We'll be honest: blogging isn't the easiest way to make money. But, the great thing is that anyone can do it, and it looks amazing on your CV.
All you need is something interesting to say and enough patience and dedication to build traffic and a following. But how do successful bloggers make their money? We've interviewed a couple of them to reveal their monetisation secrets.
Our guide gives you a concrete action plan to get your blog off the ground and grow it into a profitable little business from home.
Getting started with blogging can seem like a bit of a minefield, particularly if you don't have much tech knowledge.
You have two main options when it comes to actually setting up a blog – you can use a free blogging platform, or you can create your own website. We'll take you through both, and outline their pros and cons, so you can make the right decision for you and your blog.
Best for: Casual bloggers and those not interested in making money from their blog.
Pros: Super easy to set up and completely free.
Cons: Limits on customisation and video/image uploads, you often can't place adverts or use affiliate links, you can't create a custom URL and the platform retains the right to delete your blog.
A lot of platforms will allow you to set up a blog for free, and they're super easy to use. If you're just wanting to blog casually at first, this could suit you well.
But, free blogging platforms can be very limiting. You'll only be able to customise to a limited extent, and your blog will have a storage limit which could make it harder to upload large videos and images.
Another drawback is that your blog URL will be something like 'www.yourblog.wordpress.com' with the platform branding.
Most free blogging platforms also don't allow you to place banner adverts or affiliate links on your site, which are key revenue streams for most bloggers.
However, if these things don't bother you, here's a quick rundown of the best free online blogging platforms.
Best blogging sites
- WordPress.com – This is a free basic blog hosting service that's easy to use. You'll have to put up with WordPress ads and branding unless you pay a monthly fee, and you can't put ads on your site. There are also limited options for customisation and expansion.
- Blogger – Google's free blog hosting service, Blogger, is really simple to use. But, the customisation and design options are very limited, and there aren't a lot of options if you want to add new features.
- Medium – With Medium, the emphasis is on the writing rather than design, and it's used by lots of journalists, writers and experts. It's a great way to share your work with a particular community, but you can't run any ads and it's difficult to create your own personal branding.
This can either be the easiest or the hardest part of starting your blog.
The most important thing at this stage is to choose a niche which you can call yourself an authority in – the biggest mistake new bloggers make in such a crowded blogosphere is starting a blog without trying to do something surprising or different.
For example, if fashion's your thing, instead of combining generic fashion content, you could combine your love for clothes with your big-hearted concern for the environment by blogging about environmentally-conscious designers instead?
These are the best ways to find a topic for your new blog:
What's in this guide?
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