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Are you a blogger looking to create additional income streams? By establishing and maintaining your own blog, you’ve gained valuable skills and experience. Clients are looking for people with the knowledge you have. They’re willing to pay for that knowledge, providing you the opportunity to earn more.
Blogging jobs can be a great way to bridge the gap between starting a blog and bringing in a consistent income from your blog. It’s how I paid my bills for a few years while I built up my online presence. it’s also a good opportunity to continue to hone your skills if you can find a good mentor.
Also See: The Dream vs. The Reality of Work From Home Blogging
Here are ten work-at-home opportunities directly related to blogging.
1. Become a Writer
Ever heard of the cliche, content is king? It’s true. People need high-quality content for their businesses to help drive traffic, convert visitors into subscribers or buyers, grow their reach, and establish their authority. As a blogger, you know what quality content looks like and you’re probably already good at writing it.
You know the importance of using SEO properly instead of stuffing a million keywords into a rambled run-on sentence. Formatting for the web is something you already do. You know about headers, breaking up long sections of content, and using short paragraphs to keep readers reading.
If you enjoy the writing side of blogging, definitely give freelance writing a try. While ten cents a word is a good rate to aim for, there are people earning much more than that. Clients are willing to pay for quality content, especially if you specialize in what you do. Specialized writers earn even more than general ones, since they know the ins and outs of a particular industry or format of writing.
As a writer you can create:
- Blog posts
- Article starters (shorter posts that business owners can add to prior to publishing)
- Content driving traffic to affiliate material
- Persuasive copy for websites, newsletters, or social media
- Product descriptions
- Product reviews
- Coupon and deal matchups
- White papers
- Content for a freebie, courses, and other digital products
- eBooks
- Content for traditional advertisements (flyers, brochures, etc.)
Any site that has written content is a potential client. Think about what you enjoy writing and start reaching out to companies to see if they need someone with your ability to create written content.
2. Create Blog Images
Multimedia components keep website content interactive. The saying, a picture is worth 1,000 words, is true. If your blog post doesn’t have photos or videos, you’re missing out on potential readers. At the minimum, you need a high-quality pinnable image and an image for sharing on Facebook and Twitter.
Many bloggers LOVE writing and HATE creating images. If you thrive in the world of multimedia creation, there are people who will gladly pay you to make branded, high-quality images for them.
You can specialize and become a Pinterest Virtual Assistant. Or you can create packages for other social networks. Instagram is a big one right now. Think about what bloggers need, and put a package together selling your services. Make sure your own blog has great images, as that will be your starter portfolio.
You can create:
- Cover images
- Featured images
- Images based on a quote from a blog post
- Optimized images for all social networks (Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
Bringing content to life through images takes time and design skills that many bloggers don’t have. Will you help them out?
3. Offer Graphic Design Services
Images aren’t the only design-based elements on a blog. If you’re interested in graphic design, you can put your skills to work for you by creating:
- Logos
- Themes for WordPress
- Customized printables for clients to use on their website
- Freebies
- eBook covers
- Worksheets to accompany online courses
- Headers and other graphics for a blog design (think social media share buttons, custom badges, and things like that)
- Header images for profiles on Facebook and Twitter
By incorporating your client’s branding into the material you create, you help them achieve a cohesive, professional look. You take their content and ideas and make it all beautiful!
4. Try Your Hand As a Social Media Manager
Getting genuine followers, creating strategies to produce viral content, and interacting with fans are all things that bloggers need to learn to increase traffic on their blog.
These are the same reasons why bloggers fit the profile for a great social media manager. Many companies (both small and large) hire freelance bloggers to manage their social media accounts. It’s a fun way to earn income on the side.
In this role you might:
- Create a social media game plan for the company
- Write customized content for social media
- Pull out the best quotes from each post to use as a Tweet or in a graphic
- Interact with followers for your client
- Test new strategies to build a following
- Create short video-based content for social sharing
- Help your client pinpoint the ideal reader and tailor content for that person
- Curate engaging content to share from your client’s account
- Oversee paid social advertising campaigns
You can be a general social media manager and offer a variety of services. Or you can specialize in areas you really enjoy and are great at.
For instance, if you know your way around Facebook ads, and can create campaigns that get results, you can become a highly-paid specialist. But even being able to manage advertising campaigns — even if you aren’t setting them up — is a valuable skill.
5. Work As a Content Strategist
Just as I mentioned earlier, content is king. In today’s world, companies that don’t have a solid website or social presence are missing tons of opportunity. They need someone with your skills to help them implement a content strategy to revamp their online presence.
As a content strategist, you can help your clients:
- Research keywords
- Brainstorm content that will convert
- Get a big picture view of the way websites, blogs, social profiles, and reviews work together
- Establish a plan for improving their web presence
- Hire other freelancers to create the content you need to implement the strategy
- Review copy on all existing pages and revamp them to fit the new strategy
- Implement guest posting to gain backlinks and spread awareness
- Promote posts to further their reach
- Create a content calendar
Companies are paying bloggers to handle these “behind the scenes” sorts of tasks. They know they need to look better online, but many just aren’t sure how to make it happen. That’s where you come in!
