How to Make Money Blogging (From Anywhere in the World)

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could make money talking about stuff we loved all day every day, working our own hours from wherever we wanted in the world? What a dream that would be…

It’s not a dream! You absolutely can and in this article, I am going to walk you through how to make money blogging from your kitchen table or a beach in Fiji!

And don’t be fooled into thinking blogging is only about writing. Whether you enjoy writing, talking, or performing, you can build a money-making blog in your PJ’s!

Blogging in 2024 & Beyond

As I write search is changing dramatically.

Google has released a series of updates in the last year that have impacted the niche blogging world beyond belief. Favouring large scale popular branded blogs with high domain authorities and already enjoying a large percentage of search traffic, the smaller niche blogs have disappeared from sight and been forced to pivot to other means of driving traffic.

The reason is that Google is preparing for SGE (Search Generative Experience). An AI powered search world which will look very different from the search engine functions we’re used to.

Does that mean that SEO is dead. Unlikely. But it does mean, as has always been so, that putting all your eggs in one basket is extremely risky.

The future belongs to communities and so rather than just building a blog, you need to be thinking about how your website is part of your overall community building plan.

That gives it a very different meaning and path to simply searching for some keywords and writing about what you think might rank on Google.

Build a brand, not just a blog!

Different Types of Blog Content

Whether you start a blog, website, vlog, call it what you like, your blog is a place you can have fun, create content around topics you’re passionate about, and add massive value to your niche inviting your community, customers, and clients to learn more about what it is they want or need to know.

If you love writing you can create text based posts covering your niche topics;

If you love talking, start a podcast and build a site around your podcast;

If you love making videos, start a youtube channel and build a site around your videos;

I like to call my site my ‘home’. I may have content all over the web, but my blog is where people can come to read my best and biggest posts, learn more about me and how I can help them, and purchase my products and services, all in one place!

Meaning you can build a huge following on Instagram or TikTok with your posts & videos and gently guide your viewers over to your blog to build a stronger relationship and give them even more useful content!

How to Make Money Blogging

Before I get into the nitty gritty of how you can get started building your money making blog, let’s have a look at all the ways you’ll be able to monetize it once you’ve grown an audience of adoring fans!

• Advertising
• Affiliate Marketing
• Books and Ebooks
• Online Courses
• Membership Sites
• Physical Products
• Selling Services
• Become an Influencer

1. Advertising

Advertising is one of the most easily understood and popular methods to make money blogging.

Your goal is to publish high quality and useful content as often as possible on your blog. Then, as your traffic grows, you can sell space on your site for other companies to post their advertisements on or sign up to a specialized advertising service like Ezoic or Mediavine who’ll manage the process for you.

If you don’t fancy displaying ads on your blog you could instead look for brand deals.

Brand deals are when a company and a blogger work directly together to spread the reach of a company’s image. A common method of this is when a blogger uses that company’s product throughout its content instead of its competitors.

The travel blogging couple, Lia and Jeremy make money travel blogging by writing about their travels and experiences in different parts of the world.

They have several revenue streams, such as:

• Services
• Courses
• Advertising
• Affiliate

But most of their income comes from advertising. They typically use Mediavine to sell space on their website, however you’ll need over 50,000 page views before you can use this service.

Other ad services to use when just getting started include Google Adsense & Ezoic.

The key to their successful ad revenue stream is the sheer volume of traffic they receive. With as many as 300k monthly visitors, they monetize tons of space on their site.

To get this amount of traffic, they focused their content around keywords that bring in traffic. They also guest post on larger travel sites frequently to increase their reach and the number of authoritative links back to their own site. Now they even allow other bloggers to guest post on their site, meaning they can cover even more keywords, increase their traffic and give their readers more variety of content!

2. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing has got a bad rap over the years. Mainly because, very unfortunately for the rest of us, this segment of online business is flooded with scammers and people just looking to make a fast buck.

Why? Because you don’t have to put the work into writing the book or making the course or manufacturing the product. Your job is to create great content, drive traffic to that content and then link out to other people who’ve done the hard work writing the book, making the course, or manufacturing the product.

The challenge however is that creating great content and driving traffic is equally hard work, so don’t be fooled thinking this is the easy way in. It isn’t.

For example one of my most popular posts about starting a business on Amazon, which drives a significant amount of monthly affiliate income for me, is over 19,000 words long!

To attract readers and encourage them to buy via your links takes creating quality content consistently and building a level of trust through your posts and blog.

Matt from Expert Vagabond for example has become a trusted source of valuable travel information and has been running his travel blog for years.

On most of his ‘things to do in’ posts he has an advert for SafetyWing travel insurance which I’m sure brings in very healthy affiliate commissions.

