Is the life of a blogger right for you? Answer these 7 crucial questions to find out!

Are you toying with the idea of starting a blog to make money? The life of a blogger looks incredible! There are so many heavily promoted success stories of people earning a full time salary or much more online.

It seems like an awesome job- free from the constraints of 9-5 with an amazing income that’s all earned from the comfort of home. 

I love writing and the chance to make money from my own blog and from the content I’m creating instead of it becoming someone else’s ‘intellectual property’ was what made me consider that the life of a blogger could be perfect for me. 

But while there are examples of amazing instant successes, this isn’t the average!

Most blogs fail within the first 6 months because they don’t get traction on social media, attract hardly any traffic, and make absolutely no money. 

Bloggers Passion have a great post on Why the First 6 Months of Blogging is the Hardest and What to do to Succeed.

This highlights figures from the average blog- much less glamorous than ‘I made a million in my first month blogging’ claims that we see all too often.

Note: Some of the links below are affiliate links, so I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you if you choose to purchase these products. They are all products I know and love. Thanks for supporting Happier With Tea! 

These are 7 crucial questions you should consider about the life of a blogger before starting your blog to make money.

1. DO YOU LIKE TO WORK ALONE?

The websites of my favorite bloggers are beautiful and engaging, and they inspire me to lead the kind of life I want to live. 

But behind this successful website is all the stuff we don’t see. The life of a blogger involves a huge amount of screen-time, and a massive amount of work- all of which usually happens in isolation!

Usually, a blogger has made some big sacrifices. I have a full time job and work on my blog in the evenings. This means that sometimes I have to sacrifice the stuff I want to do in order to do what needs done on my blog. It can be hard, but for me it’s about my priority at this time.

You have to decide if you want to give everything so your blog has the best possible chance of succeeding and creating an income online.

This is the only way so you can see if it will work for you. It will show you if you are really able to make money blogging. And, more importantly, it will show you whether you actually enjoy the life of a blogger. 

2. ARE YOU TECH SAVVY?

Blogging has so much under the surface technical elements. While you don’t have to be a coder or web designer, you do need to be at least ok with computers.

Of course, the more skills you have in the area, the greater advantage you might have for building an awesome website. 

For those that aren’t very tech savvy, Fiverr is an amazing place to find freelancers who can do about anything from minor tweaks on your website to building the whole thing.  

If you want to download plugins and additional elements (such as Google Adsense), there is a little bit of extra technical stuff that’s needed.

One of my favourite plugins that I’ve found so far is ‘Insert Headers and Footers’ which makes it incredibly easy to add code without editing your theme file (which terrifies me!)

3. DO YOU LOVE WRITING?

This is a big one! The life of a blogger is essentially writing and marketing. You don’t have to be Dickens and actually a relaxed conversational style of writing can work best for blogging. However, if you hate writing, then you might need to consider if the life of a blogger is for you. 

4. CAN YOU PRODUCE GREAT CONTENT THAT OTHERS WANT TO READ?

Choosing your niche is a major consideration when building a blog. Ideally, you would decide this before starting a blog as it will influence your choice of domain name. 

The best way I’ve heard a niche described is this- the people who will be reading your blog. It’s better to think of a reader rather than a broad area such as ‘parenting’ or ‘travel.’ You can get as nitty gritty as you want here; you can even do a character analysis of your readers- how old is your typical reader, what do they care about, what problems do they have? Go into as much detail as you can.

Knowing your niche well will keep your posts focused so you are producing content that people actually want to read. Ideally your content will solve a problem for your niche by adding value in a unique way.

This is what will ultimately draw people to your blog. The fact is, if you want to make money from your blog, you need traffic. And, more than that, you will need interested and engaged readers. This is how your blog can become one that actually makes money and is profitable.

5. DO YOU LIKE SOCIAL MEDIA?

Until I started a blog, I hated social media! I reluctantly had a Facebook account which I used as little as possible. 

But the truth is that networking with other bloggers is the way that you will build traffic. You can network by engaging with their content and adding value to them. This will increase your visibility and grow your own following.

Sounds like a hard graft, right? It is!

Check out this Beginner Blogger’s Simple Social Media Strategy for a little more help in this area.

6. DO YOU HAVE DISPOSABLE MONEY TO SPEND ON STARTUP COSTS?

Blogging can appear incredibly low-cost. After all, it’s all digital, right? And you hear all the time about how you can ‘start a blog for free.’

While this is technically true, if you want to start a blog to make money, you will need to spend money at the start. 

Initially, you will have to pay for hosting and your domain name.

Bluehost have the best balance of competitive pricing and great service at $3.95 a month.

Keep in mind, though, that it’s generally cheaper to sign up for a longer period which will save you money in the long run.

I personally use Siteground as they have a fantastic reputation for their customer service. I’ve been in touch many times to sort out various issues, and they’ve always been incredible.

You might also want to consider paying for a ‘Theme‘ as this will instantly make your blog stand out from a huge amount of other blogs. 

I’m a firm believer that you have to spend money to make money.

I invested in blogging courses as I was painfully aware of how much I had to learn (learning about blogging is a never-ending journey). I invested in the Pinterest Ninja course which actually taught me so much more than simply Pinterest. The course covered branding, Facebook groups, and other social media tactics. 

If you were going to invest in other courses, I’d recommend investing in a course to learn about SEO and potentially in Affiliate Marketing.

7. ARE YOU PATIENT?

This question might sound silly, but this is my own personal struggle. While I know the importance of setting great goals that are realistic, smart and achievable, I still fall into the trap of wanting instant results. I pretty much want 1000s of followers on Instagram yesterday.

But, if you are interested in blogging as a job (and you need to treat it as such), you need to be able to keep your eye on the big picture, work steadily towards your goal, and trust that results will come. 

I keep a blog diary so I can track my weekly progress towards my goals. This is incredible to look back over, and to see the huge amount of progress I make week by week towards my goals. This is so encouraging because I can never see this progress in my day to day efforts.

THOUGHTS TO FINISH

I started by telling you that most blogs fail within 6 months. This is something that you can control. You can choose to give up or to keep going. 

Having realistic expectations from the very beginning will help to motivate you in the initial stages when there is very little to see for your efforts.

A second stat is that the vast majority of bloggers never make any money from their blogs. Disheartening.

BUT it’s estimated that about 1 out of 10 bloggers makes a full time living from their blog. 10% is not a huge percentage. There’s no guarantee that your blog will make money.

BUT IF YOU:

• Love working on your blog
• Create quality content that people want to read
• Are continually learning and improving your blogging skills
• AND if you are patient and persistent  

Then there is every chance that you will be part of this 10%!

1 in 10 of all bloggers still means that a massive amount of bloggers are making money from their blogs. There is no reason why this can’t be true for you as well! 

If you have answered these questions and believe that the life of a blogger is right for you, then go for it! When you believe in yourself and work towards your dreams, you will succeed! 

Rome wasn’t built in a day. But a brick was laid every hour. 

If you found this post helpful, please pass it on to others! 

Freya x