Understanding how to make money farmstead blogging comes down to having knowledge in two areas – Internet marketing and farming. You need to be a subject matter expert in farming in order to write about it, but if you want to make money blogging, you also need to know how to get your content in front of the people who want to read about it.
Here are some tips on how to do both.
What You'll Learn Today
How Do You Start a Homestead Blog? 6 Tips
Farmstead blogging is a source of potential income for your farm that many people overlook. Although blogging takes a lot of work, it’s a different kind of work than what you’ll be doing on your farm most days – and it requires a lot less manual labor in inclement weather!
Because of this, it’s a good option to pursue if you want to bring a steady stream of side income into the farm coffers.
1. Just Start Writing
So many people think that they have to be awesome writers capable of penning the next Great American Novel in order to start a homestead blog. That’s not the case. You just need to start writing – and be you!
There’s no blueprint as to what kind of content an awesome blog should contain – although posts that provide the reader with information on how or why to do something tend to get the most traffic.
Take some time to sit down and think about what sorts of topics you want to learn more about or you think your readers would want to learn more about.
While there’s definitely a place on a blog for posts with titles like, “the time I got bit by a snake and had to go to the hospital,” you’re more likely to find an audience with more helpful posts like, “how to avoid a snake bite while working on your farm.”
Be realistic about your goals when you’re coming up with ideas of what to write for your blog. If your goal is just to express yourself, you can write about anything you want. However, if you want to make money, you’ll need to be more pragmatic in what you select.
2. Find a Domain Name and Hosting Company
Choose a reliable domain name and hosting company.
For hosting, many bloggers turn directly to WordPress for all their needs. There are other service providers you can choose from, though, including Hostinger, A2 Hosting, GoDaddy, and Bluehost. Choose the one that offers the services and rates that are most important to you.
If you have a name in mind for your blog (or even better, just want to use the name that you already have for your farm), selecting a domain name should be relatively straightforward unless it is already taken.
3. Design Your Blog
Most service providers use WordPress to build and manage their blogs – which is a huge plus since it’s consistent and easy to use.
In some cases, you may have to install WordPress on your hosting account but there are usually detailed instructions and tutorials you can look at to do this.
Once you’ve installed WordPress and configured all the basic settings, you will need to decide on a theme. It can take some time to get comfortable with WordPress and your theme of choice so give yourself some grace. The learning curve can be steep but once you’ve mastered it, working on your blog will become second nature!
4. Plan Out Your Content
Plan your content out by organizing ideas into categories.
Popular categories for blogs in the farming and homesteading niche include things like gardening, chickens, pigs, DIY recipes, and frugal living tips.
Of course, the exact categories you select and the topics you plan out can be totally up to you and what you are interested in! Try to jot down a content calendar that will allow you to post regularly. When it comes to blogging, consistency is key.
5. Implement Revenue Streams
We’ll discuss the many ways you can make money with your blog below, but for now, know that it is absolutely essential to have some kind of revenue stream in place.
Get this set up before you launch your blog – even though you don’t have visitors yet and it will take some time before you start generating money, having the revenue streams in place is important if you ever want to make any money.
6. Promote Your Blog
Last but not least, when it comes to operating a successful blog, you’ve got to put in the work to get the word out! Do everything you can to make sure people are aware of your website. Many bloggers advertise on Pinterest, using design tools like Canva to craft pins that show the best that the blog has to offer.
You can also promote your blog by guest posting, linking to it on social media like Instagram and Facebook, and much more.
How Do Bloggers Make Full-Time Income?
It’s not enough to set up your blog, make it live, and post a few times a week. You need to have a plan in place for how you will generate revenue.
Affiliate Income
Many farmstead bloggers participate in affiliate programs. It’s rare to find a blog that does not, in fact. Amazon Associates is one such popular option but it’s not the only choice.
There are much smaller programs in which you can participate as well as bigger ones, like Share a Sale, that will help you generate income by directing and driving sales to certain products.
With affiliate marketing, you’ll post a link to a certain product in your blog post. Ideally, this should be a product with which you have some experience. When a reader clicks the link and buys, you’ll get a portion of the sales.
Here’s a helpful video tutorial that will give you more information about affiliate marketing:
Ad Revenue
You can also make money with ads. Running ads may not make you a killing, especially in the beginning, but it could help offset some expenses of operating your website.
Many bloggers turn to Google AdSense when they’re first starting out before upgrading to Mediavine, which offers a higher commission but requires at least 25,000 sessions in 30 days. AdThrive is an even better choice, but you’ll need 100,000 page views per month to qualify.
Sell Your Own Products
This is where you can really start making money with farmstead blogging – use your blog to promote your own products!
These products can be anything you want, including homemade goat’s milk soap, beeswax candles, printable guides, eBooks, workshops, courses, and more. Some bloggers even sell food on their blogs, though of course, you’ll want to have a reliable method in place for shipping these items.
Is it Worth Blogging in 2021?
We live in a fast-paced world and the amount of content on the Internet in 2021 is absolutely mind-boggling. You can find just about anything online, which makes many aspiring farmstead bloggers wonder if getting their content online is even worth it.
There’s a lot of “noise” out there – will your blog stand out among the rest?
With an estimated 440 million blogs in existence across all major blogging platforms (and that number is growing), it is, believe it or not, still worth it.
Blogging will not only help you generate (hopefully) a nice income for your farm, but it can serve as a method of advertising your on-farm business and writing skills. It can be used as a tool to flex your writing muscles, network with other farmers, and to learn new things about farming for yourself.
Ultimately, it’s worth starting a farmstead blog, even if generating a full-time income isn’t your main goal. It can be hard work that requires a lot of patience – but hey, anything’s got to be better than mucking out the chicken coop, right?
Hi Everyone. I wanted to be a farmer. I bought 25 acres farm land in Norwich NY. I want to cut grass in my field.
I dont have tractor. How can i cut my grass and roll please let me know