Blogging makes a fantastic hobby- it’s a chance to build your skills, connect with likeminded people and looks great on your CV. And on top of this, it can also be very lucrative and earn you money either part or full time right from your own home. But how do you go about achieving this? Here are five tips to get you started.

Improve your blog

First things first, if you want to make money from your blog, it needs to be good. Before you even think about cash flow, work on making your site the very best it can be. Research and upgrade your content so that it’s really useful to people. Take stunning photos rather than rely on stock images, and have a specialist company remove errors and issues from your site that are slowing it down or affecting its quality.

Use the right tools

Just like medium and larger sized businesses would utilise a fully-managed solution, marketing agencies, web designers and software- you should do the same. Find out what tools are out there for bloggers, from domain authority checkers to those that can improve your grammar. Hire third party companies to tackle areas that you don’t fully understand, from web and app design to promotion.

Set Up a Home Office

As a blogger you’re going to be working from home, and so a comfortable and quiet space to work is essential. If you have a spare bedroom, turn this into your own home office. Kit it out with a desk and comfortable chair, storage and filing systems and shelving to maximise space. Decorate it in a way that it feels bright and spacious, you want to enjoy spending time here and be able to be inspired and creative. Check out home office decor on Pinterest for ideas on going about it.

Start Monetising

Once you have an established and high quality website, there are a few ways you can go about monetising it. The main way bloggers tend to earn money is through sponsored posts, links and banner ads- usually companies will contact you when you fit their criteria but there are sponsored post websites where you can apply to do various jobs. You could also sign up to Google Adsense and other affiliate programs, the money all adds up and it’s another way to earn cash from your site.

Pay Tax

Once you begin earning income from your blog, it has to be declared. You’ll only start paying taxes after you earn a certain amount– however it’s worth bearing in mind that money you earn as an employee will also be taken into account. For example, in the UK you can earn around £12,000 each year (this amount changes slightly each year so do your research) before you need to pay tax. But if you’ve earned £22k from your job as an employee, you’ll begin paying tax on your self employment profits right away. Even if you don’t owe any tax, you’ll still need to complete a tax return and show your earnings so that everything is above board.