After two years of blogging, I’ve learned a few things I’d like to pass along. I know some of you are blogging in your spare time, hoping that it will eventually help you generate some sort of an income (if it isn’t already). Blogging is a great way to earn some money and certainly one of my favorite revenue streams since it’s the only one I have where I’m basically in charge. Here are few things that are important I’ve learned so far that may help you:
Be Consistent
I see a lot of new bloggers post very inconsistently. As in, write ten posts this month and then get burnt out and post none the next. This doesn’t work because it will confuse whatever readers you do have. They need to know you’re going to show up regularly or they may stop showing up to see what’s new. This doesn’t mean you have to post every single day. Instead, try to stick to a schedule of posting at the very least a few times per week. Even posting just once a week is better than posting at random times throughout the month, taking long breaks in between.
Get Your Own Domain
This is just my personal opinion, but I believe that you are far better off to have your own dot com set up through a hosting account that you pay monthly for. Sure, these free sites like Blogger, Weebly, etc. are great in that they are easy to use and you don’t have to pay, but make no mistake that you don’t really own that blog. If they don’t like what you put up, they can take it down in the blink of an eye. This can be a disaster if your blog generates an income for you, so it’s best not to take that chance.
For a domain name, I recommend GoDaddy. For hosting, I personally use Hostgator.
Your Competition Isn’t Always The Enemy
Don’t be afraid to get out there and network with other bloggers in your niche. I think that, as humans, we are sort of programmed to instinctively view our competition as the enemy … the “bad” guy. But, it doesn’t have to be that way. I feel that I can honestly say the relationships I have formed over the last couple of years with other work at home bloggers have carried me far in my efforts. I have made friends with many of my so-called “competitors” and I have also learned from them. We share each other’s content with our own individual audiences, we write guest posts for each other, we take time to comment on each other’s posts and also link to each other often. Instead of being fearful and suspicious of your competition, reach out to them and explore how a friendly relationship could be mutually beneficial. You might be surprised by how much you can both help each other out.
Don’t Be Afraid to Invest Money In Your Blog
Starting a blog that you would like to earn money from is in a lot of ways like starting your own business. And in business, it takes money to make money. Investing money in your blog is like investing money in yourself! I see so many new bloggers that want to go the free route because they don’t like the idea of investing money in their blogs, they just immediately dismiss the idea as “out of the question.” I have invested money in this blog and it’s been money well spent. Paying for things like website graphics, domain names, hosting accounts, and newsletter services are totally acceptable to do. You will not likely come across any major, well-known bloggers who blog and pay nothing at all. But they also likely make more than they pay out, so it does make sense to wait to invest until your blog is actually bringing in some sort of profit if you’d prefer.
Don’t Let Anything Take the Fun Out of Blogging
Blogging is supposed to be fun if you like to write, and earning money is the bonus. For a while I became so wrapped up in trying to learn about SEO, backlinking, keywords, etc. when I first started this blog because I wanted to do things the “right” way. The end result was that all that stuff made my head spin and I lost my enthusiasm because it made blogging feel like hard work. I didn’t enjoy writing articles only to worry about how many keywords I’d put in and where. That’s just not fun to do! I am not saying don’t take the time to learn about that stuff because it is good to know. I’m just saying don’t let it take the fun out of blogging. Take the time to learn all you can about blogging, but do it in smallish doses — otherwise it’s just going to seem overwhelming and you’ll stop doing what you love.
So those are my tips! I hope it helps you if you’re new to blogging. Please feel free to comment below with any questions or any additional tips you’d like to share.
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve been interested in starting a blog for a while now. My main reason for not doing so is that I want to decide what my blog will be about. I don’t want to just, you know, write a personally diary and expect people to want to see that for some reason. I want it to be something interesting, even if it was just a recipe blog. I was wondering if you had any tips for how to turn a blog into a source of income (even just enough to pay for the domain monthlys, honestly). Do you typically use ad-revenue for yours? I’m so new to this, I truly have no idea! (I’ve been meaning to start doing some research, but it all seems kind of daunting)
I totally understand, Allie. It does take a while to think of something when you’re wanting to start a niche-based blog. I chose work at home because the subject interested me so much since that’s what I was actively seeking, plus I was finding a lot of good information that I knew would be valuable to others as well, so I created my blog as a way to have it all in one spot. I would suggest starting a blog on something that truly interests you, that way you’ll be having fun writing and it will never feel like work.
