GALWAY-born Johnny Ward made over $1,000,000 in three years, whilst attempting to visit every country in the world.
After leaving Ireland nine years ago and working various office jobs, the adventurous traveller decided to take on the mammoth global mission.
He set up his online travel blog OneStep4Ward to document his journey and has gone on to have a huge following, with his Facebook page boasting over 55,000 likes.
Johnny previously shared his most exciting and frightening experiences with The Irish Post, and he's now given us his top five tips for people hoping to make a successful career from blogging.
He said: "It's literally changed my life, and all whilst I've been on a journey to every country in the world, pretty cool. I love showing other people how it's possible too."
How to become a successful blogger - Johnny's top five tips
1. Simple as that...
Even if you only do it for yourself at worst, it’s a great way to record your life, and look back with fond memories. At best, if it catches on, you can monetise it and your full-time job revolves around you simply living your life and writing about it. Living the dream.
2. Choose a niche. If you blog, you need a niche...
Travel, fitness, wellness. They all work well, but narrowing it down further would be even more helpful. My quest to visit every country in the world is fun, but maybe you’re a vegan traveller? Or an older person on a fitness journey?
Whatever it is, you can use it a source of focus yet still have the general travel, fitness, wellness or whatever it is around the site too.
3. Take it seriously...
If you want to ultimately make money from blogging forget any .blogspot or .wordpress blogs as they look unprofessional, and they scream, "I'm kinda new to this".
No reader wants to think the blogger is an amateur. Buy your domain, design a sexy blog and if you can't do that, hire someone to do it. It's integral to being a reputable blogger.
4. Guest post and network...
The first rule of successful blogging is often stated as "content is king" and of course your content needs to be awesome should you wish to succeed.
But if you don't put yourself out there, only your mum and grandma will read it. Guest post on other popular platforms, contact influential bloggers in your niche and network.
You're reading about me here, I'm not getting paid for this. Why am I doing it? Now you know. This content is both useful for the reader, but also being read by someone else’s audience. Perfect.
5. Learn your trade, build a blog, write regularly, and make a million dollars...
It's not quite that simple. Your blogging journey is just beginning, so start learning about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), copywriting and then after you've nailed that, delve into affiliate marketing, online courses and eBooks.
There are many ways to make money from your blog, make sure you understand them all, so you know when to apply each one.
You can follow Johnny's journey around the world here.
