What would you say if you could turn your interests or hobbies into a career? That’s exactly what’s happened for many online success stories.
Blogging has become a popular way for people to earn money, and while blogging can make a great side hustle, it also has the potential to turn into your full-time career.
Notable successes in the UK blogging world include Money Saving Expert’s Martin Lewis, Zoella and Inthefrow, who have each managed to turn their hobbies into lucrative careers – creating a whole new generation of business owners.
While you might not be able to make millions from your blog, there are still ways you can make it a profitable venture. Find out more about how to turn your blog into a career and take charge of your future.
Can you write?
First thing’s first – are you a good writer? If you’re wondering if you need to be a good writer to start a blog, then you should know that having good writing skills is important. You need people to understand you after all, and nobody likes to read a poorly written piece of work.
That being said, writing is something that you can improve on – and there are ways to improve your blog writing to help you produce a better quality blog. Many bloggers feature heavy visuals in their blogs, so if you have good photography skills, you can compensate for shorter blogs with plenty of photographs.
Choose a niche
Finding the right niche is important if you want to start a blog for money. If you choose something that’s too specific or out there, it’s going to be difficult to make money from it. Popular blog topics include fashion, business, beauty, money-saving, sport, food and gaming – and many people have developed popular blogs on these subjects. A lifestyle blog will allow you to talk about a number of things, so you could always keep it more general if you want to attract a larger audience.
Build your website
There’s a lot of competition in the blogging world, which means your blog has to stand out. A basic blog design will no longer do, and so you’ll need to make a splash when you launch your blog.
Choosing the right hosting platform will help your blog to benefit from the latest features, as well as top speeds. It’s worth checking out Web Design Review’s hosting review to get a better idea of the type of web hosts available and to pick one that suits your needs and budget. Once you’ve got that in place, you can then get to work designing your website.
It’s easier to design a professional-looking blog than you might think, with many blogging platforms like WordPress and Blogger featuring customisable features that will allow you to make your blog your own. You can also purchase pre-designed themes that allow for personalisation, which are an affordable way to achieve that high-quality look. Alternatively, you could hire a website developer to build your blog for you so that you can incorporate all of your desired features.
Plan your content
Planning your blog content in advance is a great way to get started with your blog. This will help ensure that ymy posts are regular and thought out, and it will help you settle into a blogging routine.
Take advantage of special holidays or seasons and plan some seasonal blog content that will make sure you’re never short of content. With a bank of ideas, you’ll have enough to get started with and can start posting to start generating some interest in your blog.
What makes a good blog post?
Through writing good blog posts, you can start generating an interest in your blog and encourage people to subscribe. A great blog post should include:
- A title that will make people want to read more
- A clear topic that’s interesting and insightful
- High-quality images
- A good structure
- Correct spelling and grammar
- A call to action at the end
Sticking to these elements will serve as good building blocks for your blog posts, helping you to write a good post each time. Try not to make ymy post too long or too short, and make sure you break up the text where you can to keep the reader’s interest on the page.
Promoting your blog posts
Without a good promotional plan, your blog posts could end up being seen by nobody. The good news is that there are hundreds of ways you can promote your blog that include distribution lists, social media and even Pinterest.
Your social media accounts are a great place to market your blog, and if you already have a good following – it could work in your favour. Include links in all of your social posts to encourage people to click through to your blog. You can use your blog’s photographs to help promote the content, or you can use tools like Canva to create some professional-looking graphics.
Add a ‘subscribe’ box to every page of your blog to encourage people to sign up for the latest updates – you could even offer up a prize to build interest. Another idea is to have your subscribe button as a pop-up when they land on your site to force the reader either to subscribe or click the ‘X’ to proceed with their reading.
Building your followers
Growing your followers is vital if you’re going to start making money from your blog. Some tips for earning subscribers include:
Engaging with your readers
Are your blog posts engaging enough? Do they ask questions to your readers and encourage a conversation? This is a good place to start. Find out more about what they want and plan content that will engage and entertain them. Show off your personality and don’t write something generic that they could find in a million other places online.
Respond to comments
Responding to those who comment on your blogs will help develop good relationships with your followers, as well as help you get more out of your blog. Even if you get hundreds of comments, it is a general courtesy to respond, even if it is a ‘thank you for reading’ situation. Spend time each week having a conversation with your followers and watch your engagement increase.
Run competitions
Competitions are a good way to increase your subscriber numbers. With a good prize, you can promote your competition through your social channels to encourage people to subscribe, with a lot of potential for ROI.
Try guest blogging
Guest blogging comes with many benefits, and are a great way to build your profile online. Through guest blogs, you can draw traffic back to your own website, and build on the profile of the blog that you’re guest posting for. Many bloggers are up for collaborations, so don’t be afraid to approach them.
Monetising your blog
Once you’ve got a steady stream of followers, you can start looking at ways to monetise. This is where you’ll finally start to see money coming in and can consider making your blog into your career. There are plenty of ways you can monetise your blog, with some requiring minimal effort to succeed. Popular monetisation methods include:
Use adverts
Placing adverts on your blog page is an easy way to generate some additional income. You can use tools like Google AdSense to get started and watch as money starts coming in. If you like the look of your blog, however, and want to keep it focused on the content, adverts might not be the best idea for you.
You could also sell ad space to different companies if they fit within your niche.
Affiliate links
Affiliate marketing can be a big money-maker for bloggers. If you review products or have brands that you talk about, using affiliate tools can help you get money for each click-through you receive. For fashion blogs, in particular, this is how a lot of bloggers make their money.
Collaborations
Working with brands and other businesses is another way to make money from your blog. By approaching brands that you love or fit your niche, you could earn money from a collaboration. You should be prepared for a lot of rejection from brands as they receive requests daily for collaborations, but those who do choose to work with you can pay a lot for one collaboration if they’ve got the budget for it.
Sell Ebooks
When your blog starts becoming a success, you could share your secrets with others to help them succeed too. Ebooks are a great way to share your expert opinion on topics related to your blog, and when you self-publish, you’ll get to keep all of the profits.
Blogging can be a fun and exciting career, but it can take a lot of time and effort to become a success. Start your blog as an interesting side venture and grow it from there. Even if you can’t make a full-time career out of blogging, you can still use it to boost your income and as a creative outlet to escape from your day job. Start thinking of ideas for your blog today – you never know where it might lead!
