Blogging As A Side Hustle: A Step-By-Step Guide For Beginners In 2024

Blogging as a side hustle is an increasingly popular way for people to make money in their spare time by sharing their unique insights.

It's also a tried-and-trusted method for establishing an online business and reaching a target audience with helpful content.

Read on, and we'll break down everything you need to know about taking your side hustle to the next level and earning a full-time income.

Blogging As A Side Hustle (Step-By-Step)

There are many important factors to consider when starting a new blog, from choosing a domain name and hosting service to compiling content.

We've structured this guide to cover everything you need to know and some great resources to speed up the process.

Without further ado, here's our guide to blogging as a side hustle in 2024:

Step 1: Choose Your Blogging Niche

Before you build your blog and create content, you need to determine what niche you plan on covering.

There are blogs covering just about any topic, from the  best mom blogs to ones helping people save money managing personal finances.

Whether blogging is just a hobby or you want to make money, your niche should be something you know inside out.

Many successful bloggers draw upon their unique personal experiences and insight into a topic to ensure they bring value to their readers.

It's no good entering the world of personal finance blogs if you don't have any experience making money or achieving financial independence.

Attempting to write articles on an unfamiliar subject will inevitably lead to failure as your audience challenges you on the facts.

At the same time, if you're interested in making money blogging, then you need to select a profitable niche with plenty of web traffic.

In addition to personal finance, blogs about travel, motherhood, food, and general lifestyle all have large audiences you can sell to.

This is why you must understand what makes you unique so that when you start a blog, it stands out from the crowd.

Once you've chosen your area of interest, spend plenty of time researching other blogs on the topic to see what content is the most popular.

This research will give you lots of inspiration for blog content and how their website is set up to make money in various ways.

Once you've done this, you're ready to build a successful blog with the potential to transform from a side hustle into a full-time business.

Step 2: Set Realistic Expectations

It's unrealistic to assume that your blog will become an overnight hit drawing in thousands of daily visitors from day one.

No matter how great your content is, building an audience and accumulating organic traffic to your website takes time.

Setting realistic expectations regarding the volume of content you hope to upload and what revenue you expect is crucial.

If you don't have a clear idea of your short- and long-term goals, your approach to blogging will be sporadic and poorly managed.

Assess how much free time you have each day or week, then write a handful of practice articles to see how long the process takes.

This will give you an insight into your workflow when blogging as a side hustle to maintain an active blog with regular content.

If you already have a day job, your energy levels vary, so it is a good idea to err on the side of caution.

Too much optimism might mean overstating your expectations and falling short down the line, which will undermine your confidence.

Likewise, if you expect an extremely profitable side business in a few weeks, you'll feel deflated when the revenue fails to appear.

Instead, expect to wait several months before potentially earning money as you reach out to your target audience and build followers.

Step 3: Plan Your Content

A common mistake many bloggers make when starting a blog is writing whatever content springs to mind.

Without a plan of action, each blog post is more likely to get lost in the wilderness, with the blog failing to gain any traction.

When blogging as a side hustle, it's important to plan your content so that it is optimized to appear on search engines and reach your audience.

This planning begins with breaking down the topics and subtopics you wish to write about so you can define your blog's categories.

Each category should then be filled with related blog content and post ideas so that you can use internal links between your posts.

These internal links and external links to high-value websites help to build authority for your content online.

They should also be written with keyword research in mind, targeting words and phrases commonly used in search engines.

If you're hoping to feature sponsored posts for a passive income or sell digital products in a store, these should also be in the plan.

Consider hiring a graphic designer to help with your site's visual style if you don't have experience in this domain.

While planning a blog sounds like a full-time job in and of itself, there are plenty of resources you can use to make things easier.

For example, if you use a  blog website builder, you can build an excellent website with editable pages and categories without any training.

Step 4: Select A Web Hosting Service

With hundreds of web hosting platforms available, choosing the best one for your blogging side hustle can be daunting.

A web hosting service is essential for keeping all your personal information - and that of your customers - safe and secure from hackers.

It's also essential for ensuring your website remains operational at all times, with fast page loading times and performance.

There are plenty of free web hosting plans you can choose if you don't have the budget to invest in a more professional service.

But while this will help you to save money, it will limit your blog's long-term growth and potential to make money.

Before choosing a web hosting service, you should figure out what you will need for your blog in terms of its infrastructure.

This will help you analyze what each web hosting platform offers so you know if it's capable of delivering what you need.

You'll also need to research your desired domain name, which is the name your site will have in its URL.

Many website names are taken, so using one of the  best domain registrars will help narrow down your options for a name.

Once you've chosen a domain name that captures the essence of your content, you're ready to start putting together your blog.

Step 5: Choose A Website Builder

In the early days of the internet, building a website was a time-consuming chore that required an understanding of HTML and other coding.

Today, many website builders are available that perform all the legwork for you, leaving you to focus on design and content.

Many of these website builders are available with a free plan, allowing you to try them out in advance to see how it works.

For example, Friday's pricing incorporates all the core features needed to build a professional website from scratch.

Typically, a website builder will come with a broad selection of templates you can use to start with a ready-made theme for your site.

From here, there are tools that you can use to add new categories, pages, and other core content from which to build content.

Additional tools you should look out for when choosing a website builder include the option to drag and drop elements onto your pages.

This makes building up key content and arranging it in an aesthetically-pleasing way incredibly simple to achieve.

If you're hoping to make money blogging, you'll need a builder incorporating e-commerce features for your online business.

You'll also want to use a builder with search engine optimization tools that allow you to fine-tune content and keyword research over time.

The builder you opt for will depend on your financial situation and overall plans, so research them thoroughly before you decide.

Choosing a builder that delivers hosting and domain name registration will also save you valuable time writing content.

Step 6: Create Unique Content

Speaking of content, once you've chosen a website builder and added your main pages, it's time to start creating unique content.

This is where your content plan of action comes into play as you work on building out blog posts around the various subjects.

One method most bloggers use to plan content is to use topic clusters, which use a central pillar article with related content.

These related topics can be linked through internal links to other blogs, with high-volume keywords embedded throughout.

Researching competitor articles will give you additional insights into what other blogs use for keywords and topics.

If you're relatively new to writing blogs, consider sharing them with people whose opinions you trust before making them live.

You can also consider including guest posts on your website from other writers genuinely interested in your niche.

If you have contacts in a related industry, see if they're interested in producing sponsored content promoting their company.

Writing for other websites is also an excellent way to develop organic traffic, and some of the  best blogging jobs for moms pay handsomely.

This also gives you access to an established audience and can be used to generate traffic to your own blog.

Step 7: Engage With Your Readers

Once you've started writing and posting great articles, you should engage with your readers as and when they comment.

A great blog builds a strong sense of community in which readers are eager to converse with other visitors.

To do this, your blog posts should be written in a way that invites responses from readers and urges them to share their experiences.

This means creating catchy headlines that draw them into your articles and encourage them to think about the topic at hand.

When engaging with your readers, always approach how you write your responses in a personable and friendly manner.

If someone is being confrontational or rude, you don't need to stoop to their level and can choose to ignore their comments.

With that said, you shouldn't be shy about writing opinionated posts that occasionally serve up controversial viewpoints.

A mistake most bloggers make is trying to write content that pleases everyone, resulting in no one being truly engaged.

Engaging consistently with your readers will also increase your online reach, as they will be more likely to share your content with friends.

Step 8: Promote Your Blog On Social Media

While encouraging readers to share your blog posts is a great start for increasing your reach, you need to be proactive.

This means sharing your content with social media followers regularly to enhance the sense of community further.

When you first start a blog, you may restrict yourself from sharing content on your social media channels.

But for a more professional approach, you need to set up dedicated social media pages that relate directly to your blog.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok are all popular platforms you can consider using to build a following and promote through social media.

Whatever social media platforms you opt for, you should ensure that all logos, banners, and other branding elements are consistent with your site.

Once you've setup up these profiles, you can use them to reach out to other bloggers and content creators relevant to your niche.

Getting a share from one of the  best mom influencers on Instagram could help to expose your work to millions of people if you’re working in that niche.

It also allows you to keep on top of the latest trends influencers are discussing, so you can fine-tune your content plan accordingly.

If managing multiple social media channels becomes overwhelming, you can use plenty of scheduling tools to save time.

Step 9: Integrate Revenue Streams

There are a variety of effective methods you can use to make money from your blog by integrating revenue streams.

One popular method is featuring advertisements on your website, for example, using Google AdSense to integrate paid ads for your target audience.

You can also set up a website store to promote your business products or services to your readership.

If this is something you're considering, choosing an  e-commerce website builder from the outset is worthwhile.

These builders include many of the core features necessary for selling online, such as payment processing and inventory management.

Shipping options and store analytics are also features you should watch to maximize your potential to earn money.

Likewise, if you're selling online courses to bring in extra income, an e-commerce builder will help you to do this more effectively.

You can also work with affiliates to earn more money while blogging as a side hustle, generating passive income through organic traffic.

If you go down this path, ensure the companies you partner with are relevant to your website to maximize impact.

Work on these revenue streams consistently, and these multiple streams have the potential to deliver a full-time income.

Step 10: Optimize Your Blog For SEO

The most successful bloggers achieve consistent growth through regular and detailed  search engine optimization (SEO).

SEO helps to ensure that your keyword research and other core content are tailored to deliver the best possible result from search engines.

This starts with choosing the most popular terms people search for and using these terms in your online content and blog posts.

Likewise, writing guest posts for other bloggers and linking to your website further improves your blog's online visibility.

While SEO trends change over time as Google updates its algorithms, some rules of thumb must be considered.

Writing content demonstrating first-hand personal experience on a topic is an excellent foundation for optimal articles preferred by search engines.

This includes writing blogs that are, first and foremost, designed for the target audience, avoiding unnecessary keyword stuffing.

Making this content valuable and actionable by answering common queries on a given topic also encourages more readers to engage.

For example, you can enhance this sense of author authority throughout your blog by writing detailed author biographies and pages.

Choosing a comprehensive website builder with a complete set of SEO tools will help you find keywords to use in future articles.

Summary

That's a wrap on this step-by-step guide to blogging as a side hustle, exploring the crucial aspects you need to consider to succeed.

Developing a successful blog and integrating multiple income streams is a great way to earn extra money with your own business.

Whether you're blogging in your spare time alongside a full-time job or you're a stay-at-home mom, getting started blogging has never been easier.