Written on February 3rd, 2008 at 05:02 am by Darren Rowse
What are Your blog Expenses?
What have you paid for when it comes to your blogging?
One of the things that I hear a lot of people talk about when speaking about the virtues of blogging is that it has such low overheads and barriers to entry in terms of cost.
In many ways I agree with this - I look at my own experience of blogging and I started out with free blog platforms and hosting and apart from my internet access costs (which I was paying anyway) there were no other expenses for some time.
However the more serious you get with your blogging the more temptations there are to upgrade aspects of your blog and to pay for the privilege of doing so.
For me this has included paying for blog design, hosting, training/learning (books and courses), advertising (not much but I’ve experimented), blogging tools, new computer equipment etc.
My accountant still can’t believe how little I spend and all but begs me to create some more expenses to create some tax deductions.
It’s got me wondering what others pay for when it comes to their blogs? What sort of things have you spent money on to improve your blog? You don’t need to put figures on it (although you’re welcome to if you’d like) but it’d be interesting to know just how many bloggers do still do it on the smell of an oily rag.
92 Responses to “What are Your blog Expenses?”
Kirk Warren
February 3rd, 2008 5:48 am
I’ve only spent $5 on the domain name. Still using Blogger and my own modified templates for the hosting, so I’m not really spending anything at the moment.
Robert
February 3rd, 2008 5:49 am
We have several blogs that feature wine and foods of Mexico and Baja Real Estate.
Check with your accountant - but in our view - if we review a restaurant in our blog that is an expense. So, things you do for research on the blog are legitimate expenses.
RD
Sue @ TameBay
February 3rd, 2008 5:50 am
Just yesterday I switched from free Sitemeter to paid-for Sitemeter for the grand sum of $6.95 a month. What we can do with those additional stats is well worth paying for (IMHO).
And I’ve always believed that web hosting was worth paying for. The difference between free and a few dollars/pounds/euros a month is so little in money, and so much in service.
Mike King
February 3rd, 2008 5:52 am
Zero. Already had my own domains, hosting and am now running wordpress. Only costs are some serious time put into my blog… I’m sure everyone has that cost though.
Mike Harmon
February 3rd, 2008 5:52 am
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Mike Harmon
NCN
February 3rd, 2008 5:55 am
I have been blogging (and podcasting) for more than 3 years -
Over that time, I’ve spent money on domains and hosting -
plus a computer upgrade and a new microphone for the podcast.
The true ‘cost’ of blogging cannot be summed up in ‘dollars and cents’ - The real ‘cost’ is measured in work-hours: thinking up ideas, creating posts, figuring out technical issues, answering emails, networking with other bloggers, etc.
NCN
Sue @ TameBay
February 3rd, 2008 5:57 am
Oh… and I bought ‘Blog Schmog’ but I wish I hadn’t bothered. :-D
Chris Shouse
February 3rd, 2008 6:04 am
You have to take into account the hours spent researching and writing, what are you worth? Overhead other than domain, upgrading computers and adding some bells and whistles is very low.
Michael Conrad
February 3rd, 2008 6:10 am
I spend very little in promoting my blog. I focus more on the content and getting higher results in the search engines. I also like to force my friends into reading my blog - instant traffic!
Nez
February 3rd, 2008 6:11 am
Mike, NCN and Chris all hit the nail on the head — with today’s very reasonable webhosting rates and domain registry (I remember Network Solution’s $70 per year charge), my main expense is the time I use to work on content development and blog networking, when I also need to use that time for my actual business, as well as family time.
This becomes an “opportunity cost” that currently is being paid for with less sleep :-)
Lisa
February 3rd, 2008 6:18 am
I’ve spent $6.50 on my domain names, $5 a month for hosting and $5 for a package of Wordpress themes. One of my cheaper ventures to say the least :)
Cosmin
February 3rd, 2008 6:18 am
I paid only for domain names and a refurbished server. I have free colocation (yep, I’m lucky). Beeing a geek :D I prefer self-hosting.
bennie
February 3rd, 2008 6:25 am
$10 in domain, free blog template (I did customized it a little), Blogger as platform. Im considering paying for bluehost hosting ($97yr unlimited domains) but right now until my blog get more traffic Im not going to spend too many on it.
