It was somewhere around March-April 2009 when I
decided to quit my daily job to become a professional blogger. At the
time of the writing of this post (2014) it has been five years since I
made that decision, and not only am I happy, but I consider it to have
been among the best decisions I have made in my life.
Becoming a professional blogger was not something I had ever
given a lot of thought to prior to the spring of 2009, but somehow circumstances
favored me enough (and I was brave enough!) to make that decision and
create a new reality for myself.
If you want to read more about my journey to pro-blogging, here
are two posts which will give you a more complete background of my
blogging journey:
- Harsh Agrawal – My
Blogging Journey So Far
- After
2191 Days of Blogging, All I Can Say is “Blogging
is Incredible!”
This article is a part of a question-and-answer series. So
if you have any questions related to blogging/ WordPress / SEO/ making money online etc., feel
free to send me your questions using ShoutMeLoud’s contact
form.
Being a professional blogger is not an easy job. Many
skills, much knowledge, and a lot of time are required to turn
a blogging passion into full-time, income-generating work.
A ShoutMeLoud reader has asked me the following
questions:
“I want to be a full-time professional blogger like you. Can you
guide me on how I can become a professional blogger? You
started as a tech blogger and I have done the same. Can you tell
me how many months it will take for me to become a full time blogger?
- Read: Why People blog?
Becoming a Professional
Blogger: Are You Ready?
First of all, before you decide to take the path of
pro-blogging, you need to know that a lot has changed in the past few years.
Blogging is not a simple or easy way to make money. However, blogging is
one of the more reputable ways to earn money online, and if you are committed
to working hard to learn how to do it properly, you can easily earn thousands
of dollars a month blogging, as I do. (See my affiliate earning report and
my Adsense earning
report.)
If you are looking to make a living blogging, you need be serious
in your approach and treat it like a professional business.
When I started, there were many other bloggers jumping into
the sea of professional blogging. But in 2011 and 2012 the Google Panda update and Google Penguin update killed many blogs,
and many of these bloggers began to transition to other aspects of
online marketing.
The decision to become a full-time blogger as a profession involves
many considerations such as your social and financial situations as well
as your career background and experience.
I started blogging as a full-time career when I was a
22-year-old single man with no family responsibilities, so I was able to accept
the risk involved.
I have covered the details of my transition in an
article on my personal blogging journey. In a
nutshell, when I started blogging I was working part-time as a
software engineer and looking forward to a new job with Accenture.
Instead, in March of 2009 I left the security of that profession
behind to become another professional blogger from India.
During the period noted above, I was earning $400-500 from
blogging while working for 3-4 hours a day. So I was
pretty confident that if I were willing to work 12-16 hours a
day, I could increase my online income accordingly. By the time I left my
job to blog full-time, my income sources were direct ads, Google Adsense, affiliate marketing and services. Of
all of these sources of income, I would consider Google Adsense as the
opportunity for recurring income, and the rest as variable income.
What I have learned during my own transition from part-time to
full-time blogger is that in order to become a successful full-time blogger
earning reliable income, many skill sets are required. Professional
blogging is not only about writing content. This could be achieved by any
good content writer.
In order to earn an income from blogging this good content, we
need to think beyond the development of good content to various other
skills that need to be honed such as:
- Writing
- Search
engine optimization
- Social
media marketing
- Email
marketing
- Management
If you are already a blogger, you may have already acquired
many of these skills. And with a some education (including articles like this
from ShoutMeLoud) and a little practice, you can acquire any skills you may be
missing by reading and implementing. Indeed that is how I have
learned and ultimately succeeded myself.
You need to understand the SEO basics, photo editing, grammar,
writing skills, video creation, social media and web analytics we apply
every day to become a successful pro-blogger and not just another blogger.
If you desire peace of mind while making your own
transition to professional blogging, I would suggest that you first work
toward earning a fixed recurring income from your blog, and once you’re
sure that you can comfortably survive exclusively on your blogging
income, then (and only then!) consider kicking your 9-5 job
to become aprofessional blogger.
Before taking this very significant step in your life, be sure
to take time to create a clear road map and make a business plan for your blog.
In addition to having these important factors in place, you
should also have a couple of other income sources to ensure that you don’t
get trapped in the future.
Things to keep in mind before stepping into the shoes of a
professional blogger:
- What
will your traffic generation sources be? (Make sure you are not only
relying on search engines!)
- What will your
sources of income be?
- How
do you intend to expand your blog and blog brand?
- Are
you ready to learn something new?
The following two posts should be very helpful to you as
you look toward this important decision :
It took me almost six months to decide to become a
professional blogger. It was relatively easy for me in 2009, but in 2014 the
blogging world has become immense, and you need to be far better equipped
in order to be able to rely on blogging as your only source of income.
A Tip for College Students:
I always suggest to college students that they start a blog
of their own. College is the best phase of life for starting a blog.
I tell students to have a goal of writing ten articles a month.
This way, by the end of one year you will have 120 articles published,
and by the end of your college career you will have an old, established blog
with almost 360+ articles. This will also ensure that you will have a side
income source to help cover your bills.
Suggested reading:
Tip: They say we should “never put all our eggs in one basket”,
and this is certainly true of professional blogging. If your
income source is from just one blog, you need to expand your empire to
ensure that in the future some Google algo change, or a server collapse or
any other kind of unexpected issue will not end your career and find
you without a source of income for months.
That said, typically a good blog can start making a fair amount
of income within 4-5 months.
Have I missed anything? Are there any other points that you
think should be taken into consideration prior to looking to blogging as a
profession? Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section below.
Remember to share this post with anyone whom you think might
benefit from this information and with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and
Google Plus!
Sources
: http://www.shoutmeloud.com
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