In the current digital landscape, blogging is seen as another form of business. There are various ways to make money through written content, and that has made blogging one of the most popular side hustles since the early 2000s. It’s easier than ever to turn a profit through a blog, and for some people, that’s all they need to hear before they sign up for a WordPress account.
But blogging takes lots of time and effort, and it’s not something to undertake lightly. Sure, you’re just using your laptop to note out your thoughts or a little story – functionally, that feels easy. But the long road of finding your audience, going through writer’s block, and rarely seeing the results you want can really get you down.
It’s this slog that makes a lot of bloggers give up and try out another side hustle that suits them better. That’s why we should ask the question: do you have what it takes to be a full time blogger?
Of course, don’t let a post like this discourage you from giving blogging a go. If you want to share your thoughts, lifestyle, and art with the world, go ahead and do so! Blogging is one of the most accessible ways to be creative and it’s up to you whether or not a blog can be part of your life.
But if you’re thinking of becoming a full time blogger, with the aim of making a good income in the near future, you need to know what you’re getting into. That means looking into the kind of person you are, and whether that gels with regular blogging and everything it entails.
You Need to Love to Write
Blogging is primarily a written medium. From here you can use images, audio, and video to make your content flow better, feel fresher, and be easier to digest. However, you need to write something first! And if you’re going to be writing every single week for the next five to ten years, you need to love what you do.
If you don’t, blogging will very quickly become tiring and boring. If you don’t want to write, nothing is going to convince you to do so regularly! Even if you’re sure there’s a good profit to be made, your heart isn’t going to be in it. With no passion behind the writing, your content won’t come off as very good either.
But it’s not all bad news. You can cultivate a love of writing through experimentation. Find something you’re genuinely interested in, write something about it, and then read it back. The more aware you are of your natural voice and tone, the easier it’s going to be to choose a blogging niche that works for you.
You Need to Always Find Time
On average, it takes around 4 hours to write a blog post. Depending on the topic you’re writing about, it could even take half a day to put the finishing touches on a piece. If you’re sitting down to write every single day, you could lose nearly a full working week to blog creation!
For some people, that’s simply too much time. Of course, the creation period gets shorter and shorter the more experienced you become, but how long will it take for you to feel like an epicentre blogger? Even among all the other points on this list, finding the time to blog full time might be the one thing you can’t quite manage.
You can make it easier for you with a few automation tools, such as a live chat for website apps to prevent interactions from becoming too overwhelming, but you’re the only one who can curate the content that features on your blog.
That’s why a lot of people plan their blog content in advance. Write and edit your posts the week beforehand and you’ll stay one step ahead of your schedule. Or if that’s still too much, cut back on the amount of content you produce – feeling overwhelmed before you’ve even started is simply not healthy.
You Need to Be Patient
Your blog won’t get popular overnight. Yes, there are a few success stories out there, but these creators grinded for years to reach the point they’re at right now. Content backlogs are typical, and creators who go viral already have an established audience to back them up (even if it’s small).
That means you need to have patience. If you want to be a full time blogger, you need to understand that each day could be just like the last. Don’t head into the idea with unrealistic expectations; you’ll set yourself up for failure and become disillusioned with blogging being a viable career.
Blogs are still a popular form of content in 2024, but with the rise of short form content and social media getting the largest share of all online traffic, it’ll take time to hit a stride that’s even capable of turning a profit.
You Need to Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
Online content is there forever. Even if you delete something, there’s a greater than 50% chance it’s going to still exist in some form or other. Whether it’s been indexed by Google and will take a little while to remove, or it’s been screenshotted by someone else and uploaded to an archive, blog posts can float around forever.
That means you need to get comfortable with the way you write, which also means getting comfortable with the journey of being a writer. Those old, short, cringe inducing blog posts you first wrote when you started out? Look back on them fondly, routinely update them with new information and to reflect your change in style, and don’t be afraid to talk about them.
It’s rare, but you may also receive uncomfortable comments and/or emails from people who have read your content. It’s important not to let these unsettle you.
You Need to Be Able to Deal with Rejection
You might not think it right now, but blogging has a strong social element to it. Networking amongst your fellow bloggers, as well as companies who run their own business blogs, can guarantee a larger audience share and a nifty payday all in one.
But rejection is very common as well. You won’t immediately get a blog post placement, no matter how well refined your pitch is. Every writer has a story about reaching out to guest post on someone else’s blog and being told no. Some people don’t receive even as much as a negative response to any of their enquiry emails!
Don’t let interactions like these get you down. It’s OK to feel bad about someone you admire refusing to work with you, but there’s always going to be another opportunity out there.
Guest posting is crucial to building a successful blog, and as a full time blogger, you’re going to need to send out letters of enquiry on a near daily basis. You’ll want to keep the possibility of a yes in mind at all times.
You Need to Understand Digital Marketing Methods
If you’re going to blog full time, there’s an implication that you expect to make enough money to give up any other job. However, if blogging was that easy, you wouldn’t need to read a post like this! Even with the digital landscape becoming friendlier towards smaller creatives like yourself, bringing in a healthy income requires clever use of digital marketing.
But the understanding of digital marketing doesn’t come naturally. Tactics such as SEO, for example, are more than just face value. You need to delve into the technical side of things, to discover how search engines make your content discoverable by the relevant audiences. you always need to write for the people on the other side of the screen, but you can’t forget the digital medium that brings the two of you together.
So, how many digital marketing methods would you feel comfortable utilizing right now? Everyone’s heard of Google ads and social media, but even then there’s a lot more information you need to get to grips with!
Full Time Blogging Can Be Hard
Running a blog and routinely updating it with fresh content will take a good portion out of your week. If you want to make money through it, you might not feel it’s even worth the effort.
But this is a challenge you could be worthy of! If you love to write, if you’re OK with hearing a ‘no’ here and there, and you’re willing to market yourself to a digitally focused world, you could be a full time blogger within the year.
And even if those things don’t matter all that much to you, commitment to a blog pays off in the long run. You learn a lot, you gain plenty of transferable skills along the way, and you might even touch the hearts of people all around the globe. When content has an impact, it’s something to be proud of.
