Today’s post is from our regular Wednesday contributor, Cat.
On January 1 of this year, I became a full time blogger. I’m so excited (and slightly terrified) but I can’t tell you how great it feels to accomplish a goal that’s been in the works for years now!
Of course, I didn’t make the decision lightly (and you shouldn’t either) so if this is something you want to do, below are four of my top tips for making it happen.
1) Diversify
Many bloggers have seen their entire businesses plummet in one day due to a Google update. They relied too much on ad income and traffic, and just one change to the Google algorithm can make some of the most successful bloggers out there lose their income in a matter of minutes. Because of this, I don’t place too much weight on any one aspect of my income streams. I have a little bit of advertising income, a little bit of affiliate income, and a little bit of writing income. All of these things combined plus a few other services I offer from time to time keep me pretty well insulated from losing my income altogether. In the future, I hope to diversify even more and add more writing clients, so that if one website decides they don’t need writers anymore, it hurts a lot less financially.
2) Network
There are people who create tons of niche websites and make full time incomes without ever interacting with other bloggers. However, to me, the whole fun about blogging is the community. I’ve been blogging for almost 4 years now, and I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am today without the support of my fellow blog buddies. They are the ones who let me know if something looks wrong with my site or tell me about an opportunity that I would have never known about otherwise. I wouldn’t be a full time blogger today without the help of people along the way.
3) Re-Invest
Re-investing in your business is always wise. When you get that first lucrative ad deal, it’s tempting to want to spend the money, but re-investing is always a good idea instead. I’ll never forget the first sidebar ad I placed and the price for it. (That was back in the day when bloggers could command higher prices for these things.) I used that money to hire a few professionals to handle some business paperwork and also to fix some design issues I was having. Since then, I always save portions of my business income for new ideas and improvements.
4) Brand
People think I’m joking when I tell them I got my first “blogger paycheck” the day my redesign went live, but it’s true. I never made a dime off of blogging until I hired a graphic designer to re-create my site and logo. The very same day my site started looking professional, I started getting interest from advertisers. Maybe it’s coincidence, but my guess is that once I started presenting myself as a serious blogger, advertisers took notice.
All in all, it’s been a long road to get to this point. I pretty much had two full time jobs for an entire year, and people told me I looked tired all the time. However, every minute of hard work was worth it when I turned in my final project to my 9-5 and was able to go to bed knowing that I didn’t have to answer to anyone except myself the next day.
Do you want to be a full time blogger? What steps are you taking to get there?
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Great tips. I am excited to hear you say that your site re-design helped, because I am going to be doing that soon and I am hoping for the exact same thing!
Woo hoo! Site redesign really is super imp!!!
Great tips, Cat! I think that a professional design works wonders. I am so embarrassed of the first theme and design we had on our blog. Having it redone made a huge difference.
Haha I’ll have to show you the post sometime where I shared every header I’ve ever had. It’s awful lol!, like giant pic of myself included awful
I think networking is huge, and that’s something I’m constantly striving to get better at. I feel pretty on the fence with my site design right now – it’s certainly better than the little free theme from WP I had originally, but I did it all myself so I’m not confident that it looks professional, because, well, I’m NOT a professional! :) I’m trying to decide if I need to pony up and just pay someone to finish fixing things up.
I found a few talented but inexpensive designers and traded some writing work for some graphic design. Don’t forget about bartering :)
Cat these are great tips, I especially love the idea of re-investing in your business! I am one of those people who thinks it takes money to make money and if you believe in yourself you should invest in yourself otherwise why would anyone else?
I love that attitude and couldn’t agree more!
Love these tips! I think diversifying is always good, especially when it comes to online income. You don’t want to lean too much on one thing. I do enjoy the blogging community, too. The fun is in commenting and interacting with everyone!
Thanks! Yes I agree diversifying is super important and I hope to do more of it!
You first tip is the best. You have to diversify. Though I am no full time blogger, I do have different streams of income and plan on diversifying even more. Never put all of your eggs in one basket!
DebtRoundUpThanks Grayson! I couldn’t agree more!
Congratulations on becoming a full time blogger. Bloggers are extremely nice as everyone is trying to reach a common goal. Having your voice is very important as you’re the main attraction, as opposed to generic postings.
Charles@gettingarichlifeYes bloggers are the nicest people!! I can’t think of any other business where people share and help each other so much.
I think you’ve done a great job of making the transition to full time blogger and writer. I don’t really want to completely quit my day job, but online work has certainly supplemented my income as I’ve switched to part time work. It’s also nice to get to do something different than what I’ve done for years as a career.
EyesonthedollarIf I had your job I wouldn’t quit either :D but I’m glad you are enjoying the part time income!
