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SEO, when implemented properly over time, can provide a major boost to your blog traffic and your overall income. For each blog post you write, you need to have a clear, repeatable, SEO process to make certain that you’re maximizing search engines. Follow the steps below to fully optimize every blog post you create. Strategies for improving every post’s SEO 1. Write for Your Target Audience It’s tempting to try to write posts that appeal to a broad audience - because you don’t want to limit the number of people you reach - but focusing on your target audience is key to building strong SEO. Knowing who you’re writing for, as specifically as possible, will allow you to craft content that addresses their needs, uses their language, and meets their expectations. 2. Do Keyword Research Find out what your ideal audience is searching for so that you can provide content that answers their questions, and include the search terms strategically in your post. (more on this below). An easy way to do this is to enter a search term into Google and look in 3 places.  Search Autofill. When you start typing your search term, Google will provide options to complete your search. These options are based on your own search history, but also common searches done by others. People Also Ask. Below the first couple of search results you’ll find 3-5 other questions that other people with your inquiry have asked.  Related Searches. At the bottom of each page Google provides additional searches that others have done that are similar to what you’ve searched for. I also recommend that you install a free Chrome extension called Keywords Everywhere. It will provide additional insights on keywords, including long-tail keywords.  A long-tail keyword looks more like a sentence than a typical 1-2 word keyword. For example, if the keyword is “pool cleaning” the long-tail keyword might be “how to start a pool cleaning business.” 3. Add Images Images themselves don’t have a direct impact on SEO, they do increase the likelihood that your post will be clicked on, which increases SEO. Be sure to use or create images for your posts that are related to the content in every post. 4. Craft a Great Title Post titles, sometimes called headlines, not only impact your SEO, but they’re also a massive factor in whether or not potential readers click on your post. A great post title clearly states what the post is about, asks a question, and/ or creates curiosity in the reader. As I mentioned in the previous post, I recommend using a free tool called Headline Analyzer to create the best possible title. 5. Include Internal Links When ranking content, Google weighs the trustworthiness of websites and individual blog posts. One factor in this measure is how many other pages link to your content as a source. While links from other sites are considered to be more beneficial, links from your own posts also help.  When appropriate, link to other posts you’ve written. 6. Use Keywords Strategically For each post you’re going to determine a primary keyword. This keyword (or short phrase) should be used in specific places and ways to maximize your SEO return. Title. Your keyword should be included in the title of your post, preferably phrased the same way, but there is some flexibility. URL. Like the title, you want to format your url to include your keyword. Meta Description. If you installed the Yoast plugin I recommended last week, there is a space for you to create a meta description. This is the 160 character description that appears in search engine results. Headers. Not only do headers help organize your content and make it easier to read, they’re read by Google differently than the body of your post. Headings are assumed to be an outline of your ideas or key points. The largest header, known as H1, should include the post keyword. Typically WordPress sets your post title as H1, so if you’ve included the keyword in the titl

Search Engine Optimization, SEO for short, is an essential piece of any blog growth strategy, but it generally has an air of mystery around it.  There are lots of definitions floating around - some that seem to contradict each other - that use a lot of buzzwords and tech-speak and don’t really clarify anything. Add to that the fact that SEO is a long-term strategy, and it gets even fuzzier. It can take months for SEO work to pay off, so there’s nothing we can even point to and say, “Aha! That’s SEO!” In this post I’m going to clarify what SEO is, and recommend some tools for getting started putting it to use. Why is SEO Important? There’s an old joke that says that if you want to hide a dead body, you should put it on the second page of Google. The point being that no one ever looks past page 1 of the search results, so if your site is there, it might as well be dead. I don’t know how much truth there is to that - when I’m researching I always go a few pages in to see more results - but I understand the sentiment.  Where you turn up in search results - also known as ranking in search engines - matters. People trust that Google is going to serve them the best possible answers to their queries. As a result,  most take the pages that show up on page 1 as gospel, and don’t bother to keep looking.  According to a 2018 survey, 90% of searchers will only click on the results on the first page. So while some intrepid foks, like myself, may look through several pages on our quest for information, most will not. In fact, the average person will enter a new search term before clicking to page 2. This means that the more of your blog posts and pages you can get in the top 10, the better. Enter SEO. What is Search Engine Optimization? According to Search Engine Land, SEO is the process of improving your site to increase its visibility when people search for products or services related to your business in Google, Bing, and other search engines.  