Blogging for Fun vs. Monetized Blogging
Today I’m going to talk about something that I’ve been thinking about recently. Let me start off by saying that in my mind there are two types of bloggers: 1) bloggers that blog for fun and 2) bloggers that monetize their blog. In case you weren’t already aware, I am the first kind of blogger. I blog because I enjoy sitting down and taking the time to draft up posts about things that interest me. My blog is mainly a combination of book reviews, author interviews, inspirational quotes and beauty product hauls and product reviews. Up until this point, I haven’t even attempted to make money from blogging. But wouldn’t it be nice to make a little extra cash for something that I’m doing anyway?
About a year ago, I decided to spend a little bit of money on my blog to be able to use a ‘.com’ instead of a ‘wordpress.com’ blog address. I’ve read a ton of blog posts about the difference between using the wordpress.com site and the wordpress.org site and I’ve seriously considered making the switch. However, I think the self-hosting used with wordpress.org is a bit pricy for just using my blog as a creative outlet and not bringing in any money from the site.
Even if I wanted to make the switch to a wordpress.org site, there are so many things I don’t know how to do. Would I be able to keep my same website address? Would I be able to transfer all of my posts and followers to the new site? What happens to your blog if you decide to stop self-hosting and go back to the free basic wordpress.com, can you transfer everything back? So many questions and no clear answers… help!
I honestly don’t know how to approach the idea of switching over to a wordpress.org site through self-hosting. I’m also aware that I have a small reader following and don’t know if making the switch would much of a difference. I’ll definitely be looking into the possibility of making the switch and will be researching my different options over the next few weeks.
To my fellow bloggers, what’s your method of blogging and what blog host/site do you use? I’m more than happy to get any advice on what works for you!! <3
I’m using Blogger with a free site. My blog is pretty much all book related and I’ve been blogging a similar amount of time as you. I have signed up to several affiliate programs and I’m using adsense. I wanted to see what would happen, but at this point I don’t think it’s worth the effort. I’d be lucky to earn a dollar a month between all streams, and most of them won’t pay out until you accumulate a much larger sum. I thought that if I was able to earn some money from this hobby, I could afford to host more giveaways, or progress to a self hosted blog. Rather than earning money from blogging, I think my best financial gain has been saving money on not buying books as I’m able to get so many free in exchange for an honest review.
Hey Renee, I appreciate your insight! I totally agree with you on saving money on books, as I get most of my books straight from the authors or NetGalley. I’m still thinking I’d like to make the switch to self-hosting because I want to have more control over the look and feel of my blog. I doubt I’ll ever use my blog to make money, basically for all the reasons you listed. I think for now, I’ll just stay with wordpress.com and blog just for fun!
I totally understand! I blog for the fun of it, or for the passion of it, not for money. Personally, I do feel a certain pressure from the blogging world to change from a free to a self-hosted site, but I resist it. Why? Because I don’t want to pay for something I do for fun. I am happy to simply enjoy my blogging journey and see where it takes me. Perhaps later on I will change to self-hosted, but not before I can see how far the free site will take me.
That’s a great perspective on it! Thanks for your feedback 🙂
Hi Arielle, in my opinion self-hosted WordPress is the way to go. With self-hosted WP you have more control.
Eventually if you want to monetize your blog you have more freedom to do that with WordPress.org (self-hosted WordPress).
I read an article that outlined the difference from WP.com and WP.org.
http://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/self-hosted-wordpress-org-vs-free-wordpress-com-infograph/
Thanks Liz! I’ll definitely check out that link. I think I’m going to make the switch to self-hosted, just to have more control over my blog, regardless if I eventually try to monetize it. 🙂
I would love to go to wordpress.org. But I’m not sure I will ever have the money to do it. I blog for the fun of it, I guess. I blog because what I have to talk about is very passionate for me. But, I’m not sure I ever want to really monetize it. I would like to at least get my won domain name sometime. I feel you!
Thank you for your feedback. I always love meeting fellow bloggers that are passionate about blogging for the writing 🙂
I’m in the same boat you are. Right now I use Blogger to host for free, and I do this mostly for fun. I don’t have a large enough following to make money from my blog, and I don’t really blog often enough to justify it anyway. I still play with the idea of moving to a custom URL instead of having the blogspot one I have now. I already own my own website, rwkraemer.com, and have played with the idea of rolling my blog into that; but I think that site is more business and my blog is more personal. Have to keep those worlds separate, you know.
I don’t mind putting a little money into my blog. I’ve used FIVERR to have someone else create my logo and now I’m debating getting someone to create a custom template for me. So is it worth it to put in the monthly cost of owning a new URL? I guess it depends on my mood at the time. So far my mood hasn’t reached that far that I actually went through with it… but only time will tell.
Thanks for your viewpoint. I never thought to use Fiverr for that sort of thing! Somehow I don’t mind paying for the .com domain name, but I’m not sure if I have a big enough following to warrant a monthly fee for the hosting!
Well I have made zero dollars on my blog, so I’m not in a great place to give advice! But I think that if you are ready to change your blog from a hobby to a real life job, then go for it. Do the self hosted WordPress and jump right in! If you don’t think you’ll enjoy turning your hobby into a job, then you are probably doing fine using the cheap/free sites.
I never thought about it like that, to turn my hobby into a full time job. I’d love to have it as a little bit extra on the side though!
Nice post, personally I started with a wordpress.org because while I enjoy writing I wanted the opportunity to monetize if I wanted to. Daniela Uslan has great posts on how to switch over!
Thanks for your feedback! Daniela has some seriously great stuff, I’ll have to check out her post about making the switch!
Hi Arielle,
I recently went through the same struggle, determining if switching to a wordpress.org site would be worth the bother/expense/learning curve/etc. In the end I decided to go for it and I’m glad I did. I consider it an investment in the future (of I’m not sure what yet…but it gives me options).
Thanks for your opinion. I think I’m going to make the switch soon, once I’ve done enough research to know how to make the transition!