Earning from a personal log of things that you're passionate about is an appealing way of earning money. More so if this passion involves traveling, playing computer games and the like - It presents an opportunity for hobbyists to earn for their pursuits instead of putting it to the side because they need to make a living by doing conventional pencil-pushing and white collar jobs.
Unfortunately, starting a blog isn't that simple. Well, sure, it is in a technical sense. There are plenty of services that offer quick blog setup and deployment. But there's more to a blog than just setting it up. The content itself requires careful planning and updating. Heck, even something that's seemingly so trivial as picking an ideal time to publish a blog post is important when it comes to maximizing earning potential. Here are some helpful things to get one started with profitable and sustainable blogging.
1. Get your hands dirty with technical jargon. There's no getting around the need to learn basic technical skills when it comes to putting up and maintaining a blog. In some cases, it might be a good idea to learn html, CSS, and JavaScript. But for those who aren't looking to tinker too much with the content of their blog, learning how to navigate around a popular and intuitive content management system is usually enough.
2. Get inspiration from other blogs. Every once in a while, blog owners experience writers block. It's not exclusive to blogs that are heavy on text content. Even blogs that focus on photography and videography get to write considerable texts in their posts. Not to mention that captions, being terse in nature, should be able to provide as much impact and emotion as the photograph they are referring to. That alone takes a considerable amount of brain power. To avoid hitting a wall, visit other blogs and just spend a bit of time reading around. And don't limit yourself to blogs that have similar target audiences.
3. Check out your blog from an audience's perspective. There's nothing weird about trying to read your blog from a visitor's perspective. Well, some might find it weird, but they're probably not someone who is maintaining an engaging blog. Everyone is guilty to some degree of being self-centered. This is pretty understandable if the writer is so enamored with their experience; ultimately forgetting the fact that they're not writing a private journal. Try to read the blog posts from a visitor's perspective and take notes on how to further improve. After all, the blog wouldn't thrive without its loyal following.
4. Don't forget to keep having fun. Making money from a blog is what some would probably consider as living the dream. Unfortunately, the old adage where making a living out of one's passion is not working at all isn't true - at least not in the long run. Over time, it may become too tedious. And eventually, even travel blogging, which sounds exciting and adventurous, will become arduous and repetitive. To avoid being trapped in this slump, don't forget to focus on the fun parts of the blog and keep drawing inspirations from it.