Over the years, I have spoken to many people about starting blogs. It seems a lot of people have an idea bouncing around the walls of their mind but translating that idea into a blog is too much or scary. That is exactly what happened to me. I thought no one would want to read what I have to write. But I was wrong!

I first started reading blogs piously in 2011 and haven’t stopped since. In 2010, the rise of monetized, perfectly curated blogs began. Over the last decade, monetized blogs saturated the market, not leaving a lot of space for someone like me and you. People who can make millions off their blogs with just advertisement (looking at you, A Beautiful Mess!) impressed and intimidated me. Now, in 2021, I’m seeing those bloggers with wild success abandoning their once bustling corners of the internet. cupcakes and cashmere is one of my favorite style blogs and they’ve been producing at least five posts a week since 2008. They’re readership is HUGE and they now have a cupcakes and cashmere store that sells fine jewelry, candles, clothes, accessories, and even makeup products. Now they’ve pivoted and only post every several days. WHICH MEANS NOW IS THE TIME, FRIENDS!

To me, this feels like a wondrous opportunity to redefine and reinvigorate the blogging space. We can make it be whatever we want. Don’t like a beautiful, curated feel? We’ve had a decade plus of blogs and Instagrams with a perfectly carved aesthetic. I am eager to see something new, and I know other readers are too.

One of the best pieces of business advice I’ve learned when setting up a monetized blog, is multiple streams of income helps build a sustainable buisiness. There are many ways to make your blog profitable, the three most common being:

1. Ads through whatever blogging platform you use. I set this up a couple years ago and so far have made $8.49, so full transparency, I am not in the position to make this blog a full time gig. Not yet, anyway. With WordPress, you can select the number and sometimes general placements of ads to get more revenue.
   
   
2. Sponsored posts born out of brand collaborations. This is the one that I’ve researched heavily but haven’t actually done. For more information on this, you can take A Beautiful Mess‘s course on creating profitable blogs. They have great tips to seek out brands and how to get their attention. I highly recommend it. This is another blog that’s scaled back their posts. They used to produce two posts a day, but they limited it to one post a day recently.
   
   
3. Selling a product like a book or something related to their content. Nomadic Matt, a travel blog I’ve been reading since 2012, is a genius at this. When I first found his blog, he sold a travel guide he wrote. He then started leading tours wherever in the world he was when he was gaining readership. He now has an entire community dedicated to traveling cheaply and wisely. He also offers “Superstar Blogging” which is his cleverly crafted course on how he built and profited off his wildly successful blog. I haven’t taken it, but it’s next on my list.

What’s stopping you from fulfilling your dream and creating your own blog?

xMaegan