How to earn money writing a blog

Blogs are everywhere on the Internet. It seems like no matter what topic you search up, there’s a successful blog earning money from it. So, how can you get a piece of the blog pie? Almost everyone has hobbies, interests, or professional skills that could translate to writing blog posts for money.

Before you start typing, you’ll want to plan your endeavor out a little bit. Let’s break down how these blogs are making money and what you need to know before you dive into blog writing full or part-time.

What is blog writing?

Blogs are short articles that are written by industry experts, enthusiasts, or professionals that are featured on websites. Some websites have the blog as their main feature and some websites have a blog as just a small section of their website.

The term blog stands for “web log.” This type of article writing is short and tends to be written in a personal voice, speaking directly to the audience. Authors of blogs are called “bloggers” and in order to be successful, they must frequently and consistently create content for their sites.

How does writing a blog make money?

Many people dream of making a living off their writing, but if blogs are available for anyone to read for free, how are they profitable? If you’ve always wondered, “How does writing a blog make money”, the answer is fairly simple. There are several easy ways to make money writing blog posts:

• Affiliate marketing – The blog author writes about a product or includes information about a product in their writing, then links to a site using a special code to purchase it. The author gets a portion of the sales.
• eBooks and eLearning Courses—If you’re an expert in your field, don’t give all of that knowledge away for free. Give your readers a taste with some helpful tips, then sell them a comprehensive guide in the form of an eBook or online course.
• Google Adsense—This is an advertising platform that pays you to show ads on your website, based on your traffic and the keywords contained in your web content.
• Writing for other sites as a freelancer—Use your blog to market your writing skills and get paid to write blogs or content for other businesses.
• Merchandise—If your blog builds a brand and gains a following, merchandise like t-shirt sales, physical books, or other promotional goods can be a great way to make extra income.
• Sponsored content—Blogs that have a dedicated following are sometimes approached by brands to feature their products or services in their posts and are paid for an advertising deal.

When you’re just starting off, affiliate marketing, AdSense, and branching out into freelance work are the easiest low-barrier entry points to get started blog writing and earning money. It is tricky to get started at first, but you’ll quickly figure out how to make money from writing a blog as you create content and experiment.

How to create a blog for free and make money

To get started in blogging, you’ll want to first decide on your topic, plan your content, and create a website on a blog platform. Before you get started, you’ll want to get organized and be solidly decided on your content topic, and then move forward.

Blog ideas that make money

The most popular blogs are in niches that have widespread appeal. The more eyes you can draw to your blog, the better. So, for your blog topic, start by looking at the big picture. The most common blog ideas that can make money fall into these categories:

• Health and Beauty—This type of blog would focus on modern fashion, beauty products, health trends, nutritional supplements, hair care tutorials, or make-up tutorials.
• Crafts, Recipes, and Do It Yourself—This type of blog features instructions and appealing imagery for creating custom crafts, sewing, baking recipes, cake decorating tutorials, furniture building, home repair, or anything in-between.
• Political—No matter which side of the political spectrum you’re on, by focusing on hot button issues, you can drive traffic to your site. Blog about the presidential campaign, recent news, groundswell efforts, or non-profit organizations.
• Travel—This is a desirable and saturated niche. If you’re great at planning itineraries, photography, or getting great deals on travel, those are amazing things to feature in your blog.
• Food—Beside recipes, there’s a lot to talk about with food. Restaurant reviews are a big portion of this niche
• Entertainment—Celebrity gossip, movie news and reviews, video game tutorials, and even book reviews are a great way to break into this niche.
• Mental and Physical Health—This type of blog would focus on ailments of the body or mind and how to treat them using conventional or unconventional methods.
• Technology—Focus on the latest trends in technology, like cell phones, computers, and other gadgets; you could also talk about software for businesses, or technology that is disrupting an industry.

These are just a few money-making ideas for writing blog topics. If you have a hobby or professional expertise, do some research to see what other blogs are out there. Do some research into keywords related to your desired niche to see if people are searching for it. Then, based on the blogs you’ve seen, take note of what they do well and what needs they’re not meeting. Where those ideas converge will be a great starting place for your efforts.

Best blog platform to make money

There are several great blog platforms out there to get your website started. If you are starting on a low budget, free blog writing sites like WordPress, Medium, or Blogger could be a good option. If you want to invest a little more time and money, SquareSpace, Wix, or a customized WordPress template hosted on your own domain will be better suited for a money-making website.

