Thanks to the unprecedented events of the past two years, more people than ever are turning to new careers and side-hustles just to get by. One of the most popular second streams of income is blogging, followed closely by podcasting. In some ways, podcasting is like verbal blogging. It can be a lot more demanding and daunting. There are plenty of people who don’t mind writing for an audience who would freeze up at the prospect of public speaking. There is also the matter of skill set and cost. Talking for a living is different from writing for a living. And there is more of an up front investment to do audio media.
That said, blogging is not without its up-front costs. You are going to need to purchase a domain name, and possibly more than one to cover your bases. You are going to also need a web hosting service that can handle your professional ambitions. That usually means going beyond the free offerings. You are still not out of the investment woods. If you want anyone to know about your blog, you are going to have to pour some money into advertising. The thing you can do yourself is write your content. But that is not The whole story. You will have to contract a few writers for other tasks such as the following:
Technical Writing
If your blog has a technical component to it, you are going to need the input of somebody who offers technical writing services. That is especially true if your readers are going to have to do anything touching regulatory or legal compliance. If you are offering a digital product, they will need to know how to download, install, and use the product. If you don’t get this right, you will end up with many unhappy returns and terrible reviews.
A simple way to illustrate the need for technical writing services is to think about recipes you have found online that were not produced by professional cooks. So many ingredients are ruined unnecessarily because the recipe was unclear or downright misleading. Writing a recipe with precision is a shockingly difficult task. Writing instructions for a tech product requires a special skill not possessed by most writers. You are providing something a lot more challenging than a recipe. If you want your blog to be successful as a business, bring on the kind of writer that can get the technical bits right.
An App Writer
One of the questions you will need to ask when starting a blog is whether it would be better served with a companion app. Not every blog needs an app to go with it. While there is such a thing as swipe fatigue with regard to dating apps, there is no indication of a more generalized app fatigue. People still love apps and download them by the hundreds.
Everyone claims to be burned out on subscription services. But that has not stopped or even slowed the rise of app subscription services as a successful business model. There is a good chance your blog could be just the front-end to a more lucrative app or subscription service. Don’t limit your business model prospects. If you need an app, then you are going to need a developer who specializes in writing apps for mobile devices.
Web Designer
You can always use a template-based blogging platform to start your blog. But if you are doing that blog for commerce, there will come a time when you run into the limits of pre-made templates. You will start to recognize your own individual needs and run into more sharp edges than smooth surfaces. The only way to overcome that problem is to have a website developed by a professional who can take your vision from concept to clickable reality. This might seem like something you could accomplish on your own with a little CSS know-how. But it isn’t. First, there is nothing simple about CSS. Second, CSS will only take you so far. You will need a web developer at some point in the life of your blog.
You are an excellent writer. No one is questioning that. Even so, you are going to be well served by a technical writer, an app writer, and a web developer.
