How To Start an Instagram Blog and Make Money

To start blogging on Instagram, you first need to convert your profile to a creator account. Instagram offers three types of accounts: business accounts, personal accounts, and creator accounts. 

The personal Instagram account is the default—when you initially sign up for Instagram, this is what you’ll automatically have access to. A business account lets you run promoted posts and ads, but Instagram also has a creator account option with these advertising features and more. 

Converting to a creator account is the best option for running a blog. Creator accounts were specifically created for influencers and bloggers and come with a few added benefits that can help with your Instagram blogging journey, including the following perks.

Before you start blogging, it’s crucial to decide on a niche for your Instagram feed. Having a streamlined and cohesive theme will help you focus your content and attract an audience interested in what you have to say. 

Honing in on a topic you’re passionate about is key since you’ll want to focus on a niche you have expertise or interest in. To start brainstorming, consider these questions:

Once you’ve narrowed in on what kind of Instagram blogger you want to be, it’s time to consider which niches are the most popular and lucrative. Thankfully, there are tons of possibilities! Here are some of the most standard Instagram niches.

Your bio and profile photo are two essential elements on your Instagram page. They are the first things users see when they visit your profile, so it’s necessary to make sure they are exciting and attractive. Though they may seem insignificant, your profile pic and bio can make or break whether a visitor stays on your page or moves on to the next account.

Your profile picture should be high-quality and showcase the theme of your blog. If you’re running a food blog, have a picture of your favorite dish. Or, if you run a lifestyle page, put a photo of yourself, so users know who they are interacting with. This photo will be the first representation of you, so make sure it encompasses what your blog is all about. 

When writing your bio, state your name or company name—you can also add your profession if you think users need more information. Your bio should show off your personality and your niche. Feel free to play around with fonts and emojis to add an extra kick. You should also add location and contact info so that it’s easier for users to find your services and connect with you. 

Make sure to add links to relevant websites or other profiles you are active on and regularly update your bio. You also should always test how your page looks on both desktop and mobile devices to ensure that both are compatible with your photo and bio.

Once you’ve chosen a niche and revamped your bio, it’s time to start creating content. Keep in mind that the best way to grow your Instagram following is by posting high-quality, engaging content relevant to your audience regularly—ideally every day. 

There are many ways to interact with your followers but figuring out what and when to post can be tricky. That’s where planning your content ahead of time comes in handy. 

Instagram is a super competitive platform, so your content must be visually appealing. Your Instagram feed is the first thing that will grab users' attention, so if your photos aren’t up to par, people will move on quickly. Taking quality photos can be challenging, but you can do a few things to make sure your posts look great. 

Instagram is saturated with beautiful images so you'll want to add a unique touch with your captions. While having quality photos is the first step to a successful blog, well-written captions can make or break a post. Not only do captions provide context for your photos, but they should also be funny, inspiring, and thought-provoking. Captions are a great way to engage with your followers and start a conversation while showcasing your personality. 

Here are a few tips for writing captivating Instagram captions:

If you're having trouble with writing captions, you can use tools like the Caption Writer app or outsource this work to copywriters using platforms like Fiverr.

Now that you’ve started creating quality content, it’s time to start building a community around your Instagram blog. The best way to do this is by engaging with your followers. Reply to their comments, run polls in your stories, and like their posts. You can start by interacting with similar accounts that you follow and with users you think would appreciate your content to draw attention to your blog.  

Another tip for building a community is by hosting giveaways and contests. These posts encourage followers to participate and help you build relationships with them. By giving followers a reason to interact with your page, you’re more likely to keep them engaged in the long run.

When running giveaways, you can create rules for entry that will increase user engagement, like following your page and tagging friends. This method is a low-cost way to get more traffic to your blog.

Hashtags are one of the best ways to get your content in front of a larger audience. Not only do they help you to reach people who aren't following you, but they can also increase the number of impressions your posts receive. To find relevant hashtags, you can use generators like All Hashtag. 

When choosing which hashtags to use, it’s essential to consider the most suitable options for your content. It would help if you used a mix of generic and branded hashtags—generic hashtags are more vague, like #foodie or #travelgram, while branded hashtags use your name or brand. Having a branded hashtag is fantastic for increasing engagement because it can help you connect with people already interested in your content.

Geotags are another feature you can use to reach more followers. All you have to do is tag the location of your photo—the more specific, the better. For example, if you’re a travel blogger posting from Paris, tagging your exact location (like the Eiffel Tower) instead of the city will still yield a lot of results when followers search the location, but not so many that they get overwhelmed or find irrelevant content. 

Incorporating relevant hashtags and geotags in your posts will allow you to reach a larger audience and hopefully increase your amount of Instagram followers. Using these tools is free and only takes a few minutes to add to your blog post, so it’s worth playing around with what hashtags and locations drive the most traffic to your blog.

In addition to regular posts, Instagram has other features to increase your reach and engagement, including Instagram Stories, highlight reels, Instagram TV, and Instagram Live. Taking advantage of all these tools will help you produce a higher volume of varied content to keep your followers excited and engaged. 

Instagram Stories are short pictures and video clips that stay on your page for 24 hours. You can use them to tease new products, give followers a behind-the-scenes look at your business, and post quick snaps of your everyday life without having to put much work into thinking of a caption. 

If you want to keep your stories permanently on your page, you can also create a highlight reel that you can curate to show your favorite stories based on locations and themes. For example, if you’re a travel blogger, you could have an entire reel dedicated to a specific country, or if you are a fitness blogger, a series of videos from your workout routine. 

Instagram TV is a feature that allows you to create long-form videos. It's perfect for sharing content like tutorials and product reviews or unboxings. You can also hop on Instagram live to connect with your followers in real time. Instagram Live is perfect for Q&A sessions and product launches since you’ll be able to read and address incoming comments as you stream your video. 

By using these all features for your blog on Instagram, you're more likely to reach a larger audience and keep followers engaged for the long run. You’ll have more freedom to be creative, interact with your audience, and add easily-accessible highlights to showcase your favorite moments.

Sponsored content refers to posts you create that advertise for another brand, which you can do by tagging the company in your bio or their product in the photo. Paid partnerships are one of the most popular ways to make money with Instagram, and you can create content for companies in exchange for products, discounts, or cash.

Making connections is crucial so do your best to promote your blog and keep an eye out for companies that may want to be affiliated with your brand. The amount of income you make will depend on how many followers you have on your page—typically, the more you have, the better partnerships you will be offered. But don’t be afraid to reach out to brands and connect with companies whose values may align with your blog.

Affiliate marketing is the process of promoting products you are passionate about and making a percentage of any sales generated when users buy with your unique link. Usually, you will be given a code to share with your followers, which will allow companies to track the sales that come from your audience.

By referring your followers to different companies and products, you can receive a commission, usually up to 10% of the sale. Affiliate links are similar to sponsored posts but can increase your profit since they are not exclusively a one-time payment—the more people use your code to become customers, the more commissions you’ll make.

Another way to make money on Instagram is by selling your products or services. You can promote anything from physical goods, like clothes and jewelry, to digital products, like e-books and courses. If you have a product or service that you think your followers would be interested in, you can promote it on your page and link to where they can purchase it. 

You can also take advantage of Instagram Shopping to create a store where you can sell your products directly to customers. A successful blog in conjunction with an online store can boost your earnings even more!