If you have a love for writing or hope to pursue a career in journalism, then starting a blog might be for you. Blogging is a low cost business idea that could earn you thousands a month, and it looks amazing on your CV!
For most blogs, it kind of takes a while to start making money. You need to learn what works, and become a destination for good content in your blog topic. But if you stick with it you will start earning some cash to help you through life.
And for those of you dreaming of that influencer lifestyle, this is how to get there. Zoella started out with a blog and look at her now!
So you’re thinking about starting a blog and are wondering how much bloggers actually make? Maybe you already have a blog and want to know what you can realistically expect to earn.
We have seen many bloggers earn between £500 – £2,000. Once your blog starts earning money, things can snowball and earnings can quickly step up to between £2,000 and £5,000. Exceptions to the rule who end up gaining huge popularity from their blog, can earn upwards of £10,000 per month. But as with any job, to get to that level of earnings you’re going to have to work your head off.
Your Blog Niche
: Do people spend a lot on products in your niche. Think about how much people spend on fashion, travel, technology, and everything in between. How do earnings relate to what you are writing about.
How & When You Monentise Your Blog
: You can start placing adverts and affiliate links into your blog posts fairly early on, but more extensive projects like brand collaborations or sponsored content, might only be an option when you have built an audience.
After a step by step guide to blog your way to success? We put together the essentials for what you need to get started.
By choosing a topic for your blog, readers will begin to learn exactly what they’ll get when visiting, and improve your chances of being their first port of call when looking for advice. Importantly for you, you need to find a topic that interests you. We know, that’s weirdly easier said than done right?
One of the best ways to do this is to get inspired by someone you admire in the same niche or industry. Your ideas will start to form, and you can begin writing in your own voice about something you like!
Start with a broad topic, whether you want to write about fashion, literature, knitting, etc… just so your blog has a tailored purpose. You can find your calling from a subsection of that topic further down the line. Articles should keep in mind the audience that you want to attract. This isn’t to say you have to stick to writing about the same thing over and over. Like we mentioned before, write about something that interests you!
Choose a Profitable Niche
If you fancy writing about products, whether that be fashion, technology, or cookery equipment, you have a chance to be making money fairly early on. But this shouldn’t be your first thought. Just start writing. Over time you’ll build a following, and monetisation can follow.
Look at Trends
Looking out for trends is a great way to help you generate content. See what is relevant, what people are talking about, and write about this.
Share Content That’s Different
Try out different writing styles and find an audience that responds well. Rather than just long posts, try writing How to Guides, Product Reviews, or talk about topics that people can engage with.
So how do you actually start making money as a blogger? First of all, you’re going to want to create a blog, which means you need to set up a website.
You can get a range of free platforms to start your blog on, so if you’re just starting out, and aren’t too bothered about how much money you are going to make, these are a great place to start. Although, if you do want to start making some money, it is definitely worth spending a little on your website – you know what they say, you have to spend money to make money.
The Best Blogging Platforms
Medium
– A little like a social media, Medium is open to anyone wishing to share a diverse array of stories, ideas and perspectives. It’s user friendly, and has a huge number of regular readers, so is pretty often used by journalists looking for another platform to share their thoughts. It’s free to set up an account, and you can be sharing your thoughts with the world in no time at all.
WordPress
– WordPress is the King of Blogging. Slightly tricky learning curve, but with millions of tutorial videos on YouTube to help you out, this is our Top Pick to create your own Blog Website. With all sorts of free pre-made themes and plugins, the ideas for endless customisation will keep on coming. Expect to make use of the WordPress platform at absolutely any level of blogging.
Wix
– Wix is a little like WordPress, in the fact you can create your own blog website. While it might be a little more user friendly, and is set up to help you get to the top of Google, it might be a bit limiting when you compare the features between WordPress and Wix.
So, once you know what you want to write about, and you’ve set up your blog, you’re probably wondering how you’ll make your millions. Like we mentioned before, it can take a while before you start to earn money from your blog, but be patient and soon you will start to see the money come in.
Sell Advertising Placements On Your Blog
Adding adverts to your blog can help you earn money from your writing efforts. You can make use of the unused space on your website, by placing ads in the sidebar, or top banners.
Using an advertising network will handle everything for you here. Simply embed their code onto your site, and the ads will show up. Then once a certain number of people visit your website and see these ads, the network will handle all the billing and payments for you.
Popular choices for ad networks are
Google AdSense
,
Mediavine
&
AdThrive
.
Some ad networks pay per 1,000 impressions (CPM), which means for every 1,000 people that see the advert on your website, you’ll get paid! You can also make money on a cost per click basis (CPC), when somebody clicks on one of these ads, you guessed it, you receive another payment! Quite simply, the more people that see these ads, the more money you’ll make!
Sponsored Posts
Brands are always looking to pay bloggers to publish product reviews. It helps with their marketing, and helps give social proof to what they offer, and bring awareness to any new releases coming out. This is a super fun and engaging way to monetise your blog.
Alongside a sponsored blog post, you can incorporate sponsored social media posts. These days it’s almost expected to bring social media into the mix, and so if you have an audience there, this can help you command a higher fee to help promote a product, or a business.
Reach out to your fav brands and ask if they might be interested in sponsoring a review on your blog. It essentially costs nothing, and you get to share your opinion on new and exciting products in your area of interest.
Use Affiliate Marketing on Your Blog
Affiliate marketing is a super popular way for people to make money with a blog. By filling your website and blog articles with trackable links towards a business’s website, you have the opportunity to make money for each visit, sign up or sale that you generate for that business.
Make your blog a hub for information on a particular topic and you’ll build the trust factors needed to make a sale. Depending on how much traffic you drive towards a business’ page, you can start receiving commission.
Do your research and find out which companies offer an affiliate marketing scheme and how much commission you can earn. The good news is, almost every online company offers an affiliate programme!
Offer Your Services Or Guest Blog Post
As you build your authority within a certain topic, more people begin to associate your name or our website with the blog topics you write about. So occasionally, brands, other blogs, or members of the press might reach out and ask if you are interested in writing blog posts for them. And yep, they’ll often pay you to do so too.
This is a great reason why it’s great to get the point of finding yourself within a niche point of interest, and you build a lot of knowledge on a specific topic. Don’t shy away from pitching ideas to companies or other bloggers too. It doesn’t harm to ask, and you might get the opportunity to write some pieces for them, helping you reach a brand new audience.
Building a blog isn’t a simple process. How much you earn depends on your niche, relationship with your audience, and the type of content you produce. First, you should focus on building great content and a loyal readership, and later down the line you can experiment with ways of monetising your blog. If you’re wondering how else can you make some easy money check out our
Make Money Hub
.