Every beginner’s guide to blogging should start with how much will it cost to start a blog. Here’s the thing, starting a blog is probably the cheapest business venture today. There are costs, but not as many as starting any other business.
Starting a blog consists of some must-haves and some optional things that you don’t need that much in the beginning. To get started, you need a good internet connection, a website and time to spend writing and building a blog. Later, you can invest in some additional tools to help your blog grow even more.
It may seem like a lot of money when you put it all on paper, especially if you are broke, but in the long run, it’s not that much money.
The first thing you should think about if you want to start a blog is which platform you want to use. The most popular is WordPress.org and there is a reason for it. If you want to look professional and be professional, you should be self-hosted, and for that WordPress.org is the best.
In this short, but useful, beginner’s guide to blogging, I’ll walk you through the costs of a domain name, hosting, legal bundles, themes, email services etc.
Why you should not use free blogging platforms?
The most important thing about why you should avoid free blogging platforms is you don’t own your website, which is a bit scary. Also, they can shut down your website at any time.
You won’t have any control over your blog and you won’t be able to monetize and grow your blog.
And the last thing, you can’t build an online business on the free blogging platform.
Domain name
If you want to start a blog, one of the essential things is the domain name. A domain name is your web address or URL. It can be your name or something that has a connection with your future content or your niche.
My blog’s domain name is justsomerandomstuff.com. I’ve chosen it because it is a library of random, but useful stuff.
A domain name will cost you from 9$, and the cheapest ones are with Namecheap. You can even find a domain for under a $1. Namecheap also offers free privacy protection forever.
Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links. That means I may earn a small commission if you click and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
Hosting
The second essential thing is hosting. Costs of hosting vary depending on offered features – how many visitors, SSL certificate, etc. Consider this the most important thing for your blog, since it is what makes and keeps it online.
Chose it carefully and explore all your options. Also, most of the hosting companies lure you in with hosting for just a 3$ a month, but actually, you pay to host for a whole year. So, in the end, your receipt will list the cost of hosting for a year, not a month and it will be higher than it said in the beginning.
It starts at about 50$ a year and goes up to 85$ a year.
Bluehost is the best option for starting out, it will cost you 65$ for a year.
I use EasyWP because they offer monthly payments, and it was something I was able to afford in the beginning. They start from $3.88 (and the first month is $0.01).
Legal pages
In order to run your blog, you must comply with certain legal requirements. Otherwise, you can risk getting your blog removed or not getting into some affiliate networks. Also, you need to protect your content.
This can cost you from 20$, or 160$ if you buy in bundles.
There are free WordPress plugins that can help you at the beginning such as WP Legal Pages. But, if you want to be professional, you should reconsider investing in legal pages later on.
Optional costs
Like I already said, domain name and hosting are essential to starting a blog, everything else is optional.
Themes
The thing that will distinguish your blog from others is the website theme. There are plenty of free themes ou there, but keep in mind that they have certain limitations mostly in the customization part.
If you are eager to start your blog and want to focus more on content, a free theme is ok. I used Astra, but I switched to Blocksy because it is way more user-friendly.
Premium themes cans cost from 30$ to 200$ depending on features and support. It is a one-time payment.
E-mail services
When you are starting out in the world of blogging, it is recommended that you start growing your email list almost immediately.
I order to do that you will need to use an email distribution channel. Most known are MailChimp, MailerLite, and ConvertKit.
They all have a free option, but as you grow your list you will new to switch to paid plans.
Costs for this start at 10$ and go up to 150$.
Email address
Here’s one more expense to add to this list. If you want to look professional and monetize your blog, it’s not a bad idea to think about a dedicated email address for your blog.
You will need to use Gmail for some things, but having name@blogname.com is more professional.
I’m using Private Email, because Namecheap (where I bought my domain) offers two-month free trial when you buy a domain with them. After those two months, it will cost you 11,88$.
Other costs
You can use plugins on your blog to make your blogging life easier. Most of the essential plugins have free options so you don’t have to worry about it in the beginning.
I wrote a blog post about blogging tools you might need, check it out here.
Beginners guide to blogging: Total costs to start a blog
Let’s summarize all the costs.
If you use only essentials, it will cost you around 75$ to start a blog without legal pages or around 250$ with them.
If you choose to invest in optional costs, it can cost you up to 400$ to start a blog.
As you can see it can easily go from “cheap” to costly. Chose wisely and think about your needs thoroughly.
Good luck!
Wow amazing great post very helpful for me thank you so much for sharing this wonderful experience
Thank you, I’m glad you found it helpful
Wow awesome very good and helpful for me thank you for sharing this wonderful article
Thank you, I’m glad you found it helpful
Thanks for sharing this post. This is a very good and realistic breakdown of all the essential costs involved in starting a blog. Unfortunately, so many aspiring bloggers get sucked into buying courses and bundles they will never end up using (personal experience) and end up forking out more than they have to.
“Thankfully” I was broke so I couldn’t invest in coursers, and I really had to find a way to start this blog.
This was a well written post! There are so many things to think about while starting a blog. I started my blog in October and I’m still behind on a couple of things.
Thank you 🙂 There is always something more, learning never ends.
Thanks for this informative blog post. I believe you’ve covered most of the aspects of setting up a new blog that new bloggers would need! 🙂
Thank you ?
This post was such a sorted one. Directly down to the details. Really informative. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Thank you 🙂
Wow, so much for starting a blog for free. Thank you for sharing such a detailed post
Thank you 🙂
Thank you for the tips. So many bloggers don’t want to spend money in the early days. I spend about £80 GBP on my blog a month. In the beginning, it was £50, I treated it as a hobby and felt it was equal to a gym membership that I would rarely use so best spending money where I had a passion!
I know bloggers who spend hundreds a month so it obviously pays off!