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I have been thinking about writing a post about this subject for a long time now. My blogging journey started in February 2019. After ten years of solo travel, I decided to start a travel blog…great timing, right?! Now that I am past my first year, I have a handle on the cost of running a blog. Spoiler alert! It’s cost me A LOT more than I thought it would.
If you are planning to start a blog or have one already, you will want to pay close attention to this post. I will share all that I have gone through to get this blog to where it is today. I’ll be brutally honest about my mistakes and what I wasted money on. Do your research before you start a blog; I could have saved quite a bit of money if I did.
When you are starting a blog, there is one crucial question you need to ask yourself. That question is, are you starting a blog as a hobby or as a business?
The Cost of Running a Blog as a Hobby
The Cost To Start For a Hobby Blogger
If you are starting a blog just as a hobby, with no intention of creating a business, it’s fairly inexpensive. But, if you are starting it as a hobby and secretly hoping your blog will be so awesome that it will become profitable, read this whole post.
I won’t lie; I was one of those people when I started this blog. My sneaky hope is that it would just explode in popularity based on my great style and raw knowledge of solo travel. So I started the blog, knowing nothing other than I have great advice and taste.
Well, here we are, a little over a year in, and not only have I made nothing, but I have also spent quite a bit. How much exactly? Oh, I won’t tell you just yet. I want to build the suspense a little.
But how much is it to have a hobby blog? The annual cost of running a blog as a hobby could be as little as $250. You really just need the basics if you are blogging for a hobby.
Hobby Blogger Costs
A simple list of what you need to get your blog up and running is as follows:
- Domain name cost
- Hosting service
- Blog Theme
I know that list seems very small you must be wondering what you need to blog for profit?
The Reality of Blogging for Profit
How to make money from your blog
Everyone that has a blog will have a different story about how they grew their blog and their challenges. Some people who started the blogging game early grew without a lot of difficulties because there wasn’t too much competition.
The times have changed. Everyone has a side hustle now and depending on your niche, the competition is FIERCE.
To make money from your blog, you need to be very to be dedicated and competitive. There are a few ways to make money from your blog. Be aware it may take quite a while to see a penny in any of these strategies.
Offering Products and Services
A way to make money immediately is to offer your own products and services. This is a great strategy if you have a product or a service.
To give you a few examples, are you a food blogger interested in hosting cooking classes? Are you a travel blogger that could offer tours of your own city?
Some product examples could be a business manager offering templates or workbooks.
Are You Tech-Savvy?
Are you tech-savvy is a crucial question to ask yourself. Do you know some website basics? Do you speak the “WordPress language”? If you do, then great. You just might be able to keep your sanity and all those Benjamins; )
If you know nothing about starting a website and are planning to go self-hosted with a WordPress site, there are some things to know.
First of all, if you don’t know what the difference between self-hosted sites and hosted sites are let me help you. I struggled with the difference, and it leads to a very costly mistake.
The Cost of Running a Blog Self-hosted or Hosted
Let me tell you; I really couldn’t grasp the difference between wordpress.com and wordpress.org at first. It’s confusing and annoying.
Wordpress.com is its OWN hosting and platform you use to create your blog. I first created my blog with the platform Wix. But, soon after spending months getting it launched, I realized to grow it, I needed a self-hosted site. I read that having a blog with WordPress is the best platform for growth. So I thought, ok, fine, and I went to wordpress.com, signed up, picked a plan and the migration started. Yay!
But wait. I didn’t get a self-hosted site, because how the hell would I know the difference? This is what happens when you don’t do the research. So there I am with a new site hosted with wordpress.com, basically the hosting situation as I was in with Wix.
Going with Wordpress.com as the host isn’t bad, but it has its limitations. Same as Wix or Square Space. All are great site platforms, but if you are doing a blog for a business with ads, you want to go WordPress self-hosted.
Yes, you can run Google ads on your site hosted with Wordpress.com. But, you will have a lot of limitations on themes, plugins, and other ad revenues if you go with WordPress.com as the host.
