Let me dispel the rumor right now – blogging is not a get rich quick scheme.
Developing a blog, a following, and promoting your posts takes time. The money does come, if you go about it the right way, but if you start blogging and think you’ll start making a lot of money quickly…that probably isn’t going to happen. Of course, there’s a few people that will somehow have their posts go viral right away, thus causing them to bring in money right away, but this is the exception, not the rule. Blogging takes time, effort, and probably some tears. It’s definitely not for the weak of heart! While it’s possible to make a lot of money, even if your first year of blogging, it takes a lot of hard work.
However, if I haven’t ran you off with my discouraging dose of reality, let me tell you – you can make money blogging.
We started our blog, Clarks Condensed, in January of 2013. Within a few months, some money started coming in. It wasn’t until September of 2013 that we actually started making more than just a little bit of extra money. And since September, our income has increased each month. We currently make enough to comfortably support our family (combined with money from our tech support business), and we hope that trend continues. I’m not making millions, but I do believe I know what it takes to make money blogging. I jumped in head first, and since blogging, I have never looked back. I’m constantly learning more, trying to help others, and teaching myself along the way.
There’s unfortunately no formula that works for everyone, but if you read these tips, and apply them to your individual circumstances, hopefully you’ll be able to come up with a marketing plan that will help bring in money.
But, before I get into making money blogging, remember this – don’t blog because you want to make money. If your only purpose in blogging is to make money, you will most likely fail. You have to have a passion for sharing your life, experiences, and tips with others. Blogging is not for everyone. With that said, I feel very strongly about bloggers being compensated for the work they do, without having to justify that to anyone else. If you love blogging, but you want to make money doing it, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just make sure you are authentic and you enjoy doing it. When you do that, you’ll find followers come much faster, and with it, so does the money.
Before I get into the nitty gritty, I should note to make money blogging, you have to have a blog! Be sure to check out our blogging resources page for more information. Now, on to the good stuff!
Let’s get one thing straight – if you write bad material, you probably won’t get very far. Not everyone can be a blogger — just like not everyone can be an engineer, or a teacher, or a rocket scientist. You need to be a good writer who can not only draw readers in but keep them coming back.
I think the best advice I can give is write in your own voice and be yourself. Don’t try to be someone else, or mimic how another blogger writes. I believe some bloggers don’t give their readers enough credit — they can tell when you aren’t being authentic! I honestly don’t read a lot of blogs, beyond ones written by my family and friends, but the blogs that I keep going back to are the ones that really wow me with what they write. You know they are passionate about what they are doing and you can tell there’s a real person behind the screen.
So if you write great content, you’ll have a lot easier time making money. It still takes promotion (very few people just start writing a blog, and with no promotion, become a sensation over night), but it makes it a lot easier to bring in loyal readers.