How I Started To Make Money Blogging Online
I never got into blogging with the hope of making money. At the time I didn’t really know how you could make money blogging as I hadn’t worked in marketing yet and had no idea about the power of links etc. I started my blog as a creative outlet to write what I wanted when I wanted. It took a good few years before I started getting approached and applying for collaborations. When I first started I didn’t have my own vanity URL so just had a blogger DA. And I was writing sporadically.
Now a few years later I do make a small income from my blog and I couldn’t be happier. Starting to make money isn’t something which will happen overnight. But the harder you work and the more time you put in the quicker it can happen. Although it isn’t the best motivator to start a blog, just for money. Here are some of the ways I started to make money blogging online.
Buying a vanity URL
Yes, you can still make some money when you have a .wordpress or .blogger URL but it will be much less than you can make. It doesn’t cost a lot to buy a vanity URL but when you do you can start building your own DA. This is especially important for working with SEO’s as they’ll mainly be concerned with your DA.
I bought a vanity URL reasonably early on, but I wish I had done it sooner. It’s definitely helped make money blogging and not cost loads of money.
Having a clear clean blog
I definitely think having a clean blog which is easy to navigate is a big factor in making money blogging. If potential collaborators land on your site they want to be able to see what you’re about straight away. This way they know if their client or campaign is the right fit for your blog. Or that you’re the kind of blogger they want to work with. But also, if it’s clear they’ll be able to find an easy way to contact you. As someone who does some outreach with bloggers, I know how annoying it is when a site is really hard to navigate and I can’t work out how to contact a blogger.
I’ve tried a few different layouts but I like the simplicity of my current one which is from Kotryna Bass Design.
Make money blogging by using Facebook groups
I am part of a number of Facebook groups for bloggers. Some are more general blogging groups where people can ask questions. But some are purely for opportunities where people share collaboration requests. Being part of these groups has helped me meet bloggers who are so supportive. But it’s also massively helped in gainly opportunities (paid and gifted ones). It’s worth finding those big ones like ‘Official UK Bloggers’ and ‘Blogging Opportunities’. But also find ones related to your niche or your location as there will be less competition in these areas.
It isn’t just Facebook Groups though there are loads of websites dedicated to bringing opportunities. I wrote about some of the places to look for blogging opportunities here.
Be cconsistentwith your writing
CConsistencyis definitely a key to success when it comes to making money blogging. Whether that’s cconsistentwith posting once a week, or five times a week. Build yourself a schedule and work in advance so you have posts planned ready to post. Looking at a site which has had four posts in a week then nothing for 2 months isn’t the best look. Obviously, things happen in life when you may need to take some time out. But when you’re blogging try to keep it consistant.
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18 responses to “How I Started To Make Money Blogging Online”
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All About Me
Rhian Westbury
Travels and Destinations
Nothing currently planned
Great advice for anyone looking to monetise their blog. It’s tricky and my biggest regret is not buying my own domain early on.
I’m struggling to raise my DA to approach potential clients. But it’ll come.
Thank you for sharing x
It takes a while but it’s all worth it in the end x
Lots of good tips here Rhian. Always makes me laugh when people set up a blog and expect to make money straight away, it takes a lot of time and effort doesn’t it? 😀 x
I do feel people need to be clear on their why – something they want to share and give to the world – as it can mislead people into believing start a blog get rich – my blog came long after my business was established and not the other way round.
100% agree, most blogs should just begin through passion and a want to share a message and write x
I have had my blog for a few years now and it did take a lot of effort before it finally “took off” and started earning money for me. Hard work and patience and continuous learning is the key to success.
I wish I got a vanity URL from day one – it’s one of my biggest blogging regrets (And I don’t have many!)
I think at the time you think ‘oh I don’t need one’ but compared to their price it’s so worth it x
These are great tips and an interesting insight, especially for new bloggers 🙂 I think it is often seen to be an easy way to earn money, which isn’t really the case!
It can be a lot of work running a blog but as long as you are organised, passionate and willing to do the hours the rewards can be good.
This is a really great post and thank you for sharing the tips, I’m looking to start monetising my blog so this is really helpful.
I think it’s so different now, when I first started there were no payments of any kind and now it’s just so different but it still takes a lot of work and dedication.
Yeah it really has changed even in the past 5 years or so x
Great tips, we were exactly like you and started writing as a creative outlet having no idea about the potential income generation – even these days we don’t make money from our blog (more from our videos and social posts)
Great tips. I would say definitely get a vanity url as soon as. I have been blogging 8.5 years now but was using blogger and didn’t get my own url til quite a few years down the line
These are definitely great tips for people looking to make money blogging. I definitely started earning more once I got my vanity url.
This is a fantastic guide for all those unsure of how to get kickstarted making money online – I definitely think writing consistently helps.
Getting a vanity URL was one of the first things I did and it really does help make your blog more authentic