Despite popular misconceptions, there’s a whole lot more to blogging than sitting in front of a computer and writing about the double cheese burger you got for half the price, or your current stage of grief over your favorite long running sitcom that’s come to an end. Blogging has unimaginable diversity and it’s this wide range that makes it easy for anyone to take up blogging and eventually work on earning money from it.
You can blog about any number of topics, but it’s usually best to focus on a particular theme so your blog will have some structure. This will make it easier to plan and create your content, and also monetize it.
After you’ve done some research and chosen a main topic that your blog content will focus on, you can start finding a good hosting site for your blog. Depending on your budget, you can look for sites that offer free hosting or fork out a little money to get some exclusive features that will make your blogging experience better. One of the most common sites you can use is WordPress which has free and paid plans so you can choose whichever suits your pocket. In a few minutes, you can have your blog set up and start planning your first post.
Who Is It For?
If you have a business, a blog is a great way to offer insights, discuss your products and services, and interact with your current and potential customers on a personal level. Anyone can turning blogging into a business too, as long as you can keep up with creating quality content and posting it regularly for your followers.
Who Is It Not For?
If you don’t have a lot of time to commit to learning about best Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) practices to make sure your content is visible and worth checking out, then skip this one.
How It Works?
Growing your blog into a business doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a pretty slow roll actually. With a little patience and any (or all if you can manage it) of these 5 top monetization strategies you can turn your blogging hobby into a profitable business.
Display Ads
These are little boxes that pop up on the edges of a website and are managed by ad networks such as Google AdSense and Media.net who pair advertisers with appropriate websites. They show ads automatically based on the context of your content but you need to get approved first before you can use those. On AdSense, you’re more likely to be approved for an account once your blog has been around for six months or longer, but you can put display ads on a blog with hardly any page views.
Sponsored Posts
You can search for companies that will pay you to promote their brand through your blog. Such sponsorship deals are a win-win for both parties. The sponsored posts will create brand awareness in a targeted audience for the company and you get paid. This monetization strategy is a little restrictive as you’ll need to find companies with products related to your content so it’ll be easier to promote them. You’ll also need to have more page views to be able to implement this strategy.
Affiliate Marketing
This involves blogging about a particular product or service, and adding a link to it using a special tracking link. Your income from this will be in the form of commission which you get when someone makes a purchase using your link. You’ll need quite a high number of page views to make affiliate marketing work because the customers that earn you your commission should come from your blog’s audience. So the bigger your audience, the better your conversion rate.
Course Creation
There’s always something worth learning and people who’ll be interested in learning it. You can create courses on your blog, set your own prices, and help people learn something. It can be a course on anything, from something as elaborate as home décor to the simple but fun craft of making jewelry.
What We Like?
It’s a fun way to build your brand. Thanks to modern day Content Management Systems, you can start a blog and have it up and running in a few minutes. There’s a good chance to turn your blogging hobby into a profitable business if you play your cards “write.” Lots of flexibility with regards to what you blog about plus where and when you do it.
Blogging is a great way to reach a lot of people as long as you keep your content fresh and intriguing.
What We Don’t Like?
You need to invest a lot of time to create and update content regularly if you want to make your blog profitable and make sure you don’t lose any followers. Because SEO tactics are constantly changing as a result of the ever-changing algorithm and updates from Google, you’ll need to play catch up every time so you don’t end up using obsolete practices and do more harm than good to your content. It’s a hectic side hustle which requires a lot of behind-the-scenes action, late nights, early mornings, strategizing, and building relations.
How Much Can You Make
Your income will depend on the monetization strategy you choose for your blog, as well as your page views and several other factors. It might take some time before you start seeing any real profit but some bloggers report earnings as high as $40K per month from blogging.
Conclusion:
In essence, blogging is a way for you to make money from sharing your opinions over certain topics in written form, or helping others learn something or find a useful product. Whether you already have a blog, or you’re still at the stage of signing up for a WordPress account, with a little patience and effort, you can start earning money from your blog.
Pros:
Easy to start
Low startup costs (zero if you choose free plans)
Flexible schedule
You can stay ahead and have a consistent content schedule by creating content in advance
Cons:
Not as accessible to viewers as social media
It takes time (months or years) to grow your blog to a stage where it can generate income
Once you create a posting schedule, you’ll need to maintain it in order to build a user community and keep your readers coming back.
It can get hard to generate exciting new ideas or content after a while (more time and effort).