No matter what industry you’re in, there’ll likely be affiliate programs you can sign up to. This can be a lucrative way to monetize your blog by promoting products or services that align with your content and audience interests. Here are a few industries and the types of affiliate programs that might be available:

• Travel: Promote hotel bookings, travel insurance, tours, and travel gear. Popular programs might include Booking.com, Expedia, or World Nomads for travel insurance.
• Technology: If your blog focuses on tech, you could link to sites offering software, hardware, or tech gadgets. Think of affiliate programs from Microsoft, Apple, or Best Buy.
• Fashion and Beauty: This industry offers immense potential with programs from clothing retailers, beauty products, and accessory shops. Look for programs from companies like ASOS, Sephora, or Nordstrom.
• Health and Fitness: Promote fitness equipment, supplements, or health courses. Programs from Myprotein, Nike, or even specialized yoga or fitness course providers could be beneficial.
• Food and Cooking: Affiliate offers could include kitchen gadgets, gourmet foods, or subscription boxes like HelloFresh or Blue Apron.

To find these programs, register on affiliate marketplaces where you can connect with numerous brands in your niche. Some of the main affiliate marketplaces include Impact, ShareASale, and Commission Junction (CJ). These platforms offer a centralized location to manage your affiliations and track your earnings efficiently.

3. Books and Ebooks

Love writing? These days it’s easier than ever to publish a book online whether a physical book or an ebook.

What a fantastic way to get your message into the world, grow your profile, impact as many people as possible and make money blogging!

Popular travel blogger Nomadic Matt has published both guide books and books documenting his travels.

And the awesome Yaya & Lloyd, creators of the travel blog and brand Hand Luggage Only have published a book on exploring their home country of Great Britain.

If you think you have a book inside you and most of us have, what are you waiting for?

4. Online Courses

Are you an expert on something in particular?

Perhaps you’re an amazing photographer, videographer, writer, nutritionist, or baker.

You name it, someone wants to learn about it.

You only have to look at Udemy, Skillshare and Lynda to see how many courses there are on a multitude of varying topics.

In fact, since Covid and the development of online learning, this is a fast-growing area. People want skills! People need skills! And they’re going to be looking online to develop them. So how can you help?

Goats on the Road very cleverly offer a free blogging course provided you start your blog using Bluehost, which earns them an affiliate commission.

If you already have a blog or want to use a different host you’ll need to purchase their course for $120.

Check out the step-by-step post on How to Create a 6 Fig Online Course here and start to make money blogging by creating your first course today!

5. Membership Sites

A membership site is the next step up from an online course. You can start by taking what you created in your online course and turning it into a monthly subscription.

You will of course have to offer more value by way of a community, regularly updated content, and member benefits, but it’s a great business model and is in fact how I generated my first 6 figures online.

The Lab by Digital Nomad girls is a great example of this;

6. Physical Products

Another way to make money blogging is to add physical products to the mix.

Ecommerce is such an exciting business model which you can start today with almost no money down!

The most common form of eCommerce is dropshipping. A bit like affiliate marketing, your job is to drive the traffic to your site, but the product is manufactured and shipped by someone else.

However my favourite model is Print on Demand. Much like dropshipping I don’t have to purchase products upfront or manufacture myself, but unlike dropshipping I can add my brand and my designs to the products, making it far more personal to me!

Live a Great Story are a great example of a popular brand who have built an extremely successful business selling very simple print on demand style products.

What’s to stop you selling t-shirts, journals, stickers or accessories as your blog and brand grows?

7. Selling Services

This is any service you can exchange for a fee.

Common services to sell are consulting, coaching, writing, and any other freelance service. When starting out, this is a great way to get yourself off the ground because it doesn’t require a large audience.

Here’s some great examples of blogs (websites) set up for this very purpose;

Elna Cain offers her writing and coaching services through her blog. She is a mommy blogger who wanted to start working from home to raise her children. Her blog is focused on teaching people how to start freelance writing.

Another great example is Nomad Capitalist, who started out as a one man band but has now grown to a team of over 50 people offering everything from tax planning, citizenship and the global nomad lifestyle.

In fact your blog could simply be the front facing content machine for your services. Perhaps you’re a graphic designer, a music teacher or a social media manager. Building a blog is a fantastic way to attract leads and promote your business at the same time.

8. Become an Influencer

Becoming an Influencer off the back of your blog encompasses all of the above!

As you grow your audience, you may decide to sell services, online courses, or a membership program, become a best-selling author, sell advertising or sponsorship, add affiliate links and some physical products!

Or do it all! As your blog audience grows, more and more opportunities to make money blogging will present themselves to you.

So focus first on creating and publishing awesome content consistently and watch for the doors start to open!

How to Start Your Money Making Blog

So, should you start a blog?

Of course! There is no time like now. Anyone who tells you blogging is dead, probably didn’t work hard enough to get their blog off the ground, so provided you have the passion, determination, and commitment there is absolutely no reason you can’t build a successful blog that generates income while you sleep!

Here’s how;

1. Choose Your Niche

Selecting the right niche is a crucial foundational step if you’re looking to establish a clear and compelling focus.

While the possibilities are extensive, the key is to find an area that not only interests you but also has a strong potential audience. Here’s how to get started:

1. Understand Your Passions and Strengths: What topics do you find endlessly fascinating? Which subjects can you talk about or write about with genuine enthusiasm and depth? These passions often make the best niches.
2. Identify Audience Needs: What are people looking for that isn’t being adequately covered by existing blogs? Look for gaps in the market where you can offer fresh insights or solutions.
3. Evaluate Profitability: While passion is crucial, your niche should also have commercial potential. Consider whether there are products, services, or affiliate marketing opportunities you can tap into within the niche.