Something I did with regard to my URL was to register it with someone other than my host. It makes moving it much easier. I purchased this on NameCheap.com.
If you get your site domain directly with a host such as Wix or Wordpress.com, it can be more expensive, and moving to different hosts can be more involved.
Hosting with Wordpress.com
Hosted with WordPress
- You can bring your own domain URL over. Or Purchase it directly with the host.
- Wordpress.com is the host. Choose your hosting plan with them.
- Build your site in the Wordpress platform.
- The annual cost is a bit more with wordpress.com as a host. But as a host they are fantastic. They seriously helped me with every little question or issue.
Hosting with Siteground.com
Self-hosted
- Get your domain name from Name Cheap or some other domain site.
- Get your own host, such as Site Ground. Choose your monthly plan.
- Build your site in Wordpress platform.
- If you are self-hosted and have an issue, you can ask Site Ground, but you need to fix it yourself. Site Ground has tons of self-help videos and guides.
Flow Chart for the Self-Host Set-Up Process
I struggled to understand that if you switch your hosting to a self-host from wordpress.com hosting, everything will still look the same. I thought I needed a whole new login I would be going to wordpress.org to sign in. You don’t. Everything looks EXACTLY the same. Just instead of asking WordPress for help in the contact section, you go to Siteground.
Going self-hosted really has been the biggest issue for me as a beginner. I don’t know anything about websites. Even basic terms and concepts were foreign to me.
If you are technologically challenged, it can really add to the cost of having a blog. It’s a guarantee that you will encounter an issue, and if you aren’t familiar with basic website terms, it can be tough. The responses you can get from self-hosted customer service can seem like they speak in a different language. My CNAME needs to point at what?! It’s a lot to learn.
My brain and soul have melted down many times. Find me some tissues, please.
Self-Hosted Solutions When You Have an Issue
It can get expensive when you have a tech issue with your site, and allow me to share mine. The cost of running a blog will depend on how your blog is functioning.
Not to go too far into the issue, but just to give an overview, it’s about pictures. My site is pretty simple; it does not perform magic tricks. I display images, texts, a few ads, and a video.
For whatever reason, on some mobile devices, my pictures don’t display. It’s been hard to figure out why. When you have a self-hosted site, the response from the host when you ask for help is “hire an expert.” Oh, joy! Let’s really spend some money now.
So, here we go again with the cost. I have spent over $800 using professionals for this issue and site speed in one year. The service company I use is called Codeable. I don’t love paying for help, but since it is necessary, I happily recommend them.
Websites are tricky. You do one little new thing, and many issues can arise. It is never quick and easy, so take a big fat breath. While using Codeable, the people working on my site went above and beyond to help me and answer every little question I had.
Hopefully, you can now see what you are getting into. I am trying to make the point that if you don’t know a lot about websites, tech issues cost a lot. I will move on to more costs of running a blog.
Picking a Blog Theme
By now, you might be reading this thinking, damn, creating a blog is a huge drag. Well, the fun part of making a blog is picking a theme!
Admittedly, I spent more than I needed to because I changed my theme so many times. A lot of money can be saved if you just take your time and think about the theme before buying it.
Yes, there are plenty of FREE themes out there, but depending on your niche, you want to pick something that stands out. Free blog themes are, well, not that inspiring. But the choice is yours.
In the end, or I should say, at this time of writing this post, I have a theme by 17th Avenue. And I love it!
The Cost of Running a Blog – Your Time
I have jokingly thought about changing the name of my blog to This is Why I am Single. Why? Because a blog will suck up every minute of your free time. That is if you are trying to run a blog that makes a profit. It’s not enough that you have great information and a great aesthetic.
Both the information and aesthetics are vital to your blog’s success, but it is not the only thing that matters. Here is a short list of what else you should expect to spend your time doing:
Setting It Up Right
Thinking of starting a blog, creating a product, or becoming an Influencer? If so, you need to protect yourself!
