It’s every blogger’s dream to turn their hobby into a full-time business. However, despite the claims of countless online articles, earning a living from blogging is by no means easy.
The many success stories of career bloggers show that it is possible, so long as you keep at it and you’re consistent with your approach. You don’t have to be an amazing, award-winning, renowned published writer, an Internet whizz or a digital marketing expert to make money from blogging, but you do have to be persistent.
If you dream of quitting your day job, you should know that being a career blogger is much like running a full-time business. It requires a lot of hard work input (both time and money), and you won’t make millions overnight. However, if you’re not afraid to put your nose to the grindstone and hustle your way to the top, then follow these three tips.
Be Precise and Consistent
If your blog doesn’t belong to a particular niche, now’s the time to narrow it down. Be precise about the content you create, and your readers will know exactly what to expect from you. Post consistently at the same time each day/week/month, and you’ll bring readers back to your blog time and time again.
Don’t try to please everyone. You can’t do this in business, and blogging is no different. Choose a particular group of people you want to appeal to and write posts they will find interesting. Once you’ve done this, you’ve defined your target demographic, and you’re one step closer to running a successful business.
Sell Something
Full-time bloggers rarely make enough money from sponsored posts and ads alone. The best way to make a full-time income from your blog is to sell something. Whether you sell a physical product or a service is up to you, but make sure you build your audience first before you launch your ecommerce store.
Once you’ve determined what you’re going to sell and have worked out how you will produce it, you need to choose an ecommerce platform for your site. BigCommerce is the number one shopping cart software available today, and you can have your site professionally designed by a BigCommerce web design agency like Eventige.
Promote Your Content
Writing perfectly crafted and compelling blog posts is no good if no one ever reads it. You need to get serious about promoting your content to grow your following and find paid opportunities. This means understanding the best times to post on social media, creating automated emails to subscribers and using platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to drive traffic to your site.
Online content promotion is an ever-changing game, and it takes a bit of practice and research to find out what works for you. Start an email list on day one and make sure your few subscribers get high-quality, consistent content. Word will spread, and your efforts will feel less like shots in the dark and more like strategic marketing decisions.
Keep great records
As you’re transitioning from a simple blog to a real business, you need to make sure you’re tracking everything. Not just revenue, which might be more simple, but expenses as well; if you’re spending money to maintain your blog, that needs to be taken into account when you’re calculating how much profit you’ve actually made.
This type of tracking and analysis can help you make good decisions about how to spend your time, which expenses might be hurting you the most, and how fast your blog is growing. A simple accounting software program can be a huge help in keeping this type of record.
