How Much Should You Be Spending on Cooking Blogging?

Why is it important to think about the time you spend on your food blog?

According to iBlog magazine's 2015 industry report, nearly 6 out of 10 bloggers earn less than$ 2500/ year from their blogs. That's around$ 200/ month, which is great if you've spent an hour on your blog. Let's also assume you make the average$ 200/ month. That means you're paying yourself$ 10/ hour, which isn't bad considering you're doing what you love.

Are You a Hobby Blogger?

The personal or hobby blog falls under the first category. This kind of blogger wants a creative outlet to share about their life, practice their craft, or keep family informed about local events; they have little to no interest in ever making money from their blog. Hobbyist bloggers typically have limited resources, prefer low initial costs, and forgo any paid blogging tools that might hasten their expansion. This group is known as the hobby blogger.

A better way to answer the question about time and your food blog

I'd advise taking the time to look into what you're already doing rather than what other bloggers are doing before attempting to determine how much time you should devote to each post. Have you ever started a new task on your blog and finished it when it was finished? If not, think about beginning there. Making decisions from a place of knowledge is always preferable, and self-knowledge is the most important of all. Record your blog-related activities over the course of the upcoming week to gauge how much time you're already devoting to your posts.

The Hardware Costs of Blogging: $0 – $2,640

How much does starting a blog typically cost when you think about it? You're probably considering the software aspect of things first. the blogging platform, hosting strategy, blog theme, etc. that you select. The hardware( computer) you choose to use for blogging is crucial, though, especially if you don't already have one. You can avoid the hardware costs associated with blogging if you already own a computer and smartphone. Even though many aspiring bloggers most likely already have a computer, some still need to consider the cost of starting their own blog. Additionally, if you're serious about blogging, you might need to upgrade from your current computer.

This is how the best food bloggers know they’re profitable

Back in 2013, Lindsay at Pinch of Yum wrote a post sharing exactly how many hours she spent working on her food blog during one week( while on vacation no less), and the numbers are staggering. 

How much time should you spend on each food blog post?

For novice bloggers, there may be a succinct, if somewhat trustworthy, response to this question, but food bloggers are something entirely different. You have to consider the cooking in addition to writing each post, which raises the stakes and makes itto accurately estimate time costs.

Headphones: $60

As a full-time blogger, your headphones don't necessarily need to be more expensive, but if you plan to work outside of coffee shops, in an obnoxious co-working environment, or from your home office where pets and kids are running around, you might want noise-cancelling headphones like the Bose QuietComfort 35 Wireless Bluetooth. Depending on where you find the best online discounts, these headphones typically cost between$ 250 and$ 350.

Microphone: $150

Starting your own podcast( or at the very least, creating a few brief videos for your YouTube channel alongside your blog) should be considered by full-time bloggers as soon as possible to go along with your written blog content. A good, inexpensive podcasting microphone is a smart addition to dependable podcast hosting. The majority of them cost between$ 100 and$ 200 on Amazon, though there are many other, less expensive options as well.

Hosting Costs (WordPress with Bluehost): $2.95/mo 

While there are free( no hosting required) blogging sites that you can use to test the waters into writing as a hobby blogger with zero to very low total costs, I can't recommend enough that new bloggers and beginners use the combination of WordPress with a Bluehost hosting plan. Wix and Weebly are popular choices for free blogging platforms, but they're pretty limited and you don't actually own the rights to your blog. Even if you're choosing a hobby blog, I still suggest paying the low cost of a hosting service to have total freedom with your content. Plus, if you ever want to get more serious about blogging and growing your site, you won't have to go through the hassle of moving your site later on

Side Hustle Blogger Hosting Costs: $5.45/mo

For a side hustle blog that you're taking seriously and hoping to grow into a source of revenue for this side business— I recommend springing for Bluehost's faster hosting plan that comes with a few more features— called the Choice Plus Plan