Are you tired of getting up, going to work and coming home exhausted and drained? Many people are, but not bloggers. Bloggers have a super fun job that can be done from wherever you are, meaning you can travel, explore the world and use your adventures to make money. You can also blog whenever you feel like creating, giving you the flexibility we all desire in this crazy world. And the money is definitely not bad, especially if you find a niche you’re knowledgeable about, such as LGBTQ issues. How exactly you can make money from gay blogging, let’s discover together:
Expand your niche
First things first, you need to find your place in the blogging universe by choosing a niche that fits your interests and knowledge. As an LGBTQ blogger, you might choose to blog about sexuality, homophobia, prejudice, gay lifestyle or LGBTQ celebrities and allies. While it’s important to have your niche, don’t limit yourself too much—can you really write two posts a week about Los Angeles gay clubs? If you choose to expand your niche just a little bit, you will gain access to more content and more work. Keep in mind that readers are looking for authentic stories, tips and recommendations from LGBTQ men, women and genderqueer people, so be truthful.
Pick the right name
In blogging, your website name can make a huge difference between failure and success. You certainly need something catchy, relevant, playful and easy to write and remember. Lately, websites and blogs with .me domain started being very successful because this domain allows you to come up with great website names. This domain allows great personalization and expression of your views. Make sure your name is relevant to your content yet playful and catchy, so it’s easy for people to type down from memory or recommend to their friends.
Increase your traffic
Once your blog is in place, it’s time to attract readers who will make it popular and earn you money. Readers won’t just randomly come across your blog and become loyal followers—you need to promote your website. Like any business today, it’s crucial for your small LGBTQ business to be present on social media, so make sure to set up pages on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. Use your social media to share LGBT content, tag fellow bloggers who will also promote your work and allow your audience to engage with your blog posts. Another way to increase traffic is to chat and collaborate with other similar blogs. Sure, they might be your competition, but we LGBTQ folks stick together and offer support to anyone from the community.
Use affiliate marketing strategies
Once you have an extensive audience, you can start earning money from blogging through affiliate marketing. Every time you recommend a website or a product and users get to it through your blog and purchase something, you will get a small commission. Most eCommerce websites have affiliate programs so make sure to sign up, promote their brands and get paid.
Fill your blog with banners
Your blog probably has a lot of unused space across the top and on the sides that can be used for advertising. Sell this space on your LGBTQ blog and bring certain brands closer to your readers. It’s easy for brands to come up with relevant ads for your blog (anything rainbow usually works) and you can earn money for every reader who clicks the advert. Due to AdBlock plugins, this type of earning money might be low, but there’s no harm in trying it.
Write sponsored content
One of the best ways to earn money through blogging is to write sponsored posts. Essentially, these are articles that brands pay for. For instance, if Adidas or Nike put out a new line for Pride Month, they might choose to pay you to write a post about their new merch (you can also combine this with affiliate links). Bloggers with big blogs get approached with offers to write sponsored content every day. Sponsored posts usually work well with a niche audience and when you’re recommending and promoting a product you actually love and use.
As you can see, it’s more than possible to start your own LGBTQ blog and turn it into a money machine. While raising awareness of LGBTQ issues and offering useful tops for queer folk all over the world, you can also earn some money and leave the mean corporate world as your own boss!