How To Start A Blog Business: Make Money While Raising Your Kids
I’ve had so many moms ask me how they can work on their passion work for themselves while getting the flexibility to raise their children.
The answer is yes, you absolutely can. You can do it through a blog in 2023 while raising your little ones. And in this article, I’m going to teach you how to get started and the tools you need to run your blog business to become successful and profitable so that you can raise your little ones while making money doing what you love.
Get ready to read in detail how you can start a blog in 2021 and make money while raising your kids and keeping a flexible mom life. This is a long article because I remember trying to find the same information and having to read several articles to get it. No one has time for that! So, I covered everything for starting a profitable blog in one place for you.
But first, let me share my story because I did precisely that when I chose to leave the corporate world and work for myself. Fifteen years later, I’m still making a living with flexibility and while getting to raise my four kids.
When I had my first child, I knew right away that I needed to adjust my work life to be with her more.
Except I worked a typical corporate job (marketing) 9 am – 5 pm, at times later, and they were not open to me having partial at-home hours or any flexible schedule. As corporate work, I was employee first, mom second. I would even say that the mom part didn’t even matter to them.
How I Successfully Left Corporate Life for Blogging
I wanted to work and make money while also being there for my baby during the day. People will say that’s not possible, but I can tell you that it is. I have 15 years of successful experience doing that. So I looked at my new baby and decided to find a way to make money, do something I love, and be present with her.
At the time, it seemed nearly impossible to know the solution to how I could make money and be present for my kids at the same time. But I started with what I was doing at the time, which was marketing.
I got a business license, created a website, and began promoting marketing services.
Eventually, as I got deeper into my mom life, I became more passionate about all things mothering than I did for freelance marketing (though to this day, I still do freelance marketing work).
So I pivoted and began creating a community of like-minded parents and learning as much as I could about natural mothering and raising kids naturally. That eventually became Granola Babies.
And for the last 15+ years, I’ve worked for myself, doing work I love while blogging and providing services through Granola Babies.
So, if you desire to have a stay-at-home mom’s flexibility (in terms of daytime activities) while also making money in your own blog business, then this article will give you the way to do precisely that.
This is applicable for you if you are a stay-at-home mom and want to make money, work corporate, and transition to working for yourself with flexible hours that allow you to be more available to your kids.
How to Start a Successful Blog While Being a Mom
A blog business is a perfect way to make money and raise your little ones simultaneously.
You may have noticed that I don’t just call it a blog. Instead, I call it a blog business. The main difference is that a blog is essentially a public journal to write about things you like and your life. And that’s great, but if you’re also interested in making money from it, then you’ll want to start considering it a blog business.
A blog business is where you write about topics you’re passionate about within your niche. You also treat your blog as a business by monetizing it and actively growing your readership. The purpose of your blog business is to allow you to do work you love making sustainable and flexible living.
How Do I Choose What to Write About on My Blog?
Ok, this is Marketing 101. What problem can you solve, and who can you solve them for? That’s how you first determine what your blog will be about.
You need to ask yourself what problem you can solve for others because that’s precisely what your blog can do for your readers.
Now you might be thinking, well, I don’t know anything that people would want to read, but that’s an entirely false narrative.
You’ve lived a whole life so far, you’ve learned many, many things through that life – and whether it is business-related or personal life related, there is absolutely an expertise that you can help someone. So I encourage you to sit down and think about what problem you can solve for others. And trust that there is one.
Another way to determine what your blog should be about is to think about what you talk most about with your friends or family. What topics do you find yourself talking to your family and friends about most often? Something that you can talk about for hours and hours might be a perfect start to understanding your blog’s topics.
For example, when I had my baby, I was passionate about attachment parenting and natural living. So many of my topics in those early days were about cloth diapering, baby carriers, and solutions to living naturally.
But was I an expert on the subject? No, my daughter was just a baby. I hadn’t learned all the things I would know over the years, but I had done quite a bit of research on those topics just through my own new mothering time, so I used that knowledge to write my articles.
I was writing articles for other new mothers who wanted to know more about attachment parenting and natural living. And through the years, I made various transitions (the core of natural living always remained).
