Do you want to work as a blogger? Here are some small investments you have to make

Well, well, so you’d like to work and possibly earn some money with your blog.

The good news: it’s possible. Really possible.

In this regard, try reading also What to do after you post a post on you blog

The “so and so” news: it’s a job like others and just like other jobs it involves commitment and perseverance, satisfactions, expectations, frustrations.

The bad news: like any other job, it requires small investments to buy the equipment and necessary working tools.

working as a blogger - what to do

The mitigating circumstance is that these investments aren’t expensive like for example those a dentist should make, or an esthetician who passes from waxing people at home to electrocoagulation at the lab, and even cheaper than the investments a translator has to make (the cost of an average CAT tool is about 500 bucks).

This said, let me now tell you about my initial investments, which were quite small compared to my current and slightly more important ones.

Note: like all investments in a developing small company, they are meant to produce an income that is 40% higher than the initial investment, within 6 months/1 year.

1 – Hosting

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Years ago, I moved my blog from Joomla to WordPress.com.

I found a beautiful world there, the possibility to look professional along with free and intuitive templates.

Just like many people talk enthusiastically about moving from computer or operating system A to B, I talk about my transition to WordPress.

Over time, I’ve learnt to realize the capabilities of my blog and… how it feels to be in a cage of beauty and intuitiveness.

In order to use a blog in the best way, you have to be able to download the plug-ins, either for free or at a charge, and you need a professional hosting that enables you to do it (wordpress.com doesn’t do this at all).

You need a plug-in for the SEO settings, at least.

You need a plug-in for stats, to track the words that lead to your blog from the search engines.

You need a plug-in to display your Instagram page and to connect your blog with your social channels.

Blog plug-ins are like mobile apps: there’s plenty of them for any use and without them your smartphone (or blog) is crippled.

I chose Netson several years ago, but many colleagues keep telling me good things about Keliweb. 

It’s a 100% Italian company that’s been working in the hosting field for many years.

It’s the perfect choice if you want to migrate your blog from a free platform to a more professional solution (or else, when it’s time to leave the golden cage I previously mentioned), and it’s optimized for WordPress, maintaining its intuitiveness and interface.

2 – App (even if it means paying for them) 

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Until two year ago, I would have never paid for an App.

App = free. Even 0,99 cents seemed too much for me. But that was a dull viewpoint.

When an App becomes useful for your work, you have to upgrade it just like making a little investment.

I have purchased graphics programs (free but with upgrade requiring a one-time fee) like Adobe Post, that helps me create the graphics for my social channels in quite a few steps while I’m having a bath with a moisturizing mask on my face, or Phonto, that allows me to add logos on my graphics, and Moldiv, to create word and image collages just like a magazine.

3 – About “Graphics”

Talking about graphics, someone must have noticed that I have had a logo for less than a year, right?

I’m not the kind of person who loves to do everything on her own. I wanted to involve an expert for my logo to do things “seriously”. And that’s what I did.

The result is that blue suitcase with a notebook on top and a glass of wine at its end, a perfect and I repeat PERFECT summary of my storytelling work over the years (the graphics are by Rossella La Sorsa, I’ll write her contact details in private if you need).

I’ve naturally used her graphics also for my business cards, e-mail signature and headed paper.

 macchina fotografica in viaggio

4 – Contents 

To increase your page Authority and page Rank, it is really important to write very often; your posts need to be quite long and contain well-arranged keywords, if you want to get good results in terms of SEO.

But how can you write every day or at least 3-4 times a week if, as written in this post, content writing for a professional blogger won’t exceed 30% of her work?

Sometimes, it is necessary to invest in someone who can help you write your contents as well as new ones. Well, it may be necessary to ask other bloggers to write for your blog, in return for payment.

As for now, this is not my case.

Yet, I have ever more frequently someone help me with the translations of my articles, a very important part of my content creation.

5 – Blog translation

There are many articles in this blog and many of them are written in two languages.

While I used to translate everything on my own at the beginning, especially when I had time on Saturdays and Sundays, now I rely on the help of a colleague who works as a translator (a very good one, who knows me very well and knows my style…and he’s also damn sexy – ask me his e-mail if you need a translation but be warned, I’m super jealous).

My traffic has become more international and it would be nice if your blog did the same, also considering that on Facebook, blogger groups providing other bloggers support for page authority through comments, sharing etc. are mainly in English.

[the only one in Italian is managed by me and the blogger Eugenia Nazarova and… sometimes it’s hard for us to push Italian bloggers to interact, but we won’t give in])

Find out why it’s useful to have a blog in more languages and how to manage it 

6 – A new phone and a new computer.

This is not an investment everybody has to make. Yet, the smartphone I used to have two years ago was not suitable for my pace.

From its camera to the memory (that is still full even with a top product), from its speed to the usable options.

The brand doesn’t matter, but you need to have a top product or something like that if you want to work as a blogger full time.

Some high performing stuff.

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7 – Travels, of course 

Besides my advices on blogging and the digital nomad life, don’t forget that this was born as a travel blog and it actually is one for 70% of its contents.

A couple of years ago, I wrote based on how much I travelled, now instead I have to invest in travelling to have more often something new to tell.

Well you know, it’s a sacrifice I have to make!

11 Comments

  • Emma

    Hosting is so important – it’s worth paying a bit more for a great hosting company. You dont want your site to be down constantly, or crashing! Some really great points here!

  • Brian

    My blog started as a class project with blogger, but when I wanted to get more serious, I converted to WP. When that wasn’t enough, I switched to wordpress.org because I wanted to be able to earn money from affiliate marketing. So far, my biggest expenses have been attending TBEX conferences and my camera.

  • Lindsey

    Some great tips for first time bloggers

  • Elizabeth O.

    In order to earn from your blog, you would have to invest your time and money in it. It’s not an easy task and it takes time, a lot of it! I think it’s really worth it though, if you really want to do it full time.

  • Ali Rost

    What a great post and it should be required reading for anyone getting started (or thinking about getting started). When I was new to blogging I had no idea all of the costs that came along with it. It can definitely be a catch-22 .. you’re not making a lot of money yet from your blog .. yet you need to invest some as well.

  • Ana De- Jesus

    I agree. In order for your blog to look professional making an investment will help it in the long run. Whether that be hosting or translation x

  • diana

    this is a very descriptive post. Answers all the basic questions i have before blogging. Point 2 is really to be noted, thanks and cheers to your blogging journey

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