College and full bank accounts are most definitely mutually exclusive.  There have been times when I’ve had to send all my Venmo balance to my bank account to pay bills.  I even had a friend who ate her entire meal at a restaurant, and as the waitress came to the table, my friend opened the bill and proceeded to tell the waitress that she needed to check her account to make sure she had enough money!  (She did but barely—ha!)

Whether you’re in college or not, you probably like money, especially when you have a lot of it.  But here’s the kicker: we usually don’t have a lot of it.  If you’re looking to build a blog, there’s ample opportunity to spend money on things—gadgets, gizmos, software, advertising, you name it—that may or may not work.

After blogging for over three years, I’ve learned from both successes and mistakes.  While I can’t speak for every blogger, I wanted to share some of the best investments in my blog:

This post includes affiliate links, which means I learn a small commission from items purchased through included links.  All opinions are my own.

1. Website Domain

My blog is hosted on WordPress, and for the first year or so of my blog, I kept the wordpress.com domain.  I wanted to make sure I was committed to my blog and eventually wanted to take my blog to the next step.  Now that I have it, I’m not looking back.  Buying your own domain shows professionalism and commitment, and when reaching out to advertisers and other bloggers, I believe it gives you an upper hand over those with WordPress and BloggerSpot urls.  Get $25 off your WordPress plan here.

2. DSLR

Every day I’m becoming more and more impressed with my iPhone camera.  iPhones take incredible photos, and I definitely recommend you utilize your smartphone for blogging purposes.  At the same time, there’s something to say for a “big girl” camera.  You have more control of the features, and if you know a thing or two about photography, you can do so much more with a DSLR than a smartphone.  Shop Nikon cameras here.

3. Advertising

I don’t have extensive experience in the blog advertising realm, but Facebook offered me a coupon to try out their advertising.  I did and was very pleased with the intense metrics and results.  I’m currently not in the financial position to spend money on advertising but will definitely look into it again, especially if I’m promoting my product.

4. GorillaPod

Calling all vloggers—this flexible tripod can fit in your bag and fits right onto your phone.  I haven’t had much chance to use my Gorilla Pod but absolutely love this idea.  Video is such a vital part of travel documentation, and shaky video is exceedingly distracting.  Cut the shake, and make your content more professional.

5. Spotify Premium

Although not directly related to your blog, Spotify Premium has been some of the best investments for me.  Even as I write this, I’m listening to Spotify, and bypassing the commercials and having access without WiFi makes drafting smoother.  It helps me focus and gets my creative juices flowing.

Even if it’s not raining dollar bills, you can invest your money wisely to make a killer blog.  Do what makes sense for you and your blog’s vision.