18 Reasons Why Blogging Is The Best Side Hustle For Making Money Part-Time

Starting a side hustle is one of the most important things you can do for yourself, especially if you are always struggling financially. A side hustle gives you that extra layer of security should you lose your job or are unable to work for any reason.

The internet is full of side-hustle ideas and to be honest, most of them simply don’t work, especially if you want to make a decent amount of money reliably.

Blogging, however, has been a particularly effective way to make an income online. This has made it a popular option for people looking to start a side hustle. That is why there are roughly 31.7 million bloggers in the US (or 10% of Americans).

But why is blogging such a popular option for many?

There are many reasons for this.

In this article, I will explore the biggest advantages of blogging as a way of making money online, especially as a side hustle or part-time business. Based on these benefits, I would argue that blogging is one of the best side hustles around.

By the end of the article, I’m sure you will agree with me that blogging is indeed worth a try.

Before we start, if you are interested in starting a blog without making many of the mistakes that rookie bloggers make, check out my article on how to start a blog the right way.

For now, here are the advantages of blogging as a side hustle

1. A Blog Is Cheap and Easy to Start

One of the biggest advantages of blogging as a side hustle is that you can start a blog for next to nothing.

There are many free tools, plugins, and resources that you can take advantage of in blogging but there are two main costs that you cannot avoid. These are:

1. Web hosting. This will cost you roughly $60 for one year of hosting (or roughly $5 a month).
2. A domain name. This will cost you about $15 a year.

In total, starting a blog will cost you about $75.If you are writing the content yourself, this is enough to run your blog for a year.

You can do it for even cheaper than this if you get discounts and incentives. A premium web hosting company like ChemiCloud will give you a free domain and generous discounts of over 60% for web hosting (Check for a discount).

Which other business can you run at the cost of one or two cappuccinos a month and potentially make hundreds if not thousands of dollars each month?

2. You Can Make Good Money from Blogging

According to blogger surveys, the average full-time blogger makes around $2,500 a month. Top bloggers can earn way more than this.

If you look at blogger income reports, you will plenty of success stories that prove that you can make good money from blogging. Here are a few examples of top bloggers who earn over $100,000 a month.

• Melyssa Griffin (Melyssa Griffin): $280k+ pm.
• Heather Delaney Reese (It’s a lovely life): $220k+ per month.
• Michelle Schroeder-Gardner (Making Sense of Cents): 140k+ per month.
• Kristin Larsen (Believe in a Budget): $100k+ per month.

As a new blogger, you may not be able to make these huge amounts of money, but if you manage to make 1-2k a month working part-time and writing about things you are passionate about, then that is a win.

Over time, you can build your skills and content pool and eventually, you will be able to make a decent full-time income. If you do things the right way, you should be able to make over $3,000 a month in 2-3 years of consistent blogging (see how to calculate blogging income).

3. A Blogging Business is Relatively Hassle-Free

When most people think of starting a business or a side hustle, they often think of starting a brick-and-mortar business such as a bakery, eatery, or shop.

Unfortunately, starting such a business comes with a lot of hoops you have to jump over. For starters, you can easily spend $50,000 in your first year. There are also many requirements you may need to fulfill.

For a new entrepreneur, these challenges can be intimidating. With a blogging business, you avoid many of these, for example:

• You don’t need permits or licenses. Some businesses require 3 or 4 permits which take time to get.
• You don’t need employees. You can avoid the headache of employee contracts and trying to figure out tax obligations for your employees.
• You don’t need an office. Since you are working from home, you don’t need to struggle with lease agreements or buying furniture and equipment.

A blog can be a way to dip your toes into entrepreneurship while avoiding many of the pitfalls.

4. You Can Make Passive income

One of the things that attract people to blogging is that once you put in the initial effort to build up your blog, making money from a blog can be fairly passive.

According to a 2017 report by Convertkit, 42% of bloggers were able to make more than the median US household income while working five hours a week or less (source).

The semi-passive nature of blogging gives you the time to do other things such as travel, work on another side hustle, or spend time with your family.

Here is why blogging becomes passive over time.

