This Blogging Business

Running a successful blog requires good business skills. Design, content and promotion are important but unless you understand business basics, you’re likely to run into problems that will cost you time and money.

Often, administrative tasks go on the back burner because other issues seem more urgent. However, if you introduce a few basic systems and controls, your administration will be easier and your blog will be more successful in the long run. 

Here are three tips to help you get a grip on your blogging business.

1) Billing and Getting Paid
It’s important to put a good system in place to bill your clients. Make sure that your system follows up on overdue payments. Don’t be afraid to turn away business from clients who are reluctant to pay. If you’re starting out and want a free cloud based accounting software then check out www.bullethq.com. The software was developed in Ireland and is capable of handling Irish VAT and payroll. It also integrates and with Stripe and PayPal and the invoicing module has a cool feature that pulls the image and logo from your twitter handle so you can start sending invoices within a couple of minutes of setting up your account. 

2) Business Expenses
Keep track of your expenses. This is important because expenses directly related to your blogging business can be offset against your blogging income for tax purposes. For example, if you run your blog as a home-based business, you may be able to claim a portion of your utility bills as business expenses. Make sure that you understand the difference between personal and business expenses and are aware of Revenue rules regarding what can and cannot be claimed. If in doubt, get professional advice as mistakes can be costly in the long run.
A great way of capturing expenses is an app called Receipt Bank. Unlike Bullet there is no free version but they do give you a free trial. I should point out that we are Receipt Bank affiliated partners, in our opinion it is the best application of its kind on the market at the moment which is why we've associated our brand with the product.

3) Income Tax
If you receive products for review, freebies or make money from your blog, you must declare this for income tax. How you do this differs depending on your income and whether you are employed or self-employed.

We recently contacted the Revenue press office and asked them what is revenue’s position in relation to Blogger, Vloggers and Influencers who receive goods and services in return for endorsements on their social media platforms? The response we received from Revenue was as follows:

“In general terms, you will know that the tax system is a self assessment system and the vast majority of individuals and businesses are tax compliant. To briefly address your queries below, a blogger who is blogging on a habitual basis with a view to making a profit would be considered to be carrying on a trade for tax purposes and will be subject to income tax on the profits arising from that trade. Bloggers who are in receipt of products, or other non-monetary benefits, in return for posting online promoting the product, will be subject to tax on the benefits they receive. Generally, the taxable value of the product/services will be the realisable value of the products/services if they were to be sold on the open market.”

Brady & Associates will be attending #Bloggerconf on 20 May 2017. Drop by our stand for more information and to discuss your blogging business questions.