A lot of old school bloggers (like me!) started their blogs as a way to just jot down their thoughts and feelings. An online diary to look back and reflect upon in the future, and share your experiences with whoever stumbled upon them. Going forward 12 years or so, a LOT has changed. Bloggers are still around, some have become influencers (or are desperate to be!) others do it as a side-hustle to make money, increasingly more and more people do it as a full-time job.
Unfortunately, it’s really hard, especially if you’re starting out, to make an income from blogging. It’s nigh on impossible to just start a blog and instantly earn money from it. Even advertising like Amazon Associates or Google Adwords needs to be installed on an established site. They actually check that your site is established and has content, they won’t let you join their network with an empty site. That leads me nicely to my first tip –
1 – Build it and they will come
It’s really an obvious thing, but really, if you want to make money from blogging, you actually need to have some content. Write about you, write about your family or friends, write about life, love, loss – ANYTHING. You really need a base of work before you go anywhere. If you’re wanting to review things – don’t immediately assume that brands will send you things to review – they won’t. You need to prove that you can actually write a decent review. I started out by review things I’d purchased, just to get in the right idea of my style of reviewing. It’s the same with days out and experiences – it’s very unlikely you’ll be gifted these from the get-go. So instead, just write about your own days out, holidays, nights out. Building up a strong catalogue of work helps get your blog ‘seen’ by Google, and read by the world, rather than just friends and family. It makes sense to do a little research on the best web hosts – MangoMatter has this covered.
2 – (Don’t) know your worth
A lot of very big bloggers will preach that it’s really important to ‘know your worth’ and to take as much money from brands as possible. Which is fine if you’re someone who’s been blogging for years and have a massive body of work, and have already worked with multiple brands. If you’re starting out, it’s a little harder! You might find (eventually) that you’ll get a few random SEO companies asking if you want to copy and paste a post on your site for a fairly pretty low fee. It’s very easy to be sniffy about that – however, ultimately that bit of work will only take a few minutes, and could ultimately earn you more than several hours ‘proper’ work. Don’t expect that’ll you be earning big bucks immediately, and don’t feel shamed into accepting something that others might find is beneath them.
3 – Work with reliable people
As I mentioned above, you might get emails out of the blue from random SEO people – if they are hiding behind a generic @gmail.com email or similar then it’s good to be wary. I have had a few people ask me to do work, and then disappear off the face of the earth when it comes to payment. Working with Blogger Networks is a good idea – they usually act as an intermediate between a brand and you. I’ve worked with several and found Get Blogged to be the best. They have a wide range of opportunities for bloggers at all levels – if you’ve got a higher Domain Authority then you’re likely to get paid more. They pay quickly (which a lot of blogger networks don’t) and don’t mess you around.
4 – Take inspiration, but find your own path
It’s really good to look at other successful bloggers, and see what they do, and how they work. Just don’t try and get too consumed with emulating them. Be your own person, find your own style and voice. Brands and businesses are always looking for new and exciting people to work with, be that new and exciting person!
It’s certainly not easy to make money as a blogger, especially if you’re new – but it’s not impossible. Whether you’re wanting to review things or take up paid blogging opportunities – you can! Just remember not to run before you can walk, and build your blogging empire slowly and surely!
