Make your blog your full-time job
With over 100,000 views a month, Emily Leary’s award-winning lifestyle website earns her a six-figure salary. Here, the mum blogger shares her tips for success
Being your own B boss, writing about things you love and working from home sounds like the dream, but it’s a reality for plenty of women who are making a living from blogging. Emily Leary, 35, from Nottingham, is one of them! Mum to son JD, 10, and daughter Jay, six, she started A Mummy Too (www. amummytoo.co.uk) in 2011 and, three years later, quit her digital marketing job to blog full-time.
“I started the blog for fun and had no huge ambitions,” she explains. “I was documenting things I was doing with my kids and people seemed to like it. I made friends with the blogging community, who are so supportive, and my followers grew. It’s hard work and I now treat my blog like a business: the more you put in, the more you get out. I respond to 300 messages every day and work hard to make content, but I count myself lucky that I can work around my kids doing a job I love.”
GETTING STARTED
Emily says, “Think of a good name, create a website, and register your name across all social media.
“Search for groups on Facebook. So if you’re blogging about motherhood, search for ‘parenting bloggers’ or ‘mummy bloggers’. The right group will give so much help and support.”
“Produce content as often as possible, and don’t think you need to invest in a posh camera – a lot of bloggers just use their phones. Think about what people Google. My most popular post was about how to sleep in the third trimester of pregnancy. Obviously, a lot of mums-to-be are Googling that in the middle of the night!”
“There’s no right way to put out your content. Do it your way and remember your greatest asset is your personality and experiences.”
HOW TO MAKE MONEY
“Bloggers usually use an ad network, who sell their advertising space and take a cut,” Emily reveals. “Ask your blogging community for ad network recommendations.”
“Another way is collaborating with brands to create sponsored content, but it must be useful to my readers and fit with my blog, and I mark it as an ad. Brands will often send products in return for a review or mention, but if you’re creating bespoke content around their brand, you should expect a fee. Remember, it’s important not to say ‘yes’ to everything at the expense of your credibility.”
“You can also get a small percentage on purchases made by readers who visited a brand via one of your links. It is typically pennies per sale, but if you drive a lot of sales, it can add up. You must include a disclosure on your blog, though.”