The Ultimate Blog Podcast - 106. Budgeting for Your Blog in 2024

Episode Date: December 26, 2023

If you’re ready to start your blogging business but you are apprehensive about the price that you will have to pay for each thing you need, this episode is for you! We are breaking down the necessary assets and expenses that you will need in today’s episode so that you can confidently budget for you blog for 2024! Let’s get your blogging business up and running!We have a goal to reach 100,000 downloads by December 31 and we need your help! Share an episode you love with a friend and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts! We would be so grateful!Check out the show notes (link below) for more information including links and resources mentioned in today's episode!SHOW NOTES: www.sparkmediaconcepts.com/episode106

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast with Amy Reinecke and Jennifer Draper. We're on a mission to empower women who want to start or grow their own blog. This podcast is for women who want to learn blogging basics and who crave inspiration and encouragement. Whether you're just getting started or have been a blogger for years, we're excited to welcome you into this space where we are passionate about creating community over competition. We are bloggers who want to encourage you to believe in your potential, step outside the norm and step into a life where you create your own schedule, your own success and your own story. Join us for weekly episodes as we navigate blogging

and work from home life all while raising a family and having some serious fun along the way. all while raising a family and having some serious fun along the way. For so many years, I dreamed of being able to own my own business. It was just a calling that I felt, something that was really important to me, but I never really had a clear picture of it for a very long time. Because every time you start to think about starting your own business, it's very overwhelming thinking about how much money it costs and things like that. And we know there may be many of you out there who are having the same dream. You're wanting to start a business. And for you, it may be a blog. When I had this dream a long time ago, it wasn't a blog because that didn't exist until later on. But when I came across blogging as a business, I was like, this is amazing. It will allow me to share something

that's important to me. And it's a way that you can create an income. And Amy and I both feel like blogging is such a great way to start a business because overall, it's a pretty low cost to entry versus a lot of other businesses you could start. So now that we've made it through the Christmas season, and we're thinking about what 2024 is going to look like for us, we wanted to just do this quick little episode to talk about if you are wanting to start a blog, how to budget for your blog in 2024. So this is for those people who are considering starting a blog. And you want to know realistically, what does this look like for me, we are going to share all about it today. Because, you know, starting a blog, it takes time, it takes some amount of money, even though it's low cost to

entry. And there's a lot of decisions, even though it's low cost to entry. And there's a lot of decisions to make. So what we want to do is we kind of want to simplify it for you. Walk through those things that you're going to need to be able to start yourself off, not just with a blog, but a blogging business that will be set up for success to serve you for the long term. I think that that's the important thing to note here is that a blog is a business. And I know that you might not have really thought of it that way before. But the potential to earn significant revenue is there. And so I want to give you that belief system before we dive into what it costs to start. Like Jennifer said, it does have a low

cost to entry, much lower than starting a franchise or opening a brick and mortar. There's a lot more overhead that goes into something like that in regards to starting a blog. I mean, you could start it from much, much less, obviously, a lot lower risk, to be honest, than doing something like that. And so I think the important thing... And we talk about this often here on the podcast is that you have to take yourself seriously. And that sometimes investing in yourself and investing in the business that you want to create, when you invest, it makes you take yourself more seriously. So knowing that the things that we recommend, first and foremost, we are very mindful about what we recommend. And the reason why we do that is because you can get

lost in the weeds with a lot of recommendations out there. There can be a lot of things that people are trying to sell you and tell you that like, Oh, you have to have this to be successful. Sure. You can have a lot of things to make you successful. But we really do want to tell you kind of the basics to set you up for success because we believe that those foundations are really important. In regards to some of the finance stuff, the foundations there, and we often talk about foundations in other ways, like being on a self-hosted site, niching down. With that, it's also the foundations of what your website needs. That is an important part of the foundation piece. But before you ever get to your website,

there's a couple different assets that you need in order to get started. Most of you probably already have them. So it's not going to be an expense for you out of the gate. But a new computer or a computer, if you don't already have one, is something that you're going to want. Writing blog posts is much easier on a computer, to be honest, than on your phone. Now, I'm sure there's bloggers out there who write it on their phone or a tablet or whatever. But a computer is something that Jennifer and I specifically prefer to write our content on and create our content on. Also, a phone or a camera do not feel like in order to be a blogger, you have to have some big DSLR fancy camera right out of the gate. The cameras have come a long way since I became a blogger. And you can easily use your iPhone or your phone to take those

pictures that you need. And there's lots of different editing apps. Some of them are even free that you can utilize when creating your content. So don't feel like you have to go out and spend $1,000 on a new camera. You can work with what you have in these regards to get started. camera, you can work with what you have in these regards to get started. Another thing in regards to assets is some props or accessories that you might need when you create content. That's kind of going to vary based on your niche. You may not need any additional props or accessories, like a ring light or something like that. If you're doing video, it might be helpful. You can find a ring light on Amazon for like $20, $30 probably. So that can be like a real low cost a ring light on Amazon for like 20, 30 bucks probably.

