Brian Honigmanis amarketing consultant, speaker andfreelance writer.For more insights on how to be a better marketer, sign up for Brian Honigmansweekly newsletter.This post originally appeared on his blog.

All snarkiness aside, Berra was on to something. One of the keys to success is first understanding what success looks like. This advice can apply to all areas of life and blogging is no exception.

Blogging can be an incredibly effective marketing tool, but you cant simply start a blog and expect it to drive success. In fact, a lot of people who go about blogging have no real plan beyond just writing the posts and seeing what happens.

Theres more to effective planning than simply mapping out a robustcontent strategyandeditorial calendar. One of the most important parts of starting a successful blog that many fail to consider is hammering out core objectives from the start.

Regardless of whether you plan on having your blog serve as a lead generation tool, the centerpiece of your content strategy or just as a way to put your companys thoughts out in public from a branding perspective, there is always a way of quantifying these results and tracking them.

Original Source: thenextweb.com