A lot of people are using the benefits of the Internet to create online businesses and do what they always wanted to do. The amount of content that is launched every day is extraordinarily high and there’s no limit to how much you can produce and showcase to the world.
We are talking about different forms of content – video, audio, and written. How many YouTube channels are there? How many podcasts? Blogs?
Speaking of blogs, many find this medium to be the most satisfactory. Not only to the individuals who make it as such, but it can also drive some revenue.
While running a blog is the one and the only job for some (and there are a large number of famous blogs which we will not advertise), blogs prove to be an awesome side hustle for a bunch of people. To find out why to keep on reading.
Blogs are easy to start and maintain
First of all, anyone can start a blog – you don’t need to have any sort of fancy equipment, compared to video or audio output, where you’d need cameras, microphones, and someone who knows a lot about video editing.
All you require is one laptop and the initial investment is quite small. You will need some money to purchase the domain and a couple of days to create your site in WordPress (in case you want it there). In just a matter of days, you can start working on your blog.
Other than that, there’s not really much to say – maintenance is fairly easy and you can always talk to support if some issues occur.
Introverts can express themselves
Finally, a chance for the introverts to speak to the world without feeling to uncomfortable – blogging is a blessing. It can be a terrific way of working on the side without exposing too much of yourself but still being able to be heard.
The reality that most of the blogs aren’t successful and they fail to get noticed, but even if you’re doing it for the pleasure of writing, it still can help you immensely develop your writing and research skills, which can land you a copywriting job, or anything in that sphere.
It is a great way to be productive and do something useful for yourself, and for others as well.
What about the money?
The truth is that people start blogging because they want to earn a living or add to their revenue. Only a few go down this path just for the love of writing without any strategy whatsoever.
And there’s no right or wrong here. But it is always to have at least the idea of how you will make some money. And here are some of the most common ways to earn by blogging
- Directly from your readers – You can set up Patreon where your readers will subscribe for your content on a monthly basis or make their donations. This is quite hard to get started with because at first you will have no readers and secondly, not all of them will pay a couple of bucks that you request. Still it is one of the best ways possible to monetize your blog. It is all about the quality of content you put out and you can comfortably cut of the marketers, ads, pop-ups if you like.
- Ad revenue – Of course, you can earn money through ads
- Affiliate Income – A fair amount of blogs are built around the affiliate links and this is another great way to earn money with blogging, as pointed out by Two Hour Blogger. Considering that you are looking for a side hustle, this can be a way to go – You will get a percentage of each sale (most commonly Amazon links) and you can get a fragment and sense of a passive income as well. Once you have multiple blogs and topics covered, they can earn you money in months to come!
- Connections and Community – When you are creating a blog, you are also building a community of people with the same interest as you have. Furthermore, you are entering a specific market. This isn’t set in stone, but you never know who reads your blog and who can contact you with a business proposition of sorts.
There’s a high chance that, provided you endure the dry period, every method gets implemented. Over time, opportunities will emerge and you will have to recognize the good ones from the bad.
Quitting is Common, but Success is Awesome
A lot of people who start blogging quit. Sooner or later, that happens and only a small number of people actually get to the monetization part and start earning regularly. In order to succeed in this branch, you need to be passionate about writing and be prepared to make mistakes. Furthermore, you will learn most of the stuff on the fly and that’s something you have to deal with.
Perhaps you will be able to scrape some money (a couple of dollars) after a few months, which may be quite discouraging and unrewarding considering all the time you’ve invested in your blog. Some other things can happen in your life (family, kids, day job) that can derail you, but you have to figure out how to survive each hit.
Scalability is questionable in blogging. You will start by earning nothing and that will last – after that, you can earn a few bucks here and there and then…
BOOM!
You make some sponsorship deal that’s worth hundreds of dollars. This is where it starts – and suddenly, all the work you’ve put it pays off – you level out your regular income to thousands of dollars on a monthly basis, but now the blog also requires you to devote yourself to it completely. This becomes your job and it is worth it!
There will be ups and downs on this journey, but if you know that you are providing value to the people and you are ready to hold your breath, eventually you will get there.
Remember that, you don’t have to do a lot – only an hour or two a day will do – it is a side hustle after all!
