You can invest money in your blog if you want to, but you don’t have to. I think it’s much better to spend as little as possible when you just start out and see if it’s going to stick. If you start making a bit of cash through blogging, it’s probably time to start investing a bit of money into improving your blog but until then, let’s talk about some great tools that are out there for free.
Blogger and free themes.
I used Blogger for the first few years and it’s a great first step into the blogging world. You can get a free blog. The negative is that you’ll have to use the blogspot URL (http://yoursite.blogspot.com) rather than your own – so you can’t build up your own DA. On the plus side, you can buy a URL for a few pounds and add it to your Blogger account.
Note: Not having your own URL might reduce your chances of working with brands as most prefer you to have your own domain and a DA. It’s worth seeing how much your desired URL will cost!
I didn’t realise you could change your theme for a long time. For free. There are many websites that give you free Blogger themes – just Google and play around with some!
Your phone camera.
You don’t need a fancy camera for blogging. I mean, just look at this photos of Whitby I took with my iPhone X. All you need to do is learn a bit about composition or how to perfect flat lays and you can get a great set of pictures for your blog.
VSCO.
The photos in the Whitby post were edited with VSCO cam – a cool app that lets you edit photos. I do all my Instagram photos with this app, too.
The free version is great, you can apply a selection of filters and use editing tools to get the look you want. Brightness, contrast and clarity are my favourite editing tools on there.
Once you’ve edited the photos you’ve taken with your phone, download them to your camera roll and airdrop them to your computer or email them to yourself.
Photo props.
Look around your house, you might be surprised with what props you have already that you can use in photos.
- placemats
- plates
- cups
- candles
- flowers
- scarves or other cloth
- pens and notebooks
- jewellery
- magazines and books
Buffer free version.
I pay for Buffer, but you can get a free version that lets you schedule 10 Tweets at a time. You can download the app to your phone and reschedule things when your queue gets empty. This makes it a great free option that you can use and just log into the app once a day to rebuffer your Tweets.
What are your favourite free blogging tools?
These are so helpful! I have literally been making use of lots of magazines and candles haha… Also changed up my theme recently. Luckily a Pipdig them has so many features so its easy to change one theme up.
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these are good tips! i should probably step out of the world of free blogging tools and start investing in my blog more but i never seem to do that, haha. should buy my domain and have been thinking about it for years, so should just do it! xx
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I’ve been meaning to check out Buffer for the longest time. Thanks for the reminder!
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very useful tips! I would tend to agree with all of them. No need to spent a lot of money, especially when one is just starting.
I used to have a semiprofessional camera but now that the thing broke down, I use a yoga tablet and my husband’s cellphone for my photographs. Honestly, people don’t even notice the difference.
I’m a bit lazy when it comes to editing, though. I’ll need to work on that.
I do agree about props! If we really look around the house we can find at least some. It’s all about being a bit creative. No need to spend a lot of money for props.
I don’t really use twitter so I wouldn’t know about that, but I imagine scheduling posts can be useful. I think there are sites or apps where you can schedule Instagram posts as well. That might be a good tool as well.
I’ve been thinking about changing my theme for a while, but was too lazy to look around for one, I think it’s time I finally do it.
Awesome tips! I definitely think that when you are just starting out you should take advantage of all the free things out there that can help you build your blog and then upgrade it step by step when you start making money. With that being said, the iPhone X is probably one of the best if not THE best smartphone camera on the market, so if someone doesn’t have that, it’s probably a good idea to invest in a decent camera right from the start.
Scent of Summer
Buffer is a life saver for posting to my social media! I also find that Pic Monkey is a good picture editing site, if you use the free or paid versions. 🙂 Tania Michele xx
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Great tips and proof that when you first set out you don’t have to spend a fortune Lucy x
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Thank you for sharing this tips!
I didn’t know about buffer and sounds awesome! I will definitely use it.
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These are such helpful tips! I completely agree that when you start your blog its not worth investing too much money into it incase it doesn’t stick – always better to make sure you enjoy doing it first!