Most Commonly Asked! How To Become a Blogger...
Most Commonly Asked! How To Become a Blogger...
Many of you have asked me...
"How does one even become a blogger?"
Some of you wanted the short answer, like a get-blogging-quick scheme thrown at you in ten seconds or less while you scroll through Facebook on your cell phone. Many more of you however asked for the long answer, a peek behind the curtain of this magical knowledge that is: making a living by writing in your PJ's all day.
At first I didn't think I was qualified to instruct anyone on a subject I learned by trial and error, Google searches, and amateur networking. Several improvved and stammering responses later though, and my answers began to flow in a knowledgeable rhythm. The highlights of what I learned through months of writing and research slid out of my mouth, proving I'd learned the beginning ropes.
Then the best thing happened. An old friend hit me up after seeing my new blog and asked me how it's done, and if you can actually make a living from it. Right away? You'd be absurdly lucky to score that, and if you did I would go play some lottery numbers pronto!
One does not simply become a blogger...
But after a lot of invested time, brainpower, dedication, mingling, and coffee, ohhhhh yeahhhhh you can!
So, now I will share with you awesome people the cheat sheetI offered up to my newest blogger friend, now the proud owner of CLE Threads. Keep in mind this is just the path of details I chose, but your needs and budget may differ :)
How I turned rambling journals into my dream career...
1. First I did TONS of research. "Research" means googling strange questions over and over until you get lost in the abyss of tabs wondering how in the world this happened. Like you guys, I had no idea how someone could make money just by babbling away on the internet.
2. Skip ahead months later, and I needed to choose a blogging site. I went with WordPress because they are user-friendly and had promising reviews. I signed up for a free blog to play around with for a while, getting my feet wet and confirming my dedication to blogging before I paid for anything.
3. Three months later, and I decided I was ready to choose a hosting site for my new blog. This is the big step where I went from using WordPress' server, to renting my own space with someone else's so I could get paid. I chose A Small Orange because they offered one of the best deals in my budget, only a few bucks a month for my domain name, bandwidth, and here's the invaluable part...24/7 online chat assistance for instant help with your site. YES. PLEASE. Many bloggers recommend other sites with different bells and whistles, and those are great, but a few bucks a month was right up my alley, and I wouldn't have gotten this far without their chat help.
4. So now you have a website! Woo hoo! After you put some meat in there, like a clear and capturing "About Me" page and a solid amount of posts, you can apply for Google AdSense. Here's where the money part starts. Page views and ad click-er-oos means money in your pocket! By money I mean pennies, and by pennies I mean literally pennies. BUT more views means more pennies, and months or years down the road when you have tons of views, not only do people like your stuff, but now you can afford pizza and cat litter :)
5. Want to be able to afford more than that?? Yeah me too. You can also use your blog as the most fun resume you've ever had. Businesses need websites, websites have blogs, blogs have blog posts, and who writes all of that stuff? Hopefully you and me! Before I started my own blog, I tried to apply for online writing gigs that would have me cranking out posts and articles for other sites. When they asked for my site as a reference, I thought hawha?
...now I understand those guys want to see your site to gauge your writing style, dedication, all that jazz. This is currently where I have found myself in the world of blogging. After I master my new groove, I am going to apply to write other people's posts for them, plus whatever other opportunities I find in the process.
*One Last Important Tip!
I found absolutely the most useful information by visiting the sites of successful bloggers. My suggestion is to find a blogger who wrote about how they "made it big as a full-time blogger!" or something. Really successful bloggers often post about how they became successful, and sometimes they even have a whole blog dedicated to instruction on becoming a blogger.
Let's see if I can say "blogger" one more time...
