I’m really lucky in that I get asked to chat about blogging on a lot of TV and radio shows in South Africa. It is pretty awesome and I have to spend a lot of time pinching myself. However, I’ve picked up that there is a string of questions that tend to pop up regularly so I thought I’d answer some of them. This was actually my friend Jade’s idea after she listened to an interview I did on Cliff Central. On Thursday afternoon my gorgeous friend Wardah from FabuFit and new find Mary Lou host The Blogger Diaries with Arye Kellman. If you need some work day listening you can hear that interview by hitting the play button below:
And now some of the questions I get asked on the regular:
How do you make money from your blog?
I say it in my Cliff Central interview and I stand by it: if you start a blog to make money you won’t. However, as your audience grows, engagement increases and you realise you have “influence” (it is a sucky word but the best explanation) you’ll realise you can monetise your platform. I make money from selling content. I create exclusive content for a brand or product with a specific outcome in mind. You can also make money from selling banner ads or offering social posts to brands. I’ve also been paid to contribute to other blogs, do social take overs and talk at events. Of course, I’m also able to make money from the Tech Girl Shop.
When can you start making money from your blog?
This is such a tricky question because every blogger is going to give you a completely different answer. I have friends who will argue that you should charge from the get go even if you have a tiny audience because it is your time. I disagree. I really think you can only start charging brands to appear on your blog when you can prove influence (there’s that word again!). At some point you’ll realise that when you tell your audience about a product or service they tend to go on to use it or purchase it based on your recommendation. For example: I wrote about the Lumee phone covers and my friend Stevie purchased one based on that article. A few months before I wrote about YummyPets and within a few hours a handful of my readers had signed their pets up. Initially it is a small conversion but the conversion is there and I think that is when you can start charging and making money – when you know you can assist in converting your readers to a sale, sign up or a click through to a website to find out more information. It takes a long time to get that right and it only works if you align yourself with brands, products and services you believe in. Your audience won’t trust your recommendation and convert if they think you promote everything that drops in your lap.
How often should I post on my blog?
I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer here. I think you need to determine what works for you and stick to it. However, consistency is key. If you blog once a week make sure you stick to that. When you start changing it up and don’t have a set schedule you may lose readers.
Is it hard being a woman in the tech space?
It has its days. I prefer not to focus on the negative. Harder than being a woman is being a blogger, if I’m honest. The South African tech space still has a long way to go to understanding the difference between a blog and a news website. But we’re getting there!
What is Tech Girl?
I want to say it is a tech blog for South African women. But it is so much more than that to me. It’s me. It’s every contributor to it. It’s a vlog. It’s a Snapchat channel. It’s a persona. It’s something that I can no longer really explain. What do you think Tech Girl is?
