Freelance blogging will be very similar to freelance writing but it's essential to first build your own personal brand/voice and garner a following. This could take a great deal of time as you develop your voice and convince people to keep coming back. You can do this by being a good writer, finding your niche, directing traffic to your page and learning SEO best practices. There are other guides that can better explain SEO practices, but essentially when you put up a post, you want to include certain, though not too many and not too vague, "tag" words that will cause search engines to eventually place your blog more highly on the list when a person searches.

There are a lot of myths and facts about SEO and some of the myths could actually be hurting your blog with search engines. Find a legitimate website that can explain these for you. For instance, if you blog with WordPress, they do the majority of the SEO work for you, but they also provide a comprehensive guide that would help you out with SEO under all circumstances. There are a lot of different blog platforms out there with their own pros and cons. I've blogged with Wix, WordPress and BlogSpot, and I've found WordPress to be most intuitive (it's used by a lot of online publications), despite limited creative options.

Once your blog has become popular, you can add advertising or even sell products to bring in an income. Here is one website that helps you make money off advertisement clicks. Another great Accel.io guide, written by Matthew Barby, that is currently free of charge and devoted to every aspect of monetizing your blog can be found here.

If you get your name out there, you could move from your blog to writing a book with the best possible platform from which to sell it. Many food bloggers have done this, like Deb of Smitten Kitchen fame, as well as comic artists like Allie Brosh who created Hyperbole and a Half. I also highly recommend checking out Derek Halpern's "Social Triggers" website.

Here's an example of one of Halpern's videos, this one being about why you should, perhaps counter-intuitively, use popups on your website:

There are endless types of blogs out there. All sorts of blogs are cropping up all the time-mommy blogs, fashion blogs, LBTQ blogs, etc. Other timeless examples (some of my favorites) include CakeWrecks and CuteOverload. In each case, the founder took a concept and made it their own, getting others involved by encouraging submissions. Always get your audience involved, or at least don't alienate them (strong opinions do help as long as they're presented well). These blogs tend to be more image driven, but in our fast-paced times, often people are simply looking for something to skim during their lunch hour.

How do you make yours stick out?

Make your blog something people can come back to and explore the content, but also make it something people can look at quickly, get drawn in by a headline and make a note to return to it later.

As with any of the professions discussed here, there will be sunk costs. You may have to put some money down upfront to build your blog site and make it more marketable. Consider this an investment in your business's future.