It would help if you thought about what topics people are searching for and align with what you want to write.
How to Find a Blog Niche?
An excellent way to find out if your topic will be something people want to read is by literally just going to Google and finding out. Google your desired topic and see if there are similar results to what you would like to write.
You know you’re on the right track when you see other blogs with good authority. Now, if by chance you start thinking, “Oh my goodness, everyone’s writing about that, there’s no way there’s space for me.”, then think again.
The fact that people are writing about the same topics means that there is interest. It’s a proven concept. There’s a reason why for example, when you go to buy a car, there are three or four car dealerships all lined up in a row. You want to be where others are searching.
Please don’t get discouraged if you look up a topic and others are already writing about it. First, you have to determine what special sauce you are bringing to it. What’s your unique way of looking at that topic? What’s your angle. That’s where you can differentiate. That’s where you can be different.
Once you’ve determined the blog topics you want to cover, we have to niche it down even more. And I know I know you might be thinking, but I want to reach everybody. But here’s a common phrase said in marketing when you try to get everyone, you will reach no one. And that is a fact.
Here’s a list of niches to get your creative juices going:
- Frugal living
- Budgeting
- Copywriting
- Entrepreneurship
- Sales process and strategy
- Study Hacks for Kids
- Arts and Culture for Kids
- Freelancing
- Traveling with Kids
- Photography
- Knitting
- Psychology
- Healthy Eating
- Vegan Eating
- Going Gluten-Free
- Productivity hacks
- Affordable Beauty for Moms
- Self Care
- Fitness for Busy Moms
- Organization hacks
- Pet Wellness
- Holistic Health
- Marriage and Relationships
- Technology
You want to niche down. You want to reach that particular segment of people who want what you have to say. They want the answers to the problems they specifically have.
For Granola Babies, I am in the parenting space, which is millions of people. But, to niche is down, I write mainly to moms who want to ditch the overwhelm using mindful, natural living and gentle parenting sprinkled with self-care.
Now that you have the topics or the niche of what you’d like to write, please come up with a good 10 to 30 blog article topics that you could write.
Doing this will test if your niche is something you can easily write about. But, of course, the last thing you want to do is start a blog that you really are not interested in.
Think about it this way. Bloggers that write about topics they enjoy will still have days they want to quit. Now, imagine if you’re also writing about topics you are not even remotely interested in or find it hard to write articles using that topic.
Ok perfect, so now you have a well-researched blog niche. Now, I will share some of the tools that I use to run my full-time blog business.
Choose Your Domain Name
Once you have chosen your niche, then you’ll need your domain name.
I do not want you to put too much time and effort into a domain name. Not because it doesn’t matter (it does) but because people most certainly over-think domain names.
Your domain name is the web address for your site. There are some important things to keep in mind when you choose your domain.
Considerations when choosing your domain name:
- It should be easy to remember and easy to write.
- It should be a reflection of your niche. But please remember that many successful bloggers have blog names that have nothing to do with their niche. #1 above is actually the most important thing to keep in mind.
- Get a .com version. I know there are .net, .org and everything in between but .com is still Queen of the domain extensions.
- As your blog starts to take off, then I do recommend that you get the other popular extensions so that you prevent copy-cats from creating a site with your blog name and a different extension.
Should I Use Squarespace or WordPress for My Blog?
The most popular platform you’ll find is WordPress when it comes to blogging, and there’s a good reason why. About 25% of websites in the world are on WordPress. And the platform has thousands of different plugins that you can use to create a site exactly how you want it to be.
And if you’re using self-hosted WordPress, you also are the sole owner of your website, which also means you have to pay for a host. And you have to be the one (or hire someone) who maintains the technical end of your blog.
You’ll often hear times that WordPress is free, and you get to own it. But that’s not a complete truth statement. WordPress is free to download since it’s open-source, but it costs to keep your WordPress blog alive.
You will be paying for a template that you purchase (most free options are complete garbage), plus you’ll be paying for a host regularly, and at times you’ll be buying plugins.
And unless you’re the one doing the back-end technical work to upkeep your WordPress blog, you’re going to pay somebody to maintain your blog. Technical maintenance for your WordPress blog is not optional, as eventually, your blog will stop functioning well if you do not.
