Blogging Investments for New Bloggers
Let’s talk about investments for your blog. These days you can start a blog or online business without spending a fortune. There are free versions of so many different platforms and so much free information available to us.
Having said that, I do believe in making wise purchases to help you succeed a little quicker. You can do things the free route, but making a few smart investments can really give you a boost in knowledge and technology.
They say you have to spend money to make money, right?
This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through one of these links, I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you. All opinions are my own. Read my full disclosure here.
Here is my list of blogging investments that are totally worth the small investment to help take your blog to the next level. I’ve included items that I feel can drastically improve your:
– Blog
– Pinterest Account
– Affiliate Sales
– Email List
– SEO
– Organization
– Writing
Note: Prices listed below are as of April 2020
First up….
1. Easy On Page SEO
When you need a recipe, a solution to a problem, or an answer to a question, where do you go?
GOOGLE! You want to make sure Google can find your articles when users are looking for answers. Google is an incredibly important and potentially lucrative traffic source.
SEO can seem confusing and overwhelming at first. It is well worth investing in some professional SEO training.
I found Easy On-Page SEO by SEO expert, Debbie Gartner to be a fantastic resource. This lady knows traffic! She gets around 350,000 page views a month! The eBook is very affordable and you get a lot of bang for your buck.
I truly wish I’d invested in learning SEO from day one!
Easy On Page SEO: Currently $47 (but price will increase to $57)
On a tight budget? You can take Debbie’s free Intro to SEO HERE.
Related Reading: An Honest Review of Easy On Page SEO
2. Amazon Affiliates Course
Have you joined the Amazon Affiliate program yet? It’s a very popular way to earn money with your blog. Everyone trusts Amazon. It only makes sense to place Amazon affiliate links on your blog.
Chances are, once people are on Amazon, they’ll make a purchase. Here’s the best part. ANY purchase they make after clicking on your affiliate link will be credited to you. Sounds pretty good, right? Right! But it’s easier said than done.
This course can take you from making a few dollars a month as an Amazon associate to a
full-time, passive income. Even with a small blog. The author, Carolina King, made over $1,000/month from Amazon while her blog was under 10K page views!
Already an affiliate but you’re struggling with your referrals? This investment could make all the difference! The Amazon Affiliates Course – $49
3. Tasty Pins Plugin
If you use Pinterest to promote your blog, this one is a real game-changer. When you upload a new image to your WordPress site you can (and should) fill out the metadata for that image, right?
This helps Google find your images and content. And we really want to help Google find us!
What you fill out in the alt text area is what will appear on Pinterest as your pin description if that image is shared to Pinterest.
But the alt text area is actually meant to be a description of what your image actually looks like. I go into further detail about all this in THIS post.
So, Tasty Pins. This is a plugin that allows you to fill out your alt text properly for optimal SEO but then also gives you a whole new section to fill out your pin description!
What? Game changer! This means anytime you or anyone else shares that image to Pinterest, you have full control over the description.
AND you can disable certain images that you don’t want to be shared. You can also hide additional pin images.
The Tasty Pins Plugin – $29/Year
Bonus Tip: If you choose not to renew after a year, you can still use the plugin. You just won’t get access to any updates. Therefore, if you don’t care about the updates, this is basically a one time purchase of $29 dollars!
Related Reading: Should You Optimize Your Blog Images For SEO OR Pinterest?
4. Legal Bundle Value Pack
When it comes to blogging legally, it’s easy to feel confused and overwhelmed. I know I did!
It’s so important to make sure your blog is legally compliant. There are many laws you likely aren’t aware that you need to follow.
Do you have a Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions, and Disclaimers posted on your site? Are you complying with the GDPR and CCPA laws? It can all get overwhelming pretty quickly!
I personally had no idea where to start! I purchased the Legal Bundle Value Pack and got SO much for that investment. My site is now legally protected and I know I won’t have to worry about legal ramifications or hefty fines.
This was seriously one of the smartest investments I’ve made for my business! It was easy to implement with the templates provided and WAY cheaper than hiring a lawyer.
The Legal Bundle Value Pack – $157
The bundle and all the other great products at this school are 40% off right now. Use coupon code: BLACKFRIDAYWEEK for 40% off.
Related Reading: Is Your Blog Legally Compliant With The CCPA Law?
5. Affiliate Action Plan
This Ebook (created by SeasideSundays.com) is a guide that can help you get started making money with affiliate marketing.
It was designed to be affordable enough for anyone who’s just starting out. It teaches beginners the ins and outs of affiliate marketing and how to get earning sooner!
In it you’ll learn must-have strategies for increasing your sales, how to capture your audience without being pushy, how to make money with affiliate marketing legally, and a ton more.
Included are a few bonuses too, including checklists and affiliate trackers.
This book is perfect for you if you’re new to affiliate marketing or you’ve tried it before without getting the results you wanted. Affiliate Action Plan – $19
6. The Email Marketing Fairy
Are you totally lost when it comes to your email list? Kate Doster is a bonified Email Marketing Expert. She’s cracked the code to growing and maintaining a successful email list.
With the Email Marketing Fairy Template Set she can and will teach you how to make email marketing a huge part of your monetization plans.
You get:
60+ Email Marketing Templates with examples covering everything from weekly newsletters to sales funnels, and subject lines.
There are also over $200 worth of bonus email marketing trainings. Making this one an $864 value for just $36 USD!
You know what they say. The money is in the list!
Email Marketing Fairy Templates here -$36
P.S. You can get a taste of Kate’s style before you buy in her FREE webinar HERE.
