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Many people today want to make some money on the side. This could be a part-time job or business on top of your full-time job.

Or maybe you’re a stay-at-home parent and you want to make a little something to help out with covering the necessary expenses.

In any situation, a side hustle is a great way to improve your financial situation and give yourself the possibility of paying down debt, saving more money, or simply making ends meet.

There are tons of possibilities when it comes to side hustles (see my list of 150+ side hustle ideas), but not all of them offer the same potential. While there are several side hustles that I really like and often recommend to others, my favorite side hustle is definitely blogging.

Back in 2007, I started blogging as a side hustle, and in 2008 it turned into a full-time business. For the past decade, I’ve been able to work from home and earn a nice income.

→ Related reading: How I’ve Made Over $1 Million Blogging

In this article, I’d like to share 11 reasons why blogging is a great opportunity if you’re looking to make some money on the side, and to have the opportunity to turn it into something bigger in the future.

If you’re ready to start your own blog, please see my article How to Start a Blog that will walk you through the simple process of getting it set up.

1. Your Work and Success Builds on Itself

Although blogging is my favorite side hustle, that doesn’t mean I think it’s easy.

The truth is, building a successful blog takes time and commitment. Probably the most challenging thing about blogging is having the patience and willpower to keep moving forward during the early days when you’re not seeing much of a reward for your effort.

But the great news is that once you start to get some traction, things can move pretty quickly. At first you’ll need to put in a lot of work and you’re likely to get very little out of it. But as the blog grows it’s very possible that you can cut back on the amount of time you spend on the blog and still watch your income increase.

With a new blog you probably need to spend a lot of time promoting your content just to get people to see your blog. This could include spending a lot of time on social media, commenting on other blogs in your niche, writing guest posts for other blogs, and reaching out to other bloggers and social media users to promote your content.

Once your blog has an established audience you can drastically cut back on these things. If you have a passionate following, even if it is not a huge following, your blog may grow a lot on its own just because readers are sharing your posts with their friends and other blogs start linking to you and sending even more visitors to you.

The hard work at the beginning can be discouraging at times, but keep in mind that it can get a lot better. And when it does, you can continue to make money month after month, partly because the work you did early on is building on itself and creating a snowball effect.

2. Flexibility

Blogging can be a great side hustle, but it also can turn into much more than that. When I started blogging I had a full-time job and I worked on my blog in the evenings and on the weekends (it’s one of the best weekend jobs). In about a year and a half I was able to quit my full-time job. At that point I obviously had a lot more time available to work on my blog, and I was able to take it to the next level.

Blogging offers you the flexibility to work as much or as little as you want, and during the hours that best suit your schedule. If you’re a stay-at-home parent you can work on your blog while your kids are napping, or whatever time of the day gives you the calmness that you need.

Some side hustles are great for making money in your spare time, but they don’t really offer the potential for a full-time income. That’s not the case with blogging. If your goal is to make an extra $200 per month, that’s possible with a blog. If your goal is to make it your primary income and make $20,000 per month, that’s possible too. Not a lot of other side hustles can offer that type of flexibility.

3. It’s Inexpensive to Get Started

Despite that fact that blogging gives you unlimited potential in terms of income, it’s very inexpensive to get started. You’ll need about $15 to buy a domain name, and about $4 or $5 per month for web hosting. That’s really all that’s absolutely necessary.

If you have a little bit of room in the budget you can buy a premium WordPress theme (a template for your blog) for under $100 (I recommend Elegant Themes and Thrive Themes).

Another worthwhile expense is for a service to manage your email list so you can build your audience and stay connected to them. I use ConvertKit, which starts at $29 per month. If that’s a little too high you could go with AWeber, which starts at $15 per month.

There are not many types of business you can start with that little money. And keep in mind that not only is blogging a legitimate business, but it also offers the potential to make a great income.

4. Blogging Opens Up Other Doors

Your blog can provide you with exposure and influence that will lead to many different opportunities. Some bloggers have landed book deals as a direct result of their blogging. You could also self publish your own book and make some sales thanks to your blog’s audience.

Your blog may even lead to job offers or freelance or consulting work. Many bloggers today are being paid by brands to promote their products or services thanks to the blogger’s influence and exposure. This could be through sponsored blog content or social media posts.

These are just a few of the possibilities. The point is, your blog can directly or indirectly lead to many other opportunities. It may even be something that you never anticipated.

5. Great Way to Connect with Your Target Audience

A blog gives you the opportunity to really connect with your readers. There’s something personal about the connection between blogger and reader. When readers feel connected to you personally they’ll be far more likely to share your content on social media, link to you from their own blogs, buy products that you recommend, or buy products that you create and sell.