To help get your thoughts organized, consider these general categories that are popular among various audiences:

• Health and Wellness
• Personal Finance and Investing
• Home Improvement and DIY
• Technology and Gadgets
• Parenting and Family Life
• Food and Nutrition

Choosing a niche can feel overwhelming, but it’s important not to overthink it. Ask yourself:

• Who would be the ideal reader of my blog?
• What unique perspective or solution can I offer?
• What have I recently learned that I can share?

Don’t be intimidated by competition. A competitive niche indicates a demand, which is a positive sign. Focus on carving out a unique angle or providing exceptional value, and refine your approach as you learn more about your audience.

If you can’t decide on a niche, just start writing. The more you create and produce, I guarantee, your niche will find you! Remember, even if you think it’s been done before, no one else in this world has your perspective and experiences in life. So your offering is 1 of a kind =).

Above all, choose something that not only excites you but also holds potential to be profitable. This balance is key to a successful and sustainable blog.

Assessing Market Demand

An easy way to assess if your niche might be profitable is to see if any brands are advertising for keywords that apply to your niche. In this image, it is safe to assume “travel insurance” is a lucrative niche.

If brands are spending money to be seen by your target audience, your target audience are likely to be buyers.

Once you have a general idea that a niche is profitable, head over to the google keyword planner. Start a new plan and type in your keyword to learn more about it. (this image is for the key term “travel insurance”)

Do this for a few different keywords in your niche to really understand what is happening here.

Good to know: The higher the average CPC, the more profitable the audience is. The more impressions, the larger the audience.

This will help you assess market demand.

Assess the Competition

The amazing thing about the internet is that you do not have to be #1 in your niche to make money. The amount of money you make is based on the value of each customer and how many of them you can reach.

But, the less competition you have the more traffic you will receive.

So to measure the competition, fire up an SEO tool like Ahrefs, Ubersuggest or SEMRush

Go to the keyword planner and type in one of your keywords.

This keyword has a lot of traffic but is also very competitive. If you are starting out, I probably wouldn’t recommend going for a keyword this broad.

If however we add some more keywords to the main search term that targets our ideal market we’ll likely find some gems, with far less competition.

Don’t be put off with the lower search volumes either. Attracting 100 people a month to a post because you can rank is far better than trying to reach hundreds of thousands who will never see your post! Plus once you start to rank, you rank for lots of other keywords also, meaning your traffic levels have the potential to be far greater.

What If I’m Multi Passionate?

Ah yes, the multi-passionate entrepreneur.

If you look around this site you’ll see posts about building an online lifestyle business, travel, and mindset. I am your typical multi-passionate entrepreneur.

Within the lifestyle business section, you’ll find posts on blogging, ecommerce, social media.

No matter how hard I try, I find it impossible to only focus on one subject. However, thankfully all my subjects interlink nicely leading to an overall subject of living your best life!

But that, my friend, is the beauty of blogging. You can test & measure to find what works best. As long as your passions are connected and are subsets of a broader niche, there is no reason not to cast a wider net to see what resonates with your audience.

NB: Creating a blog around how to make money playing golf and dog health, just because you happen to be a dog-owning golfer is not testing subsets of a broader niche by the way!

You may eventually find yourself producing more content around one or two very specific subjects as that’s what your market has demanded, but that’s how you start to carve your mark and add a unique angle to your content, by listening to your audience.

2. Pick a Name & Register Your Domain

Before you set your blog up, you’ll need a name that becomes your domain. For example, this blog is called The Working Traveller, and the URL is theworkingtraveller.com.

It’s a little long for my liking, but it describes exactly what I’m talking about which is how to work & travel at the same time!

Your domain name, otherwise known as a URL, is your space on the web. It’s your website address, which is a great way to describe it, as I always tend to call your website your business home.

So every time someone types that URL into a browser, your blog will pop up!

I wouldn’t get too caught up here. Some of the biggest brands have the most obscure or bland brand names, think Apple, Dyson, IBM.

Many blogs simply go with their name so they can pivot if need be. As with your niche, there is no right or wrong, only memorable or forgettable, and no matter what the name, it will be forgettable until it isn’t, and that’s far more about your content and brand presence than your name.

However, the shorter and easier to remember, the better.

To help find a name for your brand, you can use free online name generators to get some ideas.

My favorite is namelix.com.

Here’s what popped up when I typed in the keywords ‘Wanderlust’ and went for the brandable option. (You’ll see the options pop up when you enter your keywords).

I don’t know about you, but I love the name Quite Lost for a travel blog!

Unfortunately this only gives you name ideas and not available domains so you will also need to use a domain registrar such as godaddy to check your preferred names are available.

Once you’ve decided your name and have established the domain is available, you’ll need to purchase that domain name and register it to you, so you now own it, and no one else can ever use that same domain name!

There are plenty of domain services, including; godaddy.com, namecheap.com, domain.com, google domains, dynadot. They’re all much of a muchness, but there might be a price difference and if you’re watching the pennies, it might pay to shop around.