Pádraig
February 3rd, 2008 6:27 am
Time.
And some small monthly fees.
Guillermo
February 3rd, 2008 6:38 am
Domain, hosting, advertising (AdWords, Bidvertiser, YMS)… around $250-300 so far which was already recovered thanks to AdSense, that you cannot name (ti, el… something) and a couple more. And time, of course.
James
February 3rd, 2008 6:47 am
$10 for the domain name. I have others pay for my hosting which is a big money saver. I’ve been doing web-design for a few years so I can do my own templates. The real expense is in time (though I find it’s been worth it) :)
MyBlogContest
February 3rd, 2008 6:52 am
Domain name less than $10 a year
Hosting less than $5 a month
and nothing!
Blog template, design…..I just won some from blog contests :)
Also make some money, get some free stuff from blog contests! No other expenses.
ashok
February 3rd, 2008 7:02 am
Zero so far (2 years, with 2 separate blogs).
But I seriously would have rather paid just to know that some things I tried for promotion would never pan out.
Paul B
February 3rd, 2008 7:06 am
A few dollars here and there for advertising but that’s about it really. I don’t have an accountant (I prefer to get my hands dirty) but I’m in the same situation of finding expenses, don’t want to give the tax man too much!
Rebellious Arab Girl
February 3rd, 2008 7:17 am
Hmm. I bought all the domain names that relate to my site. So .net .com .org .info .. etc
I pay for monthly hosting.
Hmm. I like my wordpress (although it is annoying at times to use), and I made my own template. I like control over my site. If I had the choice, I would go back to hosting it on my own Linux Server at home, but since I get too many hits, it interrupts my internet connection at home. So paying 5 bucks a month for someone else to take care of the hosting is a better deal and less time from my part to secure my server.
Chris Thomson
February 3rd, 2008 7:20 am
I’ve spent $10 for my domain (last february, it has to renew soon). I use (mt) hosting, but because of one of their incidents where they gave credits to those affected (and their credit script failed, so the (mt) guys gave me even more credit), I haven’t paid my hosting bills out of my own pocket for a few months now. Usually I have to pay $20 a month for hosting. Soon enough, I’m going to get a custom theme.
Missy
February 3rd, 2008 7:30 am
I’ve only been blogging for two months and haven’t made any money yet. But I have spent a little: I experimented with WordPress, Blogger, and Typepad, and found Typepad to be far surperior (I know enough HTML to be dangerous and didn’t like Wordpress’ limitations; I didn’t like Blogger’s limited templates, but didn’t want to mess with the CSS to create something unique), so I’m paying for Typepad. Plus my domain name.
I love blogging so far and will continue to do it even if I don’t make much money; for me it’s a great form of creative expression and a way to connect with people. It’s worth it for me as a pretty inexpensive hobby. If I make a ton of money off of it some day, icing on the cake!
Catherine L
February 3rd, 2008 7:44 am
Hi Darren - I don’t spend heaps on my blog as it’s quite new. In the past, I’ve not put things down that I should as a business expense - but I’m learning.
Now, you will need to check with your accountant - but sometimes you work in cafes - you might be networking there with other bloggers - corporate lunch?
Obviously - new digital cameras and anything associated with them, as you need them for your blog.
Don’t you have a home improvement blog. You show people how to blog about home improvement right? So I should imagine any improvements you do at home will be blogged about - you could probably put those down as research expenses or something.
Corporate gifts - you send presents to other bloggers and influential people - cases of wine and things.
