How Much Does it Cost to Start a Blog?

how much does it cost to start a blog
How Much Does it Cost to Start a Blog?
Category: Blogging Tips

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How much does it cost to start a blog? You can start for free to very little. That being said, f you want to build online wealth you do need to invest in yourself. So, blogging is available for as little as 0 dollars per year. This, in my opinion, makes it the hobby with the best price/impact/fun ratio. Of course, such a thing is entirely subjective.

Blogger and WordPress make it incredibly simple to start a free blog. If you are primarily a copywriter, have an issue with technological tinkering behind the scenes, and have a Twitter account, the brand new blogging site Medium.com may be worth exploring. However, the narrative of free blogging is not without its consequences.

How much does a blog nowadays cost?

Back to your own domain blog. That doesn't have to be expensive either. Of course, a lot relies on what you want to accomplish with your site. To put things into context, I'll use this site as a jumping-off point. This site is a small blog, primarily focused on writing and with some added features. Is blogging dead? Not at all. In fact, the best time to start your blog or website is today. There are millions of people waiting to here from you.

Registration of domain names and web hosting.

This is the foundation of your blog on your own domain. A domain name registration grants you the right to use a specific internet address for a set length of time (usually one year). I pay about 10 dollars per year for my .com domain name. The .org or .net domains are even cheaper.

If you wish to use your domain for blogging, you should get a hosting package.

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Web hosting is basically your “hard drive on the Internet,” which is required to install your blogging software (e.g., WordPress.org; free) and all of your blog's content (blogposts, draughts, backups, comments, photographs, and other files). This costs approximately 40 dollars every year. I get 1,000 MB of site space and 10 GB of data bandwidth for that price. More than plenty for the ordinary blogger, as long as your blog doesn't rely heavily on large, high-resolution photos.

If you look around a little, you'll probably find cheaper alternatives. The question then becomes which service you will instead acquire. In most cases, cheap means (much) inferior tech support if there is an issue.

I surely get a lot of peace of mind in exchange for those 40 dollars. Within a few hours, one Tweet or email is enough to address or handle every inquiry, every (rare) technical difficulty – whether or not caused by my own error (and often much faster). So, please do me a favour and avoid any offer that includes the term “free.” Snakes are almost usually present in the grass!

The only expenditures you cannot avoid are domain name registration and web hosting. But, in order to provide you with a better reading experience and to be able to offer you some extras now and then, I bought on:

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A premium WordPress Theme

Nothing prevents you from using one of the numerous free WordPress themes available online. You could just find one that is ideal for your requirements. Of course, there's a chance that your template will end up in almost every corner of the blogosphere. Personally, I believe that if you start a blog on your own domain, you may just as easily provide a distinctively designed space. Studiopress has some beautiful themes you can buy and worth it. There are other resources you can utilize to get great results with your online business.

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Are you a bit creative, not afraid of a challenge and you can handle HTML, Adobe Photoshop and PHP, then you might see something in putting together such a theme yourself.

How much does it cost to start a blog? The cost of such premium themes is usually in the tens of dollars. Of course, you pay once and they include upgrades.

Email Marketing Software

I use Podia to ensure that the entire process (gathering email addresses, generating and sending newsletters) functions well. This enables me to build a single mailing list and send up to 12,000 emails per month to a maximum of 2,000 people. That is absolutely sufficient. I don't like inundating my contacts with emails. You also get a free, 14-day trial.

Plugins and other software

If you wish to add more functionality to your WordPress(.org) blog, make it a practise to first hunt for free plugins. These plugins may also have a commercial version with, of course, more features. First, consider whether you truly require those extra options. Furthermore, there is a wealth of free software accessible to assist you in creating your content.

Investing in Images

Because of copyright, you cannot simply use images from wherever you want. However, you can obtain free images from a variety of websites. Pixabay is my favourite free image-sharing website. But I also prefer to spend $10 per month on Canva.com to download an infinite number of premium stock images.

Design Cost ($20-$200+):

You couldn't do anything if you tried, but investing a few dollars on art or premium themes here and there will allow you focus on the substance of your site rather than the style.

There are numerous sites accessible, so do some study on where to find free images for blogs or how to make your own blog art!

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To determine how much money to spend on design, I've discovered that it mainly depends on the type of blogging platform you choose. So, much does it cost to start a blog? Very little. That being said, you do want to stay consistent creating content.

On Blogger, none of the designs are particularly pricey ($20-$27). In addition, they even integrate post photos into the site's layout automatically.

Also, you can make your blog more personalized. So, renovating your entire site can cost anything from $200+ (for a full makeover) to hundreds of dollars, depending on where you search.

Don't be concerned if these prices appear to be exorbitant. You can receive a whole new unique design for free. So, it all comes down to personal opinion.

how much does it cost to start a blog?

We may say that running this site currently costs me around 70 dollars per year. Working hours for this – according to some – out-of-control hobby are, of course, not charged. This is not the cheapest blog, but it causes me minimal (technical) headaches. And, on top of that, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

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Nathan is a 2:19 marathoner, former member of the US Army World Class Athlete Program and Doctoral of Business Administration (DBA) Candidate at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He brings over 10 years of online entrepreneurial experience in helping people learn how to blog, earn income online and build passive income streams outside of what the school system teaches.

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