How To Turn Blogging Into A Full-Time Career And Finally Quit Your Day Job

Over the last decade, blogging has become more than just a hobby, but a way to make money. What started off as online journalism has now evolved into a full-fledged business.

With companies of all kinds actively hiring and searching for individuals to take up blogging on behalf of the company or even promote the business on the individual’s blog. Basically, if you’re a current or an aspiring blogger, you’re in more luck than you possibly realize.

Although the majority of blogs out there are personal, targeted toward a specific niche, reports have shown that roughly 40% of bloggers get paid to do it. Yes, this includes those who publish lifestyle blogs, travel blogs, and even food blogs. When it comes to blogging, the possibilities are endless.

So how do you go from blogger-on-the-side to blogging for someone else, or getting paid for your current blog? Of course, you’ll need to make sure your blog is in tiptop shape before you start down the paid blogger path. From there, here are the five tips to turning your hobby into a full-time career.

Establish Your Blog

This is one of those “duh” tips, but it’s an important one nonetheless. If you want to be a blogger, you need to have a blog. Even if you’re not looking to keep up a personal blog and are only looking to become a part-time or full-time paid blogger for a company, you still need to start one up.

When establishing your blog, make sure that whatever niche you choose to delve into, it’s something that you enjoy. Because if you enjoy it, then so will your readers. Pick a topic that’s uniquely you and expand on it. You never know, you might end up liking it more than you anticipated.

And while you’re creating your blog, keep in mind that appearances are EVERYTHING when it comes to an online presence. Your readers don’t get to sit down for dinner with you, so they won’t know about your wicked sense of humor or eclectic style unless you tell them. Be yourself on your blog and the rest will take care of itself.

Get To Know Your Audience

So, you’ve started your blog, found your group, and have kept up enough momentum to have a pretty healthy following. These devotees check in every week, or daily, for your latest blog post, blow up your page with likes, and can always be counted on to leave a friendly comment, or three.

But, now that you’re ready to take your blog to the next level, it’s time to take some inventory. Who exactly ARE the people following your blog? What’s the demographic and niche? What posts have gained more success and why? And what about the posts that didn’t do so hot?

These are important questions to ask when you want to move from hobby blogging to paid blogging. You want to make sure that you’re presenting a cohesive body of work that’s interesting to both you and your readers, and make sure that your blog doesn’t become stagnant. Make sure to keep close tabs on what works and what don’t, so you’ll be able to organize and plan your content accordingly.

Keeping all of this in mind moving forward will not only gain more attention for your blog, but it will also set your blogging skills apart if you’re looking for other blogging opportunities. Blog smart, blog often, and keep on keeping on.

Learn How To Network

While you may like to pretend that your blog is the only one of its kind out there, the chances of that are pretty slim. There are hundreds of NYC lifestyle blogs, Appalachian Trail hiking blogs, and Vegan food blogs out there. Yes, each is a tad bit different because no two bloggers are the same, but the general idea remains.

Though it’s easy to write these other blogs off and focus solely on your platform, blogging isn’t just about writing. It’s about getting other people to read what you’re writing and what better way to do that than the support of other bloggers.

Network with these other bloggers who are in the same niche as you. Get to know them and talk about what works for them and what doesn’t. You’ll be surprised what you can learn from someone else’s experience, and what they can learn from you as well. You might even actively promote each other on your blogs as a way to boost support and gather more readers.

Attend blogger events and get out there on social media. You aren’t the only person out there wanting to have a blogging career, so get to know the people in the industry. It’ll look good on a resume, and your blog’s success will be looking even better.

Write, Write, Write

When building a blogging career, it can be difficult sometimes to keep up. Most of the time, at least when starting out, you become so focused on your own site that it’s hard to see past it.

You’ve hunkered down into a routine and, while it’s been successful, it’s going to become stagnant if you don’t hustle and change things up a bit. Here’s where that network of like-minded bloggers comes in. Not only can you each promote the other on your sites, but you can establish outside credibility by contributing to other blogs as well.

Not only will this get your name out there, and subsequently your blog, but it’ll also allow your writing skills to grow from the new experience. You can bring that knowledge back to your personal blog and even use it later on when blogging for companies that have various content needs.

If you write a pet blog, start reaching out to your fellow pet bloggers and pitch an idea. The worst thing they can tell you is no but, chances are, they’ll say yes, and you’ll be well on your way to beefing up that blogging resume.

Start Applying

Once you’ve established your blog, developed a substantial audience, networked with other bloggers, and wrote your little heart out, now it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty: applying for other blogging jobs.

This isn’t going to be much different than getting a regular job, just remember that you’ll need to be flexible. A lot of times, even though you’ll be primarily blogging, you’ll also be in charge of managing other social media accounts for the company and focusing on online marketing, which is essentially what the blogging industry is.

When applying for jobs, make sure to look at positions that have titles like “communications,” “social media strategist,” “marketing,” and other similar titles, especially if you’re looking at non-blog specific sites such as Indeed. You can also check out Pro Blogger, Freelance Writing Jobs, and Media Bistro if you want a more condensed list of jobs that are blog-specific.

Now, when you first start off, keep in mind that you may be working several part-time blogging positions before you get hooked up with a full-time job. This isn’t a bad thing and can actually be better in the long run since you’ll be getting used to blogging for others and building your resume at the same time.

Getting into the blogging industry can take time, but once you’ve figured out what works for you, it’s well worth the wait. Keep writing, creating, and demonstrating your passion for the business, and you’re sure to be successful in all of your blogging endeavors.