Turning a Blog from a Hobby to a Business

Blogging is one of the most popular activities online, and why wouldn’t it be? It allows you to voice your opinion, and open discussions with other people who are interested in the same things.

Blogs actually make up a third of all websites. When you put the most popular blogging websites like Tumblr and WordPress together with the privately-hosted web pages, the number of live blogs currently come up to about 600 million! These days, blogs can become more than just online journals and hobbies; you can now monetize your ideas, influence a community, and earn a worldwide audience. This, coupled with the fact that blogging is a lot of fun, is what makes blogging so alluring.

Bloggers in many ways are online celebrities who can score ludicrous sponsorship deals. So let’s get you started with these following tips:

Launching your own blog

Starting your own blog gives you absolute freedom on the things you write about. Since this is going to be owned by you, there’s no limit to what you can do or say on your blog. More than just the subject matter, you’ll also need to decide which platform you’ll put your blog on.

Launching a blog means that you will have to set it up yourself. We talk about the best practices when setting up a website in our ‘5 Common Mistakes in Website Designs and How to Avoid Them’ write-up. We recommend that you start building your SEO keywords early so that you get more visibility and website traffic as you grow your blog.

Needless to say, you should churn out quality content regularly. And don’t forget to put your contact details so people and advertisers can easily reach you.

Ghostwrite for other bloggers

ZenBusiness’ market outlook for ghostwriters highlights how this type of blogging can be very lucrative. They go on to say that ghostwriting is a trade that you can do from anywhere in the world, and for a number of different clients too.

Bloggers will always have more ideas than time, so the demand for ghostwriters will always be high. This is also a great opportunity for you to write about several different topics, since there’s such a diverse array of clients you can tap: from celebrities to CEOs, and everyone else in between.

With ghostwriting, you’ll also be free from the responsibility of website upkeep—all you’ll need to do is write.

Use affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is when you include a special tracking link on your website that leads to a product or service. Every time someone clicks on the link, you get a referral commission. This digital marketing strategy is expected to grow significantly in the coming years.

In The Drum’s opinion column, Lee-Anne Johnstone says “We’ll see affiliate marketing increase as a channel of choice as more digital marketers start to understand the strategy that underlines performance marketing.” She also states that affiliate marketing will be incorporated into more strategies as part of the larger brand and customer acquisition mix in 2021.

Most products and services online have affiliate programs that you can join. You can start looking at items and services that you already use so the links can seem more organic on your blog.

When you learn how to make profit off this hobby, blogging immediately becomes so much more than just keeping an online diary; it opens up a world of earning possibilities!