The most common misconception about SEO is that it’s something you do once, like setting up your website, and then you’re done. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Search Engine Optimization is a process.  It never ends. The good news is that your SEO can be systematized so that you can embed this work into your blog writing process. In Teacher Blog Academy we cover this practice in Module 3: Grow.  And the even better news is that just having a blog and producing consistent content helps boost your SEO! How? Every blog post you publish becomes a new page on your website, with its own keyword, images, meta description, and data for search engines to crawl. As long as your content is within the scope of your niche, it will continually strengthen your SEO ranking. Google’s algorithm includes more than 200 factors, which is a ridiculous number of things to track. Here are the top 7: Quality of Content Mobile Responsive Design User Experience Page Speed Blog Post Optimization Internal Links Backlinks Tools that Can Boost Your SEO Next week we’ll dive deeper into specific things you can do for each blog post to help it rank higher in search engines. For now, here are 4 tools you can use to build your search engine mojo. Yoast. This free plugin works on the backend of your website to assist you in optimizing your content and keywords.  Once you install it, a Yoast module will appear underneath each page and post on the backend of your site. This module provides you spaces to customize the title and description that will display on Google, social media sharing presets, and recommendations to improve discoverability and readability. Get Yoast.  Google Site Kit. Another free plugin, Google Site Kit works with Google’s tools, like Analytics, AdSense, Page Speed Insights, and more.  The information collected by Site Kit can be accessed elsewhere, like by going directly to Google Analytics, but having it on your site’s dashboard,

Last week I shared my system for tracking income and expenses, but knowing where your money is coming from, and where it’s going to, is only part of the process. Most likely - if you’re like the vast majority of business owners - when you start to track your income and expenses you’ll likely notice that very little of your income (if any) is going to you! That’s what today is all about. What’s Profit? I’ve mentioned before that in my first month of blogging I made $2.11, but what I didn’t share was that, as excited as I was about it, I didn’t actually get that money. I left it in my blog accounts and “reinvested” it.  Of course, since we’re talking about just a couple bucks, that’s no big deal, right? Sure. But what if I told you I continued to reinvest everything I made the first year of my blog?  Essentially, though I made a couple thousand dollars, I didn’t actually make anything… Not one penny got put into my family’s accounts. This story is incredibly common for new business owners of all kinds - and not-so-new ones, too - and has led many people to give up on their business altogether. After all, if you’re in business to make money, and you’re not making any actual money… What's the point? I don’t remember when I found Mike Michalowicz and his book, Profit First, but when I did it was a game changer. In it he challenges the old notion that profit is what’s leftover after you pay all your expenses. Instead, with his system, profit gets taken out first, then you can spend what’s left. Like I said Game. Changer. The Basics of Paying Yourself First I’m going to give you the cliff notes version here, but I highly recommend you grab Profit First if you’re serious about building a business that actually supports you. Step 1: Get a Business Bank Account It’s a good idea to have an account that’s just for business expenses for many reasons, but to use this system effectively, it’s a must. As a blogger, most of your income is going to be online, so it makes sense to use a digital bank as well. I personally use Capital One 360, but there are many options, just pick one. The one requirement is that they allow you to create multiple sub-accounts. Step 2: Set Up Sub-Accounts Within your account, you’re going to want 5 sub-accounts. Income, Owner’s Pay, Profit, Operating Expenses, and Taxes. If possible, name these accounts accordingly. If not, make sure you have an easily accessible list of which account number is which. I’ll explain the purpose and use of each account a bit later. Step 3: Direct Your Income Lastly, you want all your incoming money to go into your Income sub-account. However you collect payments, whether from Stripe or PayPal or whatever, connect them to that account. Stripe will automatically transfer your funds, but set a reminder to transfer your PayPal money a few days before you do your monthly numbers. Using the System Mark your calendar when you’re going to go over your numbers each month. I suggest you do this at the same time you track your income and expenses - truth be told, it takes only a few minutes. Each month transfer your money from the income account to the other sub accounts. Taxes Make sure you’re setting aside money each month to pay your year-end or quarterly taxes. Personally, I set aside 30% in my tax account. I have never needed it all to pay my taxes, but it makes me feel better to have it there, just in case. If I don’t need it come tax time, I divide it between my pay and profit. Operating Expenses This is the money I have to spend on my business. I take 50% of my income and put it in this account. The key to this system is spending only money you have available to invest in your blog. As you grow your income, you can also grow your investments. Profit I set aside 10% of my monthly income as profit. This money is basically just liquid assets of my company and available for emergencies. It also serves as

