One of the questions I’m often asked, as well as many other bloggers is how to make a career out of it. It’s hard to think that someone can really make money without leaving their home, or even in their pajamas. But it’s very possible and can be very lucrative. Being a blogger can be your primary source of income or it can be a secondary source. I wouldn’t call it completely passive, but eventually you won’t have to put as much work into it in the long run. So how do you begin making money as a blogger?
Have a self-hosted blog: People take your blog a lot more seriously when you have your own domain name. A site that is something isn’t going to cut it. Not to mention when you set up a free blog, at least on WordPress, you’re not allowed to host advertising, which will be a nice chunk of your revenue for your blog. I have a bias towards WordPress, which is free, and buying a domain name is relatively inexpensive. You can get yourpersonalblog. You have to invest money in order to earn money.
Provide compelling content: Your blog isn’t going to earn you money if you have boring content, copied content, or no content at all. You’re going to need a unique spin on topics, interesting information, and something to keep readers coming back. You may have heard that content is king, and it’s true! You’re going to need to invest time in writing for your blog. I suggest writing at least 3 times a week, posts of at least 400 words. Keep this momentum up for at least 6 months. It’s going to be difficult, but blogging isn’t as easy as everyone things.
Gain some authority: You’re not just writing for your readers, but in the beginning, you’re also writing for search engines and ranking systems. Since advertising can be a huge chunk of a blogger’s revenue, this is important. Advertisers want to know where you rank amongst other sites on the web. Things like your PageRank (calculated by Google), your mozRank (from SEO Moz), and possibly your rankings for certain keywords are going to come into play. If you’re not aware of what the heck SEO is or how to do it, SEO Moz has a great beginner’s guide you can read up on.
Weigh your options: There’s many different ways you can earn money as a blogger. As we mentioned, advertising is one of them, but there’s multiple types of advertising. You can do display ads like the AdSense units you may have seen before. You can sell text links and banner ads to private companies. You can write posts advocating companies, or have them write the post for you. There’s also affiliate marketing (selling products and services on your site through a special link and getting a commission), selling products (like eBooks, courses, apps, etc.), freelance writing, and speaking at events. Since there’s so many options, you should consider which you would be best at, try them out, and identify which is proving profitable.
Bloggers who make money are more than just a person behind a computer screen. They’re marketable, whether the individual or the blog itself. However, everything should be taken in stride, and should be handled one step at a time. Start with these steps and continue until you reach your goals!