words Al Woods
You’ve undoubtedly heard of the bloggers who became famous by writing a few lines or filming a few seconds. The reality is, unless you post something that is outlandish or unheard of, it is unlikely that this will happen to you. However, this does not rule out the possibility of earning a respectable living from your blogging abilities.
Many bloggers now monetize their sites, turning them into a useful side income to supplement their regular income – but can it really be a career that you can live off of? It certainly can! The concept of earning a living doing what you love (blogging) may seem like paradise to you. Take a look at these eight steps to turning your blog into a profitable commercial venture.
Give your audience an incentive to visit you.
Most people are unlikely to click on your links and find out what little Bobby did this week unless you are a celebrity who has their own blog. Even if you have a few devoted fans who are eager to learn about your daily activities, this is not going to support you financially. While you should absolutely continue to provide your readers with a personal glimpse into your life, you should also provide them with something in exchange for visiting your blog. As an example, suppose you’re really talented at adobe photoshop and have produced some samples of your work. People may come to you for guidance on how to do it themselves, or even with an interest in purchasing your work. That’s when you’ll know you’ve made it. Then you can market yourself and your business to a large audience while also providing something visually appealing for them to look at. If you want to get more readers, try these ideas:
- Host a competition. Nobody can refuse a freebie. Fans will typically share your content in hopes of being selected as a winner despite social media’s strict limitations on sharing. The greater the reward, the greater the number of entries, and the greater the exposure.
- Give them something for nothing. A free printable picture of your own design might be offered to your followers as an incentive for them to follow your blog. In return, they just need to submit their email. From there, you’ll be able to send them updates about your blog, which will prompt them to visit your site once again. Make sure you’re adhering to the new GDPR regulations.
Invest in your business
When it comes to the business world, it is a basic but true reality that you must spend money in order to make money. Your blog is no exception. Your domain and self-hosting are a great start, but there are many more things you can do to make your blog succeed as a company. Take a look:
- Professional design – It would help you seem more credible as a brand and delight your readers even more if you hire an expert to design your blog.
- Content creation – When it comes to photographing and filming your content, a little more investment will go a long way. You should also consider camera insurance so that if you accidentally damage or lose your camera, your content won’t suffer as a result.
- Enhance your skills – Training to help you operate your blog like a business, not a hobby. Keeping track of your site’s profits, visitors and other analytics is a necessary part of running a blog. Microsoft Access provides a plethora of various technologies to help you in accomplishing your goals. Learning how to use Microsoft Access might be a challenge. In-person training sessions may help you achieve better outcomes. As a result, it is undoubtedly worthwhile to engage in training that will support you in growing your business.
Invest more time and energy into your material.
Your blog’s content is a major draw for readers, and you’ll need to put additional work into it to make it worthwhile. It’s better to write material that helps people or enables them to take something away from it rather than a diary-style blog (which may be effective but is less probable unless you’re popular). When it comes to online marketing, the same rules apply: you must provide consumers a compelling reason to click on a link and go to your blog. Your material must be created in a manner that may help people in resolving their difficulties or perhaps provide them with information that they did not previously know. This may need some more investigation on your part, but the results will be well worth it in the long run.
The same goes for the imagery and video content you produce. Anybody can snap a picture or take a quick video, but to really engage your audience you should take time to create these images and videos. Investing in a good camera is the first step (as mentioned above). You should also look into editing software to create the perfect final result that will keep your audience engaged.
SEO, SEO, and more SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the single most important factor in the growth of your blog (search engine optimisation). Installing the Yoast plugin on your WordPress site, for example, will make it easier to take advantage of SEO. It provides you with suggestions and ideas on how to enhance your writing so that your article has a better chance of ranking higher on search engine results pages. The plugin is free and functional, but if you’re looking to take things to the next level, it’s absolutely worth investing in the premium edition, which will allow you to improve your SEO abilities while also growing your company. It’s also good reading up on SEO to have a better grasp of it.
Learn social media algorithms
Whether you’re writing for pleasure or profit, social media is your strongest ally. To keep up with the speed of sharing information, it is essential that you get familiar with the algorithms used by the various social media platforms in order to determine the optimum times to publish. You may learn more about this by reading helpful articles or using the trial-and-error method. Just remember to keep track of your statistics!
Join communities or networks of bloggers that share your interests.
Despite the fact that you’d prefer for people to visit your site than anybody else’s, there are still hundreds or even thousands of other bloggers out there doing the same thing. Instead of opposing them, join a group and help one another to be the greatest version of yourself possible!
Attend strategy-enhancing seminars.
It is quite common for bloggers to plan events such as blog camp, which is hosted by a group of other similarly minded bloggers, to help people who want to understand more about the business in which they work. Keep an eye out for upcoming workshops and take use of the information they provide to improve your blog!
Plan out your strategy.
Finally, when you’re writing for enjoyment, you can simply kind of, well, publish whenever you have anything to say about whatever you want. When it comes to your company, you will need to prepare content many weeks ahead of time in order to avoid falling behind and losing viewers. Schedule things like photoshoots for upcoming articles or the time it takes to evaluate a product you’ve been supplied in a handy little journal.
All of this will help you to improve your company strategy and will have you wishing that you had known everything sooner! Best of luck with your venture!