When I started blogging I did everything I could to avoid looking at any numbers other than page views. For months I was “too busy” or I “forgot” to update my income and expenses report, so it just didn’t get done. This is a very common mistake that a lot of new bloggers make and it’s usually for one (or both) of 2 reasons:  You know that in the very beginning you’re likely not making as much as you’re spending or you’re just making a few dollars, so you stick your head in the sand to avoid the topic of money altogether. You have a mindset issue around money, so you stick your head in the sand and avoid the topic of money altogether. This could also show up in other areas of life if you let your partner handle all the money stuff in your personal life, too. In reality, knowing where your money is going, where it’s coming from, and how the incoming and outgoing funds balance out is essential.  This is yet another instance where knowledge is power. Tracking your income. Let’s say you have 3 streams of income on your blog; ads, affiliate income, and an ebook. Keeping track of your income from each source not only gives you a nice self-esteem boost because you can see the numbers grow, but it allows you to more actively promote things that are making you money.  If your ebook had a few more or fewer sales in a particular month, you can explore why and update your marketing strategy. Maybe you put a widget in your sidebar promoting the ebook and it resulted in more sales. Great! See if there’s another place you can link to your ebook on your site to give it more exposure. If you notice your ad income drop because traffic dropped, you can find out why. Maybe you didn’t email your list every week or you didn’t share as much on social media as the month before, so you need to get back to it. Or maybe you find that it’s part of a trend that your traffic drops for a month or two each year, and then you know not to freak out about it next year.  Tracking your expenses. Even if you’re on board with tracking your income, you might still hesitate to look at what you’re spending. This, too, is very common. We like to see what we’re making, but thinking about what we’re spending… pass. But income is just part of the profit equation. In order to know what your blog is actually generating for you and your family, you’ve got to track your expenses, too. For example, if you decided to invest in LeadPages to create gorgeous popups and a beautiful sales funnel, are you getting a return on that investment? Are more people signing up for your freebie, or are more people going through your funnel and purchasing your product? This may take a few months to know for sure, but if you’re not seeing a return after 6 months, that’s money you don’t need to be spending. Conversely, if you’re building your blog with the bare minimum of support and are only paying for your domain and hosting, you might find that your income is stagnating because you don’t have a quality email service provider and you aren’t as present on social media (because you have that pesky job) and need to consider a scheduler to help you grow. There are plenty of programs available to help you track your income and expenses, and if you’re looking for a good one, I recommend QuickBooks Self-Employed (click here to save 55% on your first 3 months). You can connect your bank accounts and credit cards so the program will track your incoming and outgoing funds automatically. You just need to categorize each expense. A tool like this also makes tax time easier because they’ll create a schedule K-1 form for you. If you are looking to save as much money as possible, or would prefer to track your finances yourself (like me), here’s how I do it. Use an Excel Spreadsheet Yes, Google has sheets, but I’m old school and I like Excel. Not sorry. If you want a downloadable copy of my spreadsheet, click here, or you can cr

Passive income is often seen as the holy grail of the side hustle. There are many - especially online - who present themselves as passive income specialists, lying on a beach all day, sipping fruity beverages, and listening to their phone cha-ching to alert them to new sales.  If that sounds too good to be true, it’s because it is. For a long time passive income was dangled in front of people as a “set it and forget it” method of making money. Just do X, Y, and Z, then sit back and watch the money roll in. Of course, that’s not really how it works. Passive income, in the sense of making money for doing nothing, doesn’t exist.  On the other hand, I woke up to 2 sale notifications this morning, meaning I made over $100 while I slept, so passive income is a real thing. And as a teacher who doesn’t want to hustle and grind my way into early retirement, it’s key to running a side hustle that doesn’t make me more stressed out. Let’s explore the real world of passive income. What is Passive Income? For today’s purposes we’re talking about ways to earn money that you can automate or fully delegate to others so that you aren’t active in the exchange of goods. There are a number of ways to do this as a blogger because many of the primary streams of income bloggers have available to them are naturally passive. Sell other people’s things One easy way to get started with passive income is to sell other people’s products or services. Placing ads on your blog is perhaps the easiest thing to do because once you set them up, you don’t have to do anything else. If you’re using an ad service like AdSense the ads they’re shown will even be based upon their search history, making them very targeted. Affiliate marketing is similar, in that you just place links into your content and let people purchase through the other company. Because you have to select appropriate products or services to recommend, there’s a bit more work that goes into this than ads, but it’s still highly hands-off. Sell premade digital items Items like ebooks and printables are things you can make with software you already have (and know how to use) that you can sell on your website. Courses are similar, but will typically require additional software to build and host. These types of products require an upfront investment of time (and sometimes money for software), but once they’re done, you can automate the sales and delivery process with relative ease.  