Hey everybody. Right now I have not made a penny from blogging, but my goal is to eventually make a decent amount of side money from it. Right now I do not even have the minimal amount of capital to get a domain name or a hosting site. I am using Google Blogger right now. I want to know if when you guys started did you pay for your sites right away or wait until you had a substantial amount of traffic already so you knew you would be able to cover the costs? If my goal is to make some money from my blog would I be better to take a bit of a leap of faith and spring for the price of my own site, or would I be better to wait until I have a loyal following to ake sure I am not throwing money down the drain?

I recommend WordPress. It works great for me.

Ignore all my advice except maybe the Hubpages part, which could pay for your hosting/domain.

You need to decide what your goals are.  If you are serious about long term blogging and trying to make a side income, you need to buy your domain, and get to a self-hosting situation as soon as possible.  If you just want a long term hobby, then free is cool.

This is spot-on advice.

Getting a domain and hosting can be done for $50-75 for the whole year. I know you said you didn't have a bunch of money, but if you want to take it to the next level, I'd recommend finding a way to get that $50. Maybe sell some stuff you don't need or call in an early birthday or Xmas present  

I started writing on Hubpages about 4 months ago (before I started blogging) and it is now earning me enough each month to pay for the hosting and domain on my Mw/Debt site. While not a lot of money, when I look at it this way, it was worth the hard work to put about 40 articles up.

Sustainable PF said:

The best time to plant an Oak was 19 years ago.  The 2nd best time to plant an Oak is today.

Lucky I didn't have coffee in my mouth at the time or that would have gone spraying. Very well said!

This saying works well for the question "when should I save for retirement?". 8^D

The best time to plant an Oak was 19 years ago.  The 2nd best time to plant an Oak is today.

Lucky I didn't have coffee in my mouth at the time or that would have gone spraying. Very well said!

@Modest Money - That's correct – I started on Blogger in February, bought a domain in April, and switched to self-hosted WP in July. And I lost every bit of my rankings even though the domain stayed the same. I gained it back much quicker the second time around, but it was still depressing to see the drop.

@One Frugal Girl – If your RSS feed is set up with Feedburner, you won't lose subscribers. You just go into your Feedburner settings and change the URL where it gets your feed. The existing people will stay there.

I didn't know that. Thanks for the info! I bought the domain a long time ago, but I am really dragging my feet on switching over.

Some people are fine with Blogger long term. If you have no issues with it, fine, don't plan on moving.  But if you are honestly thinking about switching platforms, there's no benefit in waiting.

1) Learn how to write. I haven't been to your site, but if you buy a blog and have nothing to offer traffic, you're screwing yourself. I read 15 blogs a day and most are pretty good. If you can't write you don't stand a chance.

2) Buy a domain ASAP if your goal is to do this long term. First, that money hanging over your head will force you to work hard. Second, you'll "own" your space. Install shag carpeting if you want; it's yours. Nobody can tell you what to do.

I'm far from a successful blogger, but I'm an expert at giving advice.

j.

@Funancials: I don't think he'll be able to switch to wordpress from blogger.  Without a proper 301 redirect, he isn't likely to retain any PR or Alexa rankings.

Not impossible to do by any stretch of the imagination.

@Funancials: I don't think he'll be able to switch to wordpress from blogger.  Without a proper 301 redirect, he isn't likely to retain any PR or Alexa rankings.

Didn't know this...When I switched from Tumblr to Wordpress, I was able to keep everything (except the comments). I assumed Tumblr and Blogger were similar..

@One Frugal Girl – If your RSS feed is set up with Feedburner, you won't lose subscribers. You just go into your Feedburner settings and change the URL where it gets your feed. The existing people will stay there.