A lot of people start a blog because they want to make money. That’s absolutely possible! But the key to making money is by maximizing your revenue and minimizing your expenses. Blogging expenses include hosting, paid plugins, paid themes, blogging courses, and blogging coaching. Many newbie bloggers are under the mentality that these blogging expenses are “investments” when in reality they become a sunk cost that will take you months of revenue to recover from. Read below for 10 Blogging Mistakes That Make You Lose Money.
1. Hiring a Blogging Coach
Coaches are expensive AF! Coaching services can range from $299 to over $1,000! Coaches often brand their expensive blogging coaching package as an investment but 99% of their content can be found on google for free! There’s no shortcut to make money or get lots of traffic, so you might as well invest your own time into researching the basics of blogging before you seek out coaches.
2. Not Content Planning
One of the most important parts of blogging is to plan out your content. Each blog post you make should have a purpose and a specific call to action. For example, if you’re trying to grow your mailing list then your blog post should offer a valuable opt-in freebie so your readers can sign up for your mailing list in exchange for the freebie. The best way to plan your blog posts is to create an outline. Check out our Blog Post Planner which is perfect for bloggers like you who want to optimize your blog posts.
3. Outsourcing Too Early
Outsourcing too early is one of the biggest blogging mistakes that increases your expenses. Outsourcing can include hiring people to write blog posts for you or hiring a virtual assistant to manage your administrative tasks. While there is inherently nothing wrong with outsourcing, the mistake lies in the timing. If you are a small blogger, you should focus on generating enough revenue to pay yourself first before you should consider paying someone else. Another disadvantage of outsourcing is the loss of creative control and quality control over the blog posts.
4. Installing Paid Themes
Almost all themes on WordPress offer a free and a paid version. Although the paid version allows for more customization options, the free version is more than enough for a new blogger to get started on. When it comes to blogging, content is king because it drives traffic to your blog. A pretty theme will not be the main driver of traffic to your blog, so focus on creating blog posts that provide value to your readers. Once you have established a good readership and started generating revenue, then you can invest in the premium version of the theme if you wish.
Some Good Free, Fast Themes:
- Neve
- GeneratePress
- Astra
5. Paid Plugins and Subscriptions
Most of the essential plugins and services offered for WordPress blogs have a free version available. If you are just starting, the free version should meet all of your needs so you definitely do not need to pay for the premium version.
Free Plugins That Totally Rock:
- Yoast SEO
- Elementor
- Advanced Ads
- Smush
- WPForms
6. Paying For Blogging Courses
Many beginner bloggers fall for these courses because they are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information when starting. But 99% of blogging courses are just a compilation of information that you can find in Google. Most of these courses charge an outrageous amount of money which can really put a dent in your overall profit from blogging.
7. Focusing on The Wrong Social Media
Managing a social media account is hard work! It takes time and effort to produce content and engage with your audience, so you better make sure it’s worth it. If your blog’s content is evergreen (content that doesn’t go out of date), then you should focus your social media efforts on Pinterest. If your blog’s content is trendy or if you are an influencer then you should focus on Instagram to build a loyal following.
Pinterest Is Best For:
- Bloggers
- DIY
- How-Tos
- Recipes
- Listicles
- Evergreen Content
Instagram Is Best For:
- Influencers
- Fashion & Makeup
- Food & Recipes
- Photography & Art
- Viral Content
ALSO READ: 12 Ways to Grow Your Coaching Business Using Instagram
8. Paying for Expensive Hosting
Hosting will be one of your biggest expenses as a newbie blogger. There are many service providers out there with a myriad of options available for you to choose from. The pricing is mainly based on the speed and storage of the servers. The key here is to aim for your blog revenue to be at least equal to or higher than your monthly hosting costs. This prevents you from suffering a net loss every month. I’d recommend an affordable hosting service provider like Hostinger. Their hosting plans are very cheap and you can save even more by purchasing a multi-year plan.
9. Not Putting Ads
One of the biggest blogging mistakes is not leveraging ad revenue. If you look closely, almost all blogs and websites have some form of ads. What about ad blockers you ask? Ads still generate substantial revenue in 2020 because most mobile devices do not have ad blockers installed, so ads are still a viable source of revenue for blogs and websites. If you are just starting, I’d highly recommend applying for Google Adsense right away so you can begin to set up ads and begin monetization. Once you have enough traffic, you can switch to other ad networks such as Ezoic (10k+ monthly page views) and Mediavine (25k+ monthly visitors) to earn even more ad revenue.
10. Paying For Ads
One of the biggest money mistakes is paying for Ads. Ads include google search Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, etc. Unless you have a killer product to sell, ads will most likely not be useful for a blogger. Also, ads give you the false impression that your blog may be performing better than it actually is. You should focus on your blog content and SEO so that Google ranks your pages on the 1st page.
What other blogging mistakes have you noticed? Let me know down in the comments below.