Hey fellow bloggers, it’s been ages!  *waves furiously*

Over the last year, my posts have been written primarily for small business owners. Obviously, some of the content applies to bloggers and businesses, but I don’t want to neglect the people I first intended to help when I set up my website.

Pssst, remember to pin me for later!

So once again, hey bloggers, *waves even more furiously* this one is for you! Especially if you hope to transition from a hobby to a more serious business venture. P.s. there’s no shame in maintaining a blog as a fun extracurricular activity, no judgement here. If this is you, I encourage you to stick around; you might learn something new for future use. 🙂

How Seriously Do You Take Your Blog?

If you’ve stumbled upon this post, it would be safe to assume your blog is kinda, mostly a hobby space for you right now. You love updating it for people to read, and you put a lot of time and effort into making it the kind of platform you would really love as part of the audience.

However, you’ve never quite directed your time to make money off of your online efforts. Although you certainly have a healthy curiosity in this area. Heck, you might even have a Pinterest board full of ideas on how to make money with your blog. You’ve just never pulled the trigger. So you’re not a small business owner — yet.

But you could be very soon, especially if you’re blogging about something you’re passionate about and have a lot of experience in! But, you’re either not sure where to start, or you think you could never monetize your blog. Maybe you’re not sure who would pay for your content? Or have a dreaded case of imposter syndrome, bleurgh!

And yet, there’s a whole group of people who would gladly spend a few pennies through your blog, either via your own store or through affiliates and sponsorships. So, let’s go through how to make your hobby blog a more serious venture below. 

Think About What Your Readers Need

Whenever they come to you for your content, your readers need a few things. Whether this is to do with your personality, style, and charm, or simply the advice and/or information you provide, is something you need to work out. What do they want, and what do they need from you, specifically, that they can’t get anywhere else?

Similarly, if you’re a well known and respected niche blog, why not branch out into this a little more, and come up with a product or service related to it? More on that later. As well as finding a niche (if that’s your jam obvs), always consider value. How can you add value to your readers? If a reader comes away with a useful tip or product suggestion, they will keep coming back to your blog!

Market Your Blog Properly

Your blog needs to be marketed so that people take it seriously; nothing too cutesy or casual, but nothing that’s completely devoid of your current brand identity either. As with many things in life, it’s about finding the right balance, which doesn’t have to be too hard to do.

For example, you can use a Corporate Video Production Agency to really give your marketing efforts a professional edge — it’s budget-friendly, and it’ll put your brand at the centre. Other approaches include using the video templates available via Canva or hiring an experienced virtual assistant with a focus on marketing to help. If you’re starting to consider turning your blog into a business, try the Canva route first.

Come up With a Product

It’s ‘more on that later’ time, folks. As mentioned above, offering a product or a service will give you much more legitimacy with your audience. Sure, you can accept donations from people, or use affiliate links, but if you want to build a business, a concrete flagship product can pay dividends.

You’ve made a name for yourself, and now it’s time to make good on that name. You sure deserve it! You’ll have it easier than most, as you’ve already established trust with your audience because you genuinely care.

Now you need a good quality product to back it up! Think about this long and hard; don’t rush anything out, and don’t be afraid to ask for your audience’s opinion either. Consider a little market research like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram polls.

FIN

Your hobby blog could be making you a lot of money shortly; keep in mind the tips above to really get the ball rolling.

Thank you for spending some of your precious time in my online abode today

P.s. If you find my content useful and enjoy what I share, why not buy me a coffee by clicking the button below?

P.p.s. If you enjoyed this post, why not check out my previous post by clicking the image below. There are a few sections dedicated to market research, super helpful if you’re in the planning stages on making money with your blog!