Blogging

As someone who’s been blogging since 2009, I can say it’s one of my favorite side hustles, and I’ve certainly learned a lot about it during that time.

For one, I’ve found the writing to be a great creative outlet and a powerful medium to reach a wide audience. (Although the podcast has grown much faster.)

But it was a loooooong time before my blog made any real money, and one of the mistakes I made was not having a focus. I would write about whatever came into my head; current events, our travels, our dog, and occasionally I might throw in something about business or marketing.

There was no coherent theme or really any reason for someone to stick around unless they were interested in me personally. In 2013, I narrowed the focus of my writing to be about side businesses, and that’s when the site traffic started to grow.

How to Start a Blog

If you want to start a blog of your own, check out my free 6-part video tutorial series that walks you through:

  1. 4 reasons to consider blogging as a side hustle.
  2. Why a “blog” is probably a bad name.
  3. 8 ways blogs and websites make money.
  4. How to pick a topic for your blog.
  5. How to choose a domain name and get your site online.
  6. How to install WordPress and begin creating.

I had a lot of fun creating the free “how to start a blog” course and hope you enjoy it too!

Greatest Hits

Whether you already have a blog or are looking to start one, here are some of the best blogging-related articles and podcast episodes from the archives:

The Best Blogging Podcast

I compiled a binge-worthy selection of blogging podcast episodes from The Side Hustle Show into this playlist. I think you’ll like it!

Enjoy!

9 Free WordPress Plugins to Make Your Site Leaner, Meaner, and More Profitable

The universe of free plugins is one of the most important benefits of WordPress. If there’s some functionality you’re looking for, odds are someone else has already built it!

Now I’ve been called — and this is true — a bit of a plugin junkie in the past. And there is a dark side to all this delicious free software; installing too many plugins can slow down your site, break some functionality, or even put you at risk for security breaches.

Here are a few I think you should consider, organized by functional area.

I Ran a Viral Contest. The Results? Not So Viral

You’ve probably heard the success stories of people rapidly growing their email list by running contests.

Taylor Pearson got 700 new subscribers giving away his favorite books.

Bryan Harris got 2,239 subscribers in 10 days.

So of course I had to give it a shot.

How to Write Viral Content – Without Actually Writing It

One of the biggest problems facing new bloggers is a lack of traffic. You pour your heart (and hours of your time) into creating great content, and no one sees it.

I know the feeling.

I blogged in relative obscurity for years. And while I loved the practice of writing and everything I learned during those years, if you want to accelerate your growth curve you might want to apply the technique I’ll share today.

142: $5k per Month Blogging Case Study: How to Drive Massive Traffic with Pinterest, with Rosemarie Groner

Rosemarie Groner is a former state trooper turned blogger and stay at home mom. In the last 12 months, her site The Busy Budgeter has grown from zero to 400,000 page views per month.

More importantly, Rosemarie earned $5000 from the site last month while working on it part-time.

I met Rosemarie (and several other members of her mastermind group) at FinCon in September, where she shared a surprising secret weapon in her success: Pinterest.

136: How a Part-Time Blog Turned Into an 8-Figure Business

Brian Clark has been content marketing since before the term even existed. In fact, he left a miserable corporate job and built several successful businesses using these effective new marketing techniques.

Then he started this little side project called Copyblogger to share some his findings, tactics, and ideas with the rest of the world. Fast forward 10 years and Copyblogger is now Rainmaker Digital on track to do more than $10 million in sales this year.

132: 7 Days to a Profitable Business

A viable startup business in 7 days … sound to good to be true?

Dan Norris is the co-founder of WP Curve, a service that offers unlimited 24/7 WordPress support for small jobs for $79 per month. He went from idea to paying customers in less than 7 days.

Based on his experience, Dan penned the bestselling book The 7 Day Startup, and stopped by The Side Hustle Show to share some of his insights.

Why Guest Blogging Sucks (and 3 Things You Should Do Instead)

The conventional wisdom when starting a blog is to “get the word out” by guest posting on established higher traffic sites.

It makes sense, right? They’ve already got the readership and eyeballs you’re after, so why not go directly to the source and try and siphon off some of their audience to become your audience.

But there’s a problem: guest posting sucks.

How a Part-Time Blogger Earns $4k a Month

Which is why I was nervous about publishing this post. Would my readers be confused or turned off by this sort of content?

To my surprise and delight, my first-ever income report was well received. Even readers who have zero interest in the business of blogging liked the post.

They enjoyed the opportunity to look “behind the curtain” and appreciated my transparency.

Should Bloggers Accept Sponsored Posts?

Over the past 12 months, I’ve earned more than $1500 from a seldom-talked-about side hustle: sponsored blog posts.

In fact, it was a revenue model I’d never even considered until a company reached out to me last year and offered to pay $400 for a sponsored post.

$400! At the time, that was the most anyone had ever paid me for a piece of my writing.

OK, I’m listening, tell me how this works…

LeadPages Alternatives: My LeadPages Results Plus Testing the Top Competitors

Is LeadPages worth it?

Everyone in the Internet marketing arena is head-over-heels in love with this software, but is it really the right choice for your business — or are they just trying to make an affiliate commission off of you?

I’ll start of by saying I AM a LeadPages customer, but I was a reluctant one, debating over the purchase decision like maybe you are right now.

Usually Hustling, Occasionally Social

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