Make money as a blogger

Blogging has become incredibly popular in the last few years, particularly among young people, which is why brands from all over the world are desperate to get involved with blogger communities!
Whilst blogging isn’t the easiest way to make a quick buck, the great thing about it is that anyone can do it – all you need is to have something interesting to say and enough patience and dedication and you could build yourself a crazy amount of followers. But ever wondered how it is exactly that bloggers make their dough?

We’re here to show you the ropes on how to turn your blog into an online space that brands will want to throw hard cash at.

Getting started with blogging can seem like a bit of a minefield, as there’s so much to consider and so much information out there it can get overwhelming – particularly if you’re not the techiest of people.
It’s important to be aware at this point that while blogging is for anyone who wants to give it a try, it requires a certain amount of dedication and a self-starting attitude to actually see a cash return. Turning your blog into a money-maker also takes time, so it could be months before you’re able to start earning from it.
However, there are ways you can get your blog off to a great start that will speed up the money-making process, and we’re here to show you how!

We’ve split the process of getting your blog up and running into 7 simple steps to make things easier.

choose what to blog about

the easiest part or the hardest part of starting your blog. If you already know what your interests and passions are, you’ll already know that this is what will define your blog.
The most important thing at this stage is to choose a niche to own and call yourself an authority in – the biggest mistake many new bloggers make in such a crowded blogosphere is to start a blog without trying to do something interesting or offering readers something different.
For example, if fashion is your thang, rather than decide to become a run-of-the-mill fashion blogger, why not combine your love for fashion with your big-hearted concern for the environment by creating a blog that focuses on environmentally conscious clothing lines instead.
You can keep readers up-to-date on the controversy surrounding high street fashion outlets and their connection with sweatshops whilst channeling your love for design (bonus tip: controversy is always good for pulling in readers).
Originality goes a long way in this game! Particularly nowadays, where there are literally millions of fashion bloggers out there, so what can you offer that they don’t have covered already? Find your niche and own it.

Get your blog set up

Ok, so this is the technical bit that’s best handled by our website-building expert and Save the Student Founder, Owen.
Have a read through this, and we’ll meet you back here at step 3!

Design the look of your blog

Now for the fun part! Although, we really can’t stress how important this stage of the process is. The look of your blog can have huge implications on your readership – you want to create a platform that looks good, is easy to read, and makes readers want to return.
WordPress have an insane amount of templates or ‘themes’ for you to choose from – 2,500 to be exact! Take your time to decide on one that suits both your personality and the topic of your blog (and therefore your readers too).

Our main tips here would be to opt for something clear and simple, with space for large images and easy-to-read fonts (bonus tip: Comic sans and Courier fonts are a serious non-no!)

writing valuable content

now you have your blog looking smart, it’s time for the challenge of putting together some words that will be easy to read, interesting, valuable and make readers thirsty for more. Oh, and it also needs to be well written without spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. Easy peasy, right?

Think carefully about what you want to write about before you get started, and note that the ‘Dear Diary’ days of “Oh hey, this is my blog and I’m gonna tell you about things I like” are well and truly over.
Unfortunately, readers of your blog aren’t really interested in who you are (well, they are to an extent, but this alone is not enough), essentially they’re interested in what you can offer them that will make them more knowledgable/ better dressed/ better at life/ a better cook, etc.
As depressing as this may sound, this is the way the blogging industry works – and the quicker you start thinking this way the quicker your blog will succeed!

Set up blog-related social media accounts

any business nowadays, you’re not likely to get noticed if you don’t have social media accounts.
We recommend setting up pages/accounts for your blog on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and even LinkedIn (you’re essentially your own business anyway, right?) and get designing these accounts in a similar colour scheme/theme to your blog so it’s consistent and easy to recognise.
Start by adding everyone you know to get yourself off to a good start –

Get to know the blogger community

The next step is to make yourself known to those blogging on similar topics as yourself. Despite the obvious fact you’re coming on the scene as a direct competitor, you’re likely to be pleasantly surprised by how supportive the blogger community can be.
Many bloggers even have a ‘links’ page on their site that they use to link to loads of their friends within the community (in return for a link on your own blog, of course!) which will help a lot with your SEO (that’s ‘search engine optimization’ – aka how likely your blog is to pop up in google searches).

Pull in your readers!

Ok, we get it, this is about as easy as saying “Ok, now go and bring me some lumps of pure gold” right?
It’s true that attracting more readers and followers takes time and you’ll need to work hard at it.
Don’t worry though – we’ve got some great tips on how to pull in more readers further below. Never say we ain’t good to ya!