So that can be like a real low cost. But if you're doing like food photography pictures, you might need some different accessories like napkins and plates and bowls, silverware, things like that in order to create your content and some backdrops. But once again, you can always go to like a thrift store and get some of that stuff. You can buy it online if you want. But think of where you could thrift some of that stuff as well. Because those are things that you don't necessarily have to have brand new. So those are just a couple ideas in regards to assets. And Jennifer's going to talk more about some of the website specific expenses that you might have. Yeah. And I know a lot of people like to start their website as inexpensively as possible using some free things if they can. And so we want to really marry the balance between

keeping the cost down, but making sure you're equipped with the right things that you need so that your website functions and performs the way that you need it to so that it is ready for the growth in traffic and potential monetizing in the future. So let's just go through a few of the things that you need in order to create a blog slash website. And we'll talk about the fact that some of the things that we that we feel need to be like paid expenses versus like what you can do for free. So first and foremost, you're going to need your domain like paid expenses versus like what you can do for free. So first and foremost, you're gonna need your domain name, which is like your address on the internet.

And so you do have to go purchase that from a company that's a registrar that holds all of the domain names. So you basically pay by the year and you can pay multiple years if you want. So your cost is gonna vary a little bit. But in general, you can get a domain name as low as $15 per year when you're first starting out. Now, there are some that cost

thousands of dollars depending on how desirable they are, if they're being resold and things like that. But we have, in our experience, all the bloggers that we've worked with are able to find a domain name that's the right balance between what they want and the cost that they have allocated to that without spending thousands of dollars. So if you want to budget for your first year, it's going to be somewhere between like $50 to $50 to $100, depending on the domain name that you choose. Next, you're going to need hosting, which is where you're going to have your website stored and served up to the people that are coming to it. So you do need to have hosting.

You will need to pay for that. You can always go back and listen to our episodes about why you need a self-hosted WordPress site. And we recommend for hosting a company called Big Scoots. So they have two different plans and you get to choose which plan you want to be on. They have a shared plan that's more budget friendly. It's around $10 a month. And if you want more with your plan, you want more help, you want better site speed, things like that, you can also do their managed plan. And so when you're looking at that, it's about $400 a year. So you're looking anywhere

between like $120 and $400 a year for your hosting. And that's just a necessary expense. And any company you go with, you're going to be looking at about the same cost. And we recommend Big Scoots just because their service is so much better than others that we've worked with. Now, this is the one where I think a lot of people are trying to decide, do I spend money on a theme for my website? Or do I just pick one of the hundreds of free themes that are out there? We're not here to say that all those themes are terrible. But what we are here to say is a theme is really important when you load it onto your website. Your theme is what is going to give your website,

your blog, the functionality it needs for the users that are coming there, as well as all the back end stuff it needs as well. So the themes that we recommend are currently around $200. And that is just a one time fee. It's not an ongoing yearly fee. So I want to make that clear. And we do believe this is a worthwhile investment, because of how these themes are designed, and how they are optimized. So these are going to give you a better opportunity to compete out there with other blogs and to have your content show up in search engine results and things like that, just because of how they're designed. And you're more likely to be able to retain your readers via your email list and things like that, because they have so much designed around them to create a really positive user experience for your readers.

Once you have your website set up on your theme, you're also going to have to add some additional functionality. There are some things you need to make your website function properly. We have narrowed down this list to make it just what you need because you do not want more plugins on your site than what is truly necessary because that will just open you up to risk and slow down your site. So the list that we give our students is the list that we think you have to have. Now, where we can, we go with the ones that are free. There are plenty of free plugins that are exactly what you need to have. Now, where we can, we go with the ones that are free. There are plenty of free plugins that are exactly what you need to make your site function. And then there are some

that are paid as well. So plugins are going to do anything from create extra security on your site to optimizing images to allowing social sharing, and all those types of things that need to happen on your website. So in total, for the ones that we recommend that you have to pay for, they're about $300 for that first year. So again, those are just the ones that we think you truly, truly need. And then also, one other thing you'll need specifically for your website is you'll need an email marketing provider. And we recommend

ConvertKit. You can go back and listen. We have several episodes in regards to ConvertKit on the podcast. And you can hear all about the benefits. They do have some plans that are free. There are some limitations with those. So you'll have to kind of look through the pros and cons. But their basic plan is $9 a month. And at some point, everybody typically reaches that point where they're having to pay because you have enough subscribers where you'll need that. But email marketing is one of the most important things that we place above even like some of the social media stuff when it comes to your blog. So this is a necessary expense to have to be able to grow your blog and to grow your readership.