Meetings/corporate brainstorming days - your wife is one of your blogging advisors right? So you could have an expensive dinner/lunch during one of these meetings and put it down as an expense.
Fuel/car allowance for when you are out and about doing research.
Even your travel abroad - if you are going for a conference or research.
If I think of anything else I will let you know. If the revenue are reading this, I’m not suggesting that Darren fiddles anything - but he may not have known that he could do some of these things and claim for them.
Vero Pepperrell
February 3rd, 2008 7:54 am
In theory, if blogging is your main source of revenue and you have a home office, you should be able to expense a percentage of your other house bills, such as heating, electricity, phone, etc.
Do you travel to meet people or for research purposes? Did you buy a camera to do videos?
It’s one of the best low-startup-cost businesses, when compared to people with hobbies like painting, where canvas, paint and other materials can break the bank before even getting started.
As others have said, it’s really the time and energy investment that’s most challenging to start off.
nathan
February 3rd, 2008 8:01 am
$8 / year for domain, $8 / month for hosting. That’s about it. Oh wait, I also spent $5 last week on StumbleUpon. Other than that, I’ve only spent time. A lot of it.
jd
February 3rd, 2008 8:09 am
I’ve wasted more than $4,000 on domain names before reading the 21 immutable laws of branding. I didn’t considder the “say it in the hall” vs. “find it in a search” scenearios. I didn’t consider how alliteration helps for repeatability. I didn’t consider the emotional vs. just tech factors in the name.
The more painful the lessons, the better the learning sticks!
Live and learn ;)
Ali from TheOfficeDiet
February 3rd, 2008 8:14 am
I paid for domain names and web hosting — about £70 total (so far). In the past, I’ve had completely free “personal” blogs (using 20six and blogger) but I wanted to have a go at something more professional.
Ali
Four20
February 3rd, 2008 8:16 am
I paid 60 dollars for hosting last year. next year i will probably have to move up and pay 80-100 for the year(for more BW).
but last month i pulled in over 80 dollars from adsense alone. . .then again the site has only been up for 3 months. . .things could go either way
Bylla @ Xavier Media
February 3rd, 2008 8:47 am
Since my blog is hosted on the same server as my hosting customers, the same domain name as the scripts I’m selling I virtually don’t have any exact costs for my blog.
/Andreas
bennie
February 3rd, 2008 8:52 am
And by the way just my opinion, Darren it would be great to put a forum in problogger.
Lex G
February 3rd, 2008 9:07 am
Basically nothing …. since I do everything myself … yeah bit of web hosting and domain name costs … but they’re neglectable if I might say so …
Polka Dot Bride
February 3rd, 2008 9:22 am
Upfront was design, now it’s just the domain and hosting.
Nathalie Lussier
February 3rd, 2008 9:44 am
I bought a new laptop, mostly so that I could run both windows and Mac OS X software. After that, I spent about $50 on hosting per year, and use free stuff for the rest of my blogging. I also use X Site Pro for the rest of my web design, which cost me $200 or so if I recall.
All in all, very much worth it considering the income. :)
kidpurple
February 3rd, 2008 9:56 am
I spend $25/month on hosting + ~$9/year on domain names. All my sites run on WordPress.
At $25/month I spend $300/year for hosting. I’m thinking about switching to use wordpress.com for free. I’ve done minimal customization to themes - and I don’t really like any of them. No adsense is a big drawback - but I could just sell my own ads, I’ve started to do this already.
I beleive it would cost $25/year for custom domain and custom css upgrades at wordpress.com. I could host 12 domains there for the same price I’m paying right now. I don’t have 12 so I’d be saving some money, saving time on maintenance - but with the drawback of some customizability.
What to do????
Ryan Whiteside
February 3rd, 2008 9:56 am
Besides the things you mentioned, I’ve spent money on things such as graphic creation software. Pop up software. Little things like that.
But books are the biggest thing. I usually spend around $500+ on books each year to master my craft. Which are all tax deductible.
