Most bloggers enter the blogging fray while being on a tight budget.
I was in the same boat.
I wanted to succeed with my blog but had few funds to spare.
Building a rocking blog on a small budget is possible if you follow a few basic tips.
It takes some money to make money but not as much as you’d believe, because ultimately, your blogging skills create your success. Beyond paying for your domain and hosting, you can develop your skills using free methods online.
Watch this video as I discuss from New York City.
Being creative, being generous and befriending top bloggers in your niche are a few of the basic steps to becoming a successful blogger despite having few ducats to drop. You don’t need to spend a fortune to become a pro blogger but you do need to do specific things backed with the right energy to succeed online with few funds available for investing.
1: Spend Money on a Domain and Hosting
This one is non-negotiable.
You cannot build a successful blog without dependable, premium hosting and a domain name.
No way around that one.
At a minimum, pay about $10 USD a month – at least – for good hosting. Doing so ensures your blog stays live virtually all of the time and loads quickly.
Cheapie bloggers who cut corners on hosting realize it is impossible to build a thriving blog with crappy hosting. Readers actually need to be able to visit your site within the next century to read your posts, to share your posts, to hire you and to buy your stuff.
Invest your money in this step.
Then you can use free marketing methods like blog commenting, guest posting and social media marketing to build friendships and to spread the word about what you have to offer, as far as your free and premium content.
2: Realize this Basic Truth: Getting Involves Giving
If you don’t spend much money to build a successful blog you devote a fair portion of your life to blogging. This means making a full commitment to:
- following your passion
- learning blogging
- practicing blogging
- creating
- connecting
over the next 2-3 years of your life.
You cannot spend little money plus little time and energy and expect to build a thriving blog.
Literally, something has to give.
Give freely to receive easily.
Devote the majority of your free time to developing your blogging skills if you work a full time job. Or if you intend to be a full time blogger expect to do the right things, backed with the right energy, 6 to 8 hours daily, or more, for the next few years, to building a thriving blog on a budget.
You need to become incredibly skilled to make a serious impact blogging while bootstrapping.
3: Find Different Means of Exchange other than Money
Find a different means of exchange other than money to pay for services or products.
You need to honor step #2 fully to become really skilled at blogging and to build a loyal friend network of skilled pros who love you and what you do, but offering exposure for services rendered is one avenue to building a blog on the cheap.
Give freelancers credit on your blog. Link to their services site. Help them grow current and future business versus receiving a one time payment for their products or services.
Of course, as your blog expands, you will be paying more money to leverage your presence but at least as an established blogger with a well known name, you can get work done by promising your freelancer a prized piece of real estate on your blog.
Your Turn
What tips can you add to this list?
How have you been blogging on a budget?