• You can leverage the power of older content. A post you wrote 3 years ago can make you money today provided it is still ranking.
• A blog works 24/7. Your blog brings in visitors from all over the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You literally make money as you sleep.
• Automation tools. Many blogging tasks can be effectively automated with AI tools or plugins.

Of course, you can’t slack off forever. If you neglect your blog for too long, it will start to decline and your income will fall.

5. Blogging Has Awesome Tools

These days, we have many tools that make blogging much easier compared to before. These tools can simplify, automate, or reduce the cost of a variety of blogging tasks. This will help you free up your time so that you can concentrate on the most important tasks.

So, if you want to see faster growth, you should set aside a budget to invest in some of these blogging tools. You can get many of them for free or at a reasonable price.

Here are some tools you should consider:

• Plugins and Themes. These help you to do various tasks related to running your blog such as design, security, speed, and e-commerce. For a quick summary of these, see my article on the top plugins (free and paid) you need for a new blog.
• AI Writers. Even if you love writing, it can get tedious and monotonous. AI can help you do many of the blogging tasks such as coming up with ideas, creating titles/outlines, and writing the first draft. There are many good AI tools out there you can try. For me, I use Writesonic and the free version of ChatGPT.
• Keyword tools. Finding ideas for articles that you have a realistic chance of ranking for in search engines can be challenging. Luckily, you can use keyword tools like KW Finder to identify low-competition keywords that will bring visitors to your site.

6. You Are Building An Asset

One thing many people don’t realize about a blog is that it is an asset that you can sell. Typically, you can sell your blog for 30X the monthly income at sites like Motion Invest or Flippa.

Think of it this way, if you buy stock for $10,000 at 10% returns a year, you will make roughly $3,000 in 3 years. If in those 3 years, you build a blog during your free time and it earns you $1,000 a month, you can sell it for $30,000. That is a 10X increase in value.

The great thing about having a blog as an asset is:

• You don’t need a large seed capital. You can start a blog with less than $100.
• It is easy to sell. Unlike hard assets like buildings or land, a blog is easy to sell at blog marketplaces. This is great if you have an emergency and you need money quickly.
• You can easily build multiple blogs. This means you can diversify your portfolio of assets against the risk of having all your eggs in one basket.

7. Your Income Compounds Over Time

A big part of the reason why top bloggers are able to make such huge amounts of money is because they leverage the power of compounding. This works in the same way as saving a little money each month.

So the more years you spend in blogging, the faster your income is likely to accelerate with little additional effort.

Here is how blogging leverages the power of compounding.

• Content compounding. The more content you have, the more opportunities you have for ranking on search engines and getting traffic.
• Topical authority. As your blog grows, Google and your readers start to view you as an authority in your niche. This makes it easier for you to get more traffic.
• Income diversification. When you grow your content, traffic, and brand, many more monetization opportunities become available to you.

Of course, all this assumes that you are doing blogging the right way and using the right strategies.

8. You Control Your Income

A disadvantage of most jobs is that you are not in control of your income. Someone else is in control of how much you earn or even whether you will have a job tomorrow.

Blogging teaches you how to make money on your own which gives you a high degree of control over your income. Here is what controlling your income means.

• You get peace of mind by knowing that you have some backup income should you lose your job.
• You don’t have to wait for your boss to give you a raise. Your blog can give you that extra $1,000 a month you need without having to go pleading at work.
• The harder you work, the more money you make. When you work for someone else, at some point your income stagnates no matter how hard you work. With blogging, your income is dependent on your effort.

9. You Are Your Own Boss

Having a boss means that you have to accept the fact that someone will tell you what to do with 8 hours of your life every day until you retire.

Many people don’t mind this, but for some people, this can be quite frustrating. If you fall into this category, then you need to make a plan for how you can transition to being your own boss.

Here are some of the advantages of being your own boss.

• You don’t have to deal with domineering bosses, mean co-workers, or office politics.
• You can prioritize what is most important in your life. For example, you don’t have to ask permission to attend important events in the lives of your loved ones.
• You have the freedom to follow your ideas. You don’t need anyone’s permission to try out your ideas. In a regular job, your boss can shoot down your ideas and you can’t do much about it.

If you succeed in blogging, the freedom it gives you is worth the effort you have to put in.

