How To Leverage Your Success As A Blogger To Become A Consultant

There are over 500 million blogs on the internet. In other words, there is a blog for every three people.

As the content marketing industry continues to enjoy high-speed growth, many bloggers are capitalizing on the success of the industry.

By the end of 2020, the content marketing industry is projected to be worth $400 billion – a 16 percent annual growth rate.

With many bloggers now earning a significant income from blogging, many of them are now looking to the next step in their blogging journey – another way to promote their blog and monetize their success.

One of the most popular solutions is to offer supplementary services such as consulting.

Seen as experts in their industry and trusted for their experience, consultants can provide another flexible income stream for bloggers that have found some success with their content so far, if approached in the right way.

Get Certified In Your Niche

Once you have chosen a niche for your blog, you want to build trust amongst your followers. Since consultants are seen as experts in their chosen field, being certified helps followers and brands alike to have a positive impression of your professional knowledge.

Many online platforms now offer blogging and social media certification courses for a minimal charge.

However, if you want to expand to consulting as a blogger, it also helps to be professionally trained in your niche.

For instance, if your blog covers all things brand building, consider investing in brand management or a digital marketing course from online education websites like Coursera and Udemy.

Alternatively, if your niche is personal finance, enrolling in a personal finance or financial planning course can help you stand out as a trusted source on the topic.

Build Your Brand By Building Your Profile And Followers

Secondly, you want to increase your digital profile. This gets your blog more attention and increases the chance of brands taking note of your blog and your profile.

Doing so helps bloggers land potential brand and business collaboration – i.e. it opens the door for consulting offers. To continue building your blog profile, start with a consistent editorial calendar.

This keeps your blogging content schedule consistent – a key metric that loyal readers and brands will look at. Social media tools like Trello, Evernote, and CoSchedule’s Content Calendar can help.

As a bonus, these tools can help to improve the efficiency of your blogging content and build brand recognition. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 72 percent of B2B marketers say a formal content strategy is responsible for their success. You can also increase your blog traffic by consistently updating your market research.

Staying in touch with your followers and keeping track of their engagement helps you plan content they want to see.

Prepare Yourself To Be A Freelancer

Many consultants are now hired on a contract, per project or freelancing basis. As a home-based freelancing consultant, you may need to prepare your workspace to offer these services.

One of the first steps is often registering with a consulting organization like The India Business Group so that businesses can engage with you. Alternatively, you may opt to start your own consulting firm and gain clients through social media or word of mouth.

In addition to ancillary services like a dedicated email/phone line for consulting clients, consultants need workers comp insurance to protect them from liabilities stemming from their advice or guidance to clients.

Guest Blogging On High Authority Industry Blogs

Finally, be sure to include cornerstone content on your blog to build your credit profile. Cornerstone content refers to those articles that are the foundation of your blog.

They are well researched and far reaching, giving readers an in-depth insight into the topic. This continues to build trust from readers and makes it more likely that people will turn to you for clarification on a topic in your niche.

In addition to building your brand trust, it increases awareness and draws in relevant visitors such as businesses looking for a consultant in your niche.

Great cornerstone content is based on consumer wants, so be sure to listen to what your readers are saying or asking for on your blog’s comment or social media section. Another option is guest writing for high ranking industry blogs.

Pitching your ideas for a guest blogging spot on blogs with high traffic not only garners new followers for your blog; it gets you noticed by the industry leaders too.

There are many ways to build on your success as a blogger – and it does not always have to end with your blog.

You can establish yourself as a trusted authority in your niche and begin to offer consulting services to businesses looking for advice. If done correctly, it can be a great supplementary source of income for your blog and a potential future career move.