Start a Blog the Cheap Way

Maybe you’ve considered blogging, but think you can’t afford to start?  You can start a blog the cheap way, and today I’m going to share with you how!

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I get it. Because, you don’t have to look very far to find the many, many expenses that can come with blogging. There are courses everywhere, services to enhance and help you make money with your blog, eBooks and so much more.

But, can I tell you a little secret?

You can start blogging on a very, very small budget.

You can also make money blogging on a very, very small budget.

I know this is true because it’s how I started. You see, I didn’t have much money to invest in it. I knew I’d have to invest SOMETHING into it to get it started, but it had to be very minimal because the money wasn’t there.

At first I was worried. Could I even do this without joining the courses and programs every other blogger raved about? I was in some amazing Facebook blogging groups and whenever one of these major, well-known courses would open their doors new bloggers showed up in droves.

But then, I stumbled on a few well-known bloggers who have been around for years. I discovered that some of them started out just like me – with only a very small budget.

Many of these bloggers started without any bells and whistles. They just used what money they could and put it towards building their home business.

So, that’s what I did.

THE TWO ITEMS I INVESTED IN WHEN I STARTED BLOGGING

I bought two things for my blog to start. I purchased hosting with Bluehost, because you need to buy hosting if you want to run your blog as a business. Advertising companies and other services you will run into during your blogging career will take you more seriously and look to you as a professional if you have a self-hosted website.

So I made sure to buy my hosting, but I got a great deal for $3.95 per month.  Now, you do pay this upfront for the entire year, but it is super cheap.  You can get a free domain with Bluehost as well!

The second thing I purchased was an eBook called Pinteresting Strategies. It has now changed from an eBook to a course, but it is still a super affordable option at only $47!

Here’s the thing. While others around me were investing in courses that were $500-$1000, I bought my tiny affordable little eBook.

And I studied that book hard. And then I applied every single thing in the book.

I treated my blog like a business. I committed to writing three posts a week for the first year. If the post wasn’t done, I didn’t go to bed.

Every day I gave any extra time I had and worked on my blog. That wasn’t always easy as I have three kids whom I homeschool, and a homestead. But I was determined.

By month 4 I was making money. I had enough traffic to my blog that I could apply for an advertising company.

4 months may seem long to you, but in blog world, it’s really not. Being accepted into a decent advertising company at 4 months is really, really good.

The truth is, you may see posts circulating online about how someone made X amount of dollars in their first month.

While that very well may be true, it’s a rarity. Many bloggers barely make anything the first year. So, to be making money at 4 months without investing a large sum of money into blogging products is definitely something to be excited about!

I will say, I think it was very important to invest in Pinteresting Strategies at the beginning.  It was a guide for how I could use Pinterest to grow my traffic.  Without that traffic I would not have made money.

At that 4 month mark I made a few hundred dollars, and every month after that it grew a little more to the point that I am happy with what I am making now.  It’s very close to a full-time income for myself.

WHEN TO FINALLY INVEST MORE MONEY IN THE BLOG

Now, I made myself a deal. I would not buy anymore courses or products for my blog until I started making money. And that’s exactly what I did. When I finally made some money I bought another course. Again, this was a cheaper course.

I’ve since purchased other items along the way, none that have been crazy expensive. I’ve also purchased services, like an email provider service. When you are starting out you can use a free one called Mailerlite which gives you a free service until you reach 1000 subscribers.

You don’t need all the bells and whistles when you start blogging.  You need hosting, maybe one course to help you get started in gaining traffic, and then you need to buckle down and focus on pushing out a ton of content in the beginning.

Once you do that you’ll be able to build on it.

But don’t fall for the lie that you need to invest a ton of money to be successful.  Yes, you need to invest some for sure, but you can do it on a budget.

Now, I don’t want to discredit these costly courses out there.  Some of them are absolutely amazing.  They have helped so many people and maybe down the road I will still take a few of them.  The people behind these courses know their stuff, and most have successful blogs to prove it.

So please hear me when I say that there is value in them.  Some of them offer a TON of value and it really is worth the money.

All I am saying is that if you don’t have the money to do that, don’t feel discouraged and like you can’t start a blog.   The last thing you want to do is go deeply into debt into blogging only to find out it isn’t working or isn’t actually something you enjoy in the long run.

Spend the first few months getting to know the ropes of blogging.  The lingo (because, there was some serious blog lingo I had to learn!), using your blogging platform (please tell me I’m not the only technology challenged one) and getting into the habit of producing content consistently.

A lot of success in blogging comes down to consistency and treating it like a business.

One of my favorite resources I used in the beginning and still use to this day is a Facebook group called Blogging Like You Mean It.  This group was started by Carly, the creator of Pinteresting Strategies.  In this group I learned so much.  I also learned that I did not know a lot! 🙂  It is a group that I still go to when I have questions and many people there are very helpful and knowledgeable.

The biggest thing to remember when it comes to blogging is that it is a marathon, not a sprint.  It’s not a get rich quick scheme.  It takes a lot of time and dedication.  So if you start blogging and feel frustrated that it’s taking so long, and question if it is because you didn’t spend a lot of money on the expensive resources out there, chances are it’s probably not and you just to hang in there, put your head down, and work hard and consistently.

The great thing about blogging is that you CAN start one relatively cheap.  Generally when you start your own business it’s going to be a considerable investment that you need to make in it.  However, with blogging you can build a thriving, growing business with very little money.

And obviously the icing on the cake is that you can work from home, around your schedule.  As a homeschooling mom of three with a busy homestead this has been amazing for me.  To be able to make money while also stay home with my kids and take care of our homestead has been an amazing gift and blessing.

I deeply believe almost anyone can build a successful blog if they want to.  If I can do it you can too!  The truth is, I had three other blogs before I started this one.  They all failed.  You can read a bit about that in this post.  But the blogs failed mainly because of what I didn’t know, and that I didn’t treat it like a business.  I didn’t buy hosting, I didn’t try to grow traffic from Pinterest, I didn’t know about the Facebook group where I could ask questions.

So unfortunately, I had to take the LONG way around to learn about how to be successful at blogging.  However, you can avoid that by applying the things in this post to start and grow your blog.

For more blogging help, check out these other posts:

How to make Money Blogging

Increase Blog Traffic (and make Money!)

How to Start Blogging with Bluehost

Blogging for Beginners