WordPress was my first blog platform. But after a few years, other options became available to me. Today, I use Squarespace for my blog.
Why I chose Squarespace over WordPress
As a busy mom of four, I chose Squarespace over WordPress because it gave me everything I wanted from WordPress but with a lot more ease and efficiency.
I was on another platform for 10 years before I learned about Squarespace and while switching was a bit of an overwhelming thought for me, I am sooo happy that I made the switch.
I had my new Squarespace blog up in less than a day. And it was beautiful! If you want to try it out, Squarespace is actually free to start.
Squarespace handles the hosting for me, my template updates, and gives me a super easy-to-use dashboard for creating new blog posts
But do I own my content on Squarespace?
Unlike what you’ll hear from WordPress users, you own all of your content on your Squarespace blog. What you do not own is the platform nor your template. The content, however, on your blog is all yours.
The benefit of Squarespace is enormous. Squarespace manages the hosting for you and your template, and Squarespace will manage any updates that your website needs from the technical back-end.
Regarding plugins, keep in mind that WordPress is barebones, so it requires plugins to make it function as you’d like for a blog. But, Squarespace provides internally many of the same things that WordPress users need plugins for. And for what it doesn’t, you can find “plugins,” which are just codes that you can add to your Squarespace website.
With WordPress, you’ll spend days, maybe weeks, getting your blog set up. Unfortunately, most people have to pay a few hundred dollars to get a WordPress blog set up as they want. But, with Squarespace, you can start a beautiful blog in one day.
You can literally set up a blog on Squarespace in a day. I made this video to show you.
GET YOUR SQUARESPACE BLOG STARTED FREE
Squarespace allows you to set up your blog in less than a day.
Squarespace allows you to set up a beautiful blog and your website pages literally in a day. It is the quickest way to get going with your own blog business without the headache of having somebody else maintain the technical back and for your website.
How Do I Create Graphics for My Blog?
Another tool that I use daily is Canva. Canva is a graphic design platform that starts with a free plan, so you can begin using it without paying a dime.
Canva is what I use to make all of my graphics for social media and graphics for my blog.
I also use Canvas to size the images I want to use on my website and create work workbooks and downloadables for the various courses I offer. And finally, I use Canva to create the freebies that I give to my blog readers when they sign up for my email list.
Honestly, I’m not sure what I would do without Canva. As a marketer, I used Adobe products (Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator) for years; however, it is much more than I need for daily use. Canva has made it so that essentially you’re doing the work that Photoshop and InDesign do but a lot quicker.
I started with the free account and quickly moved to the Pro Canva account because it offered me more services and improved my brand image.
Do I need an email list for my blog?
Social media gives your blog a personality way before your readers ever read a blog post. But, these platforms are not yours. Meaning, if you only focus on growing a community of readers on Instagram, and for whatever reason Instagram shuts down, you’ve now lost your community.
Instead (or in addition to), you’ll want to focus on growing your email community. Your email list is one you own 100%, and you can take that list to different platforms, but the list belongs to you. Here’s where your community gets to know you so much more and also knows when you’ve written new content.
Your email list is where you get to love on and nurture your community.
For my email platform, I use Convertkit. I switched to Convertkit after using Mailchimp for over 10 years. Convertkit offered everything that Mailchimp did but a lot more. Plus, I have found it extremely easy to get the hang of, and their customer service is helpful and quick.
Since you’d be just starting, start with the free Convertkit level and then move to the paid level as your blog grows.
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How to monetize your blog so you can make money while raising little ones.
I have made thousands each year through my blog business. Making money writing about and sharing topics you love happens through monetizing your blog.
I’m going to share ways to monetize my blog and give you other ways you can monetize. Monetization allows you to make a sustainable living through your blog while keeping the flexibility of your mom life.
1) Create Online Courses to Sell On Your Blog
Creating an online course that solves your reader’s main problems is a great way to make passive income. Yes, you’ll spend the days or weeks to create your course, but once you do, especially if you create good content, readers can purchase your course repeatedly without you doing anything at all.
Creating a course is a blog post on its own (and I promise to do one soon), but please don’t overthink this. I spent way too long thinking about a course to create and how to make it.
