Let’s start with the question you really want answered: Can I get rich blogging?

You’ve probably seen social media or blog posts from bloggers living their #bestlife, which is basically them looking carefree and content as they sail around the world off their blogging money.

Like this:

And while the answer is yes, you can get rich blogging. The reality is that blogging is a looooonng game. It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme, and many, many bloggers quit before they ever make any money from their sites.

But, there are a lot of bloggers who do make money – a decent living from their site earning an extra $1,000, $5,000, $10,0000 extra. That extra money reduces their financial stress, helps them pay off debt, save for retirement, or quit a job they don’t enjoy.

Are those bloggers rich? Well, that’s subjective. But I bet they feel like they’re living their best lives. That’s living a rich life.

How to get rich blogging: 9 tips for building a profitable blog

1. Pick the right niche

The niche is the topic you blog about, like cooking, fitness, entrepreneurship, wellness, etc. And some niches are more profitable than others. Your niche should strike a balance between something you’re passionate about and something that enough other people are interested in.

Here’s an example: You might be passionate about sweaters for parakeets. Look, they’re cute little parakeets wearing chunky wool sweaters! What’s not to love!?

Well, they’re cute, but are there enough people on the internet who are willing to spend money on sweaters for parakeets? Unfortunately no. It’s also a little too niche, like the focus of your site is way too narrow.

On the flip side, you might be thinking about a niche like personal finance. There’s money in that niche, but you don’t love talking about money. It will be incredibly hard to keep your blog going if you’re not interested in the topic. Personal finance is also much too broad of a niche.

So, how do you proceed?

Profitable niches are ones that help people improve their life. That’s where people are willing to spend their money. Those niches generally fall under a larger topic like health, wealth, love, time, and happiness.

Find something you’re interested that falls under one those umbrellas, for example:

• Health: Fitness, cooking, healthy living, natural living, healthy kids, yoga, meditation
• Wealth: Credit cards, travel hacking, investing, side hustles, frugal living, budgeting, entrepreneurship
• Love: Single living, marriage counseling, weddings, honeymoons, dating, positive parenting
• Time: Organizational strategies, time-saving hacks, routines, planners
• Happiness: Personal development, life coaching, traveling, pets, DIYs, sports, writing, hobbies

That’s just a small list of examples, and for more tips and advice on validating your idea, check out Blog Niche Ideas | Tips for Picking a Niche & How to Validate Your Idea.

2. Start your blog the right way

There are lots of different options for blog hosting services, and we highly recommend that you go with a WordPress.org blog hosted through Bluehost.

WordPress.org has the blogging tools available to monetize your site, and it lets you choose your host. Your host is the platform that stores all of your blogging files (images, HTML codes, etc.). Bluehost is an ideal hosting platform because it’s designed for bloggers who want to take their sites seriously and make money, meaning it comes with:

• Free and paid themes to make your blog look professional without paying for design services
• A free domain name for your first year
• 24/7 customer service chat support
• And conveniently, WordPress.org comes with Bluehost

Bluehost isn’t free, but it is inexpensive– $2.95/month when you sign up through our exclusive Bluehost link.

Paying for Bluehost means you have the tools you need to make money blogging, and you own all of the content on your site. That’s right, free hosting services can own your content. Not cool.

After putting in all of the work, you should retain ownership over the content you create.

Follow this link to learn the exact steps it takes to start a blog on Bluehost: How to Start a Blog (8-Step Guide for Bluehost).

3. Grow your skills

Successful bloggers have spent time cultivating a skill set that has helped them get rich blogging. Fortunately, these are skills you can learn over time.

Leverage social media

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest – there are a lot of social media platforms. No one expects you to learn them all at once, but pick one, and start building a social media presence for your blog.

You’ll want to learn how to:

• Build a page/profile for your site
• Share content
• Engage with your followers
• Drive traffic

Again, start with one, master it, and then move to another platform.

Optimize your site for searching

This is what’s known as SEO (search engine optimization). It’s how pages on your site show up in organic search results. SEO is a series of smaller strategies – keyword research, competition research, off-page optimization, on-page optimization, and more.

That sounds like a lot, but you can optimize your site one step at a time. We followed the steps outlined in the SEO for Bloggers Course to build this site, and you can learn more about the course in our SEO for Bloggers Review.