Hey, I just wanted to pop in real quick and say thank you so much for listening to today's episode of the Ultimate Blog Podcast. We are coming up on our two-year anniversary in January of 2024, which is really, really exciting. But we need your help with something. I have set a huge goal to hit 100,000 downloads by December 31st. And we are inching in on that goal each and every day. But there still needs to be more downloads. And so I'm just going to ask for your help here. Just shamelessly plugging the podcast. If you would take one minute right here right now, as long as you're not driving, and if you would just leave the podcast a rating and review, it would be so instrumental to the success of this podcast.

Not only that, we thank you so much for taking the time to do it. We know you're busy. We know that you'll have the choice of literally thousands of podcasts to choose from. And we are honored that you chose ours. And so thank you so much for just helping us spread the word about the Ultimate Blog Podcast. And thanks for taking time to listen to today's episode. It really does mean so much to us. And we hope that you are learning a lot from us and that we are helping you along your blogging journey. Thanks again for leaving the rating and review. It means the world to us.

Along with some website expenses, there are some additional expenses that you might want to consider. I'm going to start first and foremost with the legal fees because this is something that I think unless you're told about, you don't really know. And this is something that we have made sure to talk about on the podcast. And that is making sure that you have at least an LLC set up for your blog. That is something really important. Because remember, you're building a business with this blog. And so you want to take yourself seriously. So having that LLC set up is something that we really do recommend that you do. Something else here and you can talk to an attorney. We have a

couple that we will recommend in the show notes that you can discuss setting up an LLC with. It's also something that you could do on your own if you want it as well. Something else to consider with the use of an attorney would be filing a trademark for your blog name. That is something at least worth researching to decide whether or not you want to do that right in the beginning or not. And once again, asking them their advice on that. Jennifer and I are not lawyers. We are not attorneys. And so we cannot give you that advice. We can just tell you that that is something that you might want to consider. But at the very least, your website does need to have a terms and conditions

and a privacy policy on it. We use Berkeley Sweet Apple, and she has templates that are readily available for you to put on your blog. So if you have a blog that does not have either of those on there, we highly encourage you to get them on there. You can look in the show notes and go to Berkeley's website and you can use our code for a discount on those as well. And that is something that at the very minimum, we do recommend that you have on there. That's a really important piece to make sure that you are protected from the people who are coming onto your site. The cost for legal fees will vary depending on who you hire. So we are going to share numbers that we are familiar with, with the attorneys that we are recommending.

A trademark is going to cost somewhere around $2,500. An LLC will cost in the neighborhood of $200 to $500. And then your website terms and conditions and privacy policy will cost around $400 there. So those are just some things to add to the number crunching. Some other expenses that you might incur are brand photography. And this is something that you can utilize with a professional photographer or if you have a friend who maybe could take some photos of you. That is kind of going to be dependent on what you want to do. What I will say about our experience with local photographers, a lot of them will do

like a brand photography session and they cost less than like a family photography session. The reason being is you don't usually use the high res files because you're not going to be printing these images off. I mean, you might, I guess if you want some random photos of yourself around your house, like posing, but most people just use the low res files. And so photographers tend to give more of those files, but charge about the same or less, but you get more for your money there. We would recommend if you're going to hire a photographer, like a brand photographer, that's going to cost you in the neighborhood of $300 to $500. Depending on where you live, I will say that. You might live somewhere else that the cost of living is much more expensive,

and your photographer might cost more than that. Keep in mind, we are smack dab in the middle of the country in Kansas City, and that has been pretty across the board with what we have been able to find here. Logos and graphics. That is such a wide range of things that you could spend your money on. We actually recommend to our students that they can create their own logos from the start. I promise you that somebody is not going to come to your website and say, Oh my gosh, I wish her logo looked different. And they're going to leave.

