Blogging can be a great hobby that is easily monetized. You don’t need many readers to start earning some cash and turn it into a nifty side income! There is no wonder why so many people are intrigued by the whole idea of becoming a full-time blogger these days.
If trying to turn your blog into a full-time career has crossed your mind, there are a few things that you will need to be aware of first. Firstly, it isn’t as easy as earning a full-time income from a blog as a side income. It will certainly take a lot of effort to keep your earnings at a high enough level to live off each and every month.
That doesn’t mean that it isn’t doable, though.
Secondly, you will need to start thinking of your blog as a business. That’s what it will be once you are running it full-time! Once you start to think of it as a business, you can then start to run it like a business, which will help you turn over a higher profit from it.
Part of making your blog a successful business is all about getting a few things in order. Think of this as getting your ducks in a row. Once these essentials are all planned out and in order, you will find that the business starts to run like clockwork and it won’t be so stressful for you on a daily basis.
Here are the ‘ducks’ that you will need to put in a row when running a full-time blog.
Save Up An Emergency Fund
First of all, it is important to understand that your income can fluctuate from month to month when you are living off your blog. Some months will be incredibly busy and you will get plenty of work, whereas there might be the odd month that is very quiet with little work.
Hopefully, this should balance itself out and you should have enough busy months to make up for the quiet ones.
Just in case that doesn’t happen, though, it is essential that you have an emergency fund saved up. You can then always dip into this cash if your income ever dries up for longer than usual, and you won’t have to worry about any financial hardship.
Build Up Your Readership
You should try to build up your readership as much as you possibly can while the blog is still just a hobby for you. Generally speaking, the more readers that you have then the more money you will be able to get from advertising and sponsored posts.
There are a lot of great ways to bring more readers to your site.
Harnessing the power of social media is possibly one of the best. Simply keep on linking to all of your new blog posts onto the likes of Twitter and Facebook and you will find that they get retweeted and shared by your followers. That will help to put your posts in front of all of their followers and potentially some new loyal blog readers.
Get An Accountant
One part of running your blog as if it were a business is going to be getting your finances in order. Now that you are self-employed, you will need to do your own taxes. This can be quite complicated if you have no experience of this before, so it is worth looking for an accountant. Accountants can help you file your annual tax return and will also be able to give you advice on how to get various kinds of tax relief. Not only that, though, but they can also manage your whole bookkeeping if you wish.
Consider Outsourcing Some Admin Tasks
Once you do start to run your blog as a business, you will certainly be very busy. You will need to start writing a lot more content so that there is always something new to post onto your blog. That’s because posting regularly and consistently will help you build your following. Plus, you will have to keep on working on your website, social media, and any other small tasks that need doing.
This can be a lot of work to squeeze into one day, so you might want to outsource some of the more boring admin tasks to a virtual assistant. If you take a look online, you will find plenty of sites where you can browse the profiles of freelancers who are looking for work as a virtual assistant.
Make Yourself A Home Office
Once you do start working on your blog on a full-time basis, it is essential that you have somewhere quiet and peaceful where you can concentrate and focus.
Now that it’s your proper job, it’s not a good idea to blog on the sofa in your PJs anymore! Ideally, you need an office.
If you have a spare bedroom that you hardly ever use, you can always convert this. Don’t have a room going spare? No problem, you could just put a desk in the corner of your bedroom or living room. At least then you have a space that is dedicated to work and will be less likely to end up distracted.
Go To Networking Events
There are lots of regular blogger meetups in a lot of big cities and towns. It is a good idea to attend these as often as you can. They will give you the chance to meet other bloggers, which could lead to some collaborations.
Plus, you will be able to build up a network of people in a similar situation to you. You will then always have a few different people to reach out to whenever you need any help or advice.
Remember That It’s Important To Take A Break
Make sure you don’t work all the hours of every day. That can be tempting when you are working for yourself. It’s important that you give yourself plenty of time off so that you can take a break and relax!
Good luck being a full-time blogger!