Finding all the contracts you need can be a headache. Luckily, The Contract Shop has everything in easy-to-find bundles!
>> Contract Templates For Content Creators & Small Business
Since many of you coming to this post are likely thinking about starting a blog, I insist you take a course.
I took The Blogger Bootcamp course after I had created my blog. If I had started with this all-inclusive how-to course, I would have saved SO MUCH MONEY. This course walks you through exactly what to do.
The Blogger Bootcamp gives you a broad overview of exactly what you need. It sets you up with tools and branding ideas right from the start.
If you want to avoid the unneeded costs of running a blog, invest in this course NOW.
Learn SEO
Think your blog will be found on the internet without understanding SEO? Think you will just get lucky, and it will become wildly popular? Let me burst that bubble. It won’t.
The best blogging course for SEO is by SheKnowsSEO. It’s an added cost of running a blog that you can’t afford to skip. I purchased her course in December 2022, and look at my traffic results for the past 3 months!
You also need to get Keysearch and start playing with long-tail keywords.
Social Network Threads
Plan to spend time on Facebook threads with other bloggers trying to help each other grow. You need to participate in Pinterest threads to help grow your presence there. These threads can be very time-consuming, but I find them necessary until your blog is ranking on Google.
Pinterest for Blog Growth
Pinterest. This is how you really get some traffic. With the right strategies, you can get a lot of traffic to your blog. Growing with Pinterest is much more achievable than on other platforms. I use tailwind to help grow my Pinterest. It’s a fool’s game without it. My affiliate link for tailwind will get you a discount.
Creating Pins, and More
Make Pins for Pinterest. If you are doing Pinterest to help yourself grow you need to make pins. The pin design is important, if you don’t understand how to make attractive pins, then it’s a waste of time. I create all my pins in Canva. Canva is amazing. It is my favorite design platform I use.
Instagram. The platform is very saturated and you really need to stand out to grow a following.
I was a student of The Influencer Bootcamp. This course is from the same maker as The Blogger Bootcamp. I learned a lot about transforming my feed and attracting more people.
If you have a new platform for business, this course is vital to helping you build a profile that stands out from the rest.
Posting is very time-consuming. To make posting manageable, use the post planner Planoly.
Editing & Sizing Photos
Editing and resizing your photos is so important. I spend a lot of time editing my photos in Adobe Lightroom and then resizing them before uploading them into the blog. I use the resizer, Image 2 Go.
Writing Blog Posts
Writing your blog post can take a hot minute! Some people can produce a post in one day, and those people must be magicians. If you can write like a wizard and produce a post in a day, I applaud you!
Self-editing is hard! One of the best tools I use for grammar and such is Grammarly.
So let me ask you, how much is your time worth? You can see from my long is of must-dos for every post; that this is not just a couple hours a week kind of thing. Making a blog is a massive undertaking. I overlooked this factor when I got started.
Photography Gear & Extras
Blog Extras for Optimal Functionality
I was so naive when I started this blog. Because I did so little research on how to create a blog, I felt blindsided by all the extra costs of running a blog.
Let me start with the scheduling apps I use, which are:
- Planoly for Instagram post scheduling. This scheduler will allow you to schedule your Instagram posts and post them to Twitter and Facebook. I love the simplicity and design of this app. It is more user-friendly than the other scheduling apps I have tried.
- Tailwind for Pinterest scheduling. Though you shouldn’t rely solely on a scheduler to do all your pinning, this scheduler really helps you stay consistent. You will still have to pin to keep the algorithm happy manually.
Now let’s talk about Plugins that I am using and find to be vital:
- WP Rocket– This plugin will help best optimize your site for speed and function. It has a low annual cost, but still, it’s a cost I wasn’t expecting.
- Social Pug– I love this plugin. What it does is it lets you put in a pin description for any photo on your site. This was if someone pins an image from your site, it goes into Pinterest fully loaded for success. Also, with a meager annual cost, I would highly recommend it!
