  In this regard, blogs and online businesses should be exposed to their target consumers, which includes customers, clients, consumers, readers, patients,  consultees, investors, or any audience that may contribute to the growth of the blog or business.  Like trees leaning into the sun, blogs and online businesses need to gear their content and products to a  specific audience.  In short, blogs and online businesses must essentially be brought to light in order to succeed.  Blog and online business exposure can be done using the following strategies:

1. Focus on a specific audience or consumer group.
2. Use Commercial/ Marketing Advertisements.
3. Use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plugins.
4. Use search engines and social media advertising to drive traffic to your site.
5. Strongly encourage subscribership to your site by using free resources.
6. Use the power of word of mouth through your target audience.
7. Create video content to enhance exposure to written content.
8. Reach out to the world using public speaking engagements and demonstrations.hat offer services.

The point is, blogs and online businesses require continuous exposure for growth and success.  So, the secret here involves keeping your blog and online business in the light.

6. The Secret of Flowers:

Plants become more attractive when flowers grow.  In addition to being objects of beauty, flowers are the reproductive organs of plants.  The primary purpose of flowers is to help give rise to new plants by attracting pollen carriers that will promote reproduction.  So it is not a coincidence that flowers are attractive as they require the help of other living creatures to pollinate and reproduce.  Much like plant flowers, new bloggers and online business owners need to attract opportunities, resources, and consumers in order to scale and grow the blog and online business.    Simply put, blogs and online businesses must be attractive in order to bring in new followers and consumers and grow.     The following are ways in which a blog or online business can sprout its flowers and attract followers and consumers:

1. Show off an eye-catching brand logo or a leading brand image
2. Share free and irresistible products
3. Create and style an elegant webpage.
4. Use visually captivating advertisements 
5. Use attractive members for advertising campaigns.
6. Create powerful problem-solving content with helpful information.
7. Use humor and satire to keep followers and consumers engaged.

So, another secret to growing and scaling your business is to make it more attractive.

7. The Secret of Pollination:

The secret of flowers alluded to the process of pollination.  Pollination refers to the process of transferring reproductive pollen from the male to female parts of a plant to enable fertilization.  This process usually involves the help of animals or the wind.  Bloggers and online business owners may also borrow from the plant pollination process to get the word out about their blogs and online businesses.  As with pollen for plants, Information about a blog or online business must be transferred to the world at large in order for the business to grow, scale up, and ultimately reproduce.   Consumer networks are important in this process as they are likely to spread the word about the blog or online business, which allows for business expansion.  In order for this to be effective, bloggers and online business owners must take great care of their consumer networks, much in the way that plants and flowers offer nectar or shelter to the pollinating animals. The following strategies can be used to spread information about your blog or online business:

1. Develop a network of specific target followers and consumers through social media, forums, and search engines.
2. Take great care of your followers and consumers with kindness, freebies, discounts, and deals.
3. Listen to your follower and consumers.  Allow them to provide feedback.
4. Encourage your followers and consumers to tell others (Word of Mouth).

As positive information circulates about your blog or online business, it is likely to grow, expand, and succeed.

8. The Secret of The Fruit:

The most successful plants produce fruit.  In the same way, the successful blogs and online businesses produce profit and resources.  A successful blog and online business can sustain a community much in the same way that a fruit tree can feed a village.  For example, a successful blog or online business bears the kind of fruit that can provide financial freedom for the owner, boost the local economy, employ local job-seekers, endorse political candidates,  and contribute social and financial resources to the underserved.    Also, there is something else that fruit provide that is extremely important for the growth and expansion of both plants and blogs/ online businesses.  Fruit contains new seeds that are needed for new birth and new growth for plants as well as blogs and online businesses.  This concept is explained in the next and final plant life secret.

9. The Secret of New Seeds:

The Secret of Fruit referred to the fact that fruit brings new seeds.   Most interestingly, as people consume the fruit of your blog or online business, they will spread new seeds that will ultimately lead to the further growth and success of your blog or business.   In the context of this article, new seeds refer to new ideas and expansion opportunities for your blog or online business.   In this regard, successful businesses ultimately spawn new networks of successful businesses from these new Ideas.

10. The Secret of Adaptation:

Like all living species, plants survive and thrive by adapting and evolving over time.  Adaptation and evolution also help plants to outlive the competition.  This concept should also be applied to your blog or online business.  Our society and the digital world seems to evolve every year, and your blog and online business must change and adapt to keep up with the times.  For example, the practice of blogging has evolved from the personal diary format of the early 2000s into a means for profit using problem-solving content and online marketing.   Also, online business has vastly evolved from the E-bay marketeering days of the late 1990s to that of page ads and affiliate marketing.  Moreover, what you blog about or sell online today will ultimately change tomorrow depending on shifts in society and in your market.   Like a palm tree, your blog or online business must evolve to become flexible in the wind.   It is still important to maintain a specific focus and target audience.  However, it is even more important to adapt and change with the times in order for your blog or business to thrive and outlast the competition in a new world.

Bonus Secret:  Plants Live by a Divine Purpose 

Because you have read all the way to the end, here is a bonus secret.  This article shared plant secrets that can be applied to business success.  The biggest secret is that plants have a divinely driven purpose to provide and sustain life.  Much in the same way, bloggers and business owners must have the same divine drive in order to plant the seeds of their businesses.  The best part is that the most successful blogs and online businesses all began with a single seed, a single idea, or a single starting point, that ultimately bloomed into an enterprising forest.  But it takes more than just blogging and business knowledge, skills, and abilities; it also takes faith and belief.  You must have the faith of a mustard seed.  You have to believe in your heart that your idea will eventually grow into a successful blog or business, like a seed growing into wine producing vineyard, a grove of fruit trees, a profitable rice field, or a mighty forest of redwood trees.  Like the beautiful, powerful, and life-sustaining plant, your purpose as a blogger and online business owner is driven by a divine higher power.  Believe in it, and bloom where you are planted.

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Featured Image by  Abigail Miller from Unsplash