I’ve spent the last couple of weeks perfecting my blog website. It’s not 100% how I’d like it to look but I feel I am stuck between the parameters of what the free WordPress theme can offer. For now, I’m sticking with it. If the blog starts bringing in some income, I’ll reinvest—like any smart business—and upgrade to a paid theme with more customisation options.
What’s next?
For the blog itself to make money, from doing some research (albeit quick, as I say I don’t have endless hours to research) two clear paths stand out for monetising the blog: advertising and affiliate marketing.
Driving Traffic
For either option to work, I need to drive traffic to my page—and yes, how the heck do I do that when no one knows who I am and I have no social media presence? So I started reading a number of blogs about how people turned their own into money-makers, hoping to learn a few tricks. Here is what I learned:
Quality – Sure, driving traffic is the first step, but if the posts aren’t worth reading, no one sticks around. The aim of my blog is to test what works and what flops in the world of side hustles, so I hope this will be relatable and engaging for visitors so they keep coming back.
Quantity – Recommendations suggest a blog needs at least 5 posts to engage with its audience. Basically, there is no point in guiding people on social media to a skeletal website as they won’t stick around nor return. I get it. Right now though, this is only my second post, so I’m not promoting yet. I’m just stacking content, one update at a time.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) – This is all about making a blog more appealing to search engines like Google, so real people can actually find it. This in theory should enable a blog to rank higher in search engine results. There are a number of ways that search engine algorithms can be manipulated. I am in the process of writing a post specifically about this, which will be linked here soon.
Pinterest-Ready Images – This is where I first discovered side hustles, so it’s important that I have a presence here. Every post needs eye-catching, pin-worthy images. Once pinned, they can spread across Pinterest, pulling new readers straight in.
Social Media – This is what makes a blog visible. People spend hours on social media, so I want to capture their attention, stop their doom-scrolling for a moment, and get them reading my blog. Hopefully, it’ll help them make some money—and me too!
Now I need to integrate all of the above into my blog, as without this I don’t feel ready to start promoting or adding affiliate links.