If I could go back in time, I’d tell myself the same thing I’m about to say to you: create it. If it doesn’t do well, tweak it, maybe even develop a new course, but it has to start with action. Just do it.
I solely use Thinkific for all of my courses, and I also use it for the Parenting Alchemy membership for mindful parents.
The main reason why I chose Thinkific is that it gave me everything that I needed to get started on online courses.
Thinkific is super easy to use, and honestly, as a busy mom of four kids, I have to choose what is most efficient and most effortless.
Thinkific met every checklist I had for an online course platform, including user-friendly interface, ability to charge for courses, offer free ones, integration with other platforms, and ease of use.
And it was so effortless to get started as Thinkific allows you to do three courses completely free – as in without having to pay a single dime!
I made a short video to show you how user friendly the dashboard is on Thinkific.
CREATE A FREE ACCOUNT ON THINKIFIC
That’s precisely how I started; I created a free online course that I use as a freebie. And then I made a couple of courses that sell here on Granola Babies.
Once I realized that this was an excellent way to grow my business, I paid for a monthly plan, and then eventually, I signed up for the annual plan, as it saved me money.
2) Become an Affiliate to Your Favorite Brands and Earn Commissions
Affiliates are another way that you can make money on your blog. An affiliate is when you partner with a brand on a very surface level, but when you recommend that brand to your readers (using your unique link, which tracks sales to you), you earn a small commission.
The best way to obtain affiliates is by checking the brands you love and use to see if they offer an affiliate program. Then simply sign up to become an affiliate.
It goes without saying, but you want to choose your affiliates wisely. Your readers will be able to quickly tell if you’re recommending things that you don’t even believe in or would use yourself.
For your blog business to be successful, you need to remain authentic and genuine. Stay true to who you are and what you love.
Most brands are going to host their affiliate programs through Publisher networks. These are networks that host many affiliate programs and maintain them for the brands they represent. These are almost 99.9% of the affiliates I use.
The top affiliate networks I recommend the most to you are:
You’ll have thousands of options for affiliates through these, and the majority of your favorite brands will be on one of these.
Being an affiliate is a lot of fun because you do get to talk about things that you love while also getting a small commission from it.
3) Show Display Ads on Your Blog
Another way that moms make money on their blogs is through showing display ads. When you’re on this page, you’ll notice that sometimes at the bottom of the page an ad shows up. That’s a display ad.
Depending on how many visitors you get on your blog, you will earn on clicks on the ads and views. And believe me, if you write about things that people need, you will get visitors, especially when you are good at search engine optimization, which is a whole other blog post that I would like to make soon.
There are several display ad networks, but Google Adsense is the easiest to get into. There’s also Ezoic, SheMedia and Mediavine, but you’ll need a minimum number of site views for some of these. I recommend you start with Google Adsense and then switch to another one later if you find that you need to.
4) Create E-Books, Workbooks, and Printables to Sell On Your Blog
Moms also make money on their blogs by creating e-books or workbooks and selling them for a small fee. This is also how moms make money when they sell printables.
To get started on your e-book or printable, I recommend using Canva. But, keep in mind that you can’t use their photos and then charge somebody else for that product. But, that’s OK, as you can find free photography at various places such as Pixbaby and Unsplash.
And you can sell your digital download on Etsy or even use Convertkit to do so.
Now You’re Ready to Begin
OK, so I know that was quite a lot, but I wanted to give you a detailed overview of how you can successfully do the same thing that I’ve done for 15 years. You can create the life that you want. One that pays you while doing work you love and allows you full flexibility to raise your little ones.
Steps to Begin Your Blogging Career While Raising Your Kids
- Decide what you know that is helpful to others. Remember you do not need to be an expert on the topic.
- Choose a niche and think of 10-30 articles you can write about (you do not need to actually write them yet).
- Get your free Squarespace blog.
- Take a couple of hours to choose your template and customize it. It took me less than a day.
- Get your domain name (I use GoDaddy.com)
- Start writing.
- Publish your blog.
- Start monetizing from week one.
Feel free to ask any questions through the comment section. Happy to help.