This is a post I have wanted to write for a while now, but the recent talk on Twitter about expenses of blogging made me think I should pull it forward in my schedule. Blogging does have expenses, and some of these are things you wouldn’t really think of if you aren’t within blogging/website development etc. It’s often the same people who think blogging is ‘just typing a blog post’ that think this is a completely free hobby, or an easy full-time job for some. So, I wanted to be completely transparent about how I afford to host this blog, own a domain, have a paid theme, and of course pay for a lot of the products you see in my posts.
Part-Time Work
So, when I first started my blog, I was just starting university and I was on a free WordPress plan. So, my only real expenses were the products I was talking about, and a lot of the products were ones I already owned pre-blog. However, I full on panicked about money during my first semester of University and desperately wanted a part-time job. I ended up working 6 days a week in Primark running up to Christmas (yes it was as stressful as it sounds). This meant that I had a lot of disposable income because I was Monday to Saturday evenings, which also meant I wasn’t spending a lot because I was working when others were going out.
So, I would say my first big expenses for my blog which were going self-hosted and purchasing a theme, were paid by my extra income from my job at Primark. Obviously not all bloggers have the time or ability to take on a part-time role, but if you are a student blogger and have a low course load, then part-time jobs are good to have. Plus, they give you additional CV experience! I would also add that I had a placement year as well, meaning I was being paid a (small but liveable) full-time wage for a year, which allowed me to have extra money too.
Affiliate Links
If you’re a returning reader of my content, you’ve probably seen affiliate links in my posts. For me, affiliate links don’t actually create an income at all for this blog. A lot of my content is book focused at the moment, and honestly, I haven’t gone back to add affiliate links into my older beauty content. And seeing as beauty content is much more viable for affiliate links commission, this means I’ve had minimal commissions.
I’ve added this in though because I have received some commissions and I wanted to be completely transparent. Affiliate links are also common across most blogs as they’re so easy to set up.
AdSense
Another extremely small stream of income for me is using AdSense. I set up AdSense in December 2018 to have 1 ad space in my sidebar. I also went on hiatus in February until July, so this hasn’t gotten me anywhere near the pay-out threshold set by Google. I think I’ve made about 10p per month! But again, for transparency I thought this would be good to share with you, especially if now that I’m getting more page views again with new content, this will improve.
Copywriting
My main way of paying for my blog for this Uni year has been through freelance copywriting. I usually get paid on a task by task basis, and honestly, it’s not a lot. But because I’m a decent writer and I have previous copywriting experience from work, it was extremely easy for me to pick this up freelance. It meant that if I was having a tough week at Uni, I didn’t need to accept any work. Or if I needed extra cash, I could accept more tasks in one week.
This meant I could afford to re-new my hosting when it came up this year. Which was helpful as other than my student loan (which I refuse to spend on my blog) this was my only income in the past 12 months.
Working with Brands
One of the key things is that since I’ve been blogging for nearly 4 years, and nearly 3 being self-hosted, this means that I do get some benefits from it. A lot of the books I read are free in exchange for a review, being sent by the publisher or requested by myself through Netgalley. I have also received beauty products, coffee, and even clothes through this blog – and at this moment I know I have items in the post for future content. This means that my expenses can sometimes be nothing in one month, which helps a lot if my income streams have a poor turnout.
Do you have any other income streams for blogging?
Any questions about any of these?
View Comments (6)
Thank you for being so honest about expenses and earnings. I think there's a real assumption that bloggers earn mounds of cash, but I haven't earnt a penny from mine yet.
I've seen people selling ad space to other bloggers on Twitter, so perhaps that's something to consider in the future.
Georgia - britvoyage.com
Thank you so much for reading Georgia! I completely agree that people percieve this to be a lot more money involved - but most of mine is very much I *needed* to find the money and got into copywriting! I've also seen that and it might be a good option! x
Like many hobbies, blogging isn't free, especially when you need to have different components to get it running. I like that you have different ways to fund your blog. Copywriting is great! Glad you've had some collabs with different brands over the years. I don't really rely on my blog for income, though my main job funds it. Thanks for sharing!
Nancy ♥ exquisitely.me
I think once I start a full-time role I'll be much more dependent on that as, like you, I don't find my blog to be an income stream! Thank you for reading and also sharing your own experience with blogging costing money! x
With havin so much written content do you ever run into any issues of plagiarism or copyright? My site has a lot of unique content I've either authored myself or outsourced
but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my permission. Do you know any ways to help stop content from being stolen?
I'd really appreciate it.
Hey Willa - thanks for commenting, I actually have a post which touches on this here: https://www.uptownoracle.com/protect-your-brand/ - hope it helps!