7 Really Smart Ways To Invest First Blog Cheque

Starting a blog isn’t expensive at all if you think about what you actually need; a domain name and hosting plan. As you become more business savvy, grows the need to make the right investments in your blog;

I remember when I got my first blog cheque. I made about $106 from Amazon four months into blogging and I was so excited about it! My thought was “So people can really make money from running a blog. Wow!”

There was a lot I wanted to do with that money, I wanted to spend it on a celebratory meal with my friend or buy a dress for my hard work. I was just over the moon about it.

But shortly after thinking of ways to spend that money, I realized that if I can make $106 after four months the smart thing for me to do would be to invest it back into my blog to double that in the long run.

These are 7 ways to make the right investments in your blog;

1. Web Hosting

If you have been blogging on a free platform like Wix, Blogger, Square Space, or WordPress.com, the first thing you should invest in s web hosting. There are so many benefits to having a self-hosted blog that you just can’t get from free platforms.

After my time using Blogger, I got the SiteGround hosting plan for $3.95 a month, literally less than a Starbucks latte. Click this link to get the same offer I had on their hosting plans. SiteGround is great because it makes your site super fast and they have great customer service for all inquiries.

2. Tailwind

That was exactly how I spent my first blog cheque. I was manual pinning and never really loved that. It gets confusing for me sometimes trying to figure out which Pinterest boards I have already pinned to.

I tried to write them down and then also tried spreadsheets but the bigger problem then was that I was becoming busy with other things so I would forget sometimes to go pin.

Imagine spending all that time on Pinterest a day with manual pinning, time is a very expensive commodity and it’s better to use it wisely. So I got TailWind. What tailwind does is automatically schedule all your pin images to your chosen boards.

Spending 30 minutes or less on scheduling 1-week-long pins gave me much more time to focus on growing my business. I had more time for research and content writing and the burden of remembering to manually post on Pinterest was gone.

3. Good Pinterest Course

Pinterest was another struggle point for me so I was doing a lot of research and free courses to learn all that I could. I  have never bought a Pinterest course for my self-care blog before and I get over one hundred thousand pageviews a month now.. but after almost 2 years.

My guess is you don’t want to wait this long. I bought Ell Duclose’s course called Pinterest With Ell just to see if there is anything to my current strategy. It was pleasant to see that I was already doing the right things seeing that we share a similar strategy.

If I created a Pinterest course, it would be just like hers that’s why I am confident to share it with you guys. There are 2 other popular Pinterest courses people rave about but Ell really knows her stuff and her course is cheaper than those two.

4. Keyword Tool

Investing in a keyword tool was the game changer for me. Most bloggers get scared of SEO and I was one. I just did not want to deal with it at all even though it was very important. It just seemed to ‘techy’.

Grasping the concept of SEO is actually very easy. It is easy to understand what it hard is to implement what you have learned. Pinterest is nice for getting quick traffic in the beginning but you shouldn’t depend on it. Pinterest goes through too many changes ever so often. Today it’s up, tomorrow it’s down.

Knowing this, I decided to invest in The KeySearch Tool to find relevant keywords people are actually searching for on Google before writing anything down. If you are not getting traffic from Google it’s probably because your posts are not keyword optimized among other things.

5. Blog And Social Media Editorial Planner

Saving time is very crucial for a blogger because there is always a lot to do. That makes it always a great idea to have your content planned at least a month or two ahead. There is a moment where I have been stuck looking for ideas on what to write about.

This puts a lot of pressure on me because I also know the importance of being consistent with blogging. I got a blogger content planner where I write my plans down after thorough keyword research.  It’s an absolute time-saver for me and I really recommend it.

6. A Premium Theme

I have switched blog 2 times with my self-care blog. You may not know exactly what you need when you start blogging. The more you write content and have business ideas, the more you may find that your theme isn’t very functional.

You may need a static home page that allows you to display your products, create a sales funnel, or collect leads. I am so in love with my current theme on this blog. Very customizable and looks professional. Not having a dedicated page to showcase your products can lead to lower sales. You can find an array of professional themes with functional home pages on Creative Market if you are in need of a change.

7. Logo And Branding Kit

Defining your brand image is another great way to make investments in your blog. Websites like Fiverr have graphic designers who specialize in logo making anywhere from $5. You can also hire someone to develop brand colors for you.

The benefit of having a consistent brand design is looking professional and put together. People will be able to recognize your work anywhere and that sort of thing also attracts brands looking for bloggers to work with. Treat your blog like an extension of you and how it appears to the world is how it represents you.

Bottom Line

Your blog should be treated as a business and like any other business, investments need to be made in order to scale your business. Making the right investments in your blog always brings positive returns. Every single thing mentioned in this post has been game-changers for me.

If there is any other investment you have made that I haven’t mentioned please mention it below in the comments.