Blogging When You Feel Like You Don't Have The Budget For It
Something that has been on my mind a lot lately has been the financial aspect of blogging especially with the luxury blogger movement on the rise I think it's something that people are thinking about a lot now. I wrote a post a couple of years ago all about blogging on a tight budget because for the majority of my time in the blogging world I've not had a lot of money to put into it. So I'm a huge advocate that the only thing you need to write an awesome blog is yourself because when you take away the fancy camera and the nice design the most important thing is your words because that is what will keep people coming back. And I can totally understand why it looks like you need a lot of money to have blogging as a hobby but let's get into blogging when you don't have the budget for it.
SETTING UP A BLOG
I suppose the first thing that's important to talk about is what does it actually cost to start a blog? And in general you will probably have everything you need;
- A camera of some sort ; using your phone is a great place to start as it's pointless to invest in anything if you're not sure you're going to stick to it.
- An internet connection.
- A laptop.
- Yourself.
- A blogging platform - Blogger is completely free and it's easy to navigate as a beginner.
WRITE A BLOG THAT SUITS YOU
If you're thinking about starting up your own blog the chances of you already being a blog reader is pretty high. There are so many posts out there all about how you need to blog, how to grow your traffic, how to make money blogging and a whole host of other topics. And these posts are always so popular because it's always an interesting topic and there is some blogging advice that can be incredibly useful but in general it can be pretty jarring. I truly believe that the best advice when it comes to blogging is to write and create content that you would want to click on. If you don't have a big budget and generally just want to write a blog then you can do so, you don't have to fit in a niche and that's the best thing about blogging is that it can be exactly what you want it to be and more importantly it should work for you.
DIY
I'm sure any blogger out there whether they do it for a hobby or it's their career will tell you that in the beginning that they had to DIY a lot of it. And I think those beginning stages are truly the most enjoyable because everything is fresh and exciting and you get to experiment. When no-one is reading [no matter how much you want them to be] it gives you chance to experiment and explore what feels good to for you and what works. And until this very day, I've never paid anyone to help with my blog and I've written some posts that might be of help if you're looking to start a blog:
FURTHER READING ON PHOTOGRAPHY
THE BEGINNERS GUIDE TO DESIGNING YOUR BLOG YOURSELF
ALL HOBBIES HAVE SOME SORT OF FINANCIAL TIE TO IT
There are hundreds of thousands of hobbies that you can take up and I'm pretty sure they all have some sort of financial tie so in that respect blogging isn't any different. If you were going to take up cross stitch, for example, you would need to buy the fabric, the cotton, the needles and the pattern or if you were going to take up a sport you would have to spend some sort of money to do so. I think it's really easy to demonise blogging into some sort of consumerist monster but all hobbies have some sort of expense and you only need to spend as much as you feel comfortable doing so.
YOU DON'T NEED TO BE A LUXURY BLOGGER
The beauty & fashion side of the blogging world right now is very luxury heavy which isn't something I'm personally interested in as I know buying multiple designer bags a year is never going to be something I'll be happy doing or probably ever be able to financially warrant. And I completely understand why things that are high end are popular because they are aesthetically pleasing, enjoyable to escape to as well of course of their being a huge market for it. If you're fresh into the blogging world I can imagine there being a huge pressure to keep up with what the pro bloggers are doing but it's just not feasible for the majority of us. The luxury blogging world is muddy as people are not disclosing gifted bags or heavily discounted items which I think is where things are becoming problematic as it gives off the wrong impression. Whilst I'll never bash what anyone does with their online space and we're all free to put out what we want I do believe with such huge price tags attached to the items being shared there is a level of responsibility.
WRITING ABOUT BEAUTY ON A SMALL BUDGET
Way back when this blog began it was purely about beauty and I didn't have a lot of money nor was I receiving press samples to write about. As I've never been someone to write about new releases frequently I've had to discover ways to write about beauty without the constant need to buy, and there are many reasons for this. Of course, I love beauty which is why I write about it but I've never enjoyed mindless shopping for things I don't have much use for it as it just seems wasteful and nor can I afford to have that habit. I often talk about the same products because finding topics that multiple products can work for is something that works for me and I find it a lot more genuine as seeing people talk about something once and then never mentioning it again doesn't allow me to connect with their relationship to the item and how it might have changed and evolved. Here are a few ways to write about beauty without spending a penny;
- What items you think are worth investing in and what isn't.
- The products that you will always buy again and why.
- Your favourite makeup look of all time.
- The beauty items that really boost confidence.
- Hair tutorials - even if it's simple.
- A run through of the beauty products that you already own & love.
- Your relationship with beauty & why you love it so much.
- A trip down your makeup memory lane.
- Skincare routine.
Do you have tips for blogging without a huge budget?
