Really How Much Does It Cost to Start a Blog? (Simple Calculation)

Would you like to Start Blogging? Do You Know How Much Does it Cost to Start a Blog? Read More

Hello everyone, I have so far written various articles based on blogging. But this article stands out from others to give you a wide picture of the cost involved in starting a BLOGGING BUSINESS.

A few years back, blogging initially was started for hobby purposes. It was used as a platform, where people used to share each other thoughts on something in common.

Then slowly it expanded its wings and, with the help of modern technology transformed into a strong money-making tool. In the year 2023, blogging has become a profitable online profession.

In regards to earning potential, you can earn at least Rs. 400 – Rs. 1,000 per day depending on your level of blogging.

This again is based on a few factors you’re earning such as Niche you choose, Digital marketing skills, and much more.

Other factors include consistency, your network, personal motivation, and goals also contribute a lot.

To monetize your blog, there are a few ways through which you can play around and earn a fruitful revenue.

1. Ad Networks like Adsense, Media.net
2. Direct Advertisement
3. Affiliate Marketing
4. Sell Digital Products
5. Offer Online Course/Consulting

Can you Start Blogging for Free?

Are you looking to start your blogging for free? For any blogger, there are two choices available one is BlogSpot another is WordPress.

Let us see the typical differences between the two.

Read More: Blogger Vs WordPress – Which is Better for Blogging?

BlogSpot

BlogSpot is something very cheap and any newbie without any coding knowledge can play around.

To be very plain, BlogSpot can be used if you want to write and share your thoughts across the world.

Zero Investment is required, just that you have to have a Personal account in Gmail.

Free of the cost comes with a few disadvantages like you can’t own your blog because that is Google-owned.

You don’t have many customizable options that ultimately don’t appear to be pleasing for the customer. You can’t earn money through this blogging.

WordPress

If your motive is to earn, then WordPress is a better option that comes with benefits like SEO, customization options, etc. But for WordPress, you would require little technical knowledge for installation and setup.

WordPress itself offers Free Hosting, but self-hosted WordPress is the most promising method of blogging.

My blog – OnlineHomeIncome.in uses self-hosted (WordPress) as its blogging platform.

Here, you must learn the common difference between WordPress.org vs WordPress.com and it will help you in making the right decision.

• WordPress.com – gives you free hosting with limited features and themes. WordPress.org – does not give you hosting, but you can download the software for free and install it on any hosting server of your choice.

I prefer buying hosting separately for our blog.

Essential Tools and its Cost to Start a Blog

If you have already started your journey as a blogger, well, and good. But are you stuck up in not making more money?

Creating content and publishing it on your blog isn’t enough to attract audiences. There are other driving factors such as networking, content marketing, and link-building bring you success.

Making the blog post more appealing and actionable is also a key driving factor.

Let’s dig in to learn some essential tools for starting a blog and the approximate cost to start a blog involved in buying tools.

1. Domain Name [Rs. 1,000 per year]

Buy .com Domain at Rs. 1,000 only

Many people start blogging on free blogging platforms without having a custom domain name. It is a bad start and you should reconsider your decision once.

The domain name is essential as it ensures a blog’s success in multiple areas. And it includes search engine rankings, quality traffic, Google Adsense approval, and much more.

Nowadays, it’s hard to rank a sub-domain for a keyword rather than a Fully Qualified Domain Name. You cannot even find one single sub-domain ranked on the Google Search Engine results page.

There are a few points you should remember before buying a domain name.

1. Always prefer the ‘.com’ extension before you buy a domain name for your blog.
2. The domain name should be brandable.
3. Easy to remember and type.
4. Must include your niche keywords.

Choose a domain name from a reliable hosting provider, the domain name will end in .com, .net, .biz, .in, .info, .org, etc.

The overall cost of getting a domain name and maintaining it is also equally important which is around Rs. 1,000 per year.

2. Web Hosting [Rs. 1,200 per year]

Buy Web Hosting at Rs. 1,200 per year

Once you own your domain name it’s important to purchase a hosting server from a reliable web hosting service provider.

Web hosts are that provide the technology and server space that your website requires to be accessed on the Internet.

This allows users to search and view your web pages online. Do you have a question on how to choose suitable hosting for your website?

There are influencing factors like the server type that you choose that will impact elements like performance, security, and scalability of the site.

Your decision before choosing the correct hosting plan also depends on the type of website and the amount of traffic.

