How To Lower Your Blogging Expenses

Do you own a blog and find that your monthly expenses are too high compared to your income? Here’s a guide on how to lower your blogging expenses!

by Kimberly Pangaro

This post is my personal opinions and should not be construed as legal or professional advice. Use the tips in this guide at your own risk. In addition, this post contains affiliate links and if you click on any of the links, we may earn a small commission, but it never affects our reviews or recommendations. To learn more about affiliate links and how they work, please read our Affiliate Disclaimer HERE.

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Hey there, fellow bloggers! Are your monthly blog expenses getting to be too much, costing you most or all of your monthly profits? Maybe you’re looking to lower those blogging expenses so you can make your blog more attractive to buyers?

Either way, I’ve got you covered! In today’s guide, I’m going to help you discover clever ways to lower your blogging expenses without sacrificing quality or creativity. From budget-friendly tools and platforms to out-of-the-box strategies, I’ll help you navigate the world of cost-effective blogging and keep those profits flowing right into your pocket!

Let’s dive in and uncover the secrets of keeping it frugal while rocking the blogging world like a boss!

Tip #1 Eliminate Expensive Plug-Ins

For every costly plugin there is an inexpensive or even free alternative! Whether you own a WordPress site or your site is on another platform, plugins can get pretty pricey especially if they’re not meant to integrate with your platform, causing you to buy other plugins to help the integration.

Some are monthly costs while others are hefty annual subscriptions. And the more you upload to your site, the slower you make your site, thus needing to purchase other plugins to check the health of your site or to speed it up. Then of course, are the other plugins for having a shop, collecting contact information, being GDPR compliant, and more.

As you research each plugin, you will see that many offer free plans and that’s what you’ll need to opt for. On the other side of things, you also need to manage the plugins that you currently have. Deactivate unnecessary ones, cancel the plans, and delete the plugins that are too expensive and swap others for free ones. Doing this simple task alone can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars per year!

Tip #2 Stop Buying Themes

When you build a site, no one tells you to have a detailed vision for what you want your site to have and feature before you start it. Because of this, many WordPress site owners often purchase multiple themes throughout the life of a site. This gets very expensive as many sites like Astra are quite expensive – well into the hundreds of dollars for just one theme per domain.

If you’re like me at the start of your blogging journey, then you probably don’t know that you need a site identity and theme just like you need content. So, be sure to plan this out ahead of time. This way you can choose the right theme for your budget and stick with it. It’ll be one purchase, one time, instead of numerous purchases until you get the right one. And then try to remember what theme you have subscriptions with! Trust me, you’ll forget until the mysterious charges start chugging your profits.

In my honest opinion, you are better off choosing a free theme on WordPress and then paying the one time annual fee to Divi or Elementor Pro to be able to build your site from scratch. They’re both a drag and drop style editor so you won’t need to know how to code. As with the other tips, doing this will also save you from overspending and headaches!

Tip #3 Post Your Own Social

A lot of bloggers like outsourcing their work and that’s great for bloggers who are making the cheddar! For bloggers who aren’t making enough passive income to live off, having a billion subscriptions is just eating away at the opportunity to grow your income. Using auto-scheduling apps is a big reason for this.

Instead, opt to post your own social media posts for your blog posts. Don’t pay for auto scheduling sites like Later or Hootsuite until you can actually afford it. The best way to do this is to bulk plan your content.

Write 3 months worth of content in two weeks, then plan their posting dates in a planner. Use Canva (free version) to create the posts and then each day, take 5 minutes to post your own posts on social. I can tell you for a fact that I started doing this early on and it saved me a ton of money!

Tip #4 Cut Down On Outsourcing Content

A lot of times bloggers will look to Fiverr and Upwork to outsource their content. These are great tools to have in your blogging arsenal, but they’re not cost-effective for bloggers barely making an income.

Instead, invest a little time in blog outreach. Start by reaching out to other bloggers and asking if they’d like to guest post on your site for free. It’s a great way for bloggers to get some eyes on their work while also providing you with free content. If they’re hesitant, offer to swap a free guest post on their site if they write one for your site.

You can also use social media to find bloggers. Many of my first site’s writers were bloggers I found on Instagram. I made sure I targeted bloggers with small amounts of followers and because publishing on my site provided them with more credibility, they felt the benefits of doing a free guest post were worth it.

Tip #5 Get Free Project Management

Using a project management system is a great way to keep your blogging goals in check, keep yourself accountable towards completing those goals, and even bringing on team members when the time is right. But not all project management software is the same and they’re certainly not all affordable.

When I invested in a project management software, I opted to get the best one with the most bells and whistles. Mind you, I was in my first year of blogging and definitely didn’t need all of it. I was paying almost $100 USD per month for something I maybe used 2% of the time.

So, instead of following my path, choose the smarter one. If you’re just starting out or don’t have a team and just want to keep your projects in one place, then opt for a free plan at Monday.com or any other project management software. It will be worth it just to be able to keep everything in one place.

Tip #6 Use Google to your Advantage

Many people opt to purchase Microsoft Office or decide they need a ton of storage so they end up paying a monthly subscription for these things or one really high purchase price. But you can get everything Microsoft Office and Apple has just by using Google!

Google has Google Drive (perfect for a blogger’s storage needs), Sheets (just like Excel and perfect for keeping track of expenses), Google Docs (just like Word), Slides (powerpoint in a nutshell), and so much more!

Plus, if you use Chrome as the internet browser of choice, you get access to their list of free browser extensions like Keyword Surfer – this little baby is a bloggers dream and will help you figure out which ranking keywords to use in each of your posts!

Tip #7 Add More Revenue

One of the best ways to feel like your expenses have gone down is to simply increase your revenue. Some bloggers struggle with this, but it really is easy. There are so many ways to increase your revenue: selling ebooks, joining affiliate programs like Amazon Affiliates or AWIN, using drop ship partners, selling Print-On-Demand products, selling ad space to companies, sponsored posts, link inserts, turning blog posts into podcast episodes, creating a YouTube channel, ad partners like AdSense and Mediavine, coaching, selling courses, and the list goes on!

Alone, these may not earn you a higher revenue, but in combination with each other, they can earn you a great deal of income every month. Some may require a bit more work than others, but they are all lucrative ways to become financially free!

In Conclusion

To lower your blogging expenses, you’ll need to implement one or some or all of the tips above. You may even need to get creative and try other ways to lower your expenses. Just remember to look with a magnifying glass at every aspect of your blogging business to see where it is leaking money. This way, you will have a clearer picture of how to keep your overhead low. Good luck fellow bloggers!

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