Want to make money blogging?
Millions of blog posts are published each day (70 million a month on WordPress alone), but most bloggers make zero income. To orient yourself to the blog landscape, here’s ahref’s 70 blogging statistics for 2022.)
That said, hundreds of thousands of bloggers do make an income. Some make an amazing income.
I’ve been blogging consistently and passionately since around 1999, and get lots of questions on the topic. Therefore, I’ve decided to create a “make money blogging” series.
Please be aware that the series won’t be a go-to-whoa “how to blog” tutorial, since there’s already a mile of basic content online about that. Viz an excellent start-blogging tutorial from Shopify—they use a food blog as an example.
Our series will be subjective: what I’ve learned about the subject over so many years. Use those ideas and suggestions which work for you, ignore the rest.
Make money blogging: start your blog TODAY (you can always flip it)
If you want to make money blogging, start now. Today. The sooner you become familiar with the process, the better.
Start today, even if you’re uncertain of your topic and slant. (Read about freebie starter blogs below and why you should create one…) The more willing you are to experiment, the more likely it is that you’ll be successful.
In the distant past (from around 2000 to 2004) you could toss up a blog and make money without much effort. I did that, as many others did. At one point I had hundreds of blogs (no, I’m not kidding). It was a simple process: I’d get an idea, create a blog, and monetize it.
I sold most of those blogs—the ones which earned an income. Others never made a cent, so I allowed the blog to lie fallow and didn’t renew the domain registration.
“Blog flipping” (creating a blog, or buying one, and selling it when makes an income) is still a thing, BTW. It’s many years since I left that world; today, I put that creative passion into writing and publishing novels and nonfiction books. So, if your starter blog doesn’t work out, that’s fine. Flip it.
Let’s start at the beginning—with your passions, and your first blog.
A question: what are you passionate about?
Of course, you can start a blog about anything and monetize it. However, for your sanity’s sake, if you’re just starting, I strongly suggest that you have a keen interest in your blog’s topic, as well as an idea of the type of content you could create.
If you start a blog without enthusiasm:
- Readers will notice (it comes across in your words, even if you try to fake an interest,) so you won’t win an audience;
- You’ll run out of ideas, because you just don’t care about the topic.
So choose a topic you’re either passionate or enthusiastic about, and create a freebie starter blog.
BIG tip: create a freebie starter blog on your topic
Why create a starter blog on a free platform for your topic?
Here’s why:
- Some topics you adore and are convinced millions of people will adore too are non-starters. You can’t make money blogging on that topic (others may be able to, but you can’t—for whatever reason.) You won’t know until you give the topic a try;
- Other topics, which are easy to monetize, just aren’t for you. Very quickly, you lose interest and run out out of content ideas. Within a week or a month you’ll find that you avoid your blog. Not only will you actively begin to hate the topic, you’ll have a mess of other negative emotions too. You don’t want to add money-guilt (was I insane to spend $3000 on a blog design?) to the misery as well.
You may as well start a freebie blog: if your blog’s a success, you’ll move it.
Sooner or later you’ll move your blog: make sure it’s easy to migrate to WordPress
To reiterate: always, always create a blog on a free platform before you commit time and resources to your chosen topic.
Here’s a list of free blogging platforms.
FWIW, I suggest Blogger.com for three reasons, two are mentioned on Bloggers’ home page: Blogger is easy and free.
The third reason: Blogger is owned by Google: that has many benefits. The primary one is that Blogger code is rock solid—and you can move your blog elsewhere whenever you choose.
Starter blogs are stress-free, but they’re only worth considering if you can move the whole thing to WordPress at some stage. And yes, you will want to move your successful starter blog to WordPress eventually, because WordPress is endlessly customizable. Half the world’s blogs run on WordPress for a reason.
So, before you choose a free platform to make money blogging, run a Google search on “platform blog move to WordPress.” For example, “Blogger blog move to WordPress” (without quotes.) Most of the free platforms will allow you to migrate, but check, to make certain.
Make money blogging: start now
If you want to make money blogging, and are determined to succeed, you will.
How can I be confident of that?
In a word: experience.
Start now, and start building your own blogging experience—you’ll succeed, if you persist.
Read the next post in this series: Make Money Blogging: 4 Steps To Find The Perfect Niche.
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Copywriter and marketing pro Angela Booth maintains a busy copywriting and ghostwriting practice. Fascinated by online marketing, she wrote one of the first business books for internet marketing, published by Allen & Unwin. She’s been an enthusiastic blogger since the late 1990s.