Use other services to help Whatever you sell, whether it be digital or physical products, you can utilize a number of third-party services or tools to allow you to automate or delegate the sales and delivery.  For example, Amazon has a print-on-demand option for authors who want to offer physical books, and if you want to sell through Amazon you can use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) so they hold, handle, and ship your products. Invest Investing is perhaps the closest you can get to fully passive income. All it takes is a bit of money, choose your investments, then sit back and watch them grow. Of course, not all investments grow, so make sure that you’re not investing more than you can afford to lose. Even if that’s just a few bucks you can use a service like M1 to get started. Use this referral link to get a $10 credit when you invest $100. Passive Income Misconceptions Regardless of what it may look like on social media, or in ads for passive income programs people are selling, there’s no such thing as 100% passive income. Every business requires work to maintain it. Maintenance At a bare minimum, you will need to maintain your website, sales platform, and any other tools you use to run your business. Team management Some business owners choose to be hands-off with their businesses, but you still need to manage their teams, approve decisions, and help steer the company in the direction you, as the owner, want it to go. Customer service It’s estimated tha

When it comes to your blog audience, there’s no denying that size matters. While your blog traffic is not the most important thing when it comes to profitability, you’ve got to have someone to sell to. And if you’ve ever felt that your blog isn’t growing fast enough, you’re not alone. Before we start, remember that you don’t need a huge audience to make a profit from your blog. When you have a well-defined, focused niche, your audience might not be as large as others, but they will convert better. That said, here’s how to maximize your audience. Retaining Current Readers A lot of advice about increasing blog traffic focuses on getting new readers to your blog. And, yes, that’s important. But it’s far easier to get someone who’s already engaged with and loved your blog to come back and read more than it is to convince someone new to give you a try. So, let’s start with some tips and tricks that will increase your traffic by getting one-time readers to become loyal fans. 1. Stay true to your niche There’s a reason that Module 1, Lesson 1 in Teacher Blog Academy is all about defining your niche. Your niche - the intersection of what you write about, who you write for, and how you help them - is your guiding star when you make any decision for your blog.  What should I write about this week? Look to your niche. Which social media platform should I use to market my blog? Look to your niche. If your niche is finances for 20-something women with a focus on money mindset, stick with it. Don’t suddenly start providing stock tips and your opinion about which Wall St. bankers should be in jail… That’s not why your audience comes to you. It will confuse them and Google. And like Donald Miller says, “When you confuse, you lose.” 2. Email your list Your list is a group of people who like what you have to say, and want to hear more. They have self-identified themselves as potential superfans. But even loyal readers are busy. They need to be reminded to go check out your latest post. Think of it this way… I enjoy having a fresh, clean smelling house, but I still have an alarm on my phone to remind me to clean the litter boxes every Monday night. No matter how much people love your content, they need reminders when you put something new out. And by emailing them, you increase the chance that they come back and read your latest post. 3. Write great posts This may seem obvious, but there will be weeks when you feel like just phoning it in and publishing any old thing. While it may take extra time and effort, creating content that truly speaks to your audience’s needs is worth it. Answer a question that your readers have. Even if you feel like you’ve answered it before. (You’re a teacher, so you understand explaining things multiple times in multiple ways, right?) Address a mistake you see your ideal audience making. Give them something to think about in a new way… but remember that putting out content isn’t the goal - helping your readers is. 4. Tweak your titles A blog title, whether it shows up on social media, Google, or your own website, should entice readers to click and find out more. A great title lives somewhere on that fine line between clearly stating what your post is about without giving it all away… It’s a balancing act. Gaining New Readers Once you’ve done what you can to retain readers and get them coming back to your blog, it’s time to think about how to attract new readers to your blog.   5. SEO Search engine optimization (SEO) is a behind-the-scenes process in which you make it easier for search engines, like Google, Bing!, and others to recommend your content to others.  According to Neil Patel, “The main Google keyword ranking factors include search intent, search volume, quality of the content, number of backlinks, domain authority, and page loading speed.”  This means that specific focus on using the appropriate keywords, producing great co

