Monday, February 29, 2016

7 Quick Tips For Blogging On The Cheap

How to run a blog frugally with 7 quick tips for blogging on the cheap. You can start and grow a successful blog for little or no money.



I am starting to see a trend among large bloggers that blog as their business, selling other bloggers how to courses and services. Some of these courses are very expensive, hundreds of dollars. In those courses you will probably be advised to spend a lot of money on your blog in order to make money. I am not devaluing these classes but instead I am going to share how you can run a blog for free or for a very small investment.

I have been blogging for about six years. At first for fun, but in the last couple of years, as a small part time business/hobby. But whatever your goal, just know that if you are a frugal blogger or downright cheap like me, you can start a blog without spending much or how to start a blog for cheap.

7 Quick Tips For Blogging On The Cheap

1. Starting out or even staying on a free platform is fine. Not only fine but doable. I have been on blogger from the beginning.
     -Don't dive in and pay for hosting if you aren't sure blogging is for you. You can start out on blogger and switch later if you decide that is for you. I know several very successful bloggers who are on blogger and run their blog as a business that catapulted them to big success in other areas. Start out blogging for free or on a cheap blogging platform.

Many folks think you can't run a blog on a free platform but I will say this, I have never ever once had my blog go down or be missing. Many who pay for their servers have this issue and that can be very stressful. There are benefits to all platforms.

2. You don't have to have an expensive camera to take good photos for your blog. I take most of my photos with my Nokia phone and edit them. If you can edit, you can make your pictures pop. There is always time to move up to a big expensive camera later.

3. You don't need to pay to edit photos. I love Picmonkey and use there free version for all my pictures.

4. You don't have to pay for an expensive email service for a while. I used feedburner forever and though it is not popular, it worked. I just subscribed to a blog I found through feedburner today. So some folks are still using it. I know subscribers are important so you can go with a bigger company right away. I use Mad Mimi now and love it. It is free up to a certain point and then very reasonable after that.

5. You don't have to pay for a domain right away. If you are just testing the waters and want to see if blogging is for you, or you want to blog as a hobby, go ahead and use something like blogger. I didn't buy my domain name for three years. Once you do you can find a very reasonable option. I use GoDaddy.

6. Don't pay for automated social media scheduling at first. Or ever if you don't want to. Here's why:
     -Build your blog up first. You need content to share so in the beginning, focus on building up your content and leaning SEO. Write good posts that will get good page ranking on Google and that is free and worth more than anything because those will be your evergreen posts that will bring you traffic for a long time.
    -When you want to dive into paid services for social media sharing and scheduling, try the free trials at first. I have found those I like and those that don't work for me by trying them for free. I started with Boardbooster (affiliate link) using their free trial. After I saw how quick it was growing my Pinterest followers, I decided to sign up for the paid program when my free 30 day trial was over.

7. Blogging takes time. I know we all hear of those that skyrocketed to a billion page views in a year but for the rest of us that is not reality. Stick it out. It may take time, a LONG time, without the results you were hoping for.

According to Rand Fishkin, CEO of Moz,  "If you can stick it out for years without results and constantly learn, iterate and improve, you can achieve something great", (buffersocial, 16 Top Tips From Blogging Experts for Beginners.

I love this. It is how I have evolved over the years. Keep at it. Hone your voice, discover who your audience is and find your niche. Read and study as much free blogging advice as you can. I try to read free blogging articles every couple of days. There is so much out there for FREE. Don't pay for it unless you really want to. Just know you don't have to.

7 comments:

  1. Great tips here - I'm still learning and finding my way around and appreciate the advice!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great tips!

    I started on blogger and am still there and like you, I have never had an issue.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I totally agree. Great tips Elaine!

    Big Texas Hugs,
    Susan and Bentley

    ReplyDelete
  4. Only issues I had were when I went to Wordpress.org for a year. I haven't had any issues with Blogger, except for the Italian lady messing with my URL. I don't whose issue that is though. I agree with you, Elaine. People think you can't make money when you're blogging for free. But as a magazine photographer who came out to photograph the little blue house said to me: "Why would anyone pay to blog if they can blog for free?"
    Brenda

    ReplyDelete
  5. Interesting points for people wanting to earn money by blogging.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is a great post! I have been on blogger for years too but made the mistake of listening to all those people who keep saying that you have to be on Wordpress. I switched over and hated it so I switched back to blogger!

    I was just talking to Brenda of Cozy Little House and she was telling me about a Facebook group that you guys have. I'd like to join but don't know what the group is called.

    Tania

    ReplyDelete
  7. I would like to just say THANK YOU for posting this info for the rest of us who have seriously considered blogging. I would love to and have entertained the idea frequently but did not know where or how to start. I love the idea of starting out very frugally, and continuing to do it frugally if possible. My dilemma is what I want to blog about. I have so many passions and ideas. Thanks again Elaine for posting and sharing with us. ~Kristine~

    ReplyDelete