FAN MAIL FRIDAYS: How To Be A Blogger On A Limited Budget

I get a lot of cool and interesting queries for Fan Mail Fridays; Just got one this week and it's from Dominic. She asks:

Dear Martha,

I want to start a VLOG channel, but I don't know how. Any advice? I'm a mother of two with limited budget for cosmetics, but I love them. :(

Dominic

Hey Dominic!

Your question is pretty valid. Being a Blogger entails a lot of expenses (from time to money) from building your blog, writing posts, to attending events and even more so if you're paying for hosting and domain fees. Blogging, just like any hobby, can be quite costly; this can be quite discouraging if you have dependents, but starting small always works. I started this blog when I was still a student and only relied on my allowance to purchase cosmetics, which wasn't always enough because I had my daily expenses to cover as well; but my situation did not discourage me from blogging; I just knew I wanted to do it and I just found ways do it. :)

Yes, you can beauty blog/vlog even on a limited budget. If you know in your heart that you really want to do it, then you can do it. To help you get started, here are some ways to launch your blog/get your blog going even if you can only afford to purchase cosmetics for blog features every month.

1. Borrow

- This is what I'd always do when I started the blog in 2009. I would borrow the makeup of my mom and friends, and feature them on my blog. I didn't have a savvy camera and laptop then so I'd borrow my mom's digital camera and blog either on the home PC or my mom's laptop. Make use of your resources (and don't forget to return the favor in other ways. ;) ).

2. Make Do With What You Have

- I'm pretty sure you have a couple of cosmetics on hand that you got over the years/months (I hope you have!). Be creative with them: Come up with various looks, explore what else you can do with your products by mixing and matching, or come up with your own set of techniques. 

3. Get Creative With Your Posts

- Create your own special stories. Examples are HOW TOs, Face Of The Day, Wish lists, and the likes. You can even write a commentary on beauty trends or feature personalities/your favorite Bloggers. I suggest writing them down and assigning one special story per day/week so you won't forget about them and so you can think about how to put them into writing beforehand.

4. Entertain Guest Posting

- There are a lot of people who will email you and ask if they can guest post on your blog. Guest Posting is simply defined as: A person offering a free article for publishing on a website with, most of the time, a link to their website/blog/social media accounts. Don't do this often though; guest posts tend to sound very generic and you might end up drowning the voice of your blog.

5. Write About Your Other, Free Interests

- I'm sure you have a lot of interests that don't necessarily have a purchase requirement. Examples are your favorite foods, your family recipes, pets, kids, what you like doing in your free time, your favorite songs, and the likes. Go back to to tip # 3 to help you in this. ;)

I hope I was able to help you out, Dominic. Good luck to you and to all aspiring Bloggers/Vloggers out there! :)

**Got a burning question about makeups, skin care products, beauty, dieting and health tips, relationships or whatever? Just send them to martha.stabarbara@yahoo.com, via my Powr Ask Form, or shoot 'em up at The Beauty Junkee's Facebook Fan Page via the MESSAGE button and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. ;)