I’ve been getting a lot of questions about blogging and whether or not you can make a living at it. The short answer is yes, you can make money blogging. But it takes more than building a blog and adding a few posts. Here are some of the common questions (and their answers) I receive regarding blogging.
1) How do blogs make money?
There are many ways blogs can generate income including contextual ad programs (like Adsense), affiliate programs, paid reviews, sponsored posts, selling ad space, creating and selling your own products/services and more.
2) Everyone says the top bloggers use WordPress, but isn’t it difficult to install and use?
There are few top bloggers that use another platform, but you’re right that WordPress is the most used blogging utility. It used to be that you needed to know tech skills such as how to download and upload through FTP, or HTML and CSS to customize your site, but today, you don’t. You can install WordPress with a push of a button and change and modify themes just as easily.
3) I have a blog, but no one visits it.
Like any other money-making venture, blogging requires marketing. So once your blog is set up, you have two jobs, 1) Write great content, and 2) Get people to read the content. So marketing your blog and building traffic is important. There are many great tools and tactics to make this happen.
4) I’m not a good writer.
You don’t have to be a great writer to have a successful blog. There are many successful bloggers that write in English, but English isn’t their first language. What you do need is an idea and the ability to express it. Blog posts tend to be short and to the point, so you don’t have to write a thesis. Plus there are other ways to get content that you don’t have to write such as private label articles, reprint articles, videos, and more.
5. What do I blog about?
That’s one of the great things about blogging, you can write about anything. Blogs cover everything from parenting, politics, cooking, life, celebrities and more. My suggestion is to start with ideas that interest you or you are passionate about. Once you have some ideas, check to make sure others are interested in it as well, so that you know you can get readers. The SEO Book Keyword Tool is a good way to find out if and how many others are searching your topics.
Still curious about blogging, check out Work-At-Home Success University’s Blogging for Bucks eCourse to get started. Or visit the events page to see when my next Blogging for Bucks seminar will be held.