NB: Before you shoot off and register your domain name, you may want to consider buying your domain directly from Bluehost if you use them for hosting.

Read the next section first about how best to host your website, and then you can decide the best route forward for you.

3. Choose Hosting & Create Your Site

The next step for your awesome journey on how to make money blogging is to get yourself some hosting!

What is hosting?

Hosting is what enables your blog to be visible on the world wide web. A web host is a service provider that provides all the necessary technology to ensure that when a visitor enters your domain name into the browser’s address bar, your website shows up.

There are literally hundreds of web hosts to choose from, and deciding on the right one for your business is a bit like navigating a minefield.

But as luck would have it, I’ve been doing a lot of research into hosting recently for my own site (this very one you’re on right now).

Choosing a Web Host

I’ve discovered that the most important considerations when choosing a web host are;

1. Speed. Your site’s speed is an important ranking factor in google’s eyes and your web host goes a long way to contributing to that. But we don’t want a speedy website just for google; we live in a highly impatient and distracted world. If your website doesn’t load instantly, you’ll have lower page views, conversions, and sales.
2. Support. An extremely knowledgeable tech person may disagree that this should be No 2, but if you’re a layman like me and your specialty isn’t in programming and web tech issues, then a reliable support team makes all the difference! I recently walked away from a hosting company because their ‘world-class support’ had become extremely sub-par.
3. Price. Again we should probably list some of the tech specs as a higher priority. Still, if you’re a solopreneur without a huge budget, then the price will be a critical consideration for you.
4. Tech specs and other features. If the hosting company is super speedy, has amazing support reviews, and fits within your budget, the next things to consider are; whether it provides email services, free backups, an SSL certificate (an absolute must to get ranked on google), a staging area, CDN included and lots of other fancy acronyms. Most of which I have no clue what they mean but are likely to be included as standard with most services these days.

So with all that being said, what is the best hosting service?

It depends on your objectives, but for this post, I’m going to give my recommendations based on you being a solopreneur starting a one-person WordPress travel blog!

WordPress itself recommends Bluehost.

That’s why, if you do some digging, you’ll see most ‘How to Start a Blog’ posts recommending Bluehost. I always thought it was because they must offer the highest affiliate commissions in the market, but in all honesty, they’re on a par with other hosting providers (if not on the low end).

But they’ve set themselves up as the perfect hosting option for beginners. With prices beginning at just $3.95/month, they offer;

• Free domain name for one year
• Free SSL certificate
• 1-Click WordPress Install
• 24/7 customer support

Please note, however, these low prices are for ’shared hosting.’ If you’re serious about making money blogging, in an ideal world, you’ll want ‘managed WordPress hosting’ or a ‘VPS’ (virtual private server) to ensure you’re getting the best performance possible.

Bluehost does offer Managed WordPress Plans but these packages comparatively start at $19.95/month (3 years paid in advance) or £29.99/month paid monthly.

(As an aside, in my very early days when I used Hostgator, I couldn’t understand why my site went down so often. Now I know it was because I was on a shared hosting plan, so my site was greatly affected by the limitations of the server and other websites taking up space. If you find your site is consistently suffering downtime, check the hosting package you have before migrating to a new host, it may simply be a case of upgrading.)

If you’re chomping at the bit to get going, your budgets are low, and you just want a cheap and easy host to get your travel blog off the ground, then a Bluehost shared WordPress package might be for you. Just be aware that you will need to sign up for a minimum of 12 months, but you do get the free domain.

Why I Chose WPX Hosting

If, however, you want a lightning-fast, managed hosting solution site from Day 1, my personal recommendation is WPX Hosting.

With a whopping 4.9 stars out of 934, WPX Hosting offers $24.99/month for 5 sites, 10GB storage & 100GB bandwidth, no cap on visitors (as many as my bandwidth can take).

I switched to WPX Hosting over 2 years ago after a bad experience with my last host (Liquid Web) and they have been excellent!

The customer service is phenomenal. You just log on, hit live chat, and get your questions answered in seconds (I mean that; it’s like they’re there just waiting for you to have a question).

My site is definitely much faster, and I also added the Nitropack plugin, which helps to significantly speed up your site.

In summary, my recommendation is to do your own due diligence and decide which hosting looks good to you, but as I said above, from a price only perspective Bluehost is a great starter plan, easy to setup and recommended by WordPress themselves and when the time is right it will be an easy upgrade to their managed WordPress plan.

WPX Hosting is an excellent option if you want the speediest hosting, fab customer service, an affordable monthly price, and all the bells and whistles – CDN, email services, backups, etc.

4. Your First Blog Posts

So now comes the exciting part. Publishing your first blog posts.

The chances are you already have some topics in mind and are keen to get published as soon as possible; however, before you get carried away with content you’re sure your audience will love, it’s a good idea to take a breath and do some planning here.

The critical point is to add value. If possible massive value – although don’t put too much pressure on yourself so you don’t act. Get it done then get it right!

To compete in the blogging space you’re going to have to stand out, and to do that you need to be meeting your customer’s needs more so than others in the space.

The way to do this is to get inside the head of your potential customer.

