While creative hobbies like painting or playing an instrument are intrinsically rewarding, they are rarely financially so. Writing, on the other hand, has a much higher chance of turning into something that you can monetize. And no, that doesn’t mean you have to come up with the next Harry Potter. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming big, but with a little bit of research and willingness to learn, it’s perfectly possible to start generating income through a blog.
All you need to get started is a laptop and an internet connection, so blogging is a great option for stay-at-home parents. This short guide will take you through all the steps you need to know to get started.
1. Find your platform
You don’t need to build your own website to start a blog, so don’t let that put you off. Most blogs are built using platforms like WordPress. Although you don’t need to know any computer languages to use these, there is a little bit of a learning curve. However, once you’ve got the hang of things you’ll be able to customise your blog so that it looks how you want it to look.
There’s even some handy website templates that you can either copy or use as a starting point for your blog. Other platforms such as Blogger offer the same kind of thing. You can either start by picking a platform you like and figuring out how to use it, or you can do Step 2 first and come back to this later.
2. Pick your niche
Most blogs start out writing about a niche area to build up a core audience, then they expand as they get more mature. So don’t worry about trying to write about all of your interests.
If you’re not sure what to write about, consider writing about an experience you are currently going through. This could be something like writing a baby blog if you’ve just given birth, or lesson and activity ideas if you homeschool your children. If blogging works out for you, you could even create a new blog about ways to produce income as a stay-at-home mother.
3. Give it a memorable name
There are lots of free website name generators online. Try to choose something that’s relatively short and that reflects your niche and the tone of your articles.
4. Research before you write
Once you’re done with steps 1-3, it’s time to get writing. However, there’s more to this than just sitting down and typing away if you want your blog to be successful. You need to find a balance between what your audience wants to read and what you want to write about. Figuring out the former requires a bit of research.
There are different levels of research you can do, but a good starting point is searching for your topic and seeing what comes up. If there are articles about it, but you find them incomplete or unhelpful, you’ve got a good chance of success if you write your own improved one.
Conclusion
These steps above shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours, and by following them carefully over time your side hustle could soon be influencing the internet and earning some modest extra income.