What should my blog be about?  That’s one of the first questions you have to answer when starting your journey into blogging. And it’s one that many people get stuck on. Of course, your blog niche can be literally anything. The only limit is your imagination. But this can be a little intimidating, right?  Anything seems like a lot to choose from. So today we’re going to talk about the 11 most popular blog niches for teachers. This list is by no means exhaustive, and there’s no rule that you have to choose one of these niches. But… they’re popular for a reason. They include topics that teachers know and feel comfortable writing about and people want to read about.  You can also mix and match, pairing a couple of different niches together. Let’s dig in! Education Is it any surprise that we’re starting with education? While teachers can certainly write about anything, classroom-related topics are very popular. It makes sense - people write what they know.  Among the popular education niches are classroom environment and management, subject- or grade-specific lessons, or educational technology. While this is a popular blog niche, keep reading. Writing about teaching and learning isn’t always a great idea. Food  Your choices when it comes to food blogs are as varied as the menu at a 24-hour diner. You can share recipes, reviews, gadgets and gizmos… or a multitude of other ideas.  If considering a food blog, the number one stumbling block is casting your net too wide. As food blogs are one of the most common blog types on the planet, you’re going to want a clearly defined niche and ideal audience to help you reach the people you want to help. DIY or Crafts Whether it’s crochet or Cricut, blogs about DIY projects are a perennial favorite. You can use your expertise to teach others how to create adorable little gifts or build a log cabin like Lincoln did.  Teachers are well suited for this type of blogging since we’re already good at presenting steps sequentially and providing instructions.  Travel For those who love to explore new places, a travel blog might be the perfect way to combine passion and income. While we all know teachers don’t have summers “off,” the break does afford us the opportunity to work from anywhere.  Specialize in one area of the world, like the Mediterranean, or a type of travel, like luxury or budget, and share your adventures with others! Health and Fitness For those who are interested in personal well-being, there will always be an audience. Health and fitness can include anything from workout routines to naturopathic practices to mental health.  You can share tried and true practices or make your own journey the basis for your blog. Lifestyle A lifestyle blog is often used as a catch-all term for blogs that cover a variety of topics. They’re usually unified around a theme, which may or may be one of the other popular blog niches. For example, a lifestyle blog about sustainable living may encompass cooking using food you grow yourself, and upcycling furniture. Those who write lifestyle blogs need to be really clear on who you’re writing for so as not to go too broad with your topics. Parenting The parenting space is popular for a reason - having kids is hard! Parents can share stories from the trenches, tips and tricks to make life easier, and everything in between. Bloggers can focus on age groups, gender parenting, or parenting within a specific lifestyle, and there are lots of paths to monetization. Business Since the internet became an easily accessible way to make money, people have been writing about how to make money. These blogs can be written in the style of traditional money magazines or in a more instructional manner. Review business trends and best practices, or teach people how to make money. Personal Finance Similar to business blogs, personal finance helps people who are looking to manage or grow their personal wealth thr

A blog is a quick and ebay way to start marketing an existing business OR start making money while you decide exactly what your business is going to be.  In terms of building authority, establishing and strengthening relationships, and providing a platform through which to sell, blogging is extremely cost effective. That said, one of the biggest questions people have is, “How much is it going to cost me to start a money making blog?” Can I start a blog for free? Let’s first start with what they’re really asking, which is, “Do I really have to pay to start a blog?”  Well, no… but yes. There are options for starting a blog for free. WordPress.com is a free blogging platform, Wix and Weebly have similar options, or you can take advantage of sites like Medium to publish. There are a few reasons I don’t recommend this path.  Your URL will give you away. Free blogging sites include the name of the platform in the web address, which gives your blog an unprofessional feel. When I see myblogname.wordpress.com, I automatically (subconsciously) discount the information I receive and decide not to buy from them. If they’re not willing to invest in themselves, why should I invest? There are limited monetization paths. While blogging offers multiple opportunities to make money, when you use a free blogging platform, many aren’t available to you. And the ones you can use are more complicated to get up and running. It’s a pain in the patoot to switch. Some people think about starting on a free platform and switching to a paid version at a later date. First, let’s be honest. Later rarely comes. Especially when you set benchmarks like, “I’ll switch when I’m making money.” We’ve already established that it’s harder to make money on the free platforms, and the longer you go without making anything, the less effort and attention you’re likely to give your blog. Which means… you’ll never make money.  