Email Services & Forms
If you read my post on how to make a downloadable map, then you read all about how to automate something. It is essential to offer your readers freebies and extras of your content.
In the post about maps, I recommend using Active Campaign and Lead Pages. Both are great platforms, however, I have found a better service that better represents my brand. The service I use now that combines both the “lead page & form” and the sending is Flodesk.
Flodesk is a MUST HAVE! It will cost less than both the Lead Pages and Activate Campaign combined. The stylish and user-friendly platform had me at, hello ; )
Essential Items | Camera Related
Depending on your niche, some of this gear will be vital. If you are running a blog that could rely on using stock photos primarily, like an advice blog, the following equipment might not be as necessary.
If you are a travel blogger, food blogger, or lifestyle blogger, you will need to factor camera equipment into the cost of running a blog.
- Mirrorless Camera & Lens
- Tripod
- Remote
- Film Disk
I have a full list of the essential camera gear to take breathtaking photos.
The Cost To Start A Blog
Here is the list you are likely searching for, the cost of running a blog. This list contains the annual cost of what it will cost if you do it the right way.
The Annual Must-Have List
| Domain Name – Namecheap – Annual Cost | $12 |
| Self-Hosting- 1st Year with Site Ground – 1st yr. Annual Cost | $223 |
| Theme – 17th Avenue + Installation (one time) | $194 |
| Keyseach.co -Annual Cost | $169 |
| Email Service – Flodesk– Annual Cost | $456 |
| Social Pug Plug-In Pro – Annual Cost | $34 |
| WP – Rocket Plug-In | $49 |
| Adobe Creative Cloud – Annual Cost | $132 |
| Planoly – Annual Cost | $108 |
| Tailwind Premium – Annual Cost | $104 |
| Canva Pro | $119 |
| Photo Presets (worth EVERY penny) | $46 |
| Total: | $1,646 |
What I Spent on Extra’s
Let me go get the violin for when you read this list.
| Codeable- Blog Tech Help | $900 |
| Pinterest Ads | $325 |
| Facebook Ads | $250 |
| Instagram Ads | $200 |
| Brand Collaboration Contracts | $455 |
| SEO Courses | $147 |
| Blog Online Course | $450 |
| Camera & Lens | $850 |
| Tripod | $69 |
| Film Disk | $30 |
| Remote | $30 |
| Total: | $3,689 |
How to Offset the Cost of Running a Blog
After all of that, are you still eager to get into the blogging game? Are you wondering how you could offset some of the costs of running the blog? Let me give you a few ideas of how you can turn this money pit into a moneymaker!
Affiliate Links – The Basics
Amazon.com– No surprise here, but there is a catch. Before signing up for Amazon, you should already have a lot of traffic. Why? Amazon requires that you make three sales in the first 180 days. Sounds easy, right? It’s not.
If you think, oh well, I will have a friend buy three things from my site, and I will reimburse them, think again. Amazon is smart. They somehow caught on to me when I tried that, and the sales made didn’t count!
Shareasale– This is an affiliate platform to get links for merchants, such as Artifact Uprising, a make-your-own photo book company. This is where you can apply to join programs for merchants you think would best sell on your site. Depending on your website age and the niche, you may not get approved for the programs you try and join. I have been denied in the past; ouch, it does sting a little sometimes.
Cj Affiliates– This is an affiliate platform just the same as Shareasale. Different merchants, but the same idea.
Rewards Style– This affiliate network may be hard to get approved for a new blog. I applied and was approved, but my blog was one year old. This affiliate network is excellent for blogs such as lifestyle, fashion, health, and beauty.
Get Your Guide– This affiliate network is only for travel bloggers.
Safety Wing Travel insurance affiliate program for nomads and travelers.
Discover Cars – Car rentals worldwide
Cost of Running a Blog Summary
The bottom line is you need the drive, motivation, patience, and a little money to make a blog successful. If I had read this article with the cost of running a blog all spelled out like this, I would have given it another thought. No sense in sugar-coating it; making a blog is a lot.