6. Get Hired As an SEO Expert
In the modern world, Google is the biggest internet giant that every webmaster should please.
Their algorithm matters in order for your site to get indexed. Every blogger who knows to manipulate the dashboard is aware just how important SEO is to increase the visibility of their blog.
It is important that a blogger also knows how to decide which theme/design is best for the blog in order to trigger the spiders to crawl the site. Therefore, basic (or better yet, in-depth) knowledge on how to code and tweak the themes in order to make the design SEO friendly is important.
As an SEO expert, you can put your skills to work for your clients to help them gain authority, rank better on Google, and drive traffic to their site. You might:
- Research keywords
- Pick long-tail keywords to focus on
- Rewrite existing content to improve its SEO
- Create briefs for freelance writers to use to create content
There will always be a need for businesses to hire SEO experts. It’s a powerful way to get traffic, and because the search engine algorithms are constantly changing, the landscape is always changing. It’s a great niche to burrow down into because the need isn’t going anywhere.
7. Offer to Be an Email Newsletter Manager
Whether you are using paid email autoresponders or a free email newsletter account, it is important to know just how (and when) to use call to action terms like “click here” or “buy now.” You need to know how to create content readers are actually eager to read.
If you enjoy building relationships with readers, know how to set up effective email campaigns, and understand the basics of using email service providers, you can earn money by offering these services to others.
You might:
- Specialize in a single ESP (ConvertKit, Drip, MailChimp, etc.)
- Create customized newsletter templates
- Set up and migrate client accounts (link the proper email address, put in all the legal requirements like the address, and ensure the unsubscribe button is available)
- Ensure email signups are compliant with GDPR
- Help segment lists to improve conversion
- Analyze data to see what tactics work best
- Create content for the newsletters
- Write a series of welcome emails
Email lists aren’t borrowed territory like social media followers. They are essential for companies to increase traffic and drive sales, and many business owners are eager to hand over their list building to those who already know what they’re doing.
8. Manage Blogs for Clients
Many bloggers dislike using WordPress. They don’t understand how it works, and they feel outside of their comfort zone every time they log in.
If you thrive in the tech side of blogging, you can earn money managing blogs for your client. The services you could offer include:
- Updating plugins
- Ensuring WordPress stays up-to-date
- Backing up the site regularly
- Uploading posts to WordPress, formatting them, adding images, and scheduling them for publication
- Responding to comments
- Sifting through spam comments to ensure nothing is there by mistake
- Changing the theme
- Adding pages
- Managing on-site ad placement
- Ensuring all legal requirements are in place
- Installing important plugins
- Making changes to the site using CSS or HTML
- Troubleshooting tech problems
- Integrating paid services such as LeadPages
Not all these tasks are highly technical, so don’t feel like you must be a super techie to manage a blog. You can specialize in what you do best. Just make sure your services page spells out exactly what is included so your clients understand the scope of your offerings.
9. Sell Stock Photography
As established earlier, every website needs beautiful multimedia content. But, where do all those images come from? If you have photography skills and enjoy taking pictures, consider starting your own stock photography business. Your customers can subscribe for a monthly fee, and you can upload new photos each month for them to use in their online content.
Clients in all niches are searching for relevant, high-quality photos. What can you specialize in to set you apart? The first thing that comes to my mind is flat lay photos with a feminine touch. You could even offer custom branded photos for an additional fee.
But, picture with office supplies and flowers aren’t the only option. You could specialize in stock pictures of:
- Life with special needs
- Horses
- Landscapes
- Greenery
- Food
- City scenes
- Transportation
- Beach sunrises
Brainstorm what you have access to, and what types of blogs don’t have the best images available. Look for a need that you can fill, and then start taking pictures. Consider offering a set of five images as a freebie to give people a sense of your work and style. Just make sure your terms and conditions are spelled out clearly.
10. Become a Virtual Assistant
No matter where your blogging skills are, you can put them to work for you as a virtual assistant. Virtual assistant jobs encompass many tasks, from consultancy to payroll. As a virtual assistant, you can get paid to help your clients:
- Do blogger outreach
- Manage their email inbox
- Provide customer service
- Complete data entry
- Keep track of income and expenses (bookkeeping)
- Schedule appointments
- Research for posts
- Brainstorm relevant post ideas
- Source stock photos for images
- Perform one-time tasks, such as setting up a new service
- Help organize a virtual conference or summit
The term virtual assistant is sort of a catch-all for a variety of skills. However, don’t feel like you have to do it all. You will do better work and command higher rates if you stick to what you enjoy and excel at.
Diversifying your income is a wise decision. I hope these ten opportunities inspire you to use the skills you gained through blogging and create additional sources of income. And the great thing is, you aren’t limited to just one!
Ready to Get Some Clients?
While you may be able to find a few clients on FlexJobs or Freelance Writer’s Den, your best bet is to take the bull by the horns and start reaching out to those bloggers you want to work with. Or, start hanging around a few Facebook Groups in search of potential leads. It’s not as hard as it sounds! Miranda Nahmias has an awesome 5-day Client Challenge that can help you get booked up fast. And it’s free! Pick it up here.