Additionally, switching your blog platform is not an easy task. You’re basically starting from scratch on a new system, but you also have to move all your old content over to the news site. It’s a lot of work, and oftentimes it just doesn’t get done, even if you hit that “when I do X” benchmark. You can pay someone to do this for you, but it’s expensive. What do I have to pay for? In my opinion there are 2 essential investments you need to make in your new blog if you intend to use it as a money making vehicle. These 2 systems will allow you to start making money faster and build your know, like, and trust factor with your audience. Domain & Hosting When you pay for your domain and hosting, you fully own your website. Your URL will be simply yourblogname.com, which is much more professional (and trust inspiring), and paying for hosting is like paying rent on your little corner of the internet. It becomes your space to use as you see fit, with no interference from outsiders. Note: There are terms of service for your website and what it can be used for, but those typically prohibit things like running a website like Alex Jones or instructing people on illegal activities. There are a number of hosting companies available, and you’re welcome to do your research. The company I use and recommend is SiteGround. Siteground currently charges $17.99 a year for domain registration. While you can find domains (literally) a few dollars cheaper, it’s worth having your domain and hosting with the same company for the sake of convenience. When SiteGround upgrades their service or platform, they automatically take care of any back end changes needed for my domain to remain functional without any extra work from me. Hosting through Siteground is typically $14.99 a month. However, because they know that people starting out don’t have any money coming in yet, they have a significant discount for your first year of service. When you pay for your first year up front, your rate drops to only

At this moment there are an unprecedented number of educators looking to get out of teaching. It’s a sad, and more than slightly terrifying, prospect, to be sure. But it’s also understandable…  I’m not going to start in on the state of education right now, because that would lead down a pretty dark rabbit whole. So let me just say, I get it If you’re one of this group, you might be wondering how a blog can help you in this pursuit. In fact, that’s one of the questions I get from community members most often. Truthfully, a blog can serve your exit strategy in a number of ways. Let’s dig in to the top 3. Blogging to Replace Your Income Perhaps the one thing that automatically comes to mind when you think of blogging for money is the idea of using a blog to create a new income stream. Then building that income to the point where you can blog full time. Because blogs offer multiple streams of income, there are multiple ways to reach your income target. It can take time to build up your revenue to a point where you can quit, but while you do it you can take the money you’re earning and put it aside (or, better yet, invest it). That way you have a financial cushion when you decide to take the leap. Blogging as a Marketing Channel for A Business If you’ve got an established business, or just an idea for one, a blog can help you reach more people, build your authority, and grow your income faster. Whether you have a brick and mortar business, or are completely online, a blog is still one of the most cost effective marketing strategies around. Use your blog to build a targeted audience of people who are interested in your product or service, then convert them into true fans who come to you first when they have money to spend. A blog can be a great way to start a business, too. If you’re unable to leave teaching to just jump into a new business that is, as they say on Shark Tank, pre-revenue, you can build up a following and start making money before leaving. Blogging as a Business Card If you want to leave teaching, but aren’t looking to be a business owner or a full-time blogger, you can still use blogging to help. This will work especially well if you want to leave teaching for an unrelated field.  Many teachers who’d like to work in a new field feel that they can’t get a foothold because, even though they may have peripheral experience, employers overlook it in favor of those who have more direct experience.  A blog that is properly niched in the field you’d like to move into can serve as a demonstration of your knowledge. It can also show potential employers that you’re truly interested in that field, rather than just applying for every position available.  And if you stick with it, and market yourself properly, you can even draw potential employers to you! You never know who will stumble onto it and take notice. Cards on the table, totally honesty; using blogging as a way to get out of teaching isn’t an overnight solution. Unless you have the resources to quit and be without a large percentage of your paycheck for a while - and not many teachers do - most of these options are going to start out as side hustles. However, as with most things, the sooner you get started, the sooner you see results and achieve your goals. If blogging sounds like an option for your get out of teaching strategy, check out my free guide, 5 Steps to Start Your Blog Today. It will get you thinking about what you’d want to write about AND walk you through the tech of actually building a site. Download it for free here.