Ad revenue is one way to generate income, but there are many other methods and really different things work for different blogs. You might want to read through this post where I list more than 40 ways to get money out of your blog. I also have a few blogging e-book recommendations on that list, too, that I would recommend looking through if you’re serious about blogging for pay. Those books provide some of the best tips and help I’ve ever come across. Here is a link to that post: http://realwaystoearnmoneyonline.com/2012/06/41-ways-to-earn-money-blogging.html
Thanks so much for the advice! I was hoping you had an article about it, so I’ll check that one out. My biggest issue is that I am interested in so many different things, it’s like wading through piles of ideas! I just have to eventually settle down and sort of focus on one (or two or three at the most, if they’re linked.) But yes, I see that it is also important that it is something that other people have a need or want for- like the functionality of your blog. Thanks for the tips! Now to bury myself in brainstorming!
Hey Anna, I have been recently checking out your blog a lot. I’m quite interested in making some honest money working at home although I do end up quitting all the options I see. I do have a blog right now which I am trying to somewhat venture into the money making end. It’s a Book review blog, which interests me a lot since I’m a book fanatic and free books are awesome. Although I guess it’s not the best Niche to go into for money making because people don’t tend to come back to your blog because there’s just so many books a person can read in a month… I’m glad that I found 2 potential authors who are graciously willing to advertise on my blog for a very cheap price. I guess it’s a start to something
Best of luck to you- A fellow reader, Nic.
Nicolas recently posted..The Death Cure Review
That’s great, Nicholas! And you’d be surprised at the different ways any sort of blog can potentially earn money. For a book review blog, you are already on the right track by securing advertising from authors. There are also affiliate programs through services like Cash 4 Books that would probably be a good fit on your site if you wanted promote it.
The important thing to keep in mind is not to put an exact amount on how much you should be earning because not all niches are as profitable as others. For example, my blog here may never earn as much as a blog revolving around a more popular, profitable topic. My primary goal personally is just to enjoy sharing the information and hopefully get enough money out of my blog to help compensate for the time I spend. And even if I don’t, it’s really OK because I love what I do.
Thank you for sharing your tips, Anna!! Great advice! I have one of those free “Blogger” blogs that you spoke of, but hope to make it my own domain sometime soon, when my time allows. Found this on Twitter, so I’m going to share it for you!!
Karen recently posted..Only Minutes A Day
Thank you, Karen! And I appreciate your sharing.
When you do get your own domain, you’ll probably see that you can do this through Blogger while still keeping your site on Blogger. Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t really protect you from getting your blog deleted because the site is still hosted through them even though you have your dot com. So be sure to buy your domain through another service (like GoDaddy) and then find somewhere good (like Hostgator) to host your domain on. Good luck!
Thanks for the article. I also plan to do some blogging. I have two ideas. One leaning toward Christian devotional writing, offering encouragement among other things. The other would be more personal stories, but sharing recipes and things of that nature. I have to get going, so articles like yours help me in my planning stages. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing, Laura! And good luck to you, those both sound like good ideas.
Thanks for the tips Anna. I have a blog on blogger.com and I want to move over to Wordpress or Tumblr. However, everytime I try to switch, they say that I’m unable to do it. I also want to know if you’ve heard of Revisitors.com. When you sign up, they gave you 500 free visitors your first time, but after that, you can choose a payment plan of how many visitors you want to your blog.
There is actually a rather involved process for moving a Blogger blog over to another service. I don’t know anything about moving a blog over to Tumblr, but moving it to Wordpress involves several different steps. This site provides a detailed tutorial but there are also others that are good
http://www.labnol.org/internet/switch-from-blogger-to-wordpress/9707/
Before you try to do it, be sure to use a tutorial and follow all the steps. If you find it too overwhelming, there are additionally people you can pay to do it all for you.
I moved mine last year and it wasn’t so bad, but I had to follow all the instructions carefully.
Oh! And I forgot to answer your question about Revisitors. Unfortunately I had not ever heard of it, but I know there are places out there where you can buy your traffic like that one. I’m not sure there is any harm in using these services, but I personally never have.
Very good post, Anna! I particularly like the one about your competition is not your enemy
! I have been reluctant to to follow some blogs simply because I was afraid they might think I would steal from them, since I am basically curating links to work from home sites, so instead I have made a point of “sharing” hoping that will gain some trust.
As for all your other tips, I hear ya, just can’t seem to get there, lol! (Particularly the part about self hosting, posting schedule, etc.) I own my own domain and I am working on moving over to wordpress but I also have to make a living in between moves in my travel trailer to where my husband’s work takes him, lol! I know, excuses, excuses.