10. You Can Create Multiple Streams of Income

If you want to be wealthy, you need to have multiple sources of income. The average millionaire, for example, has 7 streams of income.

Blogging allows you to tap into multiple streams of income. This stabilizes your income because it is unlikely that all your streams will fail at the same time, especially if you monetize in a smart way.

Here are a couple of ways that you can make money from blogging:

• Selling your own products. You can sell ebooks, courses, workbooks, merch, and templates.
• You can sell other people’s products. Affiliate marketing allows you to sell products you don’t own in exchange for a commission.
• You can sell ad space. You can apply to ad networks like AdSense, Ezoic, and Mediavine and have them put ads on your site.
• You can sell services. If you have a service that you offer (such as graphic or web design), you can promote it in your blog.

These are just a few of the ways you can make money from your blog. If you do your research, you will discover many other ways of making money through blogging.

11. You Can Easily Do Blogging Part-Time

One big drawback with most businesses and start-ups is that it can take time before you start to see profits.

Blogging businesses also face the same problem because it can take 2-3 years before your blog is stable enough to provide a full-time income.

However, the advantage of blogging is that you can easily do it part-time. This means you don’t have to quit your job as you build your blogging business.

Here are some reasons why blogging works well as a part-time gig.

• It doesn’t require a lot of time. If you can find 1-2 hours a day to do blogging, you can build a decently sized blog in no time.
• You can set your schedule. Blogging is quite flexible, for example, you can do blogging before you go to work or after you have dinner.
• It doesn’t require specialized equipment. You can do blogging from anywhere as long as you have access to a computer with an internet connection. You don’t need any complicated equipment or supplies.
• It is compatible with a variety of jobs. If you have a job that is seasonal or one that has plenty of downtime, blogging will work great. Examples include camp jobs, night jobs (receptionist/security), bartending, and teaching.

12. You Can Write About Things You Enjoy

There is nothing better than making money from what you enjoy doing. However, making money from hobbies and passions can be quite difficult.

Blogging, however, can be a good option for monetizing passions and interests, especially for people who feel that they are not good at entrepreneurship. There are several reasons for this:

• You will always find readers. Even for hobbies or passions that are unique or too niche, you will always find people who are interested in them. For example, I have seen blogs on niche passions like growing succulents do very well.
• It is good for beginners. Making money with a conventional business is difficult especially if you are not interested in traditional entrepreneurship. With blogging, as long as you can attract an audience, making money is as simple as signing up to an ad network.
• There are many ways to make money. If you can build a dedicated following, then there are many options for making money including ads, affiliate marketing, and selling digital products.

So, set aside time to start making money by doing what you love. If you don’t spend 1 hour a day building your dream, then you will continue to spend 8 hours a day building someone else’s dream.

13. The Consequences of Failure are Minimal

Entrepreneurship is often quite risky. For example, about 50% of businesses fail within the first five years. Therefore, if you are planning to start a business, you should expect that you too will fail. This is especially true if you have never started a business before.

With this in mind, it makes sense to start a business where the consequences of failing are low.

The costs of failure in blogging are low because:

• You don’t lose a lot of money. It does not require a lot of money to start and run a blogging business, so even if you fail, you don’t lose much.
• It is easy to pivot. Because the costs of starting a blog are low, you can afford to start several blogs and have them fail. Given that you learn a lot from the mistakes of your first blog, you can use this knowledge to build a more successful blog.
• You will enjoy the experience. If you are writing about things you enjoy, the joy of sharing your knowledge is a reward in itself. Making money is just a cherry on top.
• You can re-use your skills. You can apply the knowledge and skills you learn to get a job or start another business.

14. You Learn Valuable Skills

As a blogger, you acquire many useful skills in the course of your blogging. These include SEO, Web design, Graphic design, Copywriting, Writing, Editing, Analytics, and Digital Marketing.

If your blog fails or you get bored of blogging, you can re-use these skills to get a job or start a business.

The skills you learn from blogging have a huge advantage over many other types of skills for the following reasons.

• They are lucrative. Many of these skills are high-paying, for example, careers in SEO or Copywriting pay an average annual income of $70,000+.
• They are in demand. You will find many job openings for these skills. For example, I found 4,700 copywriting jobs available on Zip Recruiter.
• They are transferrable. Skills like Writing, Web Design, or SEO can be applied in diverse industries such as automotive, agricultural, financial, and services sectors. This makes it easy for you to move to higher-paying jobs across a variety of industries.

