Where to Spend if You Want to Go Pro with Your Blog

I'm sure you've heard the saying “you need to spend money to make money“? Well, this is certainly true of blogging. You can be a hobby blogger, enjoying learning new skills and making friends without spending a penny. You can even start to make a little pocket money without making any real investments in your site. But, if you ever decide that you want to take you blog pro and turn it into a full-time job, with a full-time income, then you need to start investing in the right places.
When you start, you may not even consider turning your blog into a job. You may just see it as a way to have fun and explore your creativity. Many people don't even realise that it's possible to turn a blog into a career. But it is. Many people manage to make an excellent income blogging. Some even carve out a little bit of fame with their blogs. It's probably fair to say that most of these high earners invest more than just their time in their blogs. They spend some money on them too.
But, it's essential that you know where to spend your money. If you are in the position where you want to start earning well, but you're not, then you may not have vast amounts of spare cash to throw around. So, you'll want to spend your money wisely. Here's a look at the best places to spend money if you want to compete with the millions of other blogs out there and start earning a decent income.
Design
Some people, are naturally gifted designers. They come out with fantastic logos and website designs that stand out from the crowd without much thought. Others, struggle. They spend a long time thinking about designs and planning, only to end up with a logo that's easily forgotten and designs that look the same as hundreds of other blogs. Or, even worse a website that's hard to read and painful on the eye.
If you fall into this second group, then you may want to think about spending money on cheap web design. The internet is huge and fast. People make a judgement within seconds of loading a site. If it's hard to read or looks untidy, they'll click away without a second thought. But, being well presented and neat isn't enough. A neat site will hold someone's attention, but it won't be remembered. These users might not come back. Hiring a web designer can help you to create a site that's not only user-friendly but also exciting and memorable.
Scheduling
Social media is one of the best ways to build a following and get noticed online. Regular social media promotion can drive consistent traffic to your website. But, to do well, it needs to be more than just link dropping. You need an engaged following that trust what you've got to say. Building this kind of following takes time, and effort. You need to be online all of the time, consistently posting your links to Facebook and Twitter, pinning on Pinterest around 20 times a day and sharing your life on Instagram. That's even without new blog posts and live videos.
Being on social media like this means that you'll never have time to write new content or have any kind of life. Scheduling and automation makes it much easier to manage. There is a wealth of social media schedulers out there. Tailwind is a fantastic example. Pay a small amount every month, and you'll be able to schedule your pins. Spend a few minutes each day preparing pins to post throughout the day. This helps you to build a following and get noticed and is worth the expense just for the time that it will save you. Just make sure you use this extra free time wisely.
Hosting
Many bloggers start on a free platform, such as WordPress.com or Wix. This is an excellent way to find your feet and get a feel for the blogging world. But, if you want to get taken seriously and start making real money, you need to go self-hosted and get your own domain name. There are plenty of web-hosts out there, so make sure that you get the one that suits your needs. Once you are self-hosted, you'll have much more control over your site and design, and you'll get more opportunities to host advertising and work with brands. It's a good idea to make this jump as soon as possible so that there is less content to migrate. If you are still new to blogging, start as you mean to go on.
Learning
If you want to make a go of your blog and turn it into something more professional, there is a lot you can learn. Yes, you can take your time and learn as you go. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this approach; it can be great fun, and lead to the same results eventually. But, if you want to be able to give up your job and need to be making money straight away, you don't have time to learn this way. You need to be doing well as soon as possible. The best way to do this is by enrolling in some courses. Look at what you already know. If you think you are pretty good at SEO, read some guides and tips, but don't go any further. But, if you think that there's a lot that you could learn about social media management or blog photography, spend some money on a course to give yourself a head start.
Equipment
When you start out, you can blog on your phone. You can take photos with a smartphone and write content with a blogging app. But, to be a pro, you'll need more. A high-quality laptop can speed up the whole process and give you more options, and often it's the photography that makes a blog stand out, so you may also want to invest in a high-quality DSLR camera.