Are you wondering, how much does blogging cost? As a full-time blogger who runs my blog as a business, I’m getting real on the startling truth with you– it takes money to make money blogging for a living! You’ll see a general breakdown of the types of expenses I have, and how much they cost.
NOTE
Please note that this is a general list, and it is not by any means fully complete. I simply went through my credit card statements and pulled some transactions to give readers a sampling of expenses to maintain the best blogging practices. It doesn’t include many expenseable items, including less easily quantifiable things like mileage, home office expenses, etc.
Recurring Blogging Costs
Domain and Web Hosting: About $100/month
I use BigScoots as my web host, which is pricy but offers great site speed and security features for you and great customer service for me.
I also have a few costs associated with my domain per year.
Tech Support: $429/month
I use NerdPress for my tech support. This is a significant blogging expense, but they are life savers. They have kicked the functioning of my site up so many notches, including helping me install and manage the proper plug-ins. They handle updates to my site and fix things when they break.
They don’t have an affiliate program, but if you tell them I sent you, they will send me a commission, which is appreciated.
Email Marketing: Currently $274/month
I use Kit, which is an email service provider designed for bloggers. It also does a lot of compelling things, like sending automated sequences of emails to new subscribers and tagging their favorite topics so I can send them personalized emails.
The cost changes based on how many subscribers you have.
Accounting
I spend about $3,000 on annual accounting fees, including payroll and QuickBooks, where I manage my books and pay monthly.
Insurance
It costs about $1,000+ per year to protect the business.
Phone and Internet
I’ll estimate $250/month here. It depends on whether I have a phone payment at the moment.
Books
While I read 10+ books per month for The Literary Lifestyle and my book club, most are free from the library or cheap used books, so I only spend about $50 per month at most.
Miscellaneous Web Expenses Tools
- Canva (a graphic design tool): about $120/year
- Dropbox: about $12/month
- Grammarly (spelling and grammar tool): about $150/year
- Evernote (note taking tool): about $130/year
- KeySearch (an SEO tool): about $100/year
- Lightroom (photo editing tool): about $100/year
- Pictory (video editing tool): about $280/year
- Miscellaneous Social Media Scheduling and Related Tools: from $0 up to $100/month
- PinClicks (Pinterest SEO tool): about $30/month
- Website Plug-Ins (These blogging tools reduce spam, improve speed, back up my site, etc.): about $500/year
- PR: from $0 up to $150/month
One-Off Expenses
- Advertising: I generally spend up to about $1,500 per year on advertising, but it depends.
- Blog Designers and Web Developers: This depends, too. Some years, it’s more, and some years, it’s less, depending on what needs updating and what’s going wrong with the website. I estimate $1,000 to $3,500 per year, generally.
- Education: This varies, too. I’ve spent several thousand over the years, but now that I’m more experienced, I don’t spend that much on it. So, I estimate anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars annually.
- Legal: I’ve spent about $10,000 over the years on legal expenses like setting up my business, obtaining trademarks, and fighting those who have stolen my intellectual property. I’ve also purchased legal documents and contracts from the legal store of Amira (A Self Guru), which are very cost-effective. Also, I am a former lawyer, so I do some legal work for the business myself, which is tough to quantify beyond my tuition dollars.
- Office and Other Supplies: I estimate up to about $1,000 per year
- SEO Consultants: I estimate I’ve spent about $10,000 on this over the years. It helps my website get found in search engines.
a Note from jules
In case you’re wondering why I wrote this, there are a few reasons. One is that I always want to be transparent with others who aspire to be successful bloggers so they can plan for their own futures. Another is to inform the general public what it takes to provide informational content like long-form articles (and even social media) as a business, especially in the uncertain future of blogging after AI. It’s a very forthcoming way to show why we need public support to keep creating “free” content, as well as how we contribute to the economy!
If you have any questions about how much blogging costs, please feel free to ask them in the comments.
