A few years back, I wrote a blog post about Selling Handmade Products, where I covered some of the most frequently asked questions I received on the topic.
In it, I mentioned that I’d personally stopped selling handmade items because blogging was more profitable and less labor intensive, which resulted in a lot of emails and questions, and me promising multiple people a follow-up post on blogging.
Though it’s a couple of years late – today I finally have that post ready!
Being able to stay home and earn a full-time income writing about your favorite hobby, or hobbies, is a dream shared by many, but the getting there takes knowledge, time, hard work and commitment.
In this blog post, I’ll share many of the things I’ve learned along the way that’s enabled me to provide a full-time income for my family.
To make it easier to navigate, it’s broken into five sections:
- Starting your site, then getting it up and running
- Creating content for your site
- Getting people to visit your site
- Earning money from your site
- General resources & final tips
* Some links on this site are affiliate links. That means if you click on one and make a purchase, I’ll earn a small commission for sending a customer their way. I only recommend companies and products that I’ve personally used and have had good experiences with. Thanks for your support!
Section 1: Starting your site, then getting it up and running
What should I call my blog and how do I claim the name?
This part can take a while to figure out! I originally called my blog Honey Bee Hill Farm, because that’s what we’ve called our place and homeschool for many years, but I wasn’t completely happy with it.
One night, I suddenly woke up with the thought that I should rename my site “The Nerdy Farm Wife”. I got up and wrote it down before I forgot, then went back to sleep. The next day, I did an internet search, saw no one was using it and bought the domain name. That one random thought gave me a memorable name that gets chuckles and comments every time I talk to someone about it.
Before you commit to a name, do an internet search on it and make sure no one else is already using it. You also don’t want to choose anything too similar to a well known brand or business.
NameCheap is a popular place to buy domain names.
Who is the best blog host?
Opinions are going to vary widely, but choose carefully here! Most how-to-blog articles, ebooks and programs are going to push you towards BlueHost, or maybe HostGator. This isn’t because they personally use them or because they’re the best, but it’s usually because they pay out big bucks for referrals. Please read THIS ARTICLE before choosing a hosting company.
Wondering who I use for The Nerdy Farm Wife? That would be Big Scoots.
What’s WordPress and how do I install it on my site?
When it comes to actually setting up your website, things start to get techy. It might seem overwhelming, especially if you’re not computer-savvy. Don’t worry, I’m going to point you to three trustworthy experts who will help guide you through this part!
When I started my blog, I used tutorials provided by Crystal Paine at Money Saving Mom and Amy Lynn Andrews and I still highly recommend their sites.
iMark Interactive also has some great resources, such as THIS GUIDE on How to Start a WordPress Blog, or if you just don’t want to fool with the technical aspects at all, you can get them to handle the whole setup for you. (iMark Interactive keeps my site up to date and running smoothly – they’re awesome at what they do!)
Section 2: Creating content for your website
What should I write about?
Think about the things you love and that you’re passionate about; those topics that you could talk on and on and on about and never get tired of learning new aspects of. From there, narrow that list down to just a couple things that you can see yourself writing about for a long time to come.
After that, think about those ideas some more in the context of how you can use your passions and knowledge to offer value to the people who visit your site or help solve their problems. Writing an amusing-to-you anecdote about how your dog Fluffy likes to chase squirrels isn’t going to draw a lot of attention (except maybe from animal rights activists worried about the squirrels.) However, sharing how you made your dog Fluffy a cute Christmas sweater, complete with photos and step-by-step instructions OR sharing a list of tips or a review of a resource you used to train Fluffy to stop chasing those squirrels in the first place could be super useful to others.
Another tip is to think about the audience you want to attract. For example, if you want to write about frugal living, keep in mind that you’re going to attract a frugal crowd who isn’t going to be able to spend a lot of money on your digital products or affiliate links, and that will affect your monetization strategy. (I’ll talk more about this in Section 4: Earning money from your blog.)
Everyone and their mom, sister, and grandma has a blog now, how can I make mine stand out?
That’s one of those million dollar questions that everyone wants to know. The best advice I can give you is that perseverance helps win the game.
Yes, tons of people start blogs every day, but then they realize that it’s harder than it looks so they give up on it too soon. Just sticking it out year after year will go a long ways to getting you where you want to be.
In addition, focus on quality over quantity and offer valuable content, recipes, tutorials and how-to’s that have been thoroughly tested, coupled with good photography.
How can I take better photos for my website? (Also related – What kind of camera do you use?)
I’ll start by answering the camera question first. I currently use a Canon EOS Rebel SL1.
However, you don’t necessarily need a super fancy camera. I’ve seen some nice sites where the photos are all taken with an iPhone. A good camera definitely helps though.
My best tip for taking better photos is to use natural light – keep the flash off. Look for indirect soft light that’s diffused through a window and avoid the harsh overhead rays of midday sunlight.
After I started writing this section, I realized that photography was too big of a topic to cram into this blog post and that it needs a space of its own. (If there’s enough interest, I’ll make that the next installment in my FAQS series!)
A few more content creation tips:
You’ll often see the saying: “The riches are in the niches.” I found this to be absolutely true. It wasn’t until I narrowed down the focus of my blog to just a few select topics that I started earning more serious money.
Don’t try to write for everyone or try to cover too broad of a theme. For example, “how to make baked goods” is a huge area of interest. “How to make gluten free baked goods” has a narrower focus which is better, but you could niche down even further to something like “how to make kid friendly gluten free baked goods.”
Don’t compare yourself to others. If you feel intimidated or discouraged by visiting other sites in your niche, stop following them. I follow very few sites in my niche, and those are only for the purpose of having great content to share on Pinterest. Spending all of your time fretting about what someone else is doing on their website won’t help you build your own.
Special note for those who sell products:
If you sell handmade cosmetic products such as soaps, salves, lip balms, lotions, and so forth, you have to be especially careful about what you write about on your site, and even what you share on social media platforms.