Whoa, did I just say that? Why yes, yes I did. I know this seems counter to all my reasons on why you should wait to put up Google Ads. However eventually it becomes time to Carpe Diem…to seize the carp….hmm Banana Diem sounds better

Fish fondling aside, there are benefits to monetizing your site once you have built up some ‘jungle cred.’ Blogging can be expensive and if you want to make money you have to spend a little money, which is hard for travelers who realize that $10.99 domain could have bought a weeks worth of food in Vietnam. So what are some of the costs associated with blogging once you branch out of your blogspot or wordpress hosted site?

Domain

According to TheTop10BestWebHosting.com and Hosting-Review.com your domain can run you from  $3.45 a month to $7.46 a month. We’ll average out the top 10 and you get a price of $5.51 a month, a total of $66.12 a year. This price fluctuates depending on how long you want to commit to your web host, the longer you purchase the plan the lower the monthly rate becomes. Yet, based on the average with a one year agreement this is pretty accurate.

Web Hosting

You’re a serious blogger now, you can’t be bothered with a ‘.wordpress.com’ or ‘.blogspot.com’ extension you want your own domain. Domains range all over and the prices vary depending what you want, you can have your blog end in a .com, .net, .org, .us, .info, .biz, .me, .us, or any of the regional options like your Canadian .ca, I’m still looking for a .monkey domain. While all of these options are out there I would recommend a .com. This may not be available if you have already become attached to or developed a fan base through your blogspot/wordpress hosted name and the .com version is already taken. However, if you do have this option most would suggest picking a .com as it is the most commonly used and more likely that someone will find your site on their first try.

Using GoDaddy.com we can see that a .com domain can start at about $11.44 a year, the prices go down when you use one of the other less common extensions.

Purchase An Original Theme/Create Your Own Logo

This can vary greatly and the pricing depends on what you are looking for. There are companies like WooThemes.com that can range from $70-$200 depending on what you are looking for, however you run a greater likelihood that somebody else has this theme already. The benefit is you can tweak it with the help of your designer to give it some unique flare. On the other hand you can contact a personalized developer like HopAndJaunt.com who can create a unique web experience and maybe even create a logo that blends in with your theme. This pricing depends on the designer and can usually run from $100 to a couple thousand dollars. (You’ll have to contact Hop and Jaunt if you want to find out their pricing) Part of it is that you get what you pay for and if you want to have a professional looking site, you know one with monkeys flinging poo type graphics and all, then you have to spend a few bananas. You know what you want with your site, I suggest you save up and make this a worthwhile one time expense.

Photo Hosting

Often you have the space given to you by your web host, but if you switch hosts or just don’t want to worry about paying more to host all your photos there are other options like flickr.com (24.95/year) or SmugMug.com (Standard $39.95/year, power account $59.95/year or professional account $149.95/year) or Zenfolio.com (Basic $25/year, Unlimited $50/year or Premium $100/year). Gary Arndt of Everything-Everywhere.com gives his reasons for moving from Flickr to SmugMug with a list of great comments/suggestions as well.

Advertising

Now that you’ve put hours and dollars into your blog you want people to visit and read your stuff. I mean what is the point of flinging it if it never gets to stick or land a hit? There are many options of spreading the word about your blog like Business Cards, Google Adwords or Facebook Advertising. True social networking offers many free options to market your blog but sometimes having a business card to hand out when you meet someone may bring a more loyal follower than simply giving out a #FF mention on twitter. This may hold extra true if you tend to meet and discuss your blog over a few beers, people tend to forget things after a few beers….I think?

Creating a successful blog often does cost money, not that you can’t create one using only free options but you run a smaller chance of being able to truly monetizing your site or creating a large enough fan base to even consider it. Now I have only purchased my own domain and web host, the rest are things I’m saving up for or planning for the future which is why I’ve decided to put up advertising options and Google ads. The difference compared with many other sites is that I’ve waited a while before I even considered monetizing my site and I’m more interested in my site becoming self sufficient where it’s costs are covered by its intake. I don’t really believe I’ll become a billionaire blogging monkey anytime soon but then again I’d be happy with a free banana now and again.

On the other hand, I would be lying to say I wouldn’t enjoy earning money off of MonkeyBrewster.com who wouldn’t. I enjoy writing and even more so than that the fact that people are actually reading but ultimately I love to travel (could I have Dromomania?) and if a few ads here and there someday help pay for my journeys then I dare say that all is well in the jungle, the mighty jungle….WIMOWEH WIMOWEH

Wimoweh Wimoweh

Wimoweh Wimoweh

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