So firstly;

1. Know your audience

You will never be all things to all people and that’s the fastest route to failure. Who is your ideal target market?

Don’t just think about the demographic either, ie, age, gender, location, etc, try to think about what their hopes and dreams are and what keeps them up at night. How can your content solve their challenges?

By truly understanding your ideal audience, you’ll find it so much easier to create content and speak to them in their language, tone of voice, etc. This makes it easier for you to resonate with them and for them to resonate with you!

Here’s my ideal customer avatar worksheet to help you with this process;

2. Make a List of Questions Your Audience Likely Has

I love the story about Marcus Sheridan from ‘The Sales Lion.’ Years ago he ran a pool installation company. When the 2008 recession hit, no-one was rushing out to buy a new pool and sales plummeted. Rather than panicking and bottoming out as so many similar companies did, Marcus made a huge list of all the questions his potential customers might have.

He then set about writing blog posts answering each and every question. As a result, his website hit the No 1 spot for anyone searching any questions surrounding pool installations and his company thrived in the darkest of times.

That is the power of a well planned and well-executed blog for any and all business models!

Your blog isn’t about you. Even if you want to become an influencer and will most certainly tell some personal stories, your content still isn’t about you.

It’s about the people you want to sell to, to serve, to influence, to coach, to write books for, to create courses for, etc.

So what do they need to know? How can you help them? How can your information solve their problem or meet their needs in some way?

Start, like Marcus did, by listing out every question your audience might have.

Head to quora.com, answerthepublic.com, google forums, Facebook groups, reddit, blog comments. There are hundreds of ways to discover the kinds of questions your potential customers are asking.

Once you have a list of questions, you’ll want to dig into which ones are likely to rank on Google or that you can share on social media to refine your list and prioritize your content creation.

3. Make a List of Potential Post Headlines

Now you have a list of questions your audience are likely asking, you can start to plan out the posts you want to write/publish;

Step 1: Keyword Research & SEO

Begin by refining the keywords you’ve identified from your audience’s questions. For example, in a niche like fishing, keywords might include:

• Best fishing spots in [area]
• Tips for beginners in fly fishing
• What gear do you need for deep-sea fishing?
• How to choose the right fishing rod

Use tools like Google Keyword Planner for basic research or opt for more advanced tools like Ahrefs or Ubersuggest to find keywords with manageable competition and decent search volumes. Aim for keywords with good potential for ranking (e.g., low keyword difficulty) that are closely aligned with the interests and queries of your audience.

Step 2: Facebook, Pinterest & Other Social Platforms

Assess what type of content performs best on platforms relevant to your niche.

For Pinterest, focus on crafting visually appealing posts such as infographics, step-by-step guides, and high-quality images that can make your content more shareable and engaging. For Facebook, consider video tutorials, and story posts that encourage community engagement.

Investigate popular content within your niche on these platforms to generate ideas for headlines and post formats that resonate with the audience.

By understanding what works across search engines and social media, alongside your big list of questions you’ll start to create an engaging list of potential post headlines, that will work well and add value to your target market.

4. Create Headlines for 3 – 5 Starter Posts

To start your money making blog, I recommend writing and publishing 3 – 5 ‘pillar’ posts to kick start your content schedule.

Pillar posts are generally meatier than standard blog posts and in fact, I would describe them as your ‘showcase’ posts. These posts are going to tell any visitors, what you do, why you do it, and specifically how you are of value.

One or two of these posts should be ‘cornerstone posts’; a term that comes from the Yoast plugin, which I highly recommend installing if you’re serious about getting your posts ranked.

Cornerstone content in Yoast’s own words;

Cornerstone content is the core of your website. It consists of the best, most important articles on your site; the pages or posts you want to rank highest in the search engines. Cornerstone articles are usually relatively long, informative articles, combining insights from different blog posts, and covering everything that’s important about a certain topic.

Take note, you don’t have to have all your cornerstone posts published and ready to go when you launch. You may decide only to write one or two cornerstone posts to start and add more as you see fit.

5. Create Insanely Valuable Content

Insanely valuable content doesn’t necessarily mean 5000 word humdingers. It means how can you help the reader achieve their goal by consuming your post.

Ask questions such as;

• What’s their main pain point?
• What do they need an answer to?
• How can I solve their problem or meet their needs?
• How can I help them in the easiest and most convenient way possible?

Write first for your audience and then ‘googlify’ your work.

1. Ensure your main keyphrase is in the headline.
2. Add your keyphrase to your first 100 words.
3. Include your keywords or keyphrases relevantly throughout the article.
4. Add in any related terms or synonyms.
5. Add alt tags to all your images, including your keywords where it makes sense.
6. Add a meta description.
7. Add images, videos, podcasts, or any other content that compliments your main article.
8. Check your work in Grammarly

If you install Yoast, it will highlight anything you need to do to ensure your post meets SEO standards for your chosen keyword/phrase.

When ready, hit publish and congratulations you’re in the game!

6. Create a Content Schedule

Don’t get caught up here and spend months planning the ‘most awesome content calendar’ in the world which actually never sees the light of day.