That is something that can be very basic. Do not spend hundreds of dollars, in our opinion, right out of the gate. There are other things that we would recommend you doing like making sure you have your website terms and conditions over having a fancy logo if you're going to be making a choice. So logos and graphics can cost you anywhere from $50 to $1,000. Logos and graphics can cost you anywhere from $50 to $1,000. If Jennifer and I would have known better when we started Spark Media, we paid $600 for our logo, I think. And looking back, one of us could have easily created the logo, to be honest, when we look at our very first logo. So that's just something to consider. Hop in Canva and try to create your own logo there. And you might not need to hire

a designer there at the beginning. Now, that doesn't mean later on down the road, you might not want somebody to create something like that. But we're really talking about at the beginning, what you need to spend your money on. A PO box is something else to consider. And that is going to vary depending on where you live and size. But it's going to be around $60 up to $100 per year. The reason that you need a P.O. Box is because when you send out your emails that are going to be coming from your blog or as you're growing that email list, you have an address that's going to be on the bottom of that email. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't want my home address going out to each and everybody who is getting an email from me. And so that is really

why we recommend the P.O. Box. It's just really a safety concern. Now, if you use ConvertKit and you're on one of their paid plans, you are able to utilize their P.O. Box and you give them some different permissions there. But that is something to look into. So me personally, I think my P.O. Box was over $100 a year. Since I'm on a paid ConvertKit plan, I just canceled my P.O. Box because I really don't have a need for it because I was simply using it for the safety and security of my home address. And so if you're on a paid email marketing plan,

for instance, that could cut that cost. So that is just something to consider there with a P.O. Box. We don't list all of these expenses to make you feel overwhelmed or confused. We just want to list some of the possibilities of things that you need to be looking at, whether it's day one or it's a little bit down the road. That will depend on your specific business, the state you live in, if you've consulted with your attorney and how much you want to DIY versus how much you want to hire out.

So we just want to give you all the information so that you can make a really good plan that works for you. So finally, one of the other things you'll want to think about in terms of spending money on your blog to get started would be, do you want to take a course to teach you something? Do you need a coach to guide you along the way? Do you need to hire an assistant to help you get all of these things into place? So that could be another place where you don't have to, but you might want to spend some money upfront to save yourself some of that time that we talked about and getting your blog up and running, especially if you're creating this to be a business and you want to start creating an income. So we do, of course, want to mention a couple of the options that we have, where we are able to coach and assist you with starting or running your blog.

So the first one is the Ultimate Blog Bootcamp. This is for anybody who is getting started. They know they want to create a blog as a business, and they have a pretty good idea of what they want that blog to be about. We can walk you through every single step of setting up all of these things that we've talked about, how to create your content that is optimized, et cetera. And this course is, you get access for a year, you have access in Slack for six weeks where we can help you through any questions you have.

And the cost of that course is $797. And then after the bootcamp, for anybody who has their blog up and running, the ultimate blog membership is the next option. That is a monthly membership at $97 a month. And this group is for accountability. It's for learning. It's for growth. So we have two calls a month, a Q&A call where you can ask us anything. We have a training call once a month where we go over a specific topic where we train on a topic or we have a guest expert trained on a topic. And these are a wide variety of important and relevant blogging topics each and every month. So again, that is $97 a month for that membership.

each and every month. So again, that is $97 a month for that membership. So those are just two options. If you are wanting and ready to get your blog up and running, and you're ready to invest in this business, and you want to do it the right way from the start. Okay, so take a giant deep breath. It's always important to Jennifer and I that we give you all the knowledge that you need to get started. Because the last thing that we all the knowledge that you need to get started. Because the last thing that we would ever want for somebody is to get started and then be like, Oh, I didn't know that there was these additional costs. That's important to know. And what we can say is that year after year... So like setting up your blog, you're going to incur more expenses than you will possibly year after year in regards to

keeping your website up and running. There will be things that you might add on, but hopefully you're making money. And if you're wondering, okay, if the website is going to cost this much to get started, then how am I actually going to make my money back? I will go ahead and link some important episodes in the show notes here about how you can make money blogging. So you can start brainstorming some of those ideas as well. Because I think that's just an important part of this decision in regards to starting a blog. Like, okay, this is how much it's going to cost me to get started. And then this is how I'm going to make that money back, because that's a really important part of that component. So check out the show notes for links to everything that we've shared today. We have shared a ton of information. If you want any

specific insight on hosting or themes or anything like that, that you're like, Hold on. Well, I've heard that this one's better than this one. We're an open book in that regard. Please just shoot us an email at sparkmediaconceptskc at gmail.com. And we'd be more than happy to just have that conversation with you, talk to you about what would be best for you and your niche and your goals, and just be an open book for you. Quite honestly, we're here to help you and support you and hope that this leaves you feeling empowered in regards to starting your own blogging business. Thanks so much for tuning in today. If you'd like to continue the conversation about blogging with

us, please find us on Instagram at Spark Media Concepts. You can also sign up for our weekly newsletter where we share blogging tips and inspiration. You can sign up by finding the link in the show notes. For those of you who are ready for the next step and want to start your own blog, join the waitlist for the Ultimate Blog Bootcamp. The link to join the waitlist is also in the show notes. Go out and make today a great day.