If you are thinking to start a blog or content site, you will have this doubt – how much money is needed to start a blog and how much money is needed to maintain it over time? Do you have to spend considerable amount of money in running a blog or website?
The answer is – No you don’t necessarily need to spend a lot of money to start and maintain a blog. However, depending on your exact requirements you may need to invest some money in your sites to generate profits or revenue. I will cover that aspect later in the article but let me first tell you the minimum amount of money you have to spend to start a maintain a blog or website.
You Can Start a Blog With Just $10
Following are the main costs associated with starting and maintaining a blog or website
- Cost of the domain name.
- Cost of web hosting.
- Cost of Email address
- Cost of Website theme
- Other costs.
If you choose a free blogging platform such as Blogger or WordPress.com, the cost of web hosting is nill. You do not have to spend a dime in web hosting at all. The only cost then remains is the cost of the domain name
Most domain names will cost you $10 – $15 if it is not a premium domain name which has been already parked by someone else. In case the domain name you have chosen is a very common or popular word, chances are high that the domain name has already been parked by someone else. In that case, you will need to buy that domain name from the person who has parked the domain name and it can cost you a handsome amount of money. Usually, the cost of premium domain names can range from a hundred dollars to a million, and I would not recommend investing so much into that domain name.
In case, the domain name you have chosen is not a very popular word or phrase, you can easily get it at $10. For example, I bought this domain name for only $9, and I will spend $9 a year for renewal fees.
So there we have it – cost of the domain name is sunder $10 a year, which is pretty much affordable by anyone.
Now comes the web hosting part,
If you are choosing a free blogging platform, the cost of web hosting is zero. However, it is recommended not to choose a free hosting provider but opt for self hosted WordPress. If you choose self hosted WordPress, you will need to host the files of your site in the web server and the starter plan will cost you $10 a month.
You will need to upgrade your web hosting plan when your site received high traffic but that is an upgrade you will have to consider at a later point in time. In the initial years, the cost will not be more than $10 a month.
- Cost of a domain / year = $10
- Cost of professional web hosting = $10 a month = $120 a year.
Now comes the cost of an email address.
Many bloggers prefer to have a professional email address for their sites and not a generic email address such as gmail.com or yahoo.com. This gives an impression that you are serious with your blog and represent yourself as a business. There is an additional cost of using an email address for your domain name and most bloggers user Google Suite for maintaining the email address of their domain name.
The pricing of G suite depends on how many users you subscribe to in the plan but typically, it would cost you $5 per user per month. I will assume you will start with only one email address for your site, so the cost of a professional email address will be $60 ($5 X 12) a year.
Let’s check the cost breakup once again
- Cost of a domain / year = $10 a year
- Cost of professional web hosting = $10 a month = $120 a year.
- Cost of professional email = $60 a year.
Next, we have the website theme.
In general, bloggers start with a free theme for their blogs and most bloggers do not upgrade to a premium theme unless the site has some traction. But if you are serious with blogging and want to ensure your site looks good and has lot of functionalities built into it’s core, you will need to buy a premium theme for your site. This will cost you some money, depending on the theme you choose to purchase and the theme framework you use. Typically, this should not cost you more than $500 and the great thing is that it is a one time investment, which means, you will need to pay for it only once. That’s all.
Let’s check the cost breakup once again
- Cost of a domain / year = $10 a year
- Cost of professional web hosting = $10 a month = $120 a year.
- Cost of professional email = $60 a year.
- Cost of a website theme = $500
Next comes Other expenses.
This greatly depends on what your requirements are. Whether you would invest in a logo, buy premium plugins or invest some fee to pay a web developer to add functionalities and features into your website. There is no limit to this cost since it entirely depends on your requirements. But for most bloggers who are just starting out, you can safely check this out. You will not need to spend a dime on it and you can delay the spend here so long your site does not generate revenue. So in this case, assuming that you are just starting out, I will not add any expense in this category.
Let’s check the cost breakup once again
- Cost of a domain / year = $10 a year
- Cost of professional web hosting = $10 a month = $120 a year.
- Cost of professional email = $60 a year.
- Cost of a website theme = $500
- Other expenses = $0 (for starters)
So what is the bare minimum cost you will need to spend per year to run a site on self hosted WordPress?
- Cost of the domain name = $10
- Cost of web hosting = $120
$130 is the bare minimum cost you will need to spend per year for running a site on a self hosted WordPress platform.
You can always invest in professional email or buy a premium WordPress theme later on but considering that you are just starting out, $130 should be your minimum investment. If you cancel out the web hosting part (which I recommend not doing), you bring down the cost to $10 a year.
So there you have it? You need to spend just $10 to start a blogging business. Does that get any cheaper than this?