Jimmy Shelter
February 3rd, 2008 10:05 am
About 16 euro a year for the domain name and hosting, and way too much time. :)
Dhaval Jani
February 3rd, 2008 10:11 am
Well you can try and use dedicated server for hosting and used fiail over option or host at multiple servers (in your case may be usa and austrailia??) so you will be paying around 300 a month..dont know if it would be stupid paying that much money just for hosting if there is no need but hey you can host all your sites there and u will have lotsss of space!!?
Andy MacDonald
February 3rd, 2008 10:24 am
For me, the only expenses i really have are my hosting costs, (which i pay anyway), the price of my domain name, and some advertising. (about $50 per month).
I do like to upgrade my computer / laptop once per year though, and whenever i do, that, of course, goes down to expenses.
jhay
February 3rd, 2008 10:35 am
The basics, hosting, internet bill, a lone premium WP theme and that’s just about it. I still haven’t bought advertising for my blog yet though it’s something I really want to try later this year.
All in all, costs are well covered by my earnings, but still not enough to get me that MacBook. :P
tish
February 3rd, 2008 10:36 am
Started out the same on a free WP platform. But had to pay $50 to expand the site memory as I use a fair number of photos on my site. Now that I’ve moved to a new site, I paid for transferring a URL, the server space, a theme for Joomla, and for a couple of extensions that were not free. But overall, it’s a very inexpensive medium. Hooray for open source!
Charli Wag
February 3rd, 2008 10:40 am
@Four20
Wow 80 bucks off adsense in 3 months
I’ve been to your site about 100 times and never thought it’s only been up 3 months…
Guess apples were it’s at.
As for my expenses zip…(other than a parked domain I have waiting for me :)
I have mostly managed the back ends of other peoples blogs…
for free cause I guess i Like the geek part of blogging as much as the writing :)
Seduction Chronicles
February 3rd, 2008 10:50 am
I pay for advertising. Adwords to draw in new readers because I know my page sticks for it’s audience, and people subscribe to the RSS feed, and optin for the newsletter.
Apart from that, my time, is a big one although I don’t consider it “real” work, I love doing it.
Aweber - $19.95 a month
Hosting - $20 a month
Competitions - $40 a month
Adwords - $100+ a month
Other Advertising - $300 a month
That’s all I can think of!
Donovan
Jeff Kay
February 3rd, 2008 10:55 am
I pay $39 per month for hosting, $99 a year for a mailing list service, $50 a year to back up my hard drive at on off-site location, a small amount for domain names, and that’s about it.
Occasionally I’ll upgrade a camera, or piece of computer equipment, but I don’t really count those. I have a feeling I’d do that anyway.
rick
February 3rd, 2008 11:09 am
The more I try to grow the blog, the more I see the need to upgrade equipment. I can see this being fairly expensive. But a good excuse to have a new pc!
youfoundjake
February 3rd, 2008 11:28 am
I spend $107.95 a year for hosting, which includes the domain, unlimited mysql db’s, 350gb of space. That is my only cost, other then my time. Not bad. I don’t count computer equipement or ISP since that was bought before my latest venture.
Ronald from RA Project
February 3rd, 2008 11:46 am
Hosting: at least $20 a month.
Stock Photography: $60 every two months.
Custom Graphics: $200 each depending on the designer.
Themes: $300 a year.
Contests: $100 each contest.
Opportunity Cost: Growing daily.
Stationstops.com
February 3rd, 2008 11:51 am
The Provigil bills are killing me.
Marina Martin
February 3rd, 2008 12:00 pm
Aside from the domain names and misspelling variations, I paid $200 for my pig logo at SufficientThrust.com, and I pay $19.95/mo for an Aweber subscription. I pay $20/mo for web hosting for all my blogs collectively.
