Guest Post by Tonya (bio end of post)
If you haven’t heard already, the blogging world has absolutely exploded in the past couple of years. There’s a lot of talk out there about people successfully making an income from their blogs.
Have you ever thought that YOU could be one of those people?
Well, I’m here to tell you, as a blogger making a full-time income from home with my blog – that, yes, YOU can!
Let’s take a look at three reasons most people think they can’t successfully blog for money.
Not Enough Time
I’m not going to lie to you – blogging does take some time and effort in order to be successful. If it didn’t, would you even believe it was true? How many “get rich quick” schemes have we all heard of these days? Most, if not all, are a complete lie.
While blogging does take a time investment, particularly as you get started – it can be so much fun that it doesn’t even seem like work at all! If you have a topic that you’re really passionate about – something you already talk to people about all the time anyway – why not start putting that information on a blog and potentially earn an income from home while doing it?
As a stay-at-home mom to little ones, I’m living proof that it IS possible to make the time to have a successful, money-making blog. Here are a few things that I’ve done that help with balancing life at home and running a profitable blog:
- Schedule your time. Decide what chunks of time you have throughout the day to blog. Then set “blogging hours” – and stick to them. I don’t like to blog while my kids are awake so I know this leaves me early mornings, nap times, and the occasional evening.
- Plan your blogging time in advance. At the end of each week, plan what you need to get done the following week. At the end of each day, plan what you need to do the next day. I’ve found that having a plan already in place when I get up in the morning saves me the time of groggily trying to remember where to even start (I’m NOT a morning person!).
- Blog ahead of schedule. Everything about my blog that I can schedule in advance, I do. I write several blog posts at once and then schedule them out over the course of several weeks. As much of my Facebook and Twitter interactions as I can, I schedule in advance. This frees me up throughout the weeks – just in case those unexpected little things come up and I can’t get to my blogging that day.
Can You Really Make Money From Blogging?
Yes, you can! With the right information, the right resources, and the right motivation, it’s amazing what can be done with a blog! In the first year of my current blog, we grossed over $30,000.
Nope, that’s not a typo – read that number again.
While I will tell you that this isn’t necessarily the norm in blogging, it does show a bit of the possibilities there.
If you’re looking to start a money-making blog – or you’ve already started and need to see some change in your blog’s success, here are three tips I’ve found helpful:
- Blog about your passion. You have to absolutely love your topic. You love it so much you talk about it even if people aren’t going to pay you. You love it so much you want everyone to be excited about it, as well!
- Get help from those who have gone before. Don’t try to start out on your own – that’s what I did in the beginning and I wasted so much time trying to find all the answers and fit everything together by myself. Once I finally learned that I should be learning from those who were seeing the success that I wanted, and I started applying what they were saying, then my life got a lot easier. There is SO much information available out there. Find someone who can help you stay on track doing what’s important.
- Find a need and fill it. Take a look at the blogs that interest you – what piece of the puzzle are they missing? What service or product or information are they leaving out, that you could provide instead? Find your special perspective on your topic – then reach out and really start helping people by meeting their needs.
I need to know too much technical stuff.
Maybe in the beginning, blogging required a lot of technical know-how – you know, like HTML coding and CSS, etc. – things I’m not even sure what they stand for, actually. But, not anymore. Blogging platforms and hosting companies with support teams are making blogging easier for the average person.
The three things you need to start your blog:
- A Hosting Plan – where your blog content is stored.
- A Domain or URL – your blog address
- A Blogging Platform – I highly recommend wordpress.org as the options for your blog are limitless!
That’s it – those are the basics you need to start publishing your blog!
What Are Your Blogging Questions?
Share in the comments below – I’ll do my best to get you the answers you need.
Tanya is the blogger behind Blogelina.com. She loves blogging – and also enjoys helping other stay-at-home moms learn how to make money working from home. Her popular Profitable Blogging for Beginners Online Class (which you can take right now for free!) has helped hundred of bloggers see more success with their blogs.
P.S. Have you heard about our 10-Week Blog Mentorship Program? It starts February 1st – space is limited so be sure to check it out!
In your opinion, how important is it to stay focused on one area? For example, I love to cook–but i’m also very thrifty and a “natural” mommy. I could see myself starting a blog on any of those topics, but I would love to just throw everything in to one blog.
What are your thoughts on that?
I recommend sticking as close to one topic as possible – with SO many blogs out there, it’s important to stand out by offering targeted, specific information. If you can make yourself an expert in one area, people will come to your blog when they need info on that topic. If there are multiple topics you want to work with, you might try starting more than one blog.
I went into this thinking I be a coupon and WAH blog. I am now realizing I just can not compete with the big coupon bloggers out there. I’m not sure how I can obtain a loyal following if I’m not giving them all the deals that other blogs have. Should I change my niche?
Kristi – is there something that the big blogs are lacking – something unique that you could be offering readers who stop at your blog? One place to start is to think of a personalized service you could offer. Something that smaller bloggers have that larger blogs do not is more time to offer to their readers. I would suggest doing some brainstorming to see what is NOT being offered by the big blogs and try to offer that thing to readers.
Thank you for the input. My mind is already spinning with different personalized touches I can offer.
Glad to hear it – and glad to help!
I also loved reading that advice. I’m in the same boat as Kristi to be honest. I can’t compete with the larger blogs in my niche and to be honest I don’t WANT to. I’d like to be in a niche of my own, but carving that out is really taking me out of my comfort zone!
I love this guest post and I’m excited to see what kind of conversation stems from it! Thank you!
I agree with all of the above!! I wasted SOO much time trying to figure it out on my own. Heck I know a lot of great bloggers who are helpful & share info and I still feel like I’m still figuring it all out!! Def. suggest trying to find a mentor somewhere along the line. Just not sure how to find one myself! I’m impressed with how much you made your first year!! I am still waaaaay behind that LOL BUT I love my niche and am happy to be there!