Blogging appears to be becoming an increasingly popular hobby that can make you a nice little income on the side. Some bloggers even manage to make a full time living from it and for those of us with the desire to write, connect and share, it can be a very tempting option. The difficulty can be in working out what you need to do to get into this, which is why today we are sharing how to start blogging for money.
Image Pixabay – Pixabay License
The first thing that we would point out is that blogging is rarely a get rich quick scheme. This one tends to need you to be in it for the long game if you want to make money from it, so you might want to ask yourself ‘is blogging worth it?’ before trying this one.
The direction of your blog
The first thing you need to do is establish the direction of your blog. What do you want to blog about? What do you know about? What are you passionate about? When you have worked out what you would like to say, you need to think about how well that translates to making money from it.
In some cases, a blog that is very niche can attract a large following and do well within searches because it is wiring about something very specific and with expert knowledge. It might monetise with ads or perhaps affiliate products if relevant if it has a good reach, but it might struggle to lend itself to brand work and sponsored posts. A more general lifestyle blog might struggle to attract a strong specific readership, but it could appeal to a wider audience and a lot more brands as it covers a lot of topics.
Content is king
We know that everybody says this, but that is because it is true! To make money from your blog, it needs to be something that people want to read. You need page views and interaction to make money, and the only way that you can do this is by writing and sharing content that people want to read and come back to.
Start by writing at least a dozen posts for your new blog before you publish them and promote them. This gives new visitors a feel for what you do and gives them plenty to stick around and read.
The admin side of your business
Whilst it would be lovely to say that blogging is all about creating content, beautiful photography and engaging social media, that tends to just be a fraction of it when you are doing it for a living. There needs to be an admin side of your business and it will take up a fair bit of your time.
It can often be worth setting up a separate business bank account to handle all of your blogging income and expenditure. Depending on who your clients are, you might also benefit from specialist accounts, such as a Euro bank account.
You must register as self employed, you need to create a media pack, you need to join ad and affiliate agencies and you need to reach out to prospective clients on a regular basis.
Make time for admin as much as you make time for content and you will be running your blog as a business.
