3 Things To Ask Before Making Money From Blogging?

When you first got it into your head that you wanted to set up a blog, did you even consider that you could eventually be making money from blogging? No matter what stage you’re at with your blog, have you taken the time to think about where you want it to be in a few year’s time?

I know it might seem a long way off, especially when you may have only just got round to buying a domain name, but thinking about this now will help you out massively, especially if one of your goals is to eventually be making money from blogging. In this article, I’m going to talk you through the process of deciding what you want from your blog and then help you put that into action.

It’s Confession Time

But before I get into all of that, I have a confession… I haven’t been blogging as much lately. And yet, still I have the cheek to call myself a blogger… and a blog coach for that matter! I’ve realised that in my mission to help others improve their blogs, I have been very much neglecting my own.

When I first started out blogging (over 12 years ago now, eek!!) I was writing content all the time. Churning it out like a factory. And the more I wrote, the easier it was to write. The words would literally pour out of me, and not gonna lie I loved the attention it was getting me. It was complete and utter validation that what I was writing was good, that it was helping people, and that it mattered. The ego boost was real and it felt good.

These days, it’s a little different. You see back then, I was pretty much blogging as a hobby. I’d taken over a couple of websites that my husband owned and was writing content for him to help build them up. I wasn’t earning a penny, but I was learning lots of new skills and fulfilling my childhood dream of being a writer.

Then one website, the one I liked the most and the one I felt I could naturally write more on, started to take off. I was getting emails from PR companies wanting to send me products to review, which was great, I mean who doesn’t love getting free stuff. Those product reviews then turned into emails asking me to publish sponsored posts and to add links into existing posts. And before I knew it a slow trickle of income started coming in.

Now my blog is my job. It earns me more money than I can have ever imagined when I first started. Jeez, when I first started I didn’t even realise making money from blogging was a thing! Yet here I am doing just that.

And I say it’s my job, but to be honest, it doesn’t feel like a job. It still feels like a hobby, something I do for fun. This hobby just happens to earn me money, which is the dream right?. In fact, although I’m back from my hols now, I wrote this blog post in my notebook, sat on a sunbed, a cold drink by my side, overlooking the beautiful Tuscan countryside. All paid for by the money earned from my blog. It ain’t a bad life, I can tell you.

What this holiday has reminded me of however, is how much I enjoy the writing side of blogging. As I have learnt, blogging is more than just writing. So much more. And for a while now I’ve let the other side of blogging take over a little, because well… they’re the things that pay the bills. But this holiday was a kick up the backside for me to reconnect with my writing, which means now I need to somehow strike a balance between the two so that I can still factor in time to write as well as to continue bringing in the bucks!

What Do You Want From Your Blog?

Establishing what you want from a blog in those early days is really important, as it will help you move forwards and take your blog in the direction you want it to go. To help you on your blogging journey, I want you to think about the following 3 questions:

1. Am I blogging because I love to write?
2. Am I blogging for my business?
3. Am I blogging to make money?

Now, you can of course answer yes to more than one of these questions. Probably in an ideal world we’d answer yes to all 3, right? I mean, I love to write, I am blogging to make my business more visible, and I am making money from blogging. So, yes, answering positively to all 3 is more than OK.

But one thing to bear in mind is that your reader will vary massively based on whether you’ve written for fun versus whether you’re writing with the aim of gaining more clients or with the purpose of making sales. Your blog voice will be different, the topics you cover will potentially be more niched.

You may even start to accept guest posts and sponsored posts, so suddenly it’s not just solely your writing on your blog, but other people’s too. And how do you feel about that? Are you OK with having other people chatting in your space? This changes your blog a lot. It changed mine massively. In fact, I’d say that it took mine from being a blog to now being more of a website with a blog; a kind of online magazine with a blog section. And perhaps you won’t want this for your blog.

I get it. But you just need to figure this stuff out from day dot so that if it is your intention to be making money from blogging, you can rule out certain revenue streams and concentrate on others instead.

Blogs are very personal things; your space, your writing. But if you want to scale your blog into a business, it is something you have to consider. And better to do that now I say, than when you’re further down the line.

So ask yourself this….

When You Think About Making Money From Blogging, How Much Do You Expect Or Want To Make?

• Do you want to have some extra spends each month to cover the fun stuff, like eating out at restaurants, cinema trips, a takeaway each week?
• Do you want to eventually turn this into a job, so that you can quit the 9-5 and be your own boss?
• Do you want to help the visibility of an existing business?
• Do you want to live a life of luxury, being able to afford lovely holidays to far fling places and not have any financial worries?

Have a think about what it is you really want, as deciding this really helps determine which direction you should take your blog and gives you clarity and focus from the off.

Once you’ve decided on how you want your blog to work for you, here’s how you can achieve that…

How To Make Your Blog Work For You And Start Making Money Blogging

If you want to earn yourself a bit of fun money, keep writing personal blogs. Concentrate on good quality writing with a friendly, chatty and engaging blog voice. Look at affiliate and advertising options.

If you’re looking to quit the 9-5, explore the idea of having other people contribute articles to your site and also offer yourself up as a copy writer, contributing articles to other sites to help build up the links to your own blog.

If you want to use a blog to expand an existing business you have, concentrate on those niche topics related to your business. Do ALL the keyword research. Check out what your competitors are doing. Focus on building brand relationships, affiliates, and product reviews.

And if you’re all about the luxe life, work hard! Accept posts from other people. Get a rate card and media pack sorted. Make connections. Do all the things I’ve listed in my ebook to start making money from blogging. Make yourself visible!

It Will Take Time, But Making Money From Blogging Is Possible!

Blogging isn’t a get rich quick scheme. Anyone that tells you it is, is lying. It takes time, it takes tenacity, and it takes a whole heap of patience. But if you want something badly enough, you will achieve it, and I am also here to help you achieve it. I am proof that making money from blogging is possible. I do so every day.

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You can also download my FREE Ebook which will show you 10 different ways of making money from blogging.

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