Starting a blog is something you can do for free. However, if you want to attract more readers and encourage people to take your blog more seriously, it can be worthwhile investing some money into it. People spend money on other hobbies all the time – so why not spend money on your blog?
Below are just some of the things that can be worth spending money on in order to attract more readers to your blog.
A domain name
Blog platforms like WordPress and Blogger are able to provide you with a free domain name, however, this free domain will take the form of either ‘yoursite.wordpress.com’ or ‘yoursite.blogspot.com’.
If you’d prefer to have a standard ‘yoursite.com’ address, you’ll have to pay for it. Such a domain name is worth investing in for making your blog look more like its own site.
Design and graphics
Most blogs are designed using basic templates. By looking into paid web design and graphics, you could explore ways to make your blog look more unique.
One way to customize the look and feel of your blog could be to download extra themes and widgets. Some of these can be embedded for free, while others may require payment. You can find various sites containing these themes and widgets.
Alternatively, you could try finding a web designer or graphic designer on a site like Fiverr. Spending a few dollars could allow you to get your very own blog logo designed. You could also consider getting social media banners and profile pictures designed, as well as cool features like custom pop-ups and fancy search bars.
PPC advertising
Pay-per-click advertising involves paying for an advert to display until a certain number of people have clicked on it. This advert could lead directly to your blog, helping you to attract more readers.
Google Ads and Bing Ads are the most popular PPC platforms. Through these platforms, you are able to launch various ad campaigns. There are companies like Cardinal Digital Marketing that can handle your PPC campaigns for you, optimizing them to help get the best results. This could be worth considering if you don’t have much experience with PPC.
Similar types of advertising can be found on social media sites like Facebook. In fact, it’s worth using Facebook’s boost post feature for gaining more exposure (you could boost a post containing a link to content on your blog).
SEO
Search engine optimization involves a variety of different tactics in order to increase the search engine rankings of a page. Pages with higher rankings typically get more visitors, making SEO a worthwhile investment for building readers.
DIY SEO is very hard to execute. Your best option is to hire an SEO company to carry out a campaign for you.
Content
It can be difficult to generate lots of content on a blog all by oneself. Many blog owners start taking on guest writers in order to generate more content.
While some guest writers may be willing to write for free, you can encourage writers to create higher quality content by paying them for it. This could be a few dollars for a single blog post. Most blog owners can’t afford to do this regularly, however, it could be worth doing now and again.
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