Raise your hand if you spend your free time reading blogs? 

You’re not alone. Lots of people do.

Food blogs, parenting blogs, travel blogs – there are all sorts of blogs on the web – and you may have thought to yourself, “I could start a blog.”

And you certainly can! And you may even be able to make some money from it! But it does take work – and some inside knowledge as to how to do it – and here are several books that can help.

1. How to Blog for Profit: Without Selling Your Soul by Ruth Soukup
   • Whether you have been blogging for years or just a few weeks, How to Blog For Profit (Without Selling Your Soul) offers solid advice and practical action plans for creating an authentic, successful, and profitable blog.
   • With wit, wisdom, and the insight of someone who’s been there, Ruth Soukup shares how she grew her own blog, Living Well Spending Less, to over one million monthly visitors, earns a full-time income, and still is able to write about the things she truly cares about.
   • In this expanded 2nd Edition of How to Blog for Profit you will:
   • Stop comparing your blog to those around you and instead learn to leverage your own unique assets.
   • Discover the secrets to creating amazing, compelling blog content that brings readers back again and again.
   • Learn how to increase your blog traffic and build a solid platform through field-tested strategies.
   • Develop a solid social media strategy for capturing viral growth through Pinterest and Facebook.
   • Dramatically boost your revenue through diversified income streams.
   • Improve your productivity, learning to work smarter not harder, and take concrete steps to transform your blog into a business.
2. The Essential Habits of 6-Figure Bloggers: Secrets of 17 Successful Bloggers You Can Use to Build a Six-Figure Online Business by Sally Miller 
   • Struggling to gain traction with an online audience? Plagued by posts providing little to no financial return? Do dreams of making money seem unattainable? Seasoned business analyst, MBA, and web expert Sally Miller interviewed seventeen top bloggers who gross over $100,000 every year. And now she’s here to share how they turned their passions into a financially and emotionally rewarding career.
   • The Essential Habits of 6-Figure Bloggers: Secrets of 17 Successful Bloggers You Can Use to Build a Six-Figure Online Business is a one-of-a-kind guide to boost your reach and propel you towards commercial goals. With detailed interviews and practical examples, Miller’s insight will help you break through stubborn blocks keeping you from living your dream life. By implementing her three patterns of success, you’ll turn your personal message into a fulfilling way to make money from anywhere in the world.
   • In The Essential Habits of 6-Figure Bloggers, you’ll discover:
     • The common traits of popular content creators so you can cut straight to
       the best strategies
     • How to pick a social media niche so that your work stays profitable and exciting
     • Six proven monetization systems to reap your project’s rewards
     • Methods to help keep you on track so bad days won’t interrupt your journey to the top
     • Tips on how to think bigger so your ambitions continuously increase, and much, much more!
   • The Essential Habits of 6-Figure Bloggers is a must-have resource for those looking to score big in this competitive arena. If you like personalized exercises, organized frameworks, and authoritative insights, then you’ll adore Sally Miller’s eye-opening handbook.
3. The Blog Startup: Proven Strategies to Launch Smart and Exponentially Grow Your Audience, Brand, and Income Without Losing Your Sanity or Crying Bucketloads of Tears by Meera Kothand
   • Are you eager to start a blog and online business but are feeling lost?
   • Maybe you’ve gotten on and off the bandwagon over the months or years with little progress to show for it…
   • Or maybe your blog seems to be in launch mode forever and you’re not making any progress…
   • If you find yourself trying out every possible tool and trick, reading blog posts, signing up for webinars, and still not knowing what you need to focus on…
   • If all that initial excitement has been overtaken by overwhelm with EVERYTHING you need to do and learn, then this book will be right up your alley.
   • No matter what type of blog you are starting, there are some core components you need to focus on if you want to make money with your blog.
   • The Blog Startup introduces you to these non-negotiable core components in the form of bite-sized strategies and pro tips so you won’t find yourself a year later wondering what went wrong.
   • This wasn’t created to help you master blogging. It takes several years for that—more than a book and a couple of days of reading can promise. 
   • But this gives you a plan for success before you even start. Think of it as a road map for your first 90 days!
   • Now, you can start a solid blog with the potential to make money WITHOUT a $1,000+ blogging education.
   • Here’s a snapshot of what’s packed into this how-to guide:
     • Popular guru promises exposed! I expose the truth about popular revenue streams and why NOT ALL monetization options are right for you despite guru promises!
     • The 2M (+1) strategy to help you hit your first $1K blogging.
     • How to find YOUR unique angle, so you can stand out from the pack and attract the right kind of readers.
     • The smartest ways to make critical website pages sticky—Make these pages shout out “YES, you’re in the right place!” and understand what you need and don’t need to include.
     • Why some bloggers make the leap and others don’t. (It has everything to do with what they don’t do!)
     • 3 MUST-ANSWER questions that will shape your blog’s journey.
     • How to create a strategic blog launch plan and my answer to the question “How many posts do you need before launching?” (No more confusion or stress. Just an actionable plan for results.)
     • AND MORE!
   • Imagine knowing exactly what you need to focus on despite all the distractions pulling you in a million directions.
   • Imagine if in a mere year you accomplish more than you ever thought possible, feel a sense of satisfaction, and actually make progress toward this larger vision of what you want your blog and business to do for you.
   • You don’t flinch, get panicky, or try different tactics hoping one sticks. You have a plan of action and every decision you make for your blog is calculated and intentional. That’s the power of the process and the promise behind The Blog Startup!

If starting a blog is on your list of possible side hustles – then check out these three books. They’ll help walk you through the steps of creating a blog that attracts followers and might make you a little cash on the side.

(*All book descriptions taken from Amazon)