For example, a small personal blog with 5,000 monthly visitors will have different hosting needs than a large e-commerce site with 2,50,000 visits per month.

There are different hosting plans available to choose from considering your budget as well.

As I explained earlier you can always contact reliable host providers like Raj Softech Solutions, which costs you Rs. 1,200 per year.

3. Blogging Software [Free Forever]

In the early days, we needed to know programming languages like PHP and HTML to develop a blog. And it’s difficult for a newbie to start a blogging business.

Since the introduction of Content Management Systems like Wix, Joomla, Squarespace, and WordPress, blogging has become easier.

Anyone even without coding skills and knowledge can easily build a website and/or blog. Just buy the domain name and web hosting.

After that, buy a premium WordPress Theme and install it with your domain name to get started

WIX

WIX software is a preferred choice for starters who are looking to start blogging for free. With its drag-and-drop feature, it is very easy to use.

Completely free to use no need for hosting or domain name. Free options come with limited customization options and no way to monetize your blog.

You can find the WIX brand advertisement on the page also in the URL.

Joomla

Joomla is another open-source CMS like WordPress which is used by 58 Million websites. It requires a little more technical knowledge than WordPress.

We need to purchase a domain name and a web hosting plan to install Joomla.

Joomla is the best choice for people looking to translate the website into different languages.

Squarespace

Squarespace is something for those who love creativity as it offers creative tools. It gives your blog a professional look even though you are not technically sound enough to be a creative one.

It is suitable for photographers, artists, and designers who want their websites similar to their clicks.

You can get a domain name free for the initial 1-year plan which costs around $20. This is useful for your personal use, e-commerce, business, blogging, etc.

WordPress

WordPress commonly has two different types WordPress.org and WordPress.com. WordPress.org is a self-hosted platform where it has got lots of free customizable options, themes, and plugins.

But the hosting plan and domain name don’t come for free purchase at your affordable rate. Installations, security, updates, and backups are your responsibility.

WordPress.com can be a choice for people who are looking to monetize their blogs. You can purchase the plan at an affordable price and enjoy its premium features to the fullest.

4. WordPress Theme [$40 to $69 Lifetime]

Buy Premium WordPress Themes

WordPress no doubt is one of the powerful website CMS. Because of its extensive theme collections and customization options, WordPress has become more popular.

When you choose themes for your domain, you have two options to pick either free or premium themes.

I always suggest buying premium themes for your blogging. Add this purchase to the cost of starting a blog if you are planning to begin as a business.

Disadvantages of Free WP themes

If you are looking for free themes available in the market for your blog there are many.

But it’s always good to research for reliable theme creators keeping the below pointers in mind.

1. Don’t fall for spammers available to give away free themes
2. Free themes are embedded with malicious code beware
3. Updates are not very frequent compared to paid themes
4. There are always instances of security vulnerabilities due to its poor coding.
5. Slow downloading, other performance issues, and poor SEO benefits are other major disadvantages
6. Fewer customization features compared to premium ones

Pros of Paid Premium themes

Despite various free template options around, I would like to reiterate that paying for Premium themes as it’s worth the penny.

Its unique feature includes an inbuilt admin panel using which the front end can be controlled easily. Custom content sliders, social media support, and SEO features are the other major attractions of any premium theme.

Timely Updates: Paid WordPress Themes come with the best safety and security features, and the website will be out of recent and trending bugs.

Trending Design: If your motive is website branding then the best choice is spending on Premium themes. As it comes with delightful colors, it enriches the look and feel of the website.

Remove Footer Links: Free themes come with a footer link which is owed to the developers who designed cannot be removed. But in paid versions, it is always the user’s choice to delete the footer link.

Boost Resale Value: If you wish to sell your website in any case, WordPress premium themes come in handy. It helps in linking e-commerce buildings which increases sale value for your future selling.

Continuous Support: When WordPress is getting updated to the next version the older version which you might use would not work. So, with paid versions whenever the update is happening automatically, it updates your site too.

How Much Does a Paid Theme Will Cost Me?

If you want your website to stand out, then the best choice I would suggest is purchasing thrive themes. Buying WordPress themes costs you one time around Rs. 6000.

To start with, it comes with themes that are conversion-focused and very customizable. They are compatible with all the plugins, speedy, SEO benefits.

Investing in Thrive is worth the penny as it comes with amazing features like themes, leads, architects, widgets, ultimatum, ovation, and Quiz builder.

