If you’ve read anything on the internet you’ve undoubtedly read a blog. Perhaps you’ve looked at a popular blog and thought, I can do that. Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to quit your 9-5 day job and blog for a living? Millions of us have ideas for blogs that could be profitable, but is it actually possible to make money from a blog?
The short answer to that question is yes. The long answer is – profiting from a successful blog is indeed possible, but it does take work and effort. Here are some tips for getting started on your blog-for-a-living journey.
1. Understand Success is a Long Game
So, you want to get out of the rat race and make a living from a blog. You dream about writing blog posts on topics you love. You see potential in your ideas and you can write well. The first thing to do is lower your expectations. That’s right, we advise you keep your enthusiasm in check and get clear on the reality of writing a blog that makes money. Success is not going to happen overnight.
You need to take the long view and understand that money-making sites are created slowly, consistently, over time. It can take many months before your blog starts generating income, and much longer to be earning you enough to be able to live off your profits or to start employing other people. Don’t be discouraged. Keep going and periodically reevaluate your statistics and look at how you are progressing. If you don’t see the movement you are looking for, it could be a sign that you are not spending your time wisely, or that you are not quite in the right niche.
2. Start Your Blog by Finding Your Niche
It may sound obvious but the best way to start making money from a blog is just to do it – start a blog, get stuck in, and keep going. But that initial starting point is the most difficult. Start your blog with a strong idea that fits into a defined niche. Your specific niche could be found in anything from your love of vinyl records, for example, or your passion for skiing. Whichever field you blog in, you will have strong competition. It is easier to stand out when your niche is strongly defined. You could, for example, become an expert on skiing in Aspen, or vinyl record shops. This will generate more precise traffic and could end up with you being sought-after for your expertise, rather than being overlooked as a more generic skiing blogger in a pile of a lot of other skiing bloggers, for instance.
3. Build Traffic to Your Blog
Before you start generating blogging income, you’ll need some serious traffic to your blog. But how do you create that? Your writing needs to be top-notch, and you should be tailoring your content to a niche. But you can also generate traffic by participating in the groups, networks and sites that are linked to your niche. Trade your expertise. Comment on others’ posts. And take your marketing seriously. Look into all aspects of digital strategy to maximise the power of your blog to generate traffic and, ultimately, income.
4. Generate Revenue From Multiple Streams
Have you built up a readership for your blog but are yet to make any serious money? You may not be offering readers chances to buy. That may sound obvious, but it is an oft overlooked fact. To make blogging profitable you need to offer opportunities for people to buy into your blog. This could be via online courses or coaching opportunities, eBooks, or affiliate links. Multiple revenue streams bring money to your blog and create value for your readership, which will in turn help to generate more traffic. It’s a win-win situation.
5. Don’t Rely on Advertising
Top bloggers may be able to make a living from advertising on their blogs. But banner ads are not your first option for profits unless you are extremely well-known in your field. The effort it takes to pursue a banner ad for a few hundred dollars every three months is not worth it. And a mass of banners on the side of your site dilutes your valuable brand and alienates readers. When you are well-established, well-paying advertisers will seek you out. Which is a much more attractive scenario.
6. Create a Blogging Community
To make a profit from your own blog you first need to create a following. One powerful means of achieving this is by helping users form their own community within your site. This leads to greater involvement, which in turn increases traffic to build your blog’s presence. And loyal members of your community are more likely to buy products or sign up for services that you provide. Great ways of creating community include free forums, online courses, linked Facebook groups, and shared challenges.