Creating a business around your passions is one of the most rewarding things in life. I can’t recommend it enough!! My blog enables me to live & work on my own terms (something I think every girl should experience!!).
Here are all the things I wish I knew before I created my blog that would have saved me so much time and money.
1. Choosing a Niche
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Blogging is wildly different than when I started following influencers in 2014. As I’m writing this in 2021, it’s so, so important to have a niche – a specific topic that you are known for. As time goes on you can branch out to other topics, but initially pick one topic! For me, that was capsule wardrobes for traveling & it later evolved to lifestyle topics. You get the drift!
2. Naming your Blog
This might actually be the hardest, or easiest part, depending on you! It’s so easy to get stuck here and let this stop you from launching until you think everything is perfect. Don’t let this hold you back from starting!
My advice here is to pick something easy to pronounce, easy to remember, and makes sense with your niche. Nothing is going to be perfect when you first start, but you have to start! Mostly telling this to myself because I didn’t launch for literally years because I couldn’t find the perfect blog name.
If you find down the road that a rebrand would be beneficial, you can always do that!
Once you find a free domain, it’s time to move on!
3. Buying the Domain Name
A tip I wish I had at this stage is that you can buy the domain name through your hosting plan! If you don’t you’ll have to transfer it over to your domain later and can be a bit of a pain.
I highly recommend using Bluehost to purchase your domain name and get a hosting plan from them as well.
The price of a domain name can really vary, but most are under $15. Up to you how much you’d like to spend here!
4. Choosing a Hosting Plan
I use Bluehost and always recommend it to anyone, even if they already have a blog. The basic plan is excellent and under $14/month. Bluehost has super responsive customer service and will walk you through how to set up your website and install WordPress step by step.
5. WordPress.org vs WordPress
A wordpress.org blog will initially be easier to set up BUT it’s so much harder to customize and have control over your website. If you want to take your blog seriously as a business, definitely use a WordPress blog. A WordPress blog allows you to do so much more with the design of your website and lets you have YOUR domain name, instead of yourblog.wordrpess.org. I firmly believe that brands and readers take your site much more seriously with WordPress.
6. Making Your Blog Look Like Your Brand
On to the fun part! Once you have WordPress installed in Blue Host, it’s time to download a theme to give your website everything it needs to be used by readers – menus, colors, design & fonts. There are cute free themes available in the WordPress app if you’re on a tight budget!
If you have a little money to spend and want an aesthetically pleasing theme, I love Empress Themes. The shop has super helpful RewardStyle plug-ins too if you plan to earn money through affiliate links and sliders.
7. Growing Your Blog
If you have a following anywhere on any type of social media, promote your blog there! I have mine in my Instagram bio and link to it in stories a few times a week. The majority of my traffic comes from Instagram.
Pinterest is also extremely useful at growing your blog readership and increasing page views. I highly recommend using Tailwind to schedule your pins to go up automatically. Also – you will benefit so much from using Canva to create stunning and click – inspiring pins.
Lastly, installing an SEO guiding plugin like YoastSEO or RankMath in WordPress will let you know if your posts are SEO friendly. You want all your blog posts to have the highest chance of ranking on search engines. These plugins let you know what changes to make to make your blog post ready for Google!
8. Making Money with Your Blog
Every blog post your write is an opportunity to connect with your readers, grow your social media following and possibly convert a product/service you’re mentioning into a sale.
I’m sure you’ve heard that you can’t make money from blogging right away. That might have been true five years ago but it’s absolutely not true now. You can make extra money immediately with affiliate links and even ad space.
That said, it important to not annoy your readers, so selling ad space might not be your thing. It’s not for me right now and I’m content with that.
As your audience grows you can also offer brands a sponsored blog post in exchange for a flat fee. Just make sure it aligns with your brand and won’t throw your readers off.
One more tip to bump your blogging income is to have a Contact Me page with a WPForms form that allows brands to contact you. You can also do a Work With Me page and detail all your offerings and then direct brands to your collab email address.
Making a full income from your blog is totally possible, just don’t quit!
Okay, so you’ve been taking your blog and social media channels seriously for a few months and are ready to take it up a notch. Even if blogging is your side hustle, I really think treating it like a business instead of a hobby will benefit you, your time, and your wallet.
Producing content isn’t free, so let’s go over how to budget for your new hustle.
I’ve learned a few tricks over the years that have saved me from spending hundreds more than I need to. If you’re a creator, freelancer, blogger, influencer (you get the gist!) it’s SO important to start your blog with a budget in mind.
Tip 1: Take an unfiltered look at your spending.
I know, this part might be tough! I don’t like seeing how much I’ve spent on lattes either, but it’s an important and necessary first step. An easy and painless way to do this is by taking advantage of a free digital wealth manager. My favorite is Personal Captial – an online tool that safely links to your bank and breaks everything down for you.
Pro Tip: Do this first thing in the morning & allow 1-2 hours to review all your transactions for the past 60 days.
Tip 2: Customize your spending categories
After you’ve looked through your spending and have an idea of what your recurring expenses are, it’s time to personalize the Personal Captial budgeting tool for you!
I love creating my own categories that are specific to my blogging business. It helps me manage my budgets and see if I’m on track or not.
Some of my personalized categories include:
- Photography
- SEO consulting
- Clothing & Props
- Website Hosting
Some of my income categories are:
- Influencer Agencies
- Affiliate Sales
- Direct Partnerships
Now it’s your turn!!
Tip 3: Create budgets based on your spending and needs
Did you see any transactions that seemed unnecessary or made you wince? If so, let’s make a budget for that category! For example; when I did this, I realized I spent $200 a month on parking fees during photoshoots!
I made a budget for parking expenses, shopping, etc and now I’m WAY more mindful of my spending. The budgeting tool will help you stay on track and give you a baseline for what your business and wallet can handle.
Tip 4: Stay current
Okay, picture this – you’ve done all this amazing work and have turned a new page in your business! You’re blog is taking off and you’re booked and BUSY. A last-minute collaboration comes in and you need to get props, a photographer and an outfit to get the job done.
You’re away from your desktop when you get the good news & want to check in on what you can afford to spend to get the campaign done & stay profitable.
This is where the Personal Capital app is a must!! It’s free and syncs to your desktop account automatically, so it’s super easy. You can see all your budgets on your phone & make informed decisions on accurate & simple data. Love it.
Happy budgeting boss babes! Let me know what you think in the comments.
This post is in partnership with Personal Captial. As always, my opinions and thoughts are my own.
