Running a blog in this modern day society and making money from it has become more and more possible with each passing day.
There are so many opportunities through blogging that some have made it a full-time career. So whether you run your blog part-time or full-time, here are some tools for building up your blog business.
1. Set Goals And Regularly Review Your Achievements
When running a business, it’s always important to set goals for yourself because that will help you develop and grow. By establishing a mixture of short term and long term goals, as you tick them off, each one will motivate you to succeed in the next.
Short-term goals should be easier to achieve and those long terms ones should be something that’s challenging and may take a year or two to reach. When you set goals for yourself, your business will constantly be growing, and that’s where opportunities will come flooding in. It will also put you in a positive mindset, knowing you are going somewhere with the business.
This sort of follows on from the previous point, but with any achievements you may get, you want to periodically review and check that you are projected to hit those goals. Ways you can do this is by regulating your traffic through analytic sites like Google Analytics. This is an excellent platform for figuring out who’s reading your blog, from their geographic location to what their hobbies and interests are.
Most social media platforms you use also have analytical tools that can help you keep track of what performs well and what doesn’t so that you can tailor any promotions you may do on these profiles. And as these platforms are evolving, so too does the challenge to remain relevant in your blog’s niche.
Additional reading: How To Successfully Achieve Your Sales Goals and How To Achieve Results With Goals And Follow Through.
2. Have Your Own Office Space And Hire Staff
Owning a blog and running it full-time can mean you’re working from home or in a coffee shop. This can be a distracting environment as we often find the temptation to stick the TV on or people watch. You may want to consider having your own office space so that you are in an area that motivates you to work.
The components of modern office space should factor in the right lighting and atmosphere you want because just these simple elements can affect your mood and your work. Think also about the size of the space and the interiors as this can also be important if it’s just yourself or if you have a team of people working for you.
It’s an exciting prospect when you become your own boss, and if running a blog can be very time-consuming. There’s always something to do and often you work more extended hours than the average job. That may be needed for the first couple of years of your business, but after a while, it may be time to bring in some extra helping hands.
Hiring someone else is a little daunting especially as you may be responsible for a significant part of their income. However, think of the benefits from having someone else on your team and the time it frees up for you will mean more time spent on the areas that will build up your blog business.
Additional reading: How To Choose The Perfect Office Space.
3. Don’t Focus On Your Competitors Too Much But Fill In The Gaps
Knowing your competitors is very useful so that you know what they’re doing and using that knowledge to make better content and have a better strategy in other aspects of the business. But the worst thing you can do is to focus on them too much.
Often enough in life, we compare our lives to others, our own successes or lack of. Everyone has their own path, and we all experience success and failure at different points. Just because you haven’t reached a goal that your competitor has, doesn’t mean you won’t get your moment one day.
As important as it is to not to compare yourself to your competitors, it can be hugely beneficial to notice any gaps that they haven’t filled. This can be a great opportunity to get yourself noticed and even get ahead of your competition. Reading other blogs can be a great way of spotting who they may be working with and then nothing is stopping you from reaching out with your own offer of collaboration.
Additional reading: How To Discover And Engage Your Target Audience.
4. Create A Passive Income And Improve Your Knowledge
Creating a passive income with blogging is possible. Passive income is when you earn money without really having to do anything. Examples of a passive income in blogging are:
- Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate marketing is widely used by many brands to boost sales through other outlets. In return for promoting a product link or service, you’ll get a cut of the money they make. The percentage varies depending on the company, but you can end up making a small fortune over doing very little. Read: What Is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?
- Advertising – There are ways of making a passive income through advertising too. Depending on the platform and your blog traffic, you can make a bit of money each day that will soon add up to a sizeable sum.
- Sell A Service/Product – Ebooks and merchandise tend to be a good way of making some extra money on your blog. Ebooks don’t have to be pages long, as long as it provides a service or gives the necessary information required by the reader. If you are in a position where you have a relatively attractive following, you may want to consider selling your own branded merchandise on your site. This can help grow your following as well as making a considerable amount of income over time.
It’s important though to not get too complacent with these avenues of passive income as they could just as easily disappear. Keep developing and improving to continue this regular stream of income.
A blog’s income can be limitless, and that can be very exciting if your willing to work for it. However as you’re earning money, you need to make sure it’s tracked in some way so that you can make the right amount of taxes that you owe. This can be on a spreadsheet or just written down in a diary.
It can be very easy to adapt your spending habits and spend all the money you make, but not all of it is yours so unless you want a visit from the tax man, make sure you declare everything.
Every day can be a lesson to learn something new, and that should always be at the forefront of your mind. What could you do to improve your blog business? Do you have the skills to improve it and if not, what’s available out there to get them. A lot of courses and workshops exists nowadays where you can learn more about an area that you may be struggling with.
From using social media platforms to performing cold pitches to companies, there are always weaknesses that we can build upon so actively looking for these courses is a must. Try by simply googling blog courses or asking those who are also within the blogging community for recommendations. A lot of bloggers run these very courses you may be after.
Additional reading: How To Transform Your Blog Into Passive Income.
5. Work On The Tech And Be Part Of The Community
Just like improving your knowledge, the technical aspect of your blog can be of much importance and can offer great results if you know how to use it. Creating an SEO-friendly website may be a phrase you’re familiar with, but if you’re not, SEO stands for search engine optimization. In simple terms, it’s the thing that makes your blog more popular in the search engine of Google.
There are multiple ways of improving SEO from editing old content and making it better and using relevant keywords that will pull in the right readers you need for your content.
The blogging community can be a place where you can get advice and help from like-minded individuals that are often in the same position as you are. From brand new bloggers to those who’ve been at it for years, if you involve yourself within the community, you can really benefit your blog’s growth.
Start by joining blog groups, of which you can find both on Twitter and Facebook and begin creating a dialogue with others. Support other bloggers’ work and successes and they’ll probably end up returning the favor. Hashtags on Twitter are also a good way of following those relevant to blogging.
No one successful ever really gave up, and it’s important for you to do the same. There will be times where it gets tough, but this is all part and parcel of running a business. Celebrate your successes and push through the failures as they are an essential learning curve for you and your blog.
Growing your blog business is rarely an overnight success, but with the passion and hard work you put into it, the sooner you’ll reap the benefits.
Additional reading: 11 Reasons SEO Is Crucial For Business Growth.