When I was at Startup Weekend Seattle this past weekend, a number of people made the very astute observation that while the event only “cost” $20 and we got a t-shirt, Moleskine, and free food for the entire weekend, we also put in more than 54 hours of our time, which made it a very costly event. Realistically, every hour I put into my blog is not an hour I would otherwise be billing for, but some billable hours are lost. That’s by and large the biggest expense, but I’ve experienced a great return-on-investment in terms of new ideas, connections, and clients.
Sue
February 3rd, 2008 12:25 pm
About the only thing I’ve invested in besides hosting and domain names and the like (at least so far) is I paid for a translator plugin, as I thought it would add value to the site. And it has, especially for SEO purposes.
I really don’t foresee too many expenses, but then there is virtually no income so it all balances out in the end.
Antoine Khater
February 3rd, 2008 12:33 pm
So far I only pay for my domain, however I am planing to invest soon in a custom design but that’s it.
I think, because of the niche of my blog, that advertising won’t help anyway.
Money Never Sleeps
February 3rd, 2008 12:46 pm
Hey Darrin, This is an interesting question, because its tax season here is my recommendations for my fellow bloggers to spend some dough! The best money you will ever spend, believe it or not is the Yahoo Directory fee of $299…it jumped my PR from 1 to 4 almost overnight!
Not one Blogger recommends this, but I do!
Brad V.
February 3rd, 2008 1:02 pm
The money I spend for my blog is domain, hosting and then I pay fees to Typepad so I can have a custom design. At first I thought I was spending too much money for what has been mainly a hobby, but I’ve since realized it’s totally worth it. Plus, there are other hobbies which are way more expensive!
The biggest investment I make for my blog is time. I’m spending more and more time posting, moderating comments and other tasks. I’ve also implemented a monthly email newsletter which takes quite a bit of time to prepare. But I’m having a blast with it right now and I don’t mind that my blogging expenses outweigh my income.
Frugal Dad
February 3rd, 2008 1:47 pm
So far my only expenses are hosting with HostGator. They offer unlimited hosting for blogs which helps when creating multiple niche blogs.
Uanz
February 3rd, 2008 1:52 pm
This site is amazing. You got a great site here.. anyway.. The only expenses that I have on blog is the hosting, my internet access & my autoresponder charges..
Another big cost just anyone else is Time. Lot of time needed for ideas which I don’t really have since I’m married & the recent birth of my daughter. Guess I need a time management crash course to overcome this.. Hahaha.. Keep it up..
Chetan
February 3rd, 2008 1:56 pm
$10 for domain and hosting is provided by my brother’s web host company, so no much expenses till now. I am sure it will cost me few dollars for theme etc. but am sure it wont count a lot..
Jody Mitoma
February 3rd, 2008 2:12 pm
Thus far for Touch Podium I’ve paid $8 for the URL, and $10 to have that URL transfered over to wordpress.com’s stupid system… I couldn’t believe I had to pay $10 to get that done.
And now I’m going to be stuck having to transfer over to wordpress.org, restarting everything because I see wordpress.com doesn’t allow you to have Google AdSense… *sigh.
Blog was only started just under 3 weeks ago, but already getting ~2,500 views/day. :]
Sean Anderson
February 3rd, 2008 2:27 pm
I have just launched my third blog and I plan on getting up at least two more. I have made just under forty dollars to date and I haven’t spent a dime. If you were to compare the value of my time to the monetary value and learning experience from blogging. I am sure I am still undercompensated. This all given my goal is to make money.
I say this considering to date. I feel that wholeheartedly I will end up making a log of money blogging. I have used blogger for all of my sites thus far.
By the way Darren I am an accountant and assure you that you accountant was only joking. Just make sure you report every legitimate expense you have. Don’t go looking for expenses your government can use those taxes. By making things up your stealing from your country. I consider that just as bad as stealing from your Mom or Dad.
