Blogging is a popular activity to make some extra bucks out of your passion these days. You get the chance to share your thoughts and knowledge about a topic close to your heart, and you get paid for it. So, if you’re passionate about science and blogging, it’s only natural that you consider combining these two into a money-generating activity.
Now, there’s a big difference between starting a blog and starting a successful blog. And, it all comes down to how well you prepare before you actually get writing and publish your articles.
Here are actual tips on how to start a successful science blog and earn revenue from it!
Figure out your motivation to blog
Does it really matter? Yes, your motivation to start a science blog does matter.
Here’s the deal: if you plan to start blogging about your PhD topic only to make money, your readers might feel that because you won’t be as committed as you’d be if you’d only do it for passion.
You may be a PhD science student and have all this knowledge, but if you only want to share it to start monetizing it, you won’t be as committed actually to helping your readers understand complex science terms and processes. So, if you’re really passionate about science, start a science blog. If not, look for another topic that it’s closer to your heart.
Set it up
Next, it’s essential to set up a great blog.
Start by choosing a catchy and relevant name for your science blog and a domain. Next, you’ll need to invest in a platform that offers great UX to your readers.
Choose an engaging design and ensure that the most crucial web design principles are integrated into your blog.
Figure out your blog’s subtopic
What is a blog’s subtopic? As you may imagine, it is the focus of your blog.
Think about it: science is a very broad umbrella term. So, it can be really overwhelming to try to cover EVERYTHING about science and confusing for your readers. Thus, it would be best if you’d choose a specific direction for your blog. In other words, it would be best to select a subtopic.
Here are a few potential ways you can position your blog:
- Running and documenting science experiments
- Discussing science news
- Interviews with top scientists
- Reviewing interesting science case studies
- Reviewing or analyzing science lab equipment like Spectrometer, accelerometer, ammeter, electrometer, and so on.
Now, besides this direction, you should also choose your science niche. There are various areas of science that you can choose from, depending on what you’ve studied or what you’re passionate about. For example, you may write about oceanology, astronomy, botany, physics, genetics, chemistry, or any other area
Improve your knowledge
If you’re starting a science blog, the chances are that you’re already familiar with the topic. Yet, there’s always something new to learn, especially in such a progressive and fast-changing field where new things are discovered by the day.
Now, learning about new things happening in the science world will help you improve your content and allow you to write relevant and engaging pieces. Those passionate about science will constantly look for the latest insights about the industry. And, if they can find it on your blog, that’s a win-win.
So, make sure that you deepen your science knowledge continuously. For example, you may know what is a spectrometer, but if you really want to blow your readers’ minds, you can learn and write a piece about its uses in other industries as well. Or, you can write an article about a new discovery in the science field and how scientists came to that conclusion.
The bottom line, the more up to date you are with the latest insights in the science arena, the more engaging your blogs will be.
Get writing
Once your blog is all set up and you know exactly what you will be blogging about, it is time actually to get writing.
Make sure to do plenty of research because science topics are no business you can be very opinionated about. After all, it’s science!
Besides providing accurate and relevant information, make sure that you give your pieces of writing a personal flair. Be friendly but also professional in your writing. Use the best content writing practices to make your articles as engaging as possible. And, make sure that once you’re done writing a piece, you double-check it for any kind of mistakes, from grammar to spelling mistakes and wrong information.
Lastly, don’t forget to end all your content with engaging CTAs that truly tell readers what you expect them to do after reading your articles, whether that is sharing it or expressing their opinion about the discussed topic.
Share your blog
You have your blog up and running, and you’ve also already published some great pieces of writing that you’re really proud of. Now you need to wait for people to come and read your work, right? Well, not really.
Blogging is a very competitive area these days. This means that if you really want to make your blog stand out from the crowd and get discovered, you need to start promoting it really hard.
There are tons of marketing strategies you can use to make your blog known. You can share it on social media or even create accounts on major social media platforms. You can use email marketing to invite people to read your blogs. Or, you can even use some traditional advertising strategies like SMS marketing or in-person events.
Get creative and make sure that you market your blog efficiently and a lot!
Monetize it
Once you start attracting a significant amount of people to your blog, it is time to monetize it. How? Well, there are many ways in which you can monetize your science blog, including:
- Generate income through advertising
- Publish an e-book
- Offer members-only pieces of content
- Publish sponsored content
- Accept donations for your work
When you start earning some money with your science blog, you’ll finally understand that all your efforts were worth it.