First things first, start creating based on the needs of your audience (as determined by your keyword research).

As the awesome Amy Porterfield so articulately says;

Then decide on a consistent schedule you know you can stick to.

To make money blogging you’ll need to be posting quality content consistently, so choose a schedule you know works for you.

Can you post once a week, twice a week, once a month? What’s a schedule that you can realistically stick to?

Once you’ve decided, stick to it!

You are responsible for your own actions as an entrepreneur. You don’t have a boss or a supervisor telling you what to do and when to do it. The deadlines you set are self-imposed.

It’s down to you to stick to them or not.

All I can tell you is that sticking to them most likely leads to success. Not sticking to them….well, you know.

Now the hard work really starts! 😁

5. Promote Your Blog

This is where things start to get REALLY exciting!

You’ve spent a lot of time and effort in deciding how your blog will look and the kind of content you will write about.

Now, it’s time to showcase it to the world!

If you want to make serious money from your new lifestyle site you’re going to need plenty of readers.

We’ve already mentioned a few promotional strategies throughout this guide, like SEO and social media, but what do they all mean? Which ones are best? Which ones are most suited to help your site grow?

There really is no exact answer here, you’re welcome to try one or as many as you like!

Let’s take a look at each of my favorite strategies in turn, it should help you decide …

1. Build an Email List from Day 1

This is where your efforts begin to pay off in a big way. As you launch your blog and start producing content, it’s crucial to simultaneously build an email list.

Think of your email list as your core audience, people who have expressly shown interest in your content and who you can reach directly at any time.

This is your most controlled environment, free from the unpredictability of algorithms that affect social media and search engines. With an email list, you own the communication channel, which is a potent tool in building a lasting relationship with your readers.

Getting Started:

• Create a Compelling Lead Magnet: The first step in building an email list is to entice visitors to subscribe. This is typically done by offering something of value in return. Depending on your niche, this could be a free ebook, a series of insightful guides, or exclusive access to a webinar. The goal is to provide enough value that giving up an email address feels like a fair trade.
• Select the Right Email Marketing Tool: Tools like Beehiiv and Flodesk are designed to make email marketing both approachable and effective. They offer easy-to-use interfaces and powerful tools for managing subscribers, designing beautiful emails, and automating the delivery of content.
• Develop a Consistent Email Schedule: Consistency is key in email marketing. Decide on a schedule—whether it’s weekly, biweekly, or monthly—and stick to it. This regularity keeps your audience engaged and looking forward to your next update.

Key Tips:

• Segment Your Audience: Not all subscribers are the same. Use segmentation to deliver tailored content that meets the specific needs and interests of different groups within your audience. This could be based on their subscription source, their engagement level, or any specific interests they’ve indicated.
• Maintain List Hygiene: Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive subscribers. This helps improve the overall engagement rate of your campaigns and ensures your content reaches those genuinely interested.
• A/B Testing: Experiment with different subject lines, email content, and sending times to see what resonates best with your audience. This continuous learning process will help you optimize your email strategy for better results.

By starting your email list from day one, you create a foundational asset for your blogging business that empowers you to build lasting relationships with your readers. As your list grows, so does your ability to influence and monetize your blog directly.

As an example here’s my lead magnet, which you’re welcome to sign up to by the way;

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2. SEO

As I’ve already mentioned, as AI technology develops and search engines evolve, the landscape of SEO is continuously adapting. Despite these changes, it remains crucial to follow SEO best practices to ensure your blog can be found organically.

Implementing solid SEO strategies will help your site gain visibility and traffic, even as the algorithms shift.

Getting Started:

• Keyword Research: Start by identifying keywords that your audience uses to search for topics within your niche. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush can help uncover these insights. Focus on finding long-tail keywords which are less competitive but highly relevant to your audience’s interests.
• Optimize On-Page SEO: Make sure that each piece of content on your blog is optimized for search engines. This includes using the target keywords in titles, headings, the body of the text, and meta descriptions. Also, ensure your URLs are clean and descriptive, and that images have alt-text for better indexing.
• Link Building: Link building is a crucial element of SEO. Aim to get other reputable websites to link back to your content. Techniques include:
  • Guest posting on relevant blogs
  • Responding to HARO (Help a Reporter Out) queries for potential media mentions
  • Creating shareable content that naturally attracts links

Key Tips:

• Stay Updated on SEO Trends: SEO is not static. Regularly educate yourself about the latest guidelines and algorithm updates from major search engines. This proactive approach can help you adjust your strategies in time to maintain or improve your rankings.
• Monitor Your SEO Performance: Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track how well your pages are performing in search results. Monitoring these metrics allows you to see what’s working and what might need adjustment.
• Content Quality and User Experience: Beyond technical SEO, focus on creating high-quality content that provides real value to your readers. Search engines increasingly prioritize content that engages and satisfies user intent. Additionally, ensure your site is mobile-friendly and loads quickly, as these factors also impact your SEO.

By integrating these SEO practices into your blogging strategy, you’re setting up a foundation that will attract organic traffic to your site over time, regardless of how search technologies change. This is essential not just for visibility but also for establishing your blog as a trusted resource in your niche.

