Is Blogging Worth Your Time? The Ease & Potential of Blogging

One of the most common questions I see in Facebook groups, on Twitter, on message boards, and just talking to people one-on-one is:

Is it possible to make a living blogging?

The quick answer is, yes! Blogs are extremely versatile. And, with the many changes over the years, the money-making potential for blogs has increased. It is not just about writing personal stories anymore.

You can create a vlog if you are not big on writing, sharing ideas and resources in video or other presentation form.
You can include podcasts, creating a more auditory mode of sharing information, coupled with your blogging efforts.
With social media, you have a bigger audience to share your posts and get more followers.

In fact, Pinterest has become a game-changer for many bloggers for sharing their ideas and generating traffic.

While this is all great, you may be asking yourself, where does the money-making potential come in?

(Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. Any services or products I recommend are ones I use myself.)

Where Does the Money-Making Potential Come In?

If you are a writer, a blog is a great way to get your words out into the world:

Your blog can act as a portfolio, sharing your writing abilities with potential clients.
You can use your blog as a launching spot to sell books, workbooks, printables, etc.

If you offer services or products, a blog can allow you to share your expertise while marketing your brand:

You can share your services options with testimonials from previous clients.
You can create online stores attached to your blog to sell your own products.
You can create membership sites or training materials to share more in-depth knowledge with your members.

You can capitalize on your chosen niche, finding opportunities with other companies:

You can participate in affiliate marketing, generating a commission when people buy certain products through your links.
You can even create an online store to sell products related to your niche.

There is a vast world of opportunities out there. You can create a model where the blog is your business, or you can use your blog as a marketing tool for your brand.

As blogging has increased in popularity, changes have been taking place, making it easier to create a business around a blog.

How Changes to Blogging Affect Newbies

The changes to the world of blogging have made the whole process simpler and less time-consuming. As blogging has continued to change:

more technical tools have become available, making getting started easier.
Automation has become a real time-saver, making sharing your information easier than ever. (Buffer and Tailwind are two great examples)
The process of starting a blog, organizing, and monetizing has become simpler.
Training on the different aspects of blogging has become more widely available.

These are all great tools for getting the most out of your blogging efforts, but there is one tool that is often overlooked. This is the business plan. If you want to create a business around your blog, you will need a business plan.

With a blog, it doesn’t have to be an in-depth plan, but you will want to have some idea the steps you will take. This is where the Journaling for Entrepreneurs process can come in handy.

There are five important steps to using the Journaling for Entrepreneurs concept for your blogging business:

Determine your niche- the topic you are knowledgeable in and will be able to share valuable information.
Keep up with what you learn- Learn the tricks-of-the-trade from those who are making a success of blogging, and keep up with the new concepts you learn so you can apply them to your blog.
Create a plan-of-action- determine how often you will share, who you are trying to reach, how you will promote your posts, etc.
Pay attention- keep up with what time of day you get the best interaction, what posts are driving more traffic, what your audience is telling you they want to hear, etc. Add these observations to your entrepreneur’s journal where you can continue to analyze your results.
Continue to tweak your plan as you learn more (from other bloggers, from your own observations, from new classes, etc.)

If you are new to blogging, or struggling with your blog, it is important to learn from those who are having success. This will help you to find new ways of reaching your audience, will help you find the best tools for your blog, and will help you fine-tune your blogging plan.

If you want to create a business with your blog, you have to think of yourself as an entrepreneur, and the best way to do this is to incorporate the Journaling for Entrepreneurs process into your blogging plan.

Just like any other type of business, your blog will require time, effort, money, and continued education. The continued education is where people can lose focus.

It is easy to fall into the shiny object syndrome, wanting to take every class that comes your way, wanting to incorporate everything right away. I think there are two major reasons for this:

We want to see instant results, to have a thriving business in just six-months.

This is not feasible though. You will have to dedicate the time to get your blog established and determine what works best for you.

Sometimes learning new ideas can make us feel like we are accomplishing something even if we’re just procrastinating.

Don’t get me wrong. As I already said, continuing to learn is important, but just like anything else, this needs to be done correctly.

If you are just starting your blog, you want to focus on the resources that will help you choose the best topics, learn how to create strong headlines, and help you learn how to incorporate keywords in a natural way. This will help you drive traffic to your site.

A new blogger may get caught up in all the extras without focusing on these first things (ask me how I know). This is why I believe so strongly in the Journaling for Entrepreneurs process. If we take the time to establish our goals, ideas, beliefs, needs, etc., we can avoid the distractions more easily.

It is for this reason that I want to share a resource with you. This is a completely free resource that I think will help you process the materials that you are learning.

I created a Journaling for Entrepreneurs learning resource as a freebie for those who purchased the Genius Blogger’s Toolkit through my link. This journal was created to help create a plan around the learning resources and how you will implement the ideas in your blogging plan.

This journal doesn’t just have to be used for the toolkit though. You can use this learning journal for any resources you are planning to take advantage of. Since I believe strongly in the Journaling for Entrepreneurs process, I want to open this resource up to anyone that wants to take advantage of it.

This learning journal isn’t just for bloggers either. It will be useful to anyone wanting to organize their learning efforts for their entrepreneurial journey (anyone trying to create their own business model).

Even more importantly, I want to offer this entrepreneur’s journal even if you don’t follow me. I really want you to see how the Journaling for Entrepreneurs process can help you.

If you would like a copy of this Journaling for Entrepreneurs resource, email me at pennylaynewrites @ gmail. com (I promise I won’t keep your email on file unless you want me to) with the subject Journaling for Entrepreneurs learning journal, and I will send you a copy.