This is a guest post from Chris from A Blog On Blogging.
Blogging has become a hobby for many, many people worldwide and I am sure there are many of you out there that would like to try out blogging.
I've ran a lot of blogs in my 5 years of experience and the only question that is often asked to me is “how much does a blog cost to start and maintain”.
You’d be very surprised to know that starting a blog is actually really, really cheap and maintaining also costs next to nothing.
With this quick post today, I am going to show you how to start a blog on a budget and how to maintain it for years to come without spending too much money.
My Story With Blogging
I run a full time online business with my blogs and you would be surprised to find out that my “business” only costs me..... wait for it.... $2.74 cents per day.
You’d also be happy to know that I’m not purposely trying to keep it cheap; I use the best tools and best resources I can but thanks to some clever lessons I’ve learned in my experiences, I have manage to make it possible.
And that’s what I’ll be sharing with you today.
I know you’re dying to get started now so let’s just skip the “small talk” and get down to business shall we?
Starting A Blog On A Budget
This is what is going to cost you (on average) to get your blog started:
- Registering your domain: $10 (UPDATE: You can get a free domain when sign up with Blue Host)
- Getting hosting: $12 per month (UPDATE: You can get hosting for as little as $3.49 per month!)
I say “average” because there are a lot of companies out there that offer these kind of services and prices vary on which service you use. Personally I use NameCheap but feel free to use whichever you wish.
Now you’d be surprised that this little expense can also be skipped and you can start blogging on a completely free blog (free domain registration and free hosting).
Let me explain:
When aspiring bloggers want to get into blogging, they are still not sure if they are going to like it or not.
Spending money on something you are not sure that you will like may not be something you want to do, that is why I show people how they can get started completely for free.
If after you try it for free and you seem to be enjoying it, feel free to purchase a domain and a hosting package.
I often use and recommend SiteRubix for getting started for free.
SiteRubix is a site building platform that runs on Wordpress (awesome), comes with free training on how to set it up and also it is very easy to switch over your content from to a self-hosted blog (this will be explained in the training).
I can go on and on about how awesome SiteRubix is (and how to get started) but I do that on this post.
Feel free to ask me questions in the comment section below if you have any, I’ll be glad to help you out.
Let’s look at this from a money standpoint. Your options are; either $10 + $12 per month or completely free.
Now I am sure you are saying that registering a domain is not entirely all you have to do to start blogging and you are right.
You need to add a theme for your site, create images, write content, use social media etc...
You’d be happy to know that all those bits you mentioned can also be managed for free too. Let’s look into them:
Getting a Wordpress Theme:
This is easy and free. When you install your Wordpress, you can choose from 1000s of free templates available to you and they all look amazing.
I suggest you also get a recent one so it will be fully mobile optimised too (highly recommended).
If you have a bit of money left in your budget, you can also get a premium theme but for a newbie blogger, that is not a "must” either.
Creating Images For Your Blog:
I’m sure you’ve heard of Photoshop and PicMonkey right? While they are both awesome in their own way, I recommend you start using Canva.
It is by far the easiest, fastest and most reliable way to create great looking images for your blog.
It’s my own personal favourite and I use it daily for my business. And although they offer premium options, a free membership is all that you need to get started.
Writing Your Content:
Obviously if you want to blog... you have to blog. As a blogger it is your job to create content that will be published on your blog.
This will take some time out of your day but that is what blogging is all about. This is free of course,
unless you want to hire a writer (which I urge you not to do).
Social Media Mangement:
You can easily update and manage your social media manually but if you want a little help, then I suggest you get a social media management tool
For this I recommend Buffer. It’s a service that will help you schedule posts to go out in the future so you don’t have to do it manually.
There are many levels of membership that are offered but as a newbie blogger, you can manage quite well with the free membership plan that is offered.
So There You Have It.
As you can see, starting a blog on a budget is not as hard as it seems. The only cost you would have to make is to buy your domain and hosting package and as I explained, those can be had for free too.
Also it would require some time and effort from your part but that is also free and most of all, if you like blogging, you would enjoy the entire process.
The internet has made it easy and cheap for everybody to become a blogger and if it has been your dream to start a blog for a while, I suggest you get to it.
There are a lot of tools and resources that will help you achieve your dream and if you are ever stuck, you can always reach out to me.
I hope this post has inspired you to get started and I look forward to reading your blog.
All the best to you.
Chris Lee
Author Bio
Chris Lee runs aBlogOnBlogging.com where he shares tips on how to start a blogging business and making an income from your blog.