Timothy Andrew
February 3rd, 2008 2:37 pm
So far, I’ve just spent $10 on my domain (bought it through Google Apps). However in the future, I plan to pay for web hosting (most likely mediatemple), and run my own Wordpress.org blog. The level of customization is just sky-high!
Mario Sanchez
February 3rd, 2008 2:38 pm
Domain Name: $10/year
Wordpress Theme: $0
Hosting: $0 (set my blog up as an add-on domain on a hosting account I already had).
Logo: $25 at Gotlogos.com
Images: $0 (I use flickr pix, legally)
The biggest “expense” is the opportunity cost of my time when writing posts or tweaking the style sheets, but I don’t count that since I enjoy it.
Felippe Oliveira
February 3rd, 2008 3:14 pm
Well Lets see…
$10 on domain name
$6.99 Hosting
$25 at Goclick Ads( I tried it once it is good for traffic but not solid)
I think for now it is just that
Felippe Oliveira
http://www.gphonemodules.com
MR
February 3rd, 2008 3:17 pm
One year of expenses is paid off in less than 1 month of Google AdSense revenue for me.
Chris Jacobson
February 3rd, 2008 4:21 pm
Web Hosting: $24.95/month
Advertising: $0
Profit: $6,500+/month from my blog
arshad
February 3rd, 2008 6:32 pm
i have just started blogging via blogger ——– no expenses —- except some precious time ———- though i have not yet got 100’s of dollars , yet i feel this is the best method way of earning online —- instead of adbux and others —— this surely pays off ! hope to get a decent PR in the coming years .
Maria Palma
February 3rd, 2008 7:20 pm
I’ve paid for my domain names, monthly hosting, and stock photo account. That’s about it!
jamie
February 3rd, 2008 8:54 pm
Hosting $6.95 a month (had it anyway) $10 for a domain name. $79 for Michael Pollock’s magazine theme (’cos it’s so cool and easy to use) $100 for Angsuman’s Translator - which is just amazing - and membership to Yaro Starak’s Blog mastermind.
Time - Lot’s of it.
Last year I spent $8000 on a Franchise that failed, so the costs of a blog are negligible in comparison. I don’t run adsense on my main site as I think it detracts from the experience, but do Affiliate - earnings are low at the moment, but that’s not really the point - I hope to still be blogging in 10 years time!
m07
February 3rd, 2008 9:58 pm
only hosting
Mrs.W
February 3rd, 2008 10:25 pm
Okay, I have no business answering this query because my blogging is free for now. But here are some things you could deduct if you choose to:
- a new camera/video camera for posting purposes
- magazine subscriptions to trade mags/applicable subject matter are a legitimate business expense
- travel to cover a meeting/conference
- conference fees
- how about some jazzy software for editing pics/videos, or creating flash animations, provided you know or learn how and use them in your blog posts. Even photoshop to just watermark your pics would work.
Adkins
February 3rd, 2008 10:45 pm
Zero so far. But as soon as I attain economic independence (being a minor sucks) I will buy my own domain name, hosting etc. Some serial bloggers might have spent more, but I am just serious about my writing.
Anthony Lawrence
February 3rd, 2008 10:55 pm
I pay $80 a month for hosting.
No doubt all the $5 folks think that’s insane, but it isn’t and if you don’t already know why, my explaining it isn’t going to change your penny pinching mind :-)
Jacky
February 3rd, 2008 11:46 pm
$12.5 / year for domain, $8 / month for hosting.
Nick | Put Things Off
February 4th, 2008 12:09 am
I learnt something this month: that old adage, “spend money to make money” really works.
The start up and running costs for my fresh-faced blog have probably been more than most — I commission good illustration, pay for Wordpress templates (and help!) and am not afraid to outsource other bits when needed.
The other start-up expense most bloggers seem to overlook is targeted advertising. A lot of bloggers soldier away trying to generate traffic and gain subscribers without paying for advertising. It can and does work, but I’ve found that taking out just a few 125px ads on up-and-coming sites in my niche has really boosted my subscriber count and traffic. It’s not too expensive, is a big confidence boost and it pays dividends!
