photo credit: John-Morgan

Despite it being more and more common to earn money online, a lot of people still don’t really understand how it works or what it entails. Of course there are people like your typical Grandma who don’t understand the business model at all (even when you explain that it’s basically the same as the business model that freely distributed newspapers operate on), but then there are also those who don’t understand how blogging can be a ‘full time job’ when most blogs are only updated with a couple of posts daily or even weekly. What do you actually do all day?

And the shocking thing is that I’m not just talking about Grannies any more either – most bloggers themselves don’t see how the work can be considered full time and think of it as very much something to do for a few hours a day at most. They’re so obsessed with the idea of ‘passive income’ that they don’t want to work more than the bare minimum in order to turn their blog into their main source of income.

It should come as no surprise then that for these bloggers it often never does become their full time job…

Why Blogging Takes All Day

In short then, if you aren’t able to quit your day job just yet then it’s probably because you aren’t treating your blog as a proper job or giving it the time and focus it requires to really thrive. As I discussed with Andrew in the comments section of one of his previous posts, the reality is that most people who see their blogs become stagnant just aren’t making them a full-time commitment.

Here’s why blogs need your full attention…

Things You Should be Doing Regularly for Your Blog

  • Writing articles for your site
  • Updating older articles to keep them relevant (a job that will only increase over time)
  • Finding/creating stunning images to put alongside your articles
  • Writing guest posts to get published on other blogs
  • Writing articles to submit to article directories (maybe)
  • Building links
  • Writing comments on other blogs and generally networking with other webmasters
  • Staying on top of news in your industry/niche
  • Staying on top of the latest SEO trends and algorithm changes
  • Responding to fan mail/link requests
  • Potentially writing on a forum/responding to comments on your blog/removing spam
  • Tweaking your site’s design and layout to keep it modern and as attractive as possible
  • Doing on-page SEO
  • Using Social Media/making videos and viral campaigns
  • Tweaking your monetisation methods
  • Analysing your webstats
  • And a lot more… what you thought that was it?

As you can see then there are plenty of things to be keeping you busy on a daily basis, and that’s just scratching the surface really of any good blogger’s todo list. And if you still find yourself twiddling your thumbs (lucky for some) – then of course you could just write more articles or even set up a side project such as a second blog or an app. Either way a blogger’s work is never done and if you’re wasting time sitting around then you’re putting unnecessary limitations on your income.

Finding Time When You Still Have a Day Job

When you set up a blog that you want to make successful it’s important to recognise that the competition are doing all these things and regularly. If you aren’t doing all that then, you are starting out at a disadvantage from the beginning. If you aren’t putting the time in because you don’t think you need to, then give yourself a slap on the wrist and get to work!

For most of us though there’s a much better reason why we don’t treat blogging as a full time job – we don’t have time. Many of us dream of going full time as a blogger, but until we start earning enough money from our blog we need to do a 9-5 job just to pay the bills. And this means we never get enough time to go full time. It’s a catch 22.

The solution here is to just put in the hours where you can, but if you’re still struggling there are some things you can do to get around the problem. Here are some suggestions to help you transition to full time blogging:

How to Fit More Blog Work in Around Your Day Job

Take a Working Holiday: This year instead of going to Ibiza, why not take a week to focus on your blog and put some real time into helping it take off?

Switch to Another Day Job: If your day job isn’t leaving you any time to work, then look for alternative interim employment. If you can work from home then that’s ideal, but alternatively you could try taking a job with fewer hours or one where you get some time to write during the day.

Work One Day of the Weekend: On top of your evenings that is. It’s not full time, but it’s a step in the right direction!

Outsource Your Workload: It costs money, but if you’re successful it will be a great investment.

But most of all it’s about the mind set – so just stop thinking of your blog as a ‘part-time-hobby-thing’ and start treating it like a real job. Do that and it will be much more likely to become one.

Author bio:

Jeet is an internet entrepreneur and believes that you need to work hard (and smart) to achieve success. Jeet runs a small internet marketing outfit GetLinksPro and loves coding and writing (in that order). You can follow him in twitter @GetLinksPro.