15. You Have Location Freedom

With blogging, you can work and make money from anywhere. Many people have to live in particular areas because that is where the jobs are available. Blogging frees you from that.

Having location freedom has several big advantages. For example:

• You can build wealth. You can move to a state or country that has lower taxes or lower cost of living.
• You can have a higher standard of living. You can move to a city where there are good affordable houses, schools, and hospitals. You don’t have to be stuck with paying high rents for small, ratty apartments.
• You can accumulate life experiences. For example, you can travel around the world while still making money from your blog.
• You can work from home. You can make money in your pajamas from the comfort of your home.

16. You Retain a Degree of Privacy

One big drawback of many ways of making money online such as YouTube or social media is that you need to constantly put yourself out there. You need to keep posting photos and videos of yourself online.

With blogging, you can make your money while being relatively anonymous. This can be ideal for you if you love your privacy or you just want to make money behind the scenes.

Here are some practical reasons why you may need a business that allows you to remain anonymous.

• Potential conflict with your current job. You may not want your boss or company to know that you are running a side business.
• You don’t want your friends and family to know. Sometimes you just want to keep your attempts at entrepreneurship secret until they succeed or start to gain traction.
• Potential embarrassment. Sometimes you can start a business that can dilute your social capital and be the butt of your friends’ jokes for years. You may want to hide such businesses.

17. You Can Make A Valuable Contribution

You can make a big contribution in whatever area you are passionate about by creating content through blogging. Even if you think you don’t have much to offer, you have knowledge, skills, and expertise that others need.

With a blog, you can reach thousands of people every month. Most people don’t get to impact people at this scale in their entire lifetime.

So, as you start your blog, think of what value you can provide. For example, you can use your blog to:

• Educate your audience. You can help to solve your readers’ problems by pointing them to solutions that can help them.
• Entertain your audience. You can write engaging content that helps people forget their problems for a while.
• Build a community. You can use your blog to bring together people who are interested in a particular passion, interest, hobby, or cause.

18. You Can Use Blogging To Promote Your Business

Blogging can be a great marketing tool for whatever business you have or plan to start.

Blogging can be especially good for people with specialized skills like artists, writers, crafters, and musicians. Small businesses like restaurants, bakeries, and shops can leverage the power of local SEO to get clients.

Several things make blogging great for marketing.

• It is cheap. If you are doing the writing yourself, then you don’t need to spend much money on marketing. This is great for businesses that don’t make enough money to afford paid ads.
• Good conversion rates. With one click, your readers can go to your sales page. Also, you can sell whatever you have right on your blog by creating an online shop. This increases the conversion rate.
• Targeted customers. Since you are using targeted keywords in your posts, you will attract people who are interested in what you are offering. With paid ads, targeting can be tricky and you can easily waste money on unsuitable clients who will not buy.

Wrapping Up

I hope you now have an idea of why people are so attracted to blogging. I probably could come up with many more reasons why you should get into blogging, but I think these are enough to get you going.

However, as much as blogging is a great way to make money online, blogging is not a walk in the park and like any other business, it comes with challenges (see Why Bloggers are Quitting).

Many bloggers quit before they reap the full benefits of blogging because they get into blogging with unrealistic expectations.

So, before you get into blogging, ask yourself:

• Are you willing to spend time writing content every day? You will be doing a lot of writing, so if you hate writing, you might want to consider something else.
• Are you willing to wait 2-3 years before you start making decent money? Making money through blogging can be painfully slow. If you need quick money, blogging is not for you.
• Are you willing to develop the mental strength to overcome the ups and downs of blogging? You have to be strong enough to deal with the challenges of blogging.
• Are you willing to be a constant learner? Blogging is always changing and to keep pace, you have to keep learning.

If you are willing to deal with these challenges, then you have a good shot at making it. If you want to give blogging a try, check out my guide on how to start a blog the right way. It will show you how to start a blog without making the rookie mistakes that many new bloggers make.

Further Reading

The following articles will also guide you on your blogging journey: