Photo by Andrew Neel from Pexels
Running a blog has many benefits and for a lot of people is a passion and great fun. That said, the bigger your blog gets, the more demanding it is, and the more you have to do, that people may not realize. There is always something that you can do to improve a blog, from planning new content to finding ways to bring in more income. Below are five things to think about when running a blog.
How will you make an income?
For some people, blogging can make a good income for them. Essentially, the more views and social media followers you have, the more like brands are likely to work with you, and the more income you can make. Income can come from many streams, from sponsored posts or sponsored competitions, as well as affiliate marketing and ads that pop up on the screen. It’s always important you declare what is an ad and what isn’t.
Scheduling your content
Running a blog and a full-time job is demanding and requires a lot of dedication. This is why it is important you plan a content calendar and know what you are writing weekly. By doing so, you can schedule your content to go out automatically during the week while you are at work or at a set time when your readers are expecting something to be published. By having a schedule, you will also find it easier to sit down in the evening and write something, as you will have a subject all ready to think about, instead of having to think of one on the spot.
Declaring Your Income On Your Tax Return
For a lot of people, running a blog is a side income and not their main one. For this reason, you have to declare your income as a sole trader, as it is separate from your employer, and they may not know you run a blog. By using a Cash flow management system, you will be able to track what comes in and out of your business, as well as expenses and loans. (If you are a bigger blogger) by doing so, all your finances are in one place, making it easy for you to manage.
How to bring in more views
The more views you get, the more exposure you get as a blog. Getting views is a challenging thing and requires a lot of time and effort put in. To increase your viewership, you need to think about a few different things: organic traffic - how do you increase the number of people who see you from search engine searches. Social Traffic - how many people come to your website through social media. Referrals - how much traffic do you get from people referring to you on their website. All these things can improve the overall success of your blog.
Growing your social media channels
Social media is becoming more and more important to help grow your blog and increase your portfolio of offerings. The more social media followers you have, the easier it is to share your content with them and let them know when posts are going out. Don’t try and grow all your channels simultaneously. Concentrate on one or two, and then work on the others after. Social media can be very time-consuming, and trying to grow them all can take up too much time.