3. Social Media

Social media continues to be a dynamic and powerful platform for promoting content and building engagement. By understanding where your audience spends their time, you can tailor your social media strategy to meet them on their favorite platforms.

Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter, each platform offers unique opportunities to showcase your blog and connect with readers.

Getting Started:

• Choose Your Platform Wisely: Don’t stretch yourself thin by trying to be everywhere at once. Focus on one or two platforms where your audience is most active and engaged. For example, if your blog is visually oriented (like travel or fashion), Instagram and Pinterest might be your best bets. If it’s more informational (like business or education), Facebook and LinkedIn might yield better results.
• Create Platform-Specific Content: Adapt the content from your blog to fit the format and style of each platform. For Instagram, this might mean creating eye-catching images and short videos, or for Twitter, focusing on snappy, engaging tweets. Use parts of your blog posts as teaser content to draw users to visit your full articles.
• Regular Posting and Engagement: Consistency is key in social media. Develop a schedule that keeps your blog fresh in the minds of your followers. Also, engage with your audience by responding to comments, participating in conversations, and even sharing or retweeting relevant content from others.

Key Tips:

• Leverage Tools for Efficiency: Use social media management tools like Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule posts across different platforms. These tools can save you time and help maintain a consistent presence online.
• Analyze Your Performance: Most social media platforms provide analytics to track the performance of your posts. Use this data to understand what types of content resonate best with your audience and adjust your strategy accordingly.
• Promote with Authenticity: While promoting your blog, keep your voice authentic and true to your brand. Users are drawn to genuine interaction and can easily detect when content is overly promotional or out of sync with your blog’s ethos.
• Experiment with Formats: Social media is always evolving, so don’t hesitate to try new content formats as they become available, like Stories on Instagram and Facebook, or Reels and TikToks for engaging video content. These formats often get higher visibility and engagement than standard posts.

By strategically using social media to promote your blog, you not only increase your blog’s visibility but also create a community around your content. This community becomes a valuable asset in driving regular traffic to your blog and enhancing your online presence.

4. Promote Through Your Newsletter

As you build your email list, your newsletter becomes a powerful tool for maintaining direct and consistent contact with your readers. It allows you to highlight new content, share insights, and engage your audience in a more personal and controlled environment.

Unlike social media, where your content’s visibility can be heavily affected by algorithms, a newsletter ensures that your message reaches your subscribers directly.

Getting Started:

• Promote New Posts: Each issue of your newsletter should feature your latest blog posts. Provide enticing summaries and direct links to encourage subscribers to click through and read the full articles on your blog.
• Offer Exclusive Content: To add value to your newsletter, include content that isn’t available elsewhere, such as behind-the-scenes insights, early announcements, or exclusive tips. This not only makes your newsletter more appealing but also increases the likelihood of subscribers staying engaged and looking forward to each issue.
• Regular Schedule: Decide on a frequency for your newsletter—weekly, biweekly, or monthly—and stick to it. Consistency helps build a routine with your readers, making your updates a regular part of their email interaction.

Key Tips:

• Segment Your Audience: Use segmentation to tailor the content of each newsletter to different groups of subscribers based on their interests or behaviors. This personalization can lead to higher engagement rates.
• Optimize for Engagement: Include clear calls to action in your newsletter, such as encouraging readers to comment on posts, share your content, or follow you on social media. Each interaction increases the likelihood of building a deeper relationship with your audience.
• Test and Learn: Experiment with different content formats and subject lines to see what generates the best open and click-through rates. Use A/B testing to refine your approach based on real data from your subscribers.

By effectively using your newsletter to promote your blog, you not only drive consistent traffic to your site but also cultivate a community of readers who value your content and are likely to become long-term followers.

This direct line of communication is one of your most valuable marketing tools, enabling you to build lasting relationships and keep your audience engaged with every new piece of content you create.

By implementing these strategies, you’ll effectively promote your blog across multiple channels, increasing your visibility, engagement, and ultimately, your success in the blogging world.

6. Set long term consistent content goals

The key to making money blogging is to be consistent over the long term. It’s no good throwing up a few blog posts and hoping for magic to occur.

The best blogs, by best I mean most profitable, can be relied upon to be churning out new posts every week if not daily or even hourly for some of the bigger blogs.

I’m not suggesting you publish hourly or even daily but as I said in the section about your content calendar it’s imperative that you set a schedule you can stick to and then stick to it.

Your audience will learn to trust new content is always coming and google will love you for it.

You don’t need every post to an epic post either. Focus on your audience at all times and ensure your content helps them to achieve their goals or adds value to their life in some way.

How to Make Money Blogging – Summary

I love the make money blogging business model. Sure it takes some time and effort to get it off the ground, but once you’re up and running, have systems in place to publish regular content and build regular links, plus have an email funnel setup and a promotion strategy, not only is it fun and valuable, it becomes more passive over time.

I honestly wish I’d started blogging 10 years ago when I started my online adventure.

Don’t let anyone tell you blogging is dead. Blogging is simply another word for building an informational website for your brand. How to make money blogging is simply a phrase for generating income from your website without hard selling anything!

Don’t delay, get started today!

