I launched my blog way back in October 2014. When I started there weren’t any real overheads to running my blog. I was using the free Blogger platform to host my blog. The only real expense I had in starting was purchasing my domain name via 123-Reg. I paid just £8.38 for my domain name for 2 years. I had absolutely no idea how much it cost to run a blog.

Over the years as my blog has grown into a business and so have the costs of running my blog. I’m always quite reluctant to spend money if I don’t think it’s necessary. But one thing I’ve learned running my blog is that some tools are an absolute must. I definitely wouldn’t be able to make the money I do blogging without some of these subscriptions and services.

I’ve done quite a bit of outsourcing recently as I just don’t have time to do all the tasks myself. I thought I would break down exactly what I pay per month so you could see how much it costs to run a blog.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate for Bluehost, and will receive a commission if you sign up through my referral link. This is at no additional cost to you, and you will get the lowest price and a free domain name through my link.

How much does it cost to run a blog?

Some services I pay for yearly and others I pay for monthly. I also pay for a number of one-off things. I will give you a breakdown of both my yearly and monthly costs so you can see just how much my overheads are.

Hosting

I currently use Lyrical Host for my web hosting for my main blogs and then I use Bluehost for the hosting of my other smaller blogs. Why? Because they both offer different things. I normally start my smaller blogs out on Bluehost as the hosting is so cheap. Once those blogs start making money I will then transfer them over to Lyrical Host. I treat each individual blog as its own business, so until it’s making a decent amount of money I try and keep the running costs as low as possible.

Total yearly hosting costs = £159.99

If you are looking for a new blog host you can get 10% off your hosting with Lyrical Host when you use code ‘NEESHA10‘

Domain Names

I’ve recently switched all my domain names to be hosted with Lyrical Host. It just makes it easier to have them all in the same place. I have the .co.uk and .com version of The Fun Money Club registered as well as all my other blog domains. I’ve recently renewed The Fun Money Club domain for another 3 years just so it’s something I don’t have to think about.

Total domain costs per year = £33.55

WordPress Themes

I’ve always been so indecisive with my blog theme. I’ve easily bought over 10 WordPress themes in the nearly 7 years I’ve been blogging. I recently invested in a new theme from BluChic. It’s the one you can see on my blog right now. I’m a little bit obsessed with it. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. I had 10% off the theme with code ‘WELCOMEBC‘ so managed to save myself a bit of money there. I did buy another theme at the beginning of the financial year as well so my cost here is higher than it would usually be.

WordPress theme cost = £159.19

Mailerlite

I only recently started up a mailing list. I know, I should have done it a lot sooner. This is one thing I regret not doing so I’d highly recommend starting an email list if you haven’t already. I started paying for Mailerlite’s email marketing services in January. There is a free version of Mailerlite that you can use when you are starting out. Your first 1,000 subscribers are free when you use Mailerlite and then after that, you have to start paying.

Total monthly mailing list costs = £11.48

My Mailerlite cost does fluctuate monthly due to the conversion rate. Mailerlite is billed monthly at $15.

EMAIL MARKETING

MailerLite

MailerLite is the platform I use to build my mailing list and send emails out to my followers.

The platform is free to use when you have under 1,000 subscribers.

Click here to sign up for free

Adobe Photography Plan

I currently pay monthly for the Adobe photography plan. This includes access and use of Adobe Lightroom as well as Adobe Photoshop. I was using them quite a lot last year when I was doing more lifestyle posts. But now I’ve switched to using Canva and Stock photography to create my blog graphics I don’t really use it as much.

Adobe photography plan monthly cost = £20.84

Keysearch

I invested in Keysearch last year. This has been an absolute game-changer for me. It’s enabled me to really optimise my keywords and target one’s that I know I will rank in Google for. It’s such a comprehensive tool and if you’ve been reading up on SEO and Keyword Research I would highly recommend this tool. You can get 20% off your Keysearch subscription when you use the code ‘KSDISC’

Keysearch yearly cost = £98.66

Virtual Assistant

I pay for a virtual assistant to help me with some tasks that I just don’t have the time for. I’ve recently outsourced a number of content creation jobs like copywriting services, Pinterest management or graphic design.

