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 with workbooks for every lesson, so there are clear action steps to take before you move forward. I’m on to you!

However you learn, get into the habit of learning, then applying. Rinse and repeat.

Treat Your Blog Like a Business

Your blog isn’t going to be the profit-making machine you want it to be until you treat it like one.

I will admit, I had trouble with this one for a while.

I worked on my blog in my “spare time.” (You know, all the free time teachers have.) If something else came up - literally anything else - I would say okay and ignore my blog. I would even minimize my enterprise when people asked me about it. “Oh, it’s just a little blog.”

Once I started taking it seriously, I saw the returns immediately.

What does this look like?

Schedule time to work on your blog. In our house, if it’s not on the calendar, it doesn’t happen. Book time for yourself, tell your family, set boundaries, and enforce them. My daughter knows that when my office door is closed she’s not allowed to interrupt unless there’s a fire, flood, vomit, or blood.

Set goals for yourself. At first it might be a goal to get your blog posts every week. Then it might be to increase your blog traffic. Then it might be to earn a particular amount of money. Or you might just go for a big, audacious goal, like quitting your job, right from the start. Having something to work towards adds purpose to your work, and makes it easier to make your blog a priority.

Be consistent. If you commit to putting out a blog post every week, put out a blog post every week. If you go live on Instagram on Tuesdays, do it. The world is full of people who don’t do what they say they’re going to do. Don’t be one of those people.

Show up.

Yes, it really is that simple.

Too often people think that they can’t be one of the successful bloggers because they’re not expert enough, or smart enough, or that they need to know some secret handshake.

Maybe you’ve thought these things, too.

Maybe you’ve wondered if you’re too old or too young. Not fit enough, or not the right color.

But I promise you; the you that you are is the you the world wants to hear from.

There’s absolutely no reason you can’t be one of the people who succeed. There are no skills, talents, personal or physical characteristics that you don’t already have in order to make money from blogging.

All you need is to develop the habits that others haven’t.

Treat your blog like a business

Learn and apply

Show up

Teacher Blog Academy, is launching on April 21, 2022. This program is going to take students through my proven 5-step system for creating a profitable blog. You can learn more and sign up for the waitlist at teacherblogacademy.com. You’re not going to want to miss this. I’ll be offering a once -in-a-lifetime introductory deal on TBA for a few days only!