Thanks for reading!

Jo 🙂

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How to Make Money Blogging – FAQ’s

How do beginner bloggers make money?

There are numerous ways for a beginner blogger to make money blogging. One of the best ways is to freelance for other businesses while getting your own blog off the ground.

Assess your skills and make a list of the kind of jobs or tasks you could do remotely for others. Then sign up to a site such as upwork.com or fiverr.com and promote your services.

What are the best blogging sites to make money?

The absolute best blogging site to make money on is WordPress. They offer a free version and a paid version. The free version works if you want to be a hobby blogger and have no desire to make money. But odds are if you’re reading this post you want your blog to be a business.

The paid version of WordPress, WordPress.org, allows you access to tons of plugins that allow you to customize your blog in plenty of ways.

Wix is another good blogging platform but has significantly fewer options for plugins and themes. They are known for their easy to use drag and drop software that makes it easier for beginners, however my preference is and always will be wordpress.

Can you actually make money from blogging?

Yes! In so many ways, as I’ve demonstrated above. If you’re told otherwise it will be from someone who wasn’t consistent or didn’t persevere.

How do bloggers get paid?

A blog is a business, and like all businesses, at some point, you will need to create a business entity. However, as I am not a qualified accountant and my readers are worldwide, I never advise on this subject. You’ll need to hire a specialist.

In the meantime however, when you’re just starting out I recommend getting yourself a paypal account, a stripe account (for credit card payments) and a Wise account (for paying outsources / suppliers all over the world without astronomic banking fees).

If you’re the adventurous sort you may even consider adding a bitcoin payment platform to your site!

Where do I start blogging?

Get published!

Use google docs, a word doc, evernote, whatever you want, but literally don’t wait to start writing or recording or creating. Just open up a doc and start right now.

We have a tendency to over complicate things, but I urge you to not spend weeks designing the perfect theme or writing the perfect about page or creating the perfect list builder.

If you’re not sure what hosting company you want to host your wordpress website on, see this WPX Hosting Review post. You can have a website setup in minutes!

Then create content and get it published. As soon as you possibly can.

Here is an interview I did with Jeff Walker of Product Launch Formula back in 2010. Listen to what he says;

How do free blogs make money?

Most blogs are free for users to enjoy. In fact, I don’t know many who charge to read their content other than news sites.

Everything we’ve talked about in this post is for you to start a free travel blog and monetize via all the ways I covered above.

Who is the highest paid blogger?

The highest-paid blogger in the world is Arianna Huffington. She launched her blog Huffpost in May 2005. With 11.3 million monthly visitors, her news aggregating blog brings in $500 million in revenue per year.

The HuffPost is a news and media site that constantly updates the readers about current events and hot topics.

This blog has gone as far as winning a Pulitzer Prize for its efforts in the media industry.

Why do most blogs fail?

Because the blogger gives up too early or doesn’t post enough content consistently enough. You have to be in it to win it! NB: The recent google updates will have meant many gave up on their sites. Many blogs lost over 80% of their organic traffic overnight. This is why it’s so important to grow your email list and diversify your traffic sources.

Are blogs still worth it?

They sure are! They do require a ton of work to start ranking on google and bring in enough traffic to make a difference. But if your goal is to start an online lifestyle business, then blogging is definitely for you.

Is blogging better than Youtube?

That depends on your personality. If you love to write long-form content then blogging may be perfect for you.

If you are more excited to get in front of a camera and make video content, then by all means do that!

There is no one size fits all for content on the internet. There are plenty of successful bloggers and vloggers out there.

In fact, the best people do both! That way they can capture attention from the two biggest search platforms, google and youtube.

Do people read blogs anymore?

What are you doing right now?

According to Optinmonster each month, approximately 409 million people view more than 20 billion pages.

The blogging world has continuously become more saturated, but there will always be a nice lovely corner of the internet for you to engage with your niche. Also, the amount of people who read blogs has increased, along with the amount of time people spend reading blogs

What has replaced blogging?

Nothing has replaced blogging. Many things like vlogging, social media, texting, and zoom offer different forms of communication. But communication in long written form will never go away, although it will continuously evolve and change to meet the demand of the consumers.

Plenty of social media channels like Twitter and Facebook are basically blog feeds full of small posts created by all of the people you wish to follow.

Can you make $1,000 a month with a blog?

Yes, it is possible to make $1,000 a month with a blog, especially through diverse monetization strategies such as affiliate links, sponsored posts, and selling ad space. However, success depends on factors like niche, audience engagement, and the effectiveness of your blog monetization strategy.

Can you realistically make money blogging?

Absolutely. Many bloggers have successfully turned their passion into a profitable venture. Realistic expectations, consistent effort, and strategic use of monetization methods like affiliate links, sponsored posts, and selling ad space contribute to blogging success.

How much do bloggers get paid for 1,000 views?

The payment for 1,000 views can vary based on multiple factors, such as the blog’s niche, audience demographics, and the effectiveness of monetization strategies. Successful bloggers who effectively utilize sponsored posts and other revenue streams may earn varying amounts for 1,000 views, with some earning higher rates based on their blog income and profit margins.