I am, however, just on my first year on this blog (on my second year freelancing on line) so maybe after two years I will be able to accomplish at least part of what you have! You really have done a great job! Keep up the great work!
Patti Hale recently posted..The Inspiring Blog Award: WAH Blogs that Inspire!
Patti, I think you are doing a marvelous job with your blog so far! And I understand about finding the time. It’s hard, especially when you have a lot of other things going on. But you’ll get there, and it feels really good to take these baby steps with things when you can find the time. But I do understand about that. Thanks so much for the compliments (and also thank you again for including me in your list of inspiring work at home blogs!)
Great Article Anna! This is great advice and all true!
Although I’ve been blogging full time for over 4 years now, I’m really starting to embrace that your competition isn’t your enemy. I’ve always followed a few other blogs. But now I’m trying to make a concentrated effort on mentioning other resources outside my blog. I think a lot of times we as blogger are fearful that if we give our competition a spotlight on our blog, we’ll lose some of our readers to the competition. That might be true to a certain degree. But I think it also makes you seem like more of an authority when you do this and your visitors love you more. The flip side is that your alleged competition may return the favor as you and I have done in the past.
So it’s something I’m trying to do more of. I think everyone benefits. You’re also spot on about investing in yourself via your blog. I would also add investing in books, online training, conferences, mentoring, etc. The internet makes people cheap. They want to find everything for free. But what folks don’t realize is that you get what you pay for especially when it comes to building a business. When I first started I was being cheap out of necessity. But eventually I was making money with a full time job and my sites. But like a dumb ass I wasn’t investing much of the money back in. I kept trying to learn everything for free or avoided paying for things that would have helped me grow my business faster. The result of this led me to working for the man 7 years more than I wanted to and probably missing out on being a millionaire because I started in this industry when the web was at its infancy. If I had followed the advice you’ve provided here and invested in learning things. I would have been able to make a lot of money when the web and affiliate marketing wasn’t as saturated as it is now.
So if someone is to leave this article with one thing, it’s that spending money on your business isn’t an expense or wasting money. It’s truly an investment in you that will pay off many times over if you stick with it. As soon as I learned that lesson, I was able to quit my Corporate America job of 7 years and work at home full time raising my daughter with my Wife. It’s been the best investment I’ve ever made!
Let it marinate. lol
Eddy Salomon recently posted..Top 5 Reasons MLMs & Network Marketing Suck!
I know exactly what you mean. When I first started my blog, spending money on it was something I wouldn’t even consider. But then one day it occurred to me that my blog was important to me, and I sometimes spent money on other things that were kind of dumb and really not that important to me, so why would it hurt anything to invest a little in my blog? And when I saw how spending that money actually helped my blog, I wasn’t too afraid to do it again.
And I agree that all of us at first are probably a little unsure about networking much with others in our niche, I know I was to a point. There is always that fear that if you direct readers to another awesome website they might not come back to yours. But I’ve been doing that for a while … I do recommend your site, WAH Adventures, I’ve Tried That, and a lot of others pretty regularly and it hasn’t hindered me. And the reason why is obvious — there are plenty of readers to go around for one thing, and just because someone reads someone else’s blog doesn’t mean they won’t still read mine. In fact, I find that most people are actually very grateful to learn about a lot of other resources. And another thing is that I think most of us in this niche, while our sites might be similar in some ways, they are aren’t in others. So we are all bringing something a little different to the table, and that’s awesome
Thanks so much for your comment Eddy and keep up the great work at Work at Home No Scams!
So glad to have read this. You and I talked a lot about the importance of embracing your ‘competition’. I often think my blog would be non-existent today if it weren’t for my blogging friend’s encouragement, sharing and help.
I also deeply agree with investing a little into your blog. A friend and I began a blog together and we have decided that we will put all of our earnings right back into the blog until it earns a set amount. We are looking long-term rather than in the NOW.
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Hi Anna! Great post about blogging, and your point about bloggers helping out fellow bloggers is quite timely. I’ve been trying to increase my guest blog posting frequency as well as scope out good blogs that I can reference on my websites. If you don’t mind my presenting your readers with a few extra blogging tips in addition to yours, my own recent blogging article is provided here at I’ve Tried That: Blogging for Dollars (and a Few Cents Too), Part II, http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2012/09/12/blogging-for-dollars-and-a-few-cents-too-part-ii/
Halina Zakowicz recently posted..Discovering Your Potential by Networking through LinkedIn
Thank you for sharing that link, Halina. I also included it in my round up yesterday.
Great tips! Glad to see I’ve incorporated most of them in my little experience of blogging.
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