Can you escape a 9 to 5 job with blogging? Plenty of bloggers have escaped the 9 to 5, so why not you? Blogging is a great passion career if you can find a topic you love and monetise it correctly. There’s a lot of bloggers out there though, and AI has revolutionised the internet to squeeze a lot of them out too. With over 600 million blogs on the internet, can you really carve out a niche and make money blogging?
While blogging is definitely a long term affair, it’s definitely possible to create a blog and make money from it. Many people have done it and you can make a good income too. The key to blogging is to be in it for the long term. To make blogging profitable, you must build up your subscriber base and diversify your traffic strategies. Google’s search results have changed dramatically of recent years and at the top you’ll often see it’s own AI, followed by a range of paid results (sponsored ads). This leave less room for SEO – Search Engine Optimisation – those free search engine results pages (SERPS) which show for bloggers who have spent time creating a tonne of content through blogging.
Can You Escape 9 To 5 With Blogging – Diversifying Your Traffic
Bloggers have had a hard time of it lately and I can attest to this phenomenon because I’m a blogger too! The big AI the problem. AI can craft a 1000 word article is less time than it takes you to think of your title! But that’s not to say everyone wants to read AI articles. I don’t. I’d much rather read a real article written by a real person. A real person has a soul, and that comes across in the writing. Whereas an artificial blog post is often dry and without any humour.
Still, that being said, as a blogger today you need to understand you won’t necessarily get your traffic from Google SERPS. So diversifying your traffic sources is a major key. You can do this through sharing your posts on social media, building an email list, and using tools and plugins to help you syndicate your content as much as possible.
Building an email list is a major key for bloggers because it allows them to share each new post with their subscribers by email.
Can You Escape 9 To 5 With Blogging – Pick Your Niche
One of the most important decisions you’ll face with blogging is your choice of niche. Imagine writing continuously for several months on the trot and you’ll have an idea about what it takes to break through with a blog. Now imagine writing continuously on a topic you’re not familiar with, or even one you don’t really care about. It’s going to be much easier if you choose a topic you’re passionate about and you’ll be able to keep writing for much, much longer.
When you’re writing about your passion, time goes quickly. You could do it all day. Well that’s what’s needed for you to make a living out of blogging. You not only need to write with a passion, but you need to become good at self promotion too! All that content can sit idle if you don’t make an effort to promote and share it. It’s almost as important as creating the content in the first place.
Blogging – Monetising
To monetise a blog you need to add some form of product or sell advertising space on your blog. Many bloggers are affiliate marketers which means they promote other people’s products from their blog posts and their email list. Again, this is a major key to whether you’ll be successful or not with blogging. Ideally, find a well-aligned product which is if high value and resonates with your audience.
Your product much be a good match for your topic, so it’s worth spending some time here, making sure you find the right product. A high value product might carry a subscription fee too which makes it more viable for creating a sustainable income through your blog. With a recurring income from each sale of your product, you’re much more likely to make your blogging pay.
How To Build An Email List From Your Blog
Building an email list from a blog is the best strategy to completely change your trajectory as a blogger. Without a list, you’re relying on passing traffic taking a punt at your products in the small window of time where they land on your blog post. Most website visitors only stick around for a few minutes at the most. After that they are gone forever. But get them on your email list and you can continue following up with them via email. You can inform them of your latest blog posts and update them on your products. Most online consumers will require 6-8 “touch-points” with a website or product before they make a buying decision anyway. This is where the email list comes into it’s own!
With an email list, you can keep in touch with your website visitors for months and even years! I’ve had subscribers buy from me even after 2-5 years of them being on my email list! This just isn’t possible unless you collect your visitors email details from your blog posts. To do this you need a good “hook” – also known as a lead magnet.
What’s A Lead Magnet?
A lead magnet is something bloggers use to encourage their visitors to join their email list. I use an ebook, for example as one of my lead magnets. Some affiliate programs offer free lead magnets you can use to get people to join your email list. If you want to known more about affiliate marketing, download my ebook or get the free video series which explains more about affiliate marketing.
Summary
So, can you really make a living from blogging? Yes it’s entirely possible to make blogging pay, but expect to put the work in for several months before you can see the fruits of your labour. There’s not guarantees with blogging, so it’s high risk too. But if you have a topic you’re highly passionate about and feel it’s right for you, get going and start blogging!
Make sure you find a good high value product you can align with your blog. Having a good way to monetise your blogging is key. You’ll need lots of traffic to make money blogging and this takes time and effort. Stick with it and you should see some results if you do the work!