Once you’ve connected with your target audience and established a strong reputation in your niche, you can benefit. Be sure that you don’t take advantage of this influence by recommending bad products or not keeping your readers’ best interests in mind. Trust can be lost much faster than it is gained.

Related Reading:

6. Ideal for Networking

Being an active blogger is a great way to build your network. Getting to know other bloggers and editors in your niche is one of the best things you can do for the long-term health of your blog. Almost every successful blogger is well connected.

As a blogger you’ll have a lot to offer others. People like to connect with bloggers because maybe it will lead to links, features, social media promotion, or an affiliate relationship. Your blog’s influence will open a lot of networking possibilities.

You could be networking with other bloggers or with companies that want to reach your audience. You don’t need to have a massively popular blog in order to get people’s attention. Having a targeted, loyal audience is actually more important than the size of your audience. So be sure you know specifically what audience you want to reach and create content that will attract those readers and keep them coming back for more.

7. Your “Competitors” Can Really Be Your Allies

As a blogger, especially when you are first getting started, it’s easy to think of other bloggers in your niche as competition. While it’s true that you may be competing with these blogs for search engine rankings on some of the same keywords and phrases, you shouldn’t think of other blogs as competition.

Really, other bloggers can be your allies and you can work together for mutual benefit.

When I was first getting started with blogging back in 2007 I made it a priority to get connected with other bloggers in my niche. I’d reach out through blog comments, or just by using a contact form on their site to introduce myself and let them know that I liked their blog. Several of these people became friends of mine that I’d talk to (by email) on a regular basis. We would help each other with social media promotion, linking to each other when it made sense, and even sometimes by exchanging guest posts.

Even though our blogs covered basically the same topics, we helped each other and we all benefited. There were three other bloggers in particular that I really connected with. We were all getting started with our blogs around the same time, and within about two years I think all four of us were making six figures with our blogs.

Make an effort to get to know other bloggers in your niche and find ways that you can help each other. Even if you have similar audiences you don’t need to view them as competitors.

8. Plenty of Monetization Options

Maybe you know that you’d like to make money with a blog, but you have no idea how bloggers actually make money. One of the great things about blogging is that there are several different legitimate ways that you can make money, regardless of whether you want to make an extra $1,000 per month or a full-time income.

Some of the most common ways to make money with a blog include advertising, sponsored content, affiliate programs (other companies paying you to refer sales to them), selling your own products, or offering services.

The monetization method (or methods) that you choose is a matter of what is most appealing to you, and what fits well with your audience and your niche. You can also change your approach over time, or simply add new monetization methods and multiple streams of income.

If you have an audience, there are ways to make money with your blog.

9. You’re Building an Asset That You Can Sell

Possibly my favorite thing about building a blog is the possibility of selling it for a lump sum. The going rate for selling blogs varies depending on a lot of details, but it’s not unusual to be able to sell for a blog for 30+ times the average monthly profit of the blog. That means, if you have a blog that averages about $4,000 a month in profit, it’s a realistic possibility that you could sell that blog for $100,000!

Regardless of what side hustle you choose, the goal is to make money. But with a blog you may be able to earn a really nice payday at some point in the future. That’s not the case with all side hustles.

I’ve sold several blogs and websites over the years and I have some articles related to that topic:

10. You Can Focus on Things That You Enjoy

It’s possible to create a blog on just about any topic. Blogging on a topic that you enjoy is a great way to make your work more fun and less like a job. The topic of your blog could be the same industry as your full-time job, where you have a lot of expertise. Another option is to blog about one of your favorite hobbies. Or, you could focus on a topic that you don’t really know that well right now, but something that you’d like to learn more about.

11. Do it Yourself, or Outsource

As a blogger you’ll have the option to do all of the work yourself, to outsource some of the work, or to outsource almost everything.

At first you’ll probably do all of the work yourself. But as your blog starts to make money you may want to re-invest it and use that income to hire a freelance writer to produce more content for your site. Another option is to hire a virtual assistant or someone to handle your social media profiles.

There is no right or wrong approach here, but you’ll have options to do it however you prefer. If you’re schedule changes and you don’t have much time available for the blog, you can always outsource more of the work. Outsourcing is also a great way to free up more of your time for other projects.

Now What?

If you’re convinced that blogging may be the right opportunity for you, be sure to read my article How to Start a Blog. That article walks you through the steps you need to get your own blog set up. It’s quick and easy, and anyone can do it.

This post was originally published at Vital Dollar.