Content writing

Writing good content isn’t something that happens overnight, and some people are naturally strong writers. But the truth is that you can grow your writing skills. The secret is to just start writing.

Sounds simple, maybe too simple, but that’s the truth. There’s software that helps you with grammar and punctuation, but the important thing is finding your voice. This is how you get your message out, and it comes with practice.

4. Learn how to monetize your blog

If you want to get rich blogging you need to know what your monetization options are and how to implement them on your site.

The most common method to start with is display ads. You’ll have to sign up with an ad network – they handle the advertisers and payments, and you’re only responsible for where the ads go on your site.

The benefit of display ads is that it’s fairly passive income that can start to offset some of the costs of blogging. The downside is that you will not make a lot from display ads alone, they can start to slow down your site, and they can be annoying to your readers. Monitor how they’re impacting your site to see if they’re worth it or not.

One of the most popular ways to make money is through affiliate marketing because it can end up being fairly lucrative. Here’s how it works:

1. Sign up with an affiliate network like ShareASale, ClickBank, FlexOffers, Amazon Affiliate, or CJ Affiliates (these are just a few of many options)
2. Apply to be an affiliate with companies who offer products and services that relate to your site and will help your readers
3. Once approved, share your special affiliate links in your blog content
4. When a reader clicks on one of your links and makes a purchase, you earn income

Now, you don’t want to come off as spammy and slap links all over your site. You want to focus on what helps your readers and is actually relevant to your site.

Sponsored posts are another strategy, and this is where a company pays you to write blogs and/or social media posts. These companies are paying you to reach your readers – it introduces their products and services to a whole new audience.

Offering freelance services isn’t a direct blogging income, but you can use your blog to promote your own services, like writing, web design, graphic design, editing, social media management, and more. Your blog can act as a portfolio for some kinds of services, and it’s the perfect place for clients to get in touch with you.

Our favorite way to make money blogging is through creating your own digital content. This can be ebooks, online courses, printables, how-to guides, and more. What’s great about this option is that you’re in full control. You’re not reliant on a third party, like an ad or affiliate network, that can change their policy or platform and affect your ability to make money.

Learn more about these sources, the pros and cons, and how to get started in Make Money Blogging: Pros and Cons of the Top 5 Strategies.

5. Always show up for your readers

You won’t be able to get rich blogging without happy readers, and you won’t have happy readers if you aren’t there for them. Showing up for your audience means a few different things, but they all come down putting your readers first.

It starts by putting in the work to learn more about your readers. Here are some simple ways to do this:

• Ask questions on social media. Ask your readers what they want to read more about? What drew them to your site? What other bloggers do they follow?
• Respond to their emails. Listen to their concerns, read their stories, and email them back.
• Pose questions at the end of your blog posts. Ask readers what else they’d like to know about the topic, and if there’s any related content you can cover.

As you get to know more about your readers, also focus on creating high-quality content. This means you’re being honest and authentic and sharing valuable, researchable, and helpful information. Let your passion shine through.

One question new bloggers ask about content is whether or not it needs to be grammatically correct. In the beginning, focus on writing, but over time, find ways to improve grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Grammarly is an easy fix if you have concerns. You can also have a friend or partner read over your work, and eventually, you can hire a proofreader to check your work. Accuracy isn’t everything, but it does read more professionally and shows readers that you’re taking your site seriously.

The final point is to post on a regular schedule. People who get rich blogging stick to a posting schedule because it tells readers they can count on you X number of times a week – you’ll be there for them.

Sticking to 1-2 posts per week is all you need to start, but make sure those posts are published on the same day each week, like a Tuesday/Thursday schedule. You can still write a lot in advance when the mood strikes you, but save those posts and schedule them for a later date.

6. Start an email list, today

I can’t tell you how many professional bloggers didn’t start their email lists until a couple of years into the game. These bloggers quickly realize how many opportunities they’ve missed. See, your email list converts at a higher rate than other forms of traffic, the ROI is $38 for every $1 you spend on your list, and your list belongs solely to you.

Ownership means you aren’t competing with algorithms or subject to policy changes. These are your readers, they want to hear from you, and you’ve earned the right to their email addresses.