Virtual assistant monthly cost = £140

Tailwind

I’ve been using Tailwind to automate my Pinterest account for the last two years. Recently I have started using a Virtual assistant to do manual pinning for me instead so I currently only use Tailwind for its Tribes feature. Tailwind has a free trial which you can use to see if you like the platform. After that, you can pay for it monthly or yearly.

Tailwind yearly cost = £141.10

Stock Photos and Instagram Templates

I buy these as and when I need them. I recently purchased some Instagram templates that are customisable on Canva from Etsy. I just don’t have the time to sit and create graphics from scratch so it’s great that I can buy them on Etsy and support another business. I also bought some stock photos from Lyrical Host which I have been using for Pinterest pins and blog post featured images.

Stock photos and Instagram templates cost = £76.07

E-Courses

I do blogging courses as and when I can. I often purchase them from other bloggers. There’s always something new to know in the world of online business. I truly believe that you need to invest in yourself to take your business to the next level. This year I’ve spent more than previous years on online courses and they’ve all been worth every penny! I also paid for an SEO Audit last year, it’s not something I’ve done before but it was so valuable. It was great to get a second pair of eyes on my blog. I often find you get tunnel vision when you only work on your own blog and forget to see the bigger picture and look at your blog from a user point of view.

The courses I’ve taken so far this financial year include:

• Navigating Keyword Research
• Navigating SEO
• Speed Boost Course
• Making Pinterest Possible

E-courses cost = £83.68

Facebook Adverts

I don’t spend a lot on Facebook advertising. I normally only boost a post when it’s relevant to my local area. Generic posts don’t seem to do well for me. And also the money making/saving content often doesn’t get accepted onto Facebook Ad’s due to the nature of the content.

Facebook Adverts cost = £93.51

ThriveCart

I recently wrote my first e-book, Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers. I currently host and sell my content via the ThriveCart platform. This is currently available at a one-off lifetime fee. Which will inevitable save me a fortune over the course of the years I will be using it. The cost of ThriveCart wasn’t cheap at $690, but I’ll never have to pay for it again. I can use the platform for as long as I like. It’s such an incredible tool for delivering courses and selling eBooks. It was well worth the money I spent on it.

ThriveCart cost = $690

Social Media Scheduler

I recently invested in SocialBee when it became available in the AppSumo day sales and it has been a game changer! I can’t believe I ran my business for so long without using a social media scheduling app! With SocialBee I have been able to schedule over 3 months worth of tweets in under half an hour!

Thanks to AppSumo day I managed to bag lifetime access to SocialBee for FREE! I’d highly recommend signing up for a free AppSumo account so you get notified of any of their upcoming deals.

SocialBee cost = £0

Rytr

I recently invested in Rytr an A.I writing tool that helps me speed up my writing. I’ve been using Rytr for things like emails, sponsored posts and landing pages to help get my written work completed faster. It’s such an incredible tool and something I didn’t know existed until I got it in the AppSumo Day deals.

Rytr normally costs $599 but if you purchase via AppSumo the price is just $39 for lifetime access! I paid $35.10 as I had an extra discount code in the App Sumo Day sales. I’ve already made my money back on this as it’s helped me write a sponsored post in under 10 minutes!

Rytr cost = $35.10

Total Expenses

So how much does it actually cost to run a blog? Here are my overheads by month and year along with my total expenditure this financial year. I’ve only included the items that I pay a regular subscription for in my monthly and yearly costs.

Monthly

For my regular monthly costs it works out at £66.75 (This only includes subscription services)

Yearly

My total yearly guaranteed expenditures total £801.09 (This only includes subscription services)

Total Expenses for Financial Year 20/21

So far my expenses for this financial year total £2479.11. This includes everything I mentioned above and a few other random outgoings.

My blog costs really do fluctuate each month, especially as I pay for a lot of my services on a yearly basis. I’ve tried to spread the renewal dates for things out so they aren’t all in the same month.

You can absolutely keep your running costs low if you don’t outsource things. Outsourcing on a monthly basis can be costly. My Virtual Assistant only started working for me in February. If I pay my Virtual Assistant every month to work my yearly expenditure just on social media services would be £1,680. I think it’s something you need to weigh up. If there’s a task you’re not very good at or dislike doing then getting someone else to do it can be extremely beneficial for yourself and your blog.

Do you use any of the same tools as I do? Is there a tool you think I’m missing that you would highly recommend? Let me know in the comments.