When I started blogging, and told people about it, I heard a lot of, “Yeah, but how do you actually make money with a blog?” At the time, I will admit, I had no idea. But I knew it was possible, so I kept going. Even a couple years later when I was featured in a CNBC article on people making 5 figures through their side hustles, my dad called me up, completely befuddled. “You make $10,000 from that blog of yours?” he asked. When I told him it was actually more than that, I’m pretty sure I heard him fall off his chair. Over the years I’ve heard the same thing over and over. Most people know that bloggers make money, but very few know how. In truth, bloggers can make money in a number of different ways. That’s one of the things that make it such an amazing side hustle. There’s something for everyone. And you can mix and match, which is where the magic really happens.  They say the average millionaire has a minimum of 7 streams of income. That means their money is coming from at least 7 different sources, so they’re not completely dependent on any single one. Blogging allows for 5 basic streams of income, and you can even create separate streams within the streams… it’s pretty awesome. So, let’s dig in to the 5 primary ways bloggers make money. Ads You probably saw this one coming, right? We’ve all been to blogs that have ads on them, and we’ve all realized that they’re not just putting ads on their blog out of the goodness of their hearts. While ads might not be the most lucrative income stream, especially at the beginning, it’s a start and it’s passive. That means you don’t have to do anything beyond putting some code on your site, sitting back, and collecting the checks.  There are 3 methods of using ads to earn: Public Ad Networks like Google AdSense or Media.net  are open to just about anyone with a website. They have the lowest payout, but you can get started right away. (This is how I made my first $2.11.) Private Ad Networks like MediaVine, AdThrive, or Monumetric are available to more established bloggers. They have minimum standards for page views, sessions, etc. before you can apply, but once accepted, they pay much better than public networks. (Before I sold my blog, I was making $500-1,500 a month through ads with MediaVine.) Direct Ad Sales includes any ads that you sell yourself. For example, a local mom blogger may sell ad space to a local indoor play space for $X and X days. This is the least passive way to run ads, but it can pay off big time. Sponsored Content Sponsored content is using the blog posts you write to promote a specific product or service. For example, a food blogger creates a recipe with a specific ingredient, or a person who writes about car maintenance shares their weekly cleaning routine in which they use a particular product.  In both cases, the blogger would be compensated by the featured product’s  company. When considering sponsored content you can join a program like Tap Influence or Izea to find businesses that are looking to partner with influencers (that’s you!). Or you can reach out to the brands you want to work with directly and pitch them your idea. Sponsored posts can pay anywhere from $50 to thousands of dollars, depending on your experience and blog reach. Another pay booster could be if you’ve cornered a highly niched market, like Canadian fly fishermen. Of course, I would be remiss if I failed to mention 3 quick things: Always, ALWAYS disclose that a post is sponsored. It’s federal law. Limit your sponsored posts to about 20-25% of your content so your blog doesn’t become one giant advertorial. The number one rule of blogging still applies to sponsored posts: Value first. Affiliate Marketing Before you have products or services of your own to sell (and after, too), there’s affiliate marketing. If you’ve ever recommended a product or service to a friend, you understand the basics of affiliate marketin

As of this writing, there are over 600 million blogs on the internet. That’s a lot. However, not all are active and not all are profitable.  Why? There are a number of reasons blogs don’t make money, but the most common are these 3: It’s a hobby blog. The blogger started it just for fun and never intended to monetize it. Fair enough. Blogfade. In this case the blogger fully intended to monetize their blog but was expecting it to be quick and easy. When it wasn’t, they gave up. Bad practices. There’s plenty of bad blogging advice on the internet that people are still following. Without a trusted guide, making money is going to be harder. That said there are lots of people making money from their blog, every.. single. day.  What do they have that the others don’t?  Here’s the good news.  Nothing. There’s no special skill or talent that was bestowed upon successful bloggers at birth. Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather didn’t bless them with a magical gift, like Sleeping Beauty. Bloggers who build profitable blogs did so by establishing 3 essential habits. And literally anyone can do them. I built my first blog with these foundational habits. They’re also why, when I saw the potential of Side Hustle Teacher, I knew I could grow this blog, too. Even though my old blog was making good money, and Side Hustle Teachers wasn’t (yet), I didn’t hesitate to sell the old to make room to pursue my true passion, helping teachers.  The money would come.  And it did! So what is it that you need to do to ensure a successful, profitable blog? Let’s dig in! Show Up The number one thing successful bloggers do is they show up. That may sound ridiculously simple, but this simple thing is truly what separates success from failure. When you have no audience in the beginning, there will be a little voice that says, “You’re really busy this week. You can skip your blog post. No one’s reading it anyway.”  