Do You Have What It Takes To Become A Full-Time Blogger?
Have you ever considered trying to turn your blogging hobby into a full-time career. There are thousands of successful bloggers out there who have been able to do just that, so these days making a full-time living off a blog isn’t such a wild idea. However, deciding to take this new route in your career shouldn’t be a decision that you make lightly. Even though there are a lot of advantages of working as a blogger, such as being able to work from home and not having to deal with a daily commute, you will also find that there are just as many disadvantages. So, you need to work out whether you are willing to balance these pros and cons.
So, do you think that you have what it takes to become a full-time blogger? If you have the following tools and characteristics, then you are probably well-equipped to make it a success!
https://pixabay.com/en/desktop-desktop-background-3410294/
A Brand
First of all, you need to establish a brand for your blog. If you have already been blogging as a hobby for quite a while, then this shouldn’t be a problem. You have probably already established a brand without even realizing it, as it is your blog’s online identity and styling that creates the brand. Once you know exactly what makes up your blog’s whole identity, you might want to use a corporate identity management service to help you protect it. This should prevent another blogger from using the same branding. This kind of service should also give you a hand in the overall management of your blog’s external face and reputation.
https://pixabay.com/en/home-office-laptop-notebook-office-381229/
Time
Many people get into blogging because they think that it won’t take up too much of their time, even if they do try to establish a full-time career from it. They think that they will be able to juggle it alongside looking after their kids and even having another side hustle on the side. However, the reality is very much different. Taking care of a blog on a full-time basis can be very time consuming as you will need to create fresh content to publish each day, as well as taking care of the overall running and maintenance of the website. You will also need to manage your social media channels to help with your blog’s exposure, and spend some time replying to emails from clients. As you can tell, all those small jobs quickly add up and will take up most of your day!
https://pixabay.com/en/flower-flora-nature-petal-bright-3121972/
Financial Smarts
Working on your blog full-time basically means that you are running your own business. So, you will need to treat your blog’s finances exactly how small-business owners’ look after their own accounting and bookkeeping. If you have never done anything like this before, you might find that it can be quite intimidating to start with. There is one solution to ensure that you don’t get into a financial mess – you could simply hire an accountant to take care of all this for you. Purchasing software like QuickBooks will also help you out a lot. However, bloggers often prefer Wave – it’s up to you though. See wave vs quickbooks for some guidance. They will be able to keep your receipts and business expenses organized, and they will then sort out your tax return every year. So, even if you don’t have a lot of financial smarts, you will be able to run your blogging business effectively once you have an accountant by your side! You can also use these accounting websites to know about what it takes to be an accountant if you are interested in learning more about the financial side of blogging.
A Blogging Network
It’s not just an accountant who can help you get by as a full-time blogger. Many current bloggers find that they can receive a lot of help and support from other bloggers in their network. So, if you don’t already know a few fellow bloggers online, it could be time to put your feelers out and start networking. Then you can start to build up your network of fellow bloggers so that you always have people who you can rely on when you need it most. Not only that, though, but this is a great way to improve your marketing. You can start offering guest posts to other bloggers and write guest blog posts for them. This exposes you to their set of readers, meaning that you can increase your own readership.
https://pixabay.com/en/computer-summary-chart-business-767776/
SEO Savviness
If you are just writing and publishing blog posts, then you might find it is very difficult to build up your readership and following. Simply publishing posts and leaving them isn’t good enough these days. You need to work on your website’s SEO so that more people end up stumbling across your website when they are using search engines, such as Google. Even if you learn the basics of SEO and then take some time to look into aspects such as 301 redirect, you may find that applying what you know to your blog might not be as tough as you initially thought.
You could even use something like serps rank checker to helo with the SEO side of your business. There’s no harm in getting a bit of assistance, especially if it could help to make a positive difference. Thankfully, working on your site’s SEO shouldn’t be too difficult, even if you have never done anything like this before. However, if you don’t have any time to work on this or find that your efforts don’t really make much difference, you could always outsource the SEO to a small marketing agency.https://pixabay.com/en/office-macbook-laptop-apple-1734485/
Flexibility
Now that you are working on your blog full-time, you won’t be restricted to the usual 9 am – 5 pm office hours. But many bloggers still find that putting some structure in place in their work day can greatly help with their productivity. It’s also really worth being flexible and willing to change up this structure whenever you need to. Plus, it will pay off if you are flexible with your thoughts, ideas, and posts. Then you will be able to roll with the punches and deal with anything that may unexpectedly crop up.
The Ability To Bounce Back
You will no doubt find that running a blog on a full-time basis is difficult. But that doesn’t mean that it is impossible! You will face many issues and problems, and might even make a few errors along the way. As long as you are able to bounce back from these, though, then you will find that it’s easy to work through any problems, and your blog shouldn’t be too badly affected by them. So, get ready to grow a thick skin!
So, do you still think that you have what it takes to become a successful full-time blogger!
5 Comments
Leonie Townsend
Great advice!
Paula Pennachio
don’t think I could do it full time if at all
Paula Ball
Picked up copy of well known mag at doctors office yesterday & read article on top ten most successful blogs. I was shocked to learn how much money they made & with that, how much work goes into it. Absolutely a full time undertaking!
Tamra Phelps
I like reading blogs. I’m not sure I know enough about anything to turn that knowledge into a blog, lol. And I assume it is a lot of work to truly make it successful.
Calvin
Interesting, I see more people are doing this, definitely great to see it’s an option to get a source of income