If you’re here for a sneak peek at the absolute essential investments for new bloggers, you are in the right place! And I’m comin’ atcha with a no-nonsense approach to investing in your blogging business.
The kind of investing that will actually help you make money from your blog.
Because yes, you DO need to invest some time and money into your blog if you want to be profitable, but it’s important to be selective about WHAT you spend your time and money on.
So, what are the essential investments for new bloggers?
Let’s dig in!
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WHAT TO INVEST IN WHEN YOU START BLOGGING
There are some new bloggers that just want to set up a free blogging site and journal their thoughts and experiences.
That is totally fine for a hobby blogger, go nuts my friend!
But if you want to be a profitable blogger, you need to make a few small investments that will actually help you to grow and make money. And we’re talking reasonably priced investments here, nothing too outrageous.
When recommending essential investments for new bloggers, I focus on two main goals:
1. Investing in things that will help you make MONEY from your blog.
2. Investing in things that will help you SIMPLIFY and streamline your blog and business tasks (so you don’t go crazy).
Because, let me tell ya…
Running a successful blog is NO walk in the park!
It takes time, strategic effort, and consistency to make money from your blog. Any little thing that can help you simplify your processes and maximize your income is worth the investment!
TOP THREE ESSENTIAL INVESTMENTS FOR NEW BLOGGERS
Alrighty.
Now we know that we’re going to invest in things that help us make money and things that make our job easier.
Let’s break it down with the three most important investments every new blogger should make.
1. PROPER BLOG SETUP
If you want to make money blogging, you need to set up your blog like a real business (and this isn’t as scary as it sounds, I promise). REAL business owners have full ownership and full control over their business.
And the cool part about this?
It is not expensive to get full ownership and full control of your own blog. You just need to buy a domain name through a company like NameCheap and buy website hosting through a company like NameHero.
Here is a detailed guide on proper blog setup (with step-by-step instructions and pictures).
As a quick summary, proper blog setup includes buying a domain name, buying website hosting, downloading WordPress software through your website host, activating a theme for your blog, and adding legal pages to your blog.
After setting up your own self-hosted blog with WordPress.org, you will officially be a website owner that has full control over your own blog!
A self-hosted website is important for a few reasons:
1. YOU own the website. If you choose a blogging platform like WordPress .com, Squarespace, Wix, or Blogger, you DO NOT own your website. If you choose self-hosted WordPress.org, you DO own your website.
2. YOU can customize your website however you want. Those other blogging platforms are limited because you can only work within the limitations of their built-in software. If you choose self-hosted WordPress.org, you have the unlimited ability to customize your website, using plugins, coding, unique themes, and more. It can be as simple or as complex as you want.
3. YOU can grow faster and easier. Self-hosted WordPress.org allows you to use plugins and tools that help you improve your content and grow your audience.
As an example, Yoast SEO, Short Pixel, and Wordfence are all free plugins that can help you optimize, grow, and protect your site. You can also add subscribe forms to your posts and shops to your site to grow your own email list or sell your own products.
Proper blog setup is soooooo important for your success, and it’s not an outrageous expense either.
Investment in proper blog setup:
- Domain name: approximately $10/year through NameCheap.
- Website hosting: less than $50/year introductory price with NameHero (even cheaper if you buy 3 years)!
- Theme: $0 (perfectly fine to use a free theme until you have extra money to purchase one). I use the Astra theme.
- Legal Pages: $0 – $197 (depending on whether you create your own or purchase from a lawyer).
Total investment for new blogger: estimate between $60 – $300.
2. BLOGGING EDUCATION
After you get your blog setup and you start writing some kick-booty content, you’ll be on your way to making some moolah!
BUT … and this is a bigggggggggg BUT … Like, Sir-Mix-a-Lot status BIG BUTT.
Making money from a blog does not come easy to most bloggers.
It requires more than just writing great blog posts. It requires some knowledge of search engine optimization, keyword research, social media, marketing, and more.
This is because money-making blogs are helpful to READERS. And in order to be helpful to readers, we must learn how to write great content and learn how to get that content in front of the right people.
Investing in a little bit of blogging education will help you to do this (and do it the right way).
Why is this considered an essential investment for new bloggers?
Firstly, because there is A LOT of bad advice floating around out there!
Advice that can potentially hold you back or hurt your blog. Even well-meaning advice givers can unknowingly be telling you things that will keep you from excelling as a blogger.
Investing in an affordable educational resource from a PROFESSIONAL that knows what they are talking about is always a good idea!
Secondly, free information only takes you so far.
Eventually, you will recognize that you have SOME pieces of the puzzle, but you don’t have the full picture.
And this is because free information is designed to help you get started, to learn the basics, to PREPARE for the marathon.
Free information is not designed to take you to the finish line.
Thirdly, blogging education saves you a ton of TIME.
Of course, you can spend your time digging through the free stuff, trying to piece everything together and find your own way. Then spend even more time testing unproven strategies and learning through trial-and-error… and if you have no other option, this is better than nothing!
But some helpful blogging education will take out all that guess work and save you SO MUCH TIME. And then you’ll have the confidence and the strategic ability to do things the right way from the get-go.
Yes, there is a RIGHT WAY and a WRONG WAY to grow a blogging business.
And if you want this thing to make money like a real business, you must invest in it like a real business.
