The age of information has heralded in an era wherein internet has pervaded the remotest of locations.
With some countries witnessing an increase of more than 10 percent, the amount of content available online is voluminous and is ever increasing.
Consequently, the number of websites propping up are increasing just the same, as are the number of people spending time online.
It is amazing what bloggers like Gary Vaynerchuk have made of what would have passed as a pastime a decade before.
Recent estimates suggest that the number of people engaged in blogging is at an astounding 6.7 million! Blogging has helped people generate a secondary income, helped businesses scale by increasing leads and is considered to be the most important part of marketing today.
Obviously managing a blog can be quite demanding – it needs to be regulated daily to keep a steady flow of views.
Besides, now that there are millions of players in almost every industry of online writing, the competition is so fierce that one needs to be very rapid with exciting content.
So, do you need to quit your 9–5 to make a career out of blogging? Here are some ways you can manage to do without having to quit your day job.
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All About the Time
Making money through blogging can be an arduous task and one should not expect to be minting money right away.
It takes at least 3–4 months for the blog to take off and get some form of credibility.
Besides one needs to actively engage at least 4 hours a day to get it just right.
How To Start?
Well, the key players in the industry that help you get started and host your website are WordPress and Wix.
The domain can cost you about $12 and hosting can be as high as $100 for a year.
Hosting a website can be an expensive affair and it certainly isn’t going to be rewarding in your early days, so it is only best to keep your day job if you wish to make money with your eyes buried in the screen.
Carve Your Niche
Now that the number of bloggers has proliferated close to 7 million, general purpose bloggers are more likely to be edged out by those writers that have carved a niche for themselves.
Thus, it is best to choose your area of expertise before writing content and your article needs to be thoroughly researched to remain in the game for the long haul.
Researching your Industry
Now that you have decided on your niche, you need a lot of research on the right content.
It is very important to stay ahead of the competition to attract viewership.
Assembling a Team
The amount of content on your website is very important as it makes a major difference in your Alexa rankings.
With a team of writers is much easier to stay ahead of the game and it is only best to choose like-minded individuals who are experts in a niche.
Focus
It is often easy to stray from your path in the challenging world of content writing.
It is important to chalk out a schedule for your day and stick to it.
Since you might need to attend to your job as well, it is better to make most of the holidays.
Using Tools and Analytics
It is very important to get your theme just right as presentation matter for most websites.
Besides, the choice of keywords also is very consequential for generating organic traffic.
For that one needs analytics. Google trends is a starting point if you cannot afford expensive tools, it helps you make the most of the hype.
Social Marketing
It can be very consequential in your early days.
Social websites like Facebook can help you a lot in marking your writings as it helps the site gain traffic.
It is especially hard to get organic traffic in the early days and thus it promotion via word of mouth is the way to go.
Getting SEO Right
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.
In simple terms, it can be described as using everything you can to get ahead of your competition in search engine results.
A starting place would be to use the right density of keywords for your articles.
A keyword is something on which your article’s content is based.
There are other things that one needs to pay attention to – the use of keywords on the image.
Most novice bloggers often miss this part and it can be a great game changer if you do it right.
Besides, you need to ensure that there is proper spacing in your paragraphs.
Unlike novels and books, the content online needs to be crisp, clear and straightforward without much beating around the bush.
The introductory paragraphs need not exceed 10 lines and it is best to include at most 50 words in a single paragraph.
Making Use of Adsense
Adsense is basically advertisement on your websites and the adds pay you for putting them up alongside your content.
Try to get an approval for Adsense in the early stages.
The amount offered depends on the number of clicks the adds can generate, which in turn depends a lot on traffic.
Blogging certainly a great way to earn some money but it can be a very arduous task that requires unflinching commitment and hard work.
You might end up putting 10 hours a day but it still wouldn’t translate into bucks if it is not done right, and most importantly it takes a lot of patience.
If you expect the make a lot of money in the starting months, then it is best to forget about it.
Imagine putting more work on your blog than you do in your average 9–5 for 6 months without it generating you enough money!
It is only best to keep your day job and clack away at that keyboard in the night.