I was absolutely honoured when Lucy, the blogger behind Wanderluce and the awesome podcast What She Said, invited me back to the podcast for the second time.
What She Said is a podcast for bloggers and creatives and Lucy has interviewed some of the most inspiring women in this crazy blogging world of ours.
I was one of those people who was very late to the Podcast Party. People were raving about podcasts for years before I caught on to how great they are. I’d download one (usually one Elle had recommended because she’s obsessed with them!) but I’d zone out after a few minutes and would give up.
Last year, Lucy asked me to be a guest for What She Said (you can listen to that first episode here) and, of course, I had to listen to my own episode on a podcast! It sounds a bit self-involved to love a podcast that features you speaking for an hour, but I did, I loved it and I became hooked. Each week I excitedly waited for Lucy to release the next episode and I loved listening to these amazing bloggers, vloggers, instagrammers, online marketers, writers and creatives chatting about their unique careers.
When Lucy asked me to come back to the podcast for Season 2 I was like a giddy child who’d been asked to go on their favourite TV show.
Lucy and I recorded it in December but it went live on January 1st. Once again, we chatted about making money through blogging and, once again, I just tried to be as open and honest as possible.
You can listen to the podcast about how to make money blogging here.
I don’t think there is a secret or a trick. I think it comes down to one thing and one thing only, creating good content.
Sorry, I know most of you were expecting a golden nugget or a hidden gem but that’s all there is to it really.
Try not to focus on quick fixes, easy followers or easy ways to make money through your blog – focus on creating really good content and the making money part will follow naturally.
Now defining what exactly ‘good content’ is can be the hard part.
For me, good content is something that helps people. It solves a problem or it inspires them. It’s packed with information to help them try the thing you’re suggesting. ‘Useful content’ is generally what performs best on blogs so focus on creating posts that solve people’s problems. Ask yourself what you’re an expert at – a topic you know more about than anyone else – and share your knowledge with the world!
Good blog posts are also beautiful. They have lovely photos and they’re easy to read. You don’t need to be a literary genius but the words need to flow and the writing needs to be engaging. They need to be filled with personality, truth and honesty.
So how do you create good content?
You give it your all, that’s how.
You don’t just snap a quick photo, you spend all day on your own photoshoot to get the perfect photo.
You don’t just quickly write up a blog post, you spend hours thinking of the perfect words, researching the facts, remembering personal experiences and slotting them all together into something unique and interesting.
I think the main ‘trick’ to making money through your blog is to accept that everything takes time – and that it should take time. Sometimes it should take you all day, maybe even all week, to create a new blog post. It might take you six attempts at photoshoots to get the right photos.
It also takes a long time to build a following and grow your blog to a profitable size, and that’s OK. If you’re trying to quickly build a following in an inorganic or unnatural way then it’s unlikely those new followers will be engaged and real.
It’s the followers who stumble upon you through a blog post they find or through Instagram and end up stalking your Insta feed and scrolling back three years and reading all about you and your story – they’re the ones who are real fans and will stick around. They’re the ones who matter!
So if you really want to make money through your blog, focus on spending your time (and A LOT of your time) creating awesome content.
It’s boring but it’s true. Content is king. It always has been. It always will be. And if you’re creating lots and lots of great content then I can guarantee you’ll start earning money through your blog.
If you’d like more info about earning money through your blog then check out the podcast or pop over to my e-course, The Blogger Course.
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