Related Reading: Get Started With Email Marketing (to make money)
7. Pinteresting Strategies
If you just aren’t getting the traffic you crave from Pinterest, don’t give up on it just yet! Carly Campbell (MommyOnPurpose.com) is here to help! She’s a Pinterest expert and she’s managed to grow her Pinterest account to over 45,000 Followers!
Pinteresting Strategies is very well known in the blogging/Pinterest community. Why? Because it works! Also, as the Pinterest algorithm changes, Carly updates the course. So it’s always relevant.
It is without a doubt, THE best investment I’ve made for my blog traffic. I learned so much from this guide and truly believe you can too. Pinteresting Strategies -$97
You can learn more about the course (and grab a coupon code) here: My Honest Review of Pinteresting Strategies
Grab it this week for 25% off using coupon code: BF2022
8. 50 Page Blog Planner
I love this fun, colorful planner that will help you grow your blog and stay organized.
This super cute planner includes more pages than you’ll find in regular Blog Planners.
Boost your productivity, reach your goals, and keep all your important blog information in one place. It’s designed by illustrator/blogger, Angela of straycurls.com.
Click through to get a preview of the pages to give you a better idea of what’s included.
P.S. It’s a lot of bang for your buck!
50 Page Blog Planner – Only $9
9. Build a Successful Blog Bundle
Maybe you’ve made it to the end of this post and are thinking how much you want to buy everything because you genuinely need to learn about all of these blogging topics! And that’s a normal reaction.
There is a lot to learn about the blogging world. And it can get overwhelming when you think about just how much you need to learn.
I was once like you. That’s why I created something just for folks like us. A way to learn a little bit about a bunch of blogging topics, without spending a fortune or having to buy a course on each one upfront.
Introducing my Build a Successful Blog Bundle for beginners!
This bundle is essentially 6 eBooks in 1 (plus a pretty great bonus section).
In it you’ll learn the basics about:
• starting a blog
• SEO
• affiliate marketing
• email marketing
• blogging legally
• and Pinterest marketing
You’ll get a mini eBook about each topic that covers the basic information beginners need to know, who to trust as experts on each topic, and what resources are worth looking into when you’re ready to learn more. Plus tips to try and mistakes to avoid!
If you want to learn foundational information that will help you start your blog on the right foot, without having to buy a course on each individual subject (until you can afford to), this is the bundle for you! Learn more HERE.
P.S. It’s currently 50% off for Black Friday week using code BF50
That’s a wrap! These are some of my favourite investments for your blog that are worth the money. I hope you check some out and get as much out of them as I have.
Have you made any investments for your blog you think should be on the list?
P.S. If you are on a super tight budget, you may find this post helpful until you can invest further: Huge List a Free Courses, Tools & Resources For New Bloggers
Like This Post? Share it!
Great information, thank you.
Excellent information, thank you! I already use Grammarly and it has saved me from so many grammar snafus. I’ll definitely check out the others!
Thanks Em! Isn’t Grammarly great? I find it so helpful when composing emails and writing blog posts.
This was super helpful! I am going to pin it and refer back to it.
It’s always nice having someone that has had experience with this blogging stuff out there. There are so many courses and people always referring so much stuff and it’s hard to discern on your own without experience. Thanks for sharing.
Happy to help, Amy!
I had struggled with the SEO/Pinterest description difference and was never really sure what to use as the alt-description. The Tasty pin plug-in sounds like the perfect solution! Thank you so much for the recommendation!
You’re welcome, Rachael. I have zero regrets buying Tasty Pins. Money well spent!
These are all great blog investments, I definitely need to pick up some of these. I think it’s time to bite the bullet and get Tailwind and Tasty Pins just to make my life easier. Pinterest is so time-consuming and there are things I could be focusing on to grow my blog.
Thanks, Rebecca! Tailwind and Tasty Pins are definitely my top 2 favourite investments I’ve made for my blog!
This is a great list! Thanks for the info!
Thanks for the comment, Erin! Glad you found it helpful 🙂
Thank you for this post. I’m working up the nerve to tackle email marketing and there are many recommendations you made in this post that I had never even heard of.
Hi Kimberlie! I can’t say enough good things about Meera Kothand and her products. She is the queen of email marketing!
Thanks for sharing these great tips! I love the Tasty Pin plug in.
Thanks, Lina. It’s one of my favourite purchases!
Tailwind keeps coming up so often in my searches about increasing my page views that it feels inevitable that I need to get it. But I have heard that it is confusing at first. So, I definitely want to learn more about it before I invest in it. Thanks for the tips! I’m pinning to refer back to it later.
Thanks, Laura! I didn’t find Tailwind confusing, personally. Tribes is my favourite part. If you sign up and are confused, feel free to email me and I’ll help if I can 🙂 Karen@onlineblogandbusinesshelp.com
Some great suggestions on here! I was definitely a hold out when it comes to Tailwind, but once I really got into it, I was sold! I highly recommend everyone give it an honest try!
Thanks for the comment, Britt! I totally agree 🙂
These are great tips! I’m going to look into that Pinterest course, it looks amazing
It SO is! The best part is that Pinteresting Strategies gets updated as the algorithm changes. So it’s always relevent.
Very informative blog
I like this.
Thanks Twila!
Lots of great information… thanks for sharing! I haven’t heard of some of the resources so I will be checking them out!
Thanks for the comment Susan! I hope you found a blogging investment that pays off for you 🙂
This is a fantastic and VERY helpful post! I am a new blogger and feel so overwhelmed at times. I need to check out some of these resources. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hi Nancy! I’m so glad you found the investment suggestions helpful. I hope you find something that pays off for your blog 🙂