If you spend a bunch of time on the internet, you’ve probably noticed that there are some people who seem to have risen to semi-stardom online. Whether it’s through YouTube videos or tweets, they’re finding success through some form of blogging. While you may not assume it at first, the Edmonton market is no exception to that rule.
Linda Hoang runs an Edmonton focused blog as well as helps businesses improve their social media presence. Over the last two years, her blog has gone from being a hobby to being a large part of her career. Hoang notes that over these past two years, she has noticed the local blog community increasing in popularity.
“It’s sort of a given now that the social media community is very active in Edmonton.”
While Hoang’s blog is centred around local topics, she says Google analytics does prove most of her readers are local, which makes sense, and proves why her career in blogging has taken off. For someone looking to make money from their blog, Hoang agrees that a local focus is most likely the way to go. “More companies are looking for bloggers and social media people are looking for bloggers with a hyper-local audience. That network that you have is what they want.”
Partnering with businesses to promote products and services is more a more common way to now make money from a blog, according to Hoang, than to see a business stick an advertisement on the side of someone’s blog post.
“There’s a lot of blogging competition in the world. What I blog about is not that unique so tapping into the local business helps. Sometimes I wonder if I was in a bigger city, if I would have found the same success.” – Linda Hoang
However, not everyone who’s a blogging success is even thinking about the money. While some profit from their blog that doesn’t mean everyone’s in it to have a career in social media. Mhairi Berg, an Edmonton based performing artist says that while her blog, Prim & Posie, has made her some cash, she’s not willing to make it her career. “I get offers to do things regularly, but do not feel comfortable promoting companies I haven’t used myself.”
Prim & Posie gets over a hundred views a day and despite only some of her posts being YEG specific, like her Local Eats and Things To Do posts, she could see it being a viable full-time career if she chose to pursue it that way. “I have learnt that creating content that is honest and useful has been most successful. I have not put pressure on myself to just get posts out all the time, but rather when I have something to share and say,” Berg adds.
As far as what makes a blog a hit, Hoang says it’s hard work, good timing and a bit of luck. Though she does have a few guesses into what might see a rising market based on what trends in interest are starting to take off. “Things with popular culture like people with blogging about women’s rights given the current climate.”
While going local does not guarantee that a blog will be a hit overnight, it does increase its chances of avoiding the over-saturated market of online content.