What’s the real truth about blog expenses? Spending money carefully is worth it! While my start-up costs were more than my income this month, the scales look set to tip in February and March — income from affiliate sales and advertising is now coming in and the initial expenses have proved worth it.
I agree with what others have said — the biggest non-balance-sheet expense is certainly time! I’m religiously tracking my income, expenditure, and time spent on PTO and intend to share it all in July after 6 months of blogging.
Yes, blogging can be free and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be. But if you’re determined to do it for a living, don’t let anyone put you off dropping some cash on promotion and great design.
Webb Design Peterborough
February 4th, 2008 12:16 am
If you accountant wants you to have more tax deductible expenses, consider buying property and call it an office. It can be a good pension plan!!
Duncan Macleod
February 4th, 2008 12:27 am
After two cases of outgrowing my hosting arrangement I don’t mind paying for reliability. The .tv domain I’ve suppemented with a couple of .com addresses. On top of domain name, hosting and occasional advertising on Adwords, I’ve been investing in trade magazines (paper and online), books, professional MyBlogLog, Sitemeter, Akismet.
Roni
February 4th, 2008 12:51 am
Hosting & TIME! That’s about it. But I have a question if you have a minute…
Are other outside “tech” expenses still counted as expenses? For examples, I post short cooking videos on my blog. If I purchase specific items for that video is that a business expense??
Andrea
February 4th, 2008 12:58 am
I always compare the cost of whatever feature or add-on, to whether I can do it myself.
Domains names and webspace I pay for, because it’s hard to DIY that. ;) I averaged between $5-$10/month for webspace, which was more than covered by some advertising on just one blog.
Templates I’ve hardly ever paid for any, preferring to design my own or tweak an exisiting one. For the casual blogger, paying for a custom template can be quite an uneccesary cost. Sure, it look pretty, but it mostly supports someone else.
I’m willing to go pretty far before I pay for things like design. :) Recently I have, although it will be for a professional blog network, not my own personal site.
Mitch
February 4th, 2008 1:14 am
Yep, toss me into the bunch with hosting and domain fees. That is pretty much it.
eve
February 4th, 2008 1:38 am
I spend about 7 on hosting, about 25 for my domain names. An average of 15 dollars a month on promotion experiments, about 20 on IStockPhoto every few months, about to spend about a hundred on new logos for my two blogs and lots and lots of time.
I also spend about 9 dollars a month on good stats reporting and misc site fees.
I bring in about 900 a month right now from my 2 blogs (only one monetized at the moment) and have been blogging for a little over 2 years.
Azhar
February 4th, 2008 2:59 am
I am a beginner. I am experimenting with blogging.
I have just spend 5$ for domain and 10$ For hosting.
Side-Line
February 4th, 2008 3:50 am
I have a dedicated server which costs me 400 dollar a month, I share it with some 10 other buddies which makes it quite cheap.
Apart from that, there is only income :)
xlt
February 4th, 2008 7:13 am
i pay for hosting (4.50$/month), domain (8$/year) and my free time. thats it.
Scott
February 4th, 2008 7:41 am
With my sites and blogs, they now pay for themselves and are continuing to grow in the black. The actual expenses can range from domain/hosting to design to promotion (SEO/Marketing). I’m now helping others with blasting traffic to their blog and getting more money.
See: http://www.howbloggersmakemoney.com if interested in blogging stuff and for general blasts I’m also doing a combined PR/SEO burst and that’s starting to be a real resource for my clients.
Thanks,
Scott
The Adsense Consultant
February 4th, 2008 11:01 am
I have never really had to think about it until this year because of having to report my adsense/blogging income. It was one of your own posts that got me to thinking about it.
