It’s Friday, so it’s time for the Book Blogger Hop again, hosted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer. I’ve made my own image from a stock photo (credit: Anna Shvets) to avoid adding images created via generative AI to my blog. Feel free to use it too if you would like!
This week’s prompt is about the backstage parts of blogging:
What’s the best investment you’ve made for your blog?
Well, I’d say it’s hosting it myself, but actually I’ve been kindly hosted by friends for free ever since I went self-hosted (currently hosted by Adam Wolf, a friend I’ve worked with for a couple of the same clients now!). So it’d have to be the Nose Graze Ultimate Book Blogger plugin, along with the Tweak Me theme. Both have helped make my blog the way I want it, and made things a bit prettier and more useful.
I suppose there is also my URL, which is nice and memorable!
Overall, though, it’s mostly the time I put into it, rather than money spent. The more time I spend writing and commenting, the livelier my blog feels, and that’s always nice, and has led to getting more review copies and the like, which is a nice perk.
I never found a theme I really liked, I wanted the homepage to look like books on display at a bookstore, so I designed it with simple HTML- I don’t even host my blog.
I know it’s not super friendly for phones, but it’s just the homepage
There are definitely benefits to keeping things simple, too!
That’s nice. My Blog is free. It is currently white because they stopped doing the background I wanted. It does make it clear to read though!
I do spend money on the odd book to read and review. I have enjoyed being a part of this community though. It is definitely the friendliest out of all the social media!
Have a great weekend!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2026/09/25/book-blogger-hop-whats-the-best-investment-youve-made-for-your-blog/
I had a free WordPress blog for a long time and it was still a very good experience, but I like having my own URL and being able to use more add-ons and such!
I agree that time is probably the biggest investment of all, especially when it comes to writing and connecting with other bloggers. It’s wonderful when that effort makes the blog feel more active and brings some nice opportunities along with it. Happy Reading!
Kat ~ Forever Book Lover recently posted…Book Blogger Hop What’s the Best Investment You’ve Made for Your Blog?
It’s been nice to have the energy for that again; my blog got a bit quiet when I was busy with my MSc!