When it comes to side hustles, blogging is arguably one of the best. It’s fun, it’s incredibly flexible and you can earn really good money if you stick with it. If you own a home business then a blog can run alongside this as a way to promote it, or it can just be a completely separate way for you to create another stream of income if you’re a freelancer or work in any other capacity.
How can you ensure your blog becomes a success and starts earning you money? Here are some ways to go about it.
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Find your passion
First of all, you’ll need to decide on what you’ll be blogging about. If you want to blog to run alongside your business then this should be relatively easy. For example, if your shop sells clothes then you’d start a fashion blog offering styling tips, advice and inspiration.
Have a think about where your passions lie and go from there. It will be much easier and much more fun to create content on topics that genuinely interest you and you’re much more likely to keep it up long term.
You don’t need to stick to one topic. For example, you could blog about business, finance, technology and productivity and stay within one niche. Or you could go down the lifestyle blog route and speak about every kind of topic that interests you and keep it really broad.
Going into it with an idea of what you’ll be writing about (even if this changes over time) and developing some expertise in that area can help you carve yourself your own corner of a big but competitive field.
Create good content
It goes without saying that if you want people to read your blog then you need to be creating good content. It should be well researched and backed up with facts, figures and examples where needed.
Don’t forget to write with personality and flair too. People will return to your blog because they like you as a person and are interested in what you have to say, so be personable.
Taking a short course on marketing can really help you to understand how to create shareable and even viral content too. That’s going to be hugely valuable as you attempt to grow your blog and generate traffic.
Make your site look professional
When your site is established with plenty of great content and a strong following, companies will begin to contact you for sponsored and advertising opportunities. For many bloggers, these are two of the biggest revenue sources and will be critical to your blogging success. However, since there are so many great blogs out there, you’ll need yours to stand out to get chosen.
A web designer can create you something custom and beautiful, or at the very least purchase a professional template and have this installed. There are customisation options on Blogger and WordPress for you to play around with yourself. However, you run the risk of that design lacking the same finesse that a properly installed design will give you, so bear that in mind when considering where to invest your money.
What to read next
Ready to start your blog? Here’s a list of the resources you’re going to need.
Figure out what content to create for your new blog here.
Get started with list building for your blog with this step-by-step guide.