I’ve been a blogger on and off for over a decade now but I’ve only really taken it seriously in the past 2 or so years. When I started this blog in 2018 it was my first time writing about personal finance and it turns out it’s my favourite thing to talk and write about.
I wasn’t sure if it was something that I was going to be able to monetise (having never monetised a blog before as it was) but as it turns out writing about money is a great way to make money!
Blogging and Influencer marketing has seen a massive boom in popularity in recent years as more and more people are realising that it’s a good way to make money, and whilst it might not be enough to make a full-time income for some it’s definitely a good source of side hustle income. Some of the most popular influencers are worth millions which seems crazy to a lot of people who don’t understand the worth of this new type of media and marketing.
What is a blog and what is an influencer?
Good question! Blogs have been around for years, Open Diary was one of the first blogging platforms to launch in 1998 and nowadays most popular blogs are held on self-hosted domains. There are all kinds of genre or niches of blogs from lifestyle to cooking, Japanese Street Fashion to Dog Grooming – you can write about anything! It’s your way to share your views with the world and hopefully build up an audience – if people like your style and ‘voice’ then they’ll follow to see what you get up to and how you live your life.
When someone builds up a decent sized following of people they become known as an influencer and can monetise their content – a good example of this is Eileen Rhein, she’s a travel and lifestyle blogger who built up an audience of over 200,000 people and has worked with brands such as Coca-cola and Disney.
Why is it such a popular form of marketing?
The answer to this is simpler than you might think…people…are…NOSEY! Everyone loves to get a peek into other peoples lives and see how they live, what they like, what products they use and marketers have cottoned on to this. Influencers and bloggers build up a key demographic of followers who follow them for certain reasons, this is a marketers dream as it means there is a ready-made audience with a shared focus on a certain area/niche just waiting to be tapped in to!
In my case, most of my followers follow me for money advice and tips this is why I get approached by a lot of budgeting app brands to help promote their products and special offers which is great because it means I’m getting to share something of value with my followers that can actually help them AND I get paid for it at the same time (which is obviously a huge added bonus!)
Is there still money to be made from blogging? Is it oversaturated now?
Yes there is still money to be made and no it is not oversaturated – there is room for everyone!
There has been a big surge in money and finance bloggers recently, especially because of COVID – lockdown has meant people have had spare time and have wanted something to do and blogging has become a popular hobby.
A lot of people have been writing about their finances as it’s what has been on their minds lately and the great thing about personal finance is that it’s personal. Everyone has their own unique views and techniques for how they handle their money which means no two money blogs are going to be like. If you want to make money from blogging then you just have to make sure you are being as authentic as possible when you are writing and offer something unique and a fresh perspective to your readers. The phrase ‘build it and they will come’ is never truer than with blogging, if you build good content and fresh insights then people will want to read what you are writing and brands will want to work with you!
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