Over the last 15 years or so, blogging has rapidly taken over the world. Something that’s changed the face of journalism, full-time blogging has become a reality for millions of people around the world.
If you love blogging and want to make it a full-time job, you need to know that it’s not easy. It takes time, motivation and determination for it to become successful. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s not possible. If you go into the venture with a positive outlook, there’s no reason why it can’t quickly become profitable.
To help guide you so that you’re on the right path, here is a brief guide into 6 key steps that you should take to make your dream of becoming a full-time blogger a reality:
Before you launch your blog, you need to decide what you’ll write about. Although this might sound obvious, it’s a step that’s essential in the process. There are so many themes and topics to choose from out there, so settling on one might be daunting.
Most people tend to write about what they are passionate about, or what they are an expert in. If you’re edging on the latter, you need to ensure that the topic is something that you’ll continue to be interested in as time goes on. To give you some inspiration, here are some popular blog themes:
Once you have a theme in place and you’ve created your blog, it’s time to launch it. During this stage, you’ll want to ensure that you’re posting it across all of your social channels whilst using trending hashtags/enticing copy to draw people in. These social channels will also be invaluable in the future when you want to network with similar bloggers/connect with your readers.
One of the most important things that you’ll have to realise, is that because this will be your new full-time role, you’ll have to maintain your blog regularly and update it each day.
Without fresh and eye-catching content, your readers will soon become disinterested and look elsewhere. So to guarantee that you’re driving traffic to your site, you need to write interesting and original content.
Through utilising SEO practices, such as creating articles with trending keywords (you can use a tool such as Google’s Keyword Planner to help with this), it will ensure that your blog is one of the first to come up on the search engine.
As well as writing, you’ll want to consider differentiating your blog by adding other types of content. This can include videos (you could start a YouTube account alongside your blog) for example.
As a full-time blogger, you’re going to want to find ways to bring in money. And this is where affiliate marketing comes in. Turning traffic directly into income, it will propel you into becoming a full-time blogger. Through affiliate marketing, you can promote products and services that you like to use, in exchange for payment.
In order to thrive within this job, you need to set long-term goals for your blog. This will include all that you want to achieve within a specific duration. For example, you might want to receive 5,000 visits each week at first on your blog. Then, over time, this could increase to 30,000+. However, keep in mind these goals need to be realistic in order to be attainable.
Whether you do this in order to receive fan mail or as a way of companies forwarding you products for you to review, a PO box can be very useful for a full-time blogger. There are even post office services online that give you the chance to view and manage your mail from your computer and smartphone – perfect for when you’re on the go.
So, there you go! Those are 6 key steps that you can take to become a full-time blogger. What steps you opt for, of course, is up to you. But it’s essential that no matter what you do, that you’re prepared and organised for what life as a full-time blogger has in store.
Full time I'm an ambitious Head of Marketing and Communications in the luxury industry. Part time, I'm an enthusiastic British Fashion, Beauty and Lifestyle blogger and YouTuber from Manchester, UK. This blog has been my outlet for the past 7+ years, and as a longstanding, Award-winning blogger I take the most enjoyment from creating content I truly love and believe in. All authentic. Always.