I would love to be a full time blogger. I agree about not putting your eggs in one basket, which is why I consider myself to be more of an entrepreneur. I want to have multiple streams of income happening all around me. It’s growing, but slowly. Sadly I still can’t quit doing my soul-sucking main freelance gig. :(
BeachbudgetYou are well on your way – you had a fantastic last year and your blog is a high PR!!
Cat, That’s really great advice! I’ve been wondering if I should pay to re-design my site. I think you just convinced me to. Do you mind me asking who you used for the re-design?
Monicaonmoney Sure – you can send me an e-mail: cat [at] budgetblonde [dot] com and I will share the deets. :)
For a short time I blogged on a blogspot.com with one of their free templates. The moment I hired a designer my blog exploded. Not only did I start getting attention because of the way my site looked, but I was more motivated to make that investment pay off, so I wrote more, networked more, and watched it pay off.
brokeandbeauSame thing happened to me! My blogspot blog was pretty ugly haha.
Thanks for the tips! I have two blogs and one of my goals for this year is to give them both more time and attention, including a site redesign and more content. But I am still stumped on how to get more readers and especially advertisers, paid posts, etc. I have had a few opportunities reach out to me but can you recommend ad networks or other ways to get advertisers? Thanks!
earningmytwocents.blogspot.com
alicesibley919 Hopefully this doesn’t offend you but when I was running my first blog my blog ‘mentor’ who is now a big investor in blogs told me “get out of the blogspot ghetto.” It hurts your search engine rankings. I’d move away from blogger to WP which is more search engine friendly as well. Getting your page rank higher will help attract advertisers who are looking to pay for posts. They generally like PR3 or higher websites. Additionally, look into commission junction, flex offers, and link offers for affiliate purposes. I’m personally just starting to work on affiliate income and it’s definitely a challenge to find the right formula for conversions, but it’s definitely what you want for revenue long-term.
DC @ Young Adult Money alicesibley919 no offense taken! Thanks for the suggestions. I am looking at getting new domain names and hosting for my blogs this year anyway. Great to know that WordPress is a good place to go.
alicesibley919DC @ Young Adult MoneyI agree with DC, part of making your blog look professional, which I mentioned in the post, is making sure it’s on wordpress, preferably self hosted.
alicesibley919DC @ Young Adult MoneyOh and seriously e-mail me because I’m in Baton Rouge right now, Alice. :)
Great tips. I wouldn’t mind a little income from the blog so I’m always looking for new things to learn when it comes to blogging.
Raquel@Practical CentsYes if I can do it anyone can do it! :)
I feel like I have a lot to learn about how to network as a blogger as I am still a fairly new blogger. Would love to hear more about how you network.
BudgetforMoreWell you’re doing a good job so far since commenting is the #1 way. :) Then just making blog friends, e-mailing with them, working with them, helping them, and basically becoming an active member of the community is how I do it. :)
I’m always working on diversifying my online income as much as I can. Focusing on just one thing in the online world is just too scary for me.
SenseofCentsAgreed. It’s super important!
The biggest thing that I am working on is diversifying my income. I have some things that I plan to release in the upcoming months.
TheButlerJournal.comThat sounds exciting. :)
Thanks for sharing! I’m still working on getting my traffic to where I would like, but networking is the one thing I really enjoy that I didn’t think I would. It helps grow traffic, and you get to know some pretty awesome people.
ImpersonalFinanceI agree. I think we’re all trying to get our traffic up. Keep fighting the good fight! :)
Great tips here. I’m not sure I’d want to be a full-time blogger, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about blogging in combination of doing a few other things (a pet sitting business perhaps). I know that some day (soon hopefully) I want to quit the 9-5 world and work for myself.
StudentDebtSurvivorthanks KK. Yeah it’s fun to think about for sure! There are so many options. :)
I think brand building is incredibly important! I always find it interested to see why people blog, what their goals are, and how they grow their sites.
BrokeMillennialMe too! I love branding!
Awesome tips! You’ve made me realize I need to eventually shell out for a designer. I want to, but just can’t justify it right now. I also want to diversify my stream of income and have blogging included in that. I am not a ft blogger, but would like to make some money from it.
deardebt Promise it doesn’t have to cost a lot! Look on etsy or get bids on a freelancing
website. You can also barter etc. I don’t think I paid more than $200
for mine + hosting etc. :)
Congratulations on making the move to full time blogging! Your point about branding has hit home with me. I know I should have a more “professional” looking site, but at the same time I don’t want to spend any extra money on my blog. It’s on my list for this year though. I know that if I want to be taken seriously I have to be serious about my blog.
Green Money StreamIt doesn’t have to cost a lot! Look on etsy or get bids on a freelancing website. You can also barter etc. I don’t think I paid more than $200 for mine + hosting etc. :)
Some days I think I’d love to blog full-time others days (most days) I love my job and most importantly the interaction I get with my patients. I would consider doing it PT with my current job but don’t know if I could give up healthcare entirely. You’re doing great things Cat!