I know that I can deduct blogging-related things - like you said - computer equipement and the like. I haven’t taken any deductions yet but I still have some time before I have to file my taxes -
Tom Hanna
February 4th, 2008 8:20 pm
Domain names. Multiple hosting accounts: My big one is technically capable of handling everything, but I’ve been burned three times by excellent hosts suddenly turning to *!($. Having three accounts means I always have two alternatives for a midnight move. It also means three different IP address classes.
BTW, I keep getting this error message intermittently:
Forbidden
You don’t have permission to access /wp-content/cache/supercache/www.problogger.net/archives/2008/02/04/how-to-herd-organic-search-traffic-to-your-blog/index.html on this server.
Shawn
February 5th, 2008 2:01 am
$6.99 for each domain from Godaddy, and I have my own servers in a mates data center, so it cost’s me practically nothing.
suresh
February 5th, 2008 2:14 am
Well I agree with many fellow bloggers.
It is the valuable time that costs for running a good blog.
It is the content and preparing it makes a difference.
Regards.
Kiltak
February 5th, 2008 5:17 am
Something that a lot of people don’t consider when looking for tax deductions is the devaluation of their equipments..
A computer devaluates about 30% per year.. When you’ve got a $2000 box, this could make a nice difference.
Zach Smith
February 5th, 2008 4:56 pm
Because I write a blog about the sports at one particular school (Wake Forest) I actually have some pretty significant expenses, but they aren’t the usual ones associated with blogging.
For example, when I started writing the blog pretty seriously I invested about $70 in a nice digital voice recorder for press conferences and interviews and that sort of thing.
Another somewhat unusual blogging expense has come from traveling to see the games. This weekend I drove a total of 200 miles to and from a road game and also had some other miscellaneous expense (food/parking etc.). Although I didn’t have to pay for a ticket to the game (thanks to a press pass) Travel and related expenses cost me close to $50.
Clearly these expenses aren’t the norm for most bloggers, but they are part of this particular niche.
June Walker
February 6th, 2008 5:09 am
ProBlogger is a great resource for writers of the web. Yes, bloggers, for business reasons, may classify themselves as freelance writers.
Bloggers are self-employed business people — I call them indies — and bloggers may deduct all the same expenses as any other indie. Consider expenses such as: a portion of ISP cost; a portion of hardware; trips to BestBuy; publications or subscriptions related to your blog subject; your desk chair.
Read more at my blog post Bloggers, designers, inventors: 3 Ways to Expand Business Deductions .
I have been a tax consultant to indies for more than 25 years and I know that most indies cheat themselves by not taking every deduction possible. If you want to get an idea of the deductions available to bloggers there’s a complimentary list of business expenses for the indie available at my blog and my website.
June Walker
http://junewalkeronline.blogspot.com
DonCoryon
February 7th, 2008 3:13 am
I started blogging last month. I used Blogger for two days but then I found a hosting company that gave me 3 domains and hosting for $70. I did it so I could use Wordpress, Blogger left me wanting more.
I made $2 of that back from AdSense in my first month, so we’ll call it $68. =)
—
Brass Poker - blog written by a Las Vegas Poker Professional
Curtis
February 10th, 2008 4:42 pm
Started out on blogger then dabbled in wordpress.com now am currently on a free host. Just yesterday I purchased hosting and fixing it all up before going live with it.
Domain $18, includes privacy guard
Hosting $25 a year with A Small Orange
Michael
February 13th, 2008 9:06 pm
Other than hosting ($10/month), I don’t really spend a whole lot, I have an occasional contest on my blog, the prize is usually between $30-$100 but that is only every 3 months or so. I have been looking around for someone to do a blog design for me, I’m not sure how much that is going to cost but I’ll probably be doing that in a few months.
Blogging is a really cheap hobby, it also kills a lot of time.
Kate Hudson
February 14th, 2008 1:27 am
I pay about $10 for my domain name and $15 a month for a VPS which I use to host my blog and several other sites. Blogging is very cheap.
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