The truth is I had NO IDEA how much hard work and money would be needed to make a blog. I have a high level of respect for anyone who successfully created and stuck with their blog. I know just how time-consuming and thankless it can really be.
Truth About Affiliate Links
Also, I softly wanted to mention that it can take a long time for affiliate links to bring in revenue. I have found that some consumers seem to have an aversion to them. Other bloggers talk about this, mainly when the word “influencer” is being used.
People should want to use someone’s affiliate link. Otherwise, the company you just purchased from is getting free advertisement and endorsement. Doesn’t everyone want to support the little guy, not just let the big guy get bigger?
Not sure exactly why some people rather not use them. Maybe it’s the control you have not to use it, and not let that blogger earn money. I can’t say exactly.
Almost all the links in this post have an affiliate link. They all link to the services or products I use. I encourage you to contact me if you have more questions about anything I recommend in this post.
I have to be transparent about creating a blog. Blogging for profit is much harder than I ever dreamed, and I did want to burst that bubble early on.
I hope you learned something from this post, and I would be happy to talk to anyone with more questions! Please subscribe to my newsletter for freebies and insider info!
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Tina says
Thanks so much for all of the information! I really appreciate this, I needed the guidance. I will definitely implement some of the things in your post! Thank you!! Take care!
Roslin says
Hey Melissa! It looks pretty overwhelming to see all the costs at once. I am also running a blog, and recently I was counting all the money I have spent on it. It is thankfully not so much yet, but I am sure if I want to see a better blogging website, then I must spend on a few tools like yours. Overall this blog is beneficial. Thanks for writing that for bloggers like me.
Melissa Byron says
Thank you! It’s comments like this that really make my day! So glad my post helped you!
Katie says
Hello! This is a super helpful blog post – thank you so much for sharing all of this honest and valuable information. I had one question – I noticed on 17th Avenue Designs that their themes are available to purchase and install yourself vs. paying to have them install for you. Would you mind sharing why you decided to pay to have it installed? My apologies if you already mentioned this in the post – I didn’t see it.
Melissa Byron says
I am so glad you found it helpful!! I paid for the installation because I was brand new and tech was very hard for me. I also was transferring my site from another platform. Had I started out from scratch I would have self-installed. I was worried I would make a mistake doing the transfer and set up myself. I do think that 17th Avenue has really great instructions to set it up by yourself! If you have any more questions, let me know!
Holly Potter says
Hi Melissa,
A big thank you for this helpful article and above all for your honesty & transparency… Those are not often found and very much appreciated! I started a blog a few years ago but had to give it up due to family & personal circumstances (I absolutely understand and appreciate the time-consuming factor!), however I’m at a point where I’m wanting to start up again and do it properly this time. I just discovered Christina Galbato this week which is how I found your site and I’m seriously considering the Blogger Bootcamp. So thank you also for your honest review on that too!
I wish you all the best for your future and look forward to reading more of your articles.
Love & Lovelyness,
Holly
Melissa Byron says
Hey Holly! I am really glad you enjoyed the post! My goal is to provide an honest account of my experience. I got a lot out of the course, and if you purchase it through my link in the post, i offer a free consult to answer any blogging questions you may have: )
Sarah says
Hi Melissa,
I discovered your blog thanks to Christine’s webinar on blogging, which I attended last week. I would like to start blogging and I have a tech question: do you think that using MAC is absolutely essential for blogging or do you that PC (laptop) would be fine as well? I’d appreciate your opinion about it.
Thanks, Sarah
Melissa Byron says
Hey Sarah! Thanks for reaching out! I don’t see any reason why you would need a mac. I do think if you are creating a blog, you need to do it in WordPress and go self-hosted. If you read my post, then you know all the mistakes I made when I started. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Raquel says
Thanks for your post. It is very informative and inspiring. I joined your mailing list. You mention we must read “make traffic happen”. I would love to! But can you tell me where to find it please? I poked around and couldn’t find it. Thanks!