There are two things you need to do to start your email list:

1. Find an email service provider (ESP). MailChimp is free for the first 2,000 subscribers, but we also really like ConvertKit because it has robust tools that help create funnels and get more out of your list.
2. Give your readers a place to sign up for emails. This can be as simple as hitting a “subscribe” button or it can be an opt-in form attached to an offer. Below is an example of an opt-in box you might see on our site. New readers get a valuable guide in exchange for their email address.

Once you’ve started growing your email list, don’t be afraid to use it. You can send out notifications when you publish new content, if you have special offers for readers to take advantage of, or when you create your first piece of digital content to sell.

Whatever you do, don’t send too many emails and come off as spammy to your readers. Take time crafting your emails and send them out when the time is right.

7. Get involved in the blogging community

Here’s something important to understand: other bloggers aren’t your competition. You all have something a little different to offer the world, and you can actually learn a lot from other bloggers.

Plus, it’s really fun to get to know people who are making a living blogging. They all have fascinating stories, and you can build connections to alleviate the loneliness that comes from being self-employed.

Start by following others in your niche – don’t steal from them, but pay attention to the kind of content they’re creating. You can experiment with those ideas on your site, but make tweaks so they fit your unique audience.

As you follow them, make sure you start to like, comment, and share their content. This can help you build a relationship and increases your own blog’s visibility. Again, don’t come off as spammy, and don’t be a stalker, but engage with them when you have an authentic reason to.

What’s neat about getting to know others in your niche is it can open the door for guest posting opportunities. This is where you write content for each other’s blogs, which can introduce you to a whole new world of readers.

If they’re in your niche or a related one, the chances are high that their readers will be a good fit for your blog too.

8. Don’t be afraid to spend some money

Most of the tips you’ve read about don’t cost a ton of money. There’s a lesson in that – you’re leveraging your time until it makes sense to start spending money on your blog. But bloggers who get rich know how to spend money on their site.

New bloggers are always afraid to spend money on their site. There’s nothing wrong with this, every professional blogger has been there.

Eventually, you will learn that you need to invest some money to make some money. Spending money on your site can help you make better use of your time, and here are some of the best ways to start investing in your site:

• Tools and software: This could be blog hosting services, a better email service provider, keyword research software, software that checks your grammar, and more.
• Outsourcing: Eventually, you may want to hire a virtual assistant, editor, proofreader, web designer, someone who provides SEO services, and more.
• Knowledge: There are some awesome blogging courses that can help you grow your skills. This is investing in yourself and your site.
• Driving traffic to your site: Running Facebook ads for your blog is the most effective way to get new readers to your site, and you can do it for as little as $1 a day. Learn the basics in How to Promote Your Blog With Facebook Ads and check out our course, Facebook Ads for Bloggers for a more advanced approach.

9. Put in the work every day

Somewhere early in this article, you read that many bloggers quit before they ever start making money from their sites. This is 100% true, and it’s because blogging is hard work.

You can spend a few months blogging before you ever make a dime from your site. That’s completely normal.

But too many new bloggers chalk that slow growth to no growth at all. They’re discounting all the work they’ve put in their sites and shutting it down before they even have a chance to get rich blogging.

I’m not sure if it’s because not enough bloggers talk about how hard it is, or if it’s a lack of motivation. Okay, it’s probably a combination of both.

To become a successful blogger, you need to put a little work in every day. Start by making a list of the big things you need to do, break those down into smaller steps, and then focus on one thing at a time.

On days when you have lots of time and energy, research how to run Facebook ads to your site or how to optimize your site for SEO. On days when you have a few hours, write a blog post or two. And when you only have a few minutes, spend that time on social media connecting with your readers.

Blogging isn’t this massive thing you do all at once and then suddenly you get rich blogging. You have to break it down into digestible bites, and that takes time.

But here’s the good news: you can start a blog in your spare time. You can put in the work before you leave for the office, a little on your lunch break, after your kids go to bed, etc. Blogging is flexible, and you can scale it at your own pace.

The final word on how to get rich blogging

Read that last paragraph once more. What that means is that you can make money blogging as you’re willing to put in the work you need to do. There’s no crystal ball to say how much money you’ll make – there are just too many factors.

But you can make a decent income. It’s money that can help you live a rich life doing something you love. It’s money you can earn from the comfort of your own home (or sailboat), and if you put in enough work and have a little bit of luck, you might see a 6- or 7-figure income. The possibility is there.