When I hear that little voice, I say (out loud), “Shut up, Becky!” Yes, I named my little voice Becky - apologies to all the lovely Becky’s of the world. Successful people show up. When you’re writing blog posts that you’re certain only your mom is going to read, write it as though hundreds of people are going to read it - eventually, they will. When you’re sending an email to your list of 5 people, write it as though you’ve got thousands of people on your list - eventually you will. At the beginning you’re a beginner. And that’s okay. But a beginner doesn’t become a novice, and a novice doesn’t become a master unless you keep showing up. If you do nothing else, you have to show up. Learn and Apply It goes without saying that in order to grow a profitable blog - or do anything you’ve never done before - you need to be open to learning new things.  Honestly, teachers have this part locked down. We are natural life-long learners. We seek out new information like a bear seeks out food after hibernation, especially if it’s something we really want to learn. Look out world - hungry bear coming through! But don’t start patting yourself on the back too soon. Learning is only half the equation. You also have to apply what you’re learning. And this is where many people, especially teachers, get stuck. We don’t want to get started until we know everything and feel like experts.  This is also a great excuse not to take the scary step of actually getting started. It’s called educrasticastion or procrastilearning.  But imagine doing that with our students. Would you teach them the Pythagorean theorem without giving them problems to apply it to? Nope. So don’t do that to yourself. In order to build a profitable blog, you have to allow yourself (force yourself?) to apply what you’re learning as you go. Don’t move on to learning something else until you’ve practiced and applied what you were just taught. That’s why Teacher Blog Academy is designed wi

The internet is full of blogging advice, and a lot of it is really useful. Unfortunately a lot of it used to be useful, but became outdated 20 years ago, and some of it is just plain wrong. So how does a budding blogger discern the difference? Well, it’s not easy - because it all looks legit - but I’m going to break down some pieces of advice you may stumble upon that you can just ignore. Bad Blogging Advice #1: Post Every Day I admit, I fully did this, and I very nearly quit blogging early on because I was burnt out after a very short period of time.  Writing a blog post every day, or even 3 times a week, is not sustainable.  It’s also bad practice.  Why? First of all, how much time, effort, energy, research, etc. can you put into a post if you’re writing one every day? I can answer that. Little to none. And these days, search engines are putting a premium on quality content, so you’re digging yourself into a hole with this practice. Additionally, if you’re spending all your time creating content, you don’t have any time to promote it. It’s going to be difficult for you to see any benefit from all that content if you don’t tell people about it. You need to give yourself time to share on social media, email your list, and respond to comments, which are all things that will grow your readership.  Bad Blogging Advice #2: Comment on Other Blogs Back in the day (you know, the dark ages of the early 2000s) leaving comments on other people’s blogs was a proven method to grow your own readership. Many bloggers used plugins that even posted links to commenter’s sites to encourage comments. These comments and links would leave digital crumbs all over the internet and lead people to your site. However, once social media became the behemoth it is, blog comments became less important and most bloggers moved their interactions to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.  This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t comment on other blogs, or connect with other bloggers on social media. Making connections and building relationships is always a great idea. But if you’ve got limited time, don’t feel the need to go reading and commenting on other blogs as a traffic building strategy. Bad Blogging Advice #3: Use Giveaways to Grow Your List This is another thing I’ve done with the best of intentions… and horrible results. You may have seen people giving away an iPad or some other expensive gadget in exchange for people’s email lists - sign up today and be entered to WIN BIG! - but this method of list building was pretty well debunked as a myth years ago. Of course, nothing ever dies on the internet, so you’ll still come across this never-really-a-good-idea piece of advice every so often. The problem with offering a raffle or other giveaway to get people on your list is that the people who join are low quality leads. They’re not likely interested in what you’re talking about. They just want free stuff. (There are people who literally scour the internet and enter every contest they can find so they can win stuff and then sell it.) These people aren’t going to open your emails, so your deliverability is going to drop. They’re never going to become readers or customers. The best case scenario is that they unsubscribe from your list after the contest is over. The worst case is that they sit on your list for years - which you pay for by the subscriber - and suck up your bandwidth. If you absolutely insist on a giveaway, make sure it’s something that people who are interested in what you offer would be interested in.  Bad Blogging Advice #4: Be Everywhere There are still people who support this strategy. And to be perfectly honest, if you’re a full-time blogger or have a lot of help (like multiple VAs), there’s nothing wrong with this advice.  However, if you’re reading this, you’re likely managing your blog in your “spare time” and are currently the Chief Everything Officer. In