There are soooooo many affordable options for blogging education, you do not have to spend thousands of dollars to learn how to monetize your blog quickly and efficiently.
My top recommendations are below, but just know there are many other great options available too!
Investments in blogging education:
- An SEO e-book: $47 (essential to get your blog posts ranking in Google).
- A Pinterest marketing course: $57 (essential for bloggers that want to drive traffic via Pinterest).
- A Pinterest Pin Design course: $67 (essential for creating catchy pin images that convert, again only if Pinterest is your focus).
- An affiliate marketing course: $47 (essential to learn how to monetize your blog and maximize income).
Pro Tip: Invest in one educational resource at a time, learn all that you can about that topic, and then execute!
Total investment for new blogger: between $47 – $198.
If you have zero dollars for blogging education today (hey, we’ve alllll been there), then I recommend taking this AMAZING free SEO masterclass ASAP.
Be sure to have a notepad and pen ready to take some notes, because the masterclass is packed with helpful info!
3. AUTOMATION + OPTIMIZATION
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, ‘time is money’ … and it truly is. Even when your blog isn’t making money yet.
Your time is more valuable than you realize, and using that time efficiently will help you to make money from your blog much faster.
So, do yourself a favor.
Learn to automate and optimize the parts of your blogging biz that don’t need your actual real-time attention, so that you have free time for more important things … Like the things that help you to make MONEY.
When you’re growing a blog, you have to be present and helpful to your audience on a consistent basis. You’ll be creating helpful content for them, answering their questions, and earning their trust.
And that can be a bit tiring when you’re just a one-person show. Especially if you have other responsibilities, like a day job, a spouse, kids, or pets.
This is where automation and optimization comes in!
You can invest in tools that will help you to automate communication with your audience, send them valuable content on a regular basis, get in front of them when they’re searching for you, and allow them to save + share your stuff.
You can do a lot of this on autopilot, so that you can focus on other important tasks for your blogging biz.
Note: you won’t be able to automate EVERYTHING, but you can automate A LOT of things, to make time for other important tasks that require your attention in real-time.
Here are a few automation + optimization tools that many pro-bloggers recommend:
PUBLER
This is a social media scheduling tool that allows you to post recurring content, across several social channels, for up to 6 months in advance.
They have a basic free plan and super affordable monthly plans when you outgrow that!
Join Publer HERE.
TAILWIND
This is an automated scheduler that can post to Pinterest and/or Instagram for you. This one is only a necessary investment if you’re focused on Pinterest to get blog traffic!
Get a FREE month of Tailwind here.
MAILERLITE
This is an email service provider that allows you to automatically send emails and content upgrades to subscribers. Mailerlite is free to use for your first 1,000 email subscribers.
Get a free 14-day trial of Mailerlite Premium here.
TASTY PINS
This is a WordPress plugin that allows you to quickly and easily optimize all pin images for Pinterest.
KEYSEARCH
This is a keyword research tool that can help you to create content that people actually search for. It’s one of the easiest ways to start learning to optimize your blog content.
There are many other helpful tools out there, but I think these are some of the most helpful automation and optimization tools for newer bloggers.
Investments in automation + optimization:
Some of the above recommendations charge monthly or annually, so the investment amount varies.
These are definitely helpful investments for new bloggers, and they are HUGE time-savers, but not all of them will be essential for every single blogger.
It’s important to focus on your own strategic goals and choose tools that SERVE YOU and your blogging growth.
IMPORTANT REMINDER:
The essential investments for your blog are the things that will help you MAKE MONEY and the things that will MAKE IT EASIER for you to engage and grow.
They will be slightly different for each blogger, but proper blog setup, proper blogging education, and helpful automation tools are going to be essential on your blogging journey!
OTHER BLOGGING INVESTMENTS TO CONSIDER
I’m not someone that will recommend going into heavy debt during the early days of your business. I’m all about spending money where it matters, making smart investments, and saving money where you can!
That’s why I stick to these essential tools and recommendations for new bloggers. These are the things that can really help you move the needle for your blog, even if you’re on a tight budget!
If you have a little more wiggle-room in your budget, you might want to invest in other things that help you stand apart from the crowd.
Things like branded graphics, a premium website theme, and a logo. Maybe not essentials to some bloggers, but absolute essentials to others.
You might also want to invest in things like a quality camera, microphone, recording equipment, professional photography, etc.
These things can come in time, so don’t stress about them! Add them to your list of future investments and then focus on growing that blog audience and income.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
As a quick recap (or a brief summary for my speedy scrollers out there), here are the top three essential investments for new bloggers that want to make money.
1. Proper blog set up, including purchasing your own domain name and website hosting.
2. Proper blogging education, including some SEO training and monetization training.
3. Automation + optimization tools that will help you maximize your reach.
I don’t believe in throwing thousands of dollars at a brand-new blog. That’s just not how we roll around here.
As your blog and your blogging income grows, you will start to recognize other great investments that can take you to the next level. And that’s awesome.
But in the beginning, all you really need is a simple blog, some strategic blog training, and some automation tools that make your life easier. That’s it, my friend!
Other resources to help you grow can be found below:
How to Boost Your Blog Traffic and Reach Your Dream Clients
How to Turn Your Blog into a Money Making Machine This Year