Remember, you want your blog to be an authority on its topic. It’s important that your website look professional in order to keep your visitors reading, engaged, and potentially spending money or listening to your recommendations. While it is understandable to have a low budget while starting a blog, a free solution isn’t always the best way to go.

• WordPress—WordPress is a free CMS (content management system) that can be used to create a free blog on WordPress.com. WordPress is the industry standard for most blogs, because it manages a high number of posts and media well and it can be fully customized. Ideally, you would use WordPress on your own domain and server, with a layout that has been branded to your blog’s look.
• Medium—Medium allows you to host your writings on their site. This is a great way to gain eyes and followers to your writing. Medium is best suited to writers that aren’t looking to manage a full website.
• Blogger—Blogger is another one of the well-known blog writing sites that offers an easy system to get up and started. If you don’t have experience in web design and have little to invest, consider Blogger for your first start-up. It isn’t as feature-rich as some other platforms, but its simple look is great for beginners.
• SquareSpace—SquareSpace is optimized more for small businesses than blogs. While it has a built-in blog feature, it is best suited for sites that will feature the blog as the side element. SquareSpace is inexpensive and offers attractive looking templates built right into the platform.
• Wix—Much like SquareSpace, Wix is better suited for a site that has a blog as a feature, not its main course. Wix is also relatively inexpensive. The benefit of Wix over SquareSpace is their templates are simple to customize, attractive, and well-suited for SEO (search engine optimization).

The best platform will be one that you can easily manage and make look professional, the one that organizes your posts in a meaningful way. This platform will also be optimized for SEO (search engine optimization). For most users, that means the best blog writing sites tend to be ones hosted on their own domain with WordPress.

Trending Niches for 2019/2020

• Politics—As the U.S. is heavily divided on political issues, politics will continue to be a big trend as the 2020 election draws near.
• Tutorials and Learning—More than ever, people are interested in learning how to do things without expensive and time-consuming classes. Blogs that can teach useful skills in home repair, technology, graphic design, or the arts will continue to grow this year.
• Personal Finance—With the student loan crisis, many people struggle to make ends meet. Personal finance blogs help with retirement planning, getting out of debt, and managing day-to-day budgets. These blogs are in high demand.
• Family—Parenting blogs and blogs that feature help for family connection are always in demand.
• Beauty Products—Asian beauty is a huge trend that is sweeping the beauty world right now. This year, you will see more and more Korean and Japanese products hit the shelves in American and Canadian stores. As this trend swells, the demand for blogs on this topic will only go up.
• Cannabis/CBD—As legalization continues in the U.S. and CBD rides its popularity wave, we’ll see more demand for writings on the huge swarm of products hitting the market this year.

Niche List

• Technology
• Personal Finance
• Cannabis / CBD
• Vaping
• Self-Help
• Career Coaching
• Dating and Romance
• Health and Nutrition
• Physical Fitness
• Small Business Marketing
• Minimalist Living
• Technology
• Digital Currency
• Pets
• Fashion
• Beauty
• Parenting
• Physical Health and Medicine
• Do It Yourself
• Arts and Crafts
• Baking
• Food and Restaurants
• Sales and Marketing

How much money can you make writing a blog

The amount made writing a blog varies drastically from person-to-person and niche-to-niche. Some make as little as $3.00 per day when first starting out. However, there are many people who make anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 per month.

How to start writing your first blog post

Now that you have a niche and platform, it’s time to write your first blog post. But before you get started, take some time to plan out your content for the next three to six months. By doing so, you’ll avoid writer’s block and define a clear schedule to adhere to. If you do not release articles consistently, you’ll hurt your fledgling blog’s chance to grow.

Once you have a topic, use a keyword search (or search on Google) to find common keywords about your topic. Make a list of them and have it handy for when you start writing.

Now, from there, you may be asking how to start writing a blog post? Just start writing. If you aren’t sure how to start, free write just to get ideas on the page. You can always edit it or hire a freelancer to look at your content for quality later. Incorporate the keywords that you determined as much as possible. Also, make sure to create some nice visuals to both headline and break-up the text.

A blog is a big endeavor, for sure, but it can end up being a full-time job. So, find your niche and get started writing—you never know if you’ll end up creating the next big thing.