Tuesday, February 02, 2021

How To Make Blogging Your Full Time Career

Being a full time blogger now for many years, I often get asked how to make blogging your full time career.

Here are some things to focus on if you want to make blogging your full-time job:

1. Invest in good equipment and blogging tools 

Like with any career, there are certain tools and investments you'll have to make in order to get started. You don't need to spend a whole lot of money on blogging equipment, but you'll want to make sure that it's good and will do what you need it to.

Look at the specs of laptops to make sure you're getting one that can hold all the pictures, videos, invoices, etc. that you'll need for your blog and social media channels.

Invest in a good phone and/or DSLR camera so that you can take good quality photos. There are so many free apps available for simple edits on your pictures. Snapseed is great for quick edits on phone pictures. If you want to have a more professional editor, Lightleap is a great mobile app and Lightroom (both desktop and mobile) is fantastic. You'll have to pay for these but they're worth the money if you want professional looking pictures for your blog and social media channels.

2. Grow your site traffic
Having good site traffic is essential to making money from your blog. After all, if no one is reading or engaging, brands won't be interested as they are getting nothing back from a collaboration.

Having good SEO is essential. Work hard on your blog posts and check their SEO ranking before publishing. This will help to rank your blog and it's articles higher on certain keyword searches on Google. I also get a lot of direct traffic

SEO can take a lot of work and if need help with it you could also look for the best SEO services to help you. Marketing your blog can take a lot of time, but it really is worth is for the traffic it gives.
  
3. Build up your websites DA and metrics 
DA is hugely important in terms of gaining work from your blog and for people who are wanting to good quality websites to work with their clients. DA is essentially 'link juice', so the higher the DA, the better the juice. You can check yours via the MOZ toolbar (available as a Google Chrome extension) for the most accurate reading.

You can grow your DA by guest posting on other blogs and websites, contributing to articles in exchange for link back to your blog, commenting on other people's blogs and being featured on high-ranking websites. DA is something that needs to be constantly worked on and it fluctuates quite often so it's important to keep checking it regularly to make sure your site metrics are going up rather than down.

4. Be friendly and supportive of other bloggers
This is  key to the growth of blogs and social media channels. Being supportive of other bloggers within the same niche as yourself means that you will always have a community on hand to answer questions, give advice and support you by engaging on posts, etc. and vice versa.

There are lots of blogging themed groups on Facebook but I think it's important to find one that isn't all about self-promotion, but rather a community, where everyone is happy to support, encourage and offer advice to one another. Essentially, other bloggers can become colleagues of sorts and I think it's great to have a community of like-minded people to engage with.   

5. Form a brand/niche for your blog and social media
Know what your brand is and share it on your blog and social media. This helps you to curate an audience of loyal followers and readers for your blog and social media channels.

6. Share your posts everywhere you can
One of my sayings is - you are your own best cheerleader, so, unless you're talking about yourself, sharing your work, what you have created, etc. then who else is going to? Make use of your social media channels when it comes to sharing your blog posts.

7. Approach brands/clients for work
When you're self-employed via blogging it's important to get the word out there about what you can offer prospective clients and brands. Approaching brands and introducing yourself to them is a good idea. It's also a good idea to maybe tag brands you already support on your social media channels so that they can see the quality of your posts and audience and they may reach out to work with you from this.

8. Run your blog as a business
If you're wanting to make a career from your blog it's important to run it as a business. Set rates for the services you offer and explain what you have to offer to brands/clients who you come into contact with. It's important to leave room for negotiation though as most campaigns will have set budgets. Make a media kit to show what you have to offer brands in exchange for paid collaborations.

Make sure to conduct all your blog dealings in a professional manner. Be courteous to the clients and PRs you will work with. Send invoices on completion of work and chase them if they're late in payment.

Make sure you declare everything you earn. Hiring an accountant to keep track of your earnings and tax returns is a good idea. Set aside a percentage of your earnings each month so that you have money available for paying your taxes.

9. Don't dilute your brand
There are some things which, depending on your brand, you should not promote on blog or socials, no matter what the payment is. By doing so, you risk penalising your site or losing followers who understand that these things are not part of your normal brand or niche.

Be careful with what you're willing to promote. Don't dilute your brand. Sometimes it will be hard to say no to the money being offered, but realise that better fitting opportunities will come if you stay true to yourself and your blogging brand.


10. Treat your blog as a full-time job
There is a common misconception that blogging is an easy thing to do. Some people seem to underestimate just how long it takes to compile a quality blog post, edit pictures, put it all together for publishing, etc.

Running a blog as a full time career also incurs costs too such as hosting, social media management tools, web design, etc. I don't think people realise all that goes on behind the scenes when it comes to blogs and websites. 

Full time bloggers dedicate hours upon hours to their sites and social media channels each day. Constantly coming up with fresh content can be tough and a lot of effort goes into curating and writing content. There are so many blogs these days so you will need to keep your content, blog name, etc. out there in order to be noticed.

Once you've established blogging as your full time career, you'll hopefully be able to live off of your earnings. You can also use the skills you'll learn, such as photography, social media management, content creation, etc. to expand your sources of income in the future.

I hope this post was useful for anyone who is wanting to become a professional blogger and if you have any questions please feel free to get in touch with me.

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