How I’d start a content creation business in 2024

After being an influencer and content creator since 2009 and successfully turning it into a full time multiple six figure business, here’s how I’d start a content creation business from scratch in 2024.

Thank you for supporting my podcast relaunch last week, and for sending me all of your fantastic questions to answer on Instagram, and here on my contact page. I’ve made a huge list of podcast topics based on your questions. I’m excited to dive into them every Tuesday morning.

For today’s episode, I wanted to answer one of the most interesting questions I received:

How would you start being professional content creator from scratch if you had to do it all over again?

This is a great question, and I’m sure a lot of you are wondering the same. Since the “influencer” and “content creator” industry has changed substantially since I started my blog in 2009, I would start slightly different in 2024. But not THAT different. There are some things that I think are universally important when diving in to this career.

Side note: these are the exact steps I took just this year when creating my newest blog & social channels, Yummy Whole Food Recipes. It’s on track to make me some money by the end of this year!

Listen to today’s podcast:

The very first thing I’d do

If I were to start my content creation business from scratch today, here’s the first thing I do. (And – spoiler – I’ve actually done this recently when I launched my second blog called Yummy Whole Food Recipes!) I’d think of what I love to do, what I’m good at doing, and what people need help with. If there’s a topic that’s common to those three things, that would be a wonderful topic to base my content off of. Now, I don’t necessarily believe you have to have a super-small niche to be successful. However, it certainly helps you start out when you can define a topic you want to write/video/talk about. It also helps to know what your ideal audience looks like.

For my The DIY Mommy business, that topic is broadly “DIY decor”. I’ve always loved making things and decorating homes, I’m good at it, and many people are searching for tutorials on this topic. For you, it might be something similar. Or perhaps it’s an even narrower niche like “eco friendly DIY ideas” or “small space decorating” or “van life” or “recipes for two”. The list is endless. The important thing is that you choose a topic that you’re truly passionate about so that you’ll never tire of researching it, writing about it, and sharing it.

Choose a name

The next thing I’d do is pick a name for my blog & social channels. (YES you should have a blog, and I’ll talk about that next.) It’s wise to choose a name that has some key words related to the topic you choose so that your name will pop up better when people are searching for information on that topic. For example, when thinking of a name for my new food blog sharing whole food based recipes, I choose the name “Yummy Whole Food Recipes”. It’s simple, and it has the key words “whole food recipes” right in the name! Think of a few variations of a name, and make it as unique as possible so that your next step is more successful.

It’s also worth it to do a quick trademark check to ensure the name you want to use isn’t trademarked by someone else. Believe me, it’s a huge hassle on both sides if you try to use a trademarked name. It’s simple to do a search online through your country’s trademark office.

Pick a domain name & social handles

Now, it’s time to stake your claim on your unique domain name for your blog and your social media handles. If you can think of a few unique names for your content creation business as outlined above, it’ll be more likely that your name will be available. First, go to a site like godaddy.com to see if the name you’re thinking of is available as a .com web address. The .com addresses are the most common and the easiest to remember, so I’d recommend trying to nab one of these if you can!

You may have to try a few iterations of your name idea to find a website address that’s available. Say you’d like to use the name “Sweet Sugar Cookie Recipes” for your cookie content creation business. Sadly, you find out that “sweetsugarcookierecipes.com” is already taken. Try some other variations of the name like “sweetestcookierecipes.com” or “sugarcookiesweetie.com” until you can find a .com name that’s available. The availability of the domain name and social media handles will help you solidify your content creation name.

Get them even if you don’t plan to use them right away

You’ll also want to try to get social media handles for all of the most popular social channels that matches your domain name as closely as possible. Don’t buy your domain name until you’ve found something that works! For example, if you’ve found that the domain name “sugarcookiesweetie.com” is available, first check to see if @sugarcookiesweetie is an available handle on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram & TikTok. Once you’ve found the perfect domain name and social handles, buy and reserve them ALL even if you don’t plan to use them. Your future self will thank you! (You may even want to grab a few iterations of your domain name with different endings like .net, .ca etc). Domain names are relatively cheap, and you don’t have to use them right away.

Create a simple website (WordPress Blog)

After purchasing my domain names and reserving my social media handles, I’d set up a simple website. I’m a huge fan of using WordPress to create a website, and it’s not that hard to do. I’m going to share an entire podcast and blog post on how to do this, but for now I’d recommend going here to learn how. You’ll have to purchase some web hosting, and install WordPress onto your hosting account. (I also recommend HostGator for hosting your blog.) Then, you’ll have to point your domain name to the website.

If this all sounds overwhelming to you, I’d recommend hiring someone to set up a simple, self-hosted WordPress blog for you. I believe it’s 100% worth it to set up a blog as a home base when starting your content creation business. Social channels can come and go (and they can even remove or restrict your account whenever they please), but a personal blog/website is solely yours and can be a steady source of income for you in the near future.

The great thing about WordPress is that once it’s set up, it’s really easy to log in and add content to your site. I’d set up a simple “About” and “Contact” page, and then create a few simple blog posts around your topic.

Start posting helpful content on social media (especially short vertical videos)

The next thing I’d do is simply start posting on social media, ensuring your blog link is in all your bios. Don’t be afraid, just start. It can be bad. It can be cringey. Your camera work can be a little terrible. As long as the content is helpful, and it’s related to your niche and target audience… POST! I think this is the best way to get going and see what types of content people enjoy.

When I first started my blog and social channels, beautiful still images reigned supreme. Now, vertical short videos are the best way to grow a following from scratch. Make your videos short and snappy, and they can be done on your phone. I’d create a blog post with photos to expand on my video so that the concept can live “forever” on my blog and be easily searched via Google.

What do I think “helpful content” is? It’s anything that can teach, inspire or entertain. Before you post anything, decide if it falls into one of these categories. If it doesn’t, it might not be worth it to post. HOWEVER, you might be surprised at what people find inspiring or entertaining! It doesn’t have to be a massive before & after room makeover. It can be as a 7 second video of your latest favourite IKEA find.

Final thought

I have so much more to say on all of these topics (and I will in future podcast episodes), but the one thing I want to leave you with is this:

DON’T GIVE UP SO SOON.

I think most people that start out in the influencer business try for a few months and then give up because they don’t see huge growth or any income. You probably won’t see either of these things for at least a year (or two… or three). However, it’s completely worth it to be patient and to be consistent so that you can grow a loyal following and later monetize your blog and social channels through ads, sponsors and so on. How often should you post on your blog and social channels? The cadence is really up to you and what you think you can sustain, but one blog a week and a social post 3 times a week is a great start.

So, those are the steps I’d take TODAY to start my content creation career. And like I said in the beginning, they’re what I HAVE done this year with a brand new blog and social channels and so far it’s doing really well! I should be able to join an ad network with my new food blog before the year ends. That’s a monetized blog in one year… which is pretty good!

I want to help you.

I want to inspire you online and give you all the tools that you need to either grow your current content creation business or start one from scratch. So with all of that being said, I want to hear from you! What do you want to hear on this podcast? I’m hoping to share everything from how to create a website to how to grow your Instagram, to how to price sponsorships… everything.

I’m also hoping to have some fellow creators on this podcast so I can chat with them and share insights from them with you as well. So, go to my contact page, send me all of your questions! I want to answer them here and I would love to hear from you.

Thank you so much for listening to today’s podcast. I hope you’re excited about this reboot. I certainly am! I’m going to be on here every Tuesday morning, so make sure to tune in on your favorite podcast network, whether that is Apple Podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.