5. WordPress Plugins [$10 to $80 per year]

Plugins are very much essential to taking your online business website to the next level. WordPress comes with more than 55,000 free and paid plugins every year.

Which makes it a little confusing for beginners to choose the right ones for the websites. I have listed a few of them below for your reference.

5.1. Classic Editor

Classic Editor is called an official plugin maintained by the WordPress website for free. It helps in adding old-style meta boxes to the post.

Users can switch between default and classic editor windows as per their choice. By default, whenever you open the blog post it will be opened in its previous editor window.

Besides, the Classic Editor plugin has other filter options that have setting control.

5.2. Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO comes for free with lots of SEO-friendly features and one of the popular ones too. It helps to improve On-Page SEO by offering compatible tools.

Its other added features are meta tags, generated sitemaps, connection to Google search console, social media optimization, and more.

Yoast’s other complimentary feature is redirecting features, which detects the change of URLs avoiding any misleading links on your website.

WordPress SEO plugins are mandatory to ease your blog SEO process. Yoast is widely used among other WP SEO plugins.

5.3. WP Rocket

Rocket is the best WordPress beginner-friendly caching plugin. It allows you to improve the overall performance and speed of the website.

It turns up both recommended and optional WordPress caching settings like gzip compression, page cache, etc.

WP Rocket also has lazy loading images, CDN support, and DNS pre-fetching features available. Its astonishing features include instant performance-boosting and free image optimization service.

This all-featured WP rocket is available in a paid version only.

5.4. Askimet

Akismet Anti-Spam is the only anti-spamming plugin available that helps to maintain the long-term integrity of your site.

It uses its filtering option to filter every comment that is shared with your website.

It also saves in history which can be viewed later. Also, through this, you can view approved comments for every user.

The best part is this all comes for free and the premium version comes with little more advanced features.

5.5. WP-Optimize

WP Optimize is one of the important plugins useful for an extensive WordPress database.

It works as a site cleaner that cleans up unnecessary comments, and spam objects from the site, dumps files, and debris from the WordPress database.

WP-Optimize also works as an image compressor whenever needed. It acts also as a caching plugin and instantly improves site speed.

5.6. CDN Plugins

CDN is otherwise known as the Content Delivery Network plugin which helps in speeding up the WordPress website. There are two types of commonly used CDN that I want to explain below.

5.6.1 . Cloudflare

Cloudflare is a well-known free plugin for small websites. However, they come with limited DDoS protection also with fewer other features.

It is easy to set up and it automatically caches static content. Cloudflare has the option to clean up the cache and monitor performance.

They also have an ‘I am under attack Mode’ feature enabled which shows the users its security analysis report.

5.6.2. BunnyCDN

Try BunnyCDN Free

This blog onlinehomeincome.in is powered by Bunny CDN (Cloudflare is used to control the DNS only).

CDN usually improves the blog loading speed by taking a copy and storing it in different locations.

When a user requests our blog through web browsers, the CDN will serve our blog files from the user’s nearest location.

You will get a 14-day free trial and thereafter, you have to pay $10 (Pay-as-you-go plan) based on your usage.

5.6.3. Stackpath

StackPath offers a good advantage for a medium-traffic website. Their security measures prevent the website from DDoS attacks with load balancing and blocking features.

Their paid plans include website firewalls which further reduce website server load and increase page loading capacity. It is easy to set up and comes with good APIs.

Its plans cost you at an affordable price of around $10 USD a month.

6. Social Media [Free Forever]

It’s not just enough to create a blog with creative and actionable content. However, do your best to promote and monetize the blog in various ways.

Be ready to sail along with recent technologies like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Pinterest. Sign up for any of these social media with just having a personal Gmail account.

Creating personal accounts in any of these will help you reach more of a like-minded audience. You can follow the below ways to promote blogs effectively.

Jump into Twitter: Twitter is the best channel to reach more people. You will be having other people’s thoughts shared regarding the post.

So, always have a “tweet” button in the blog post if you have not added it so far.

Sign up for a Facebook page for your blog: This is a great platform you can utilize to expand your platform. Regularly share the blog content or any updates.

Encourage your readers to share your content with their friends by including the “like” or “share” button on your post.

Make use of Social Sharing Tools: Implement social sharing tools like a flare, and Disqus into the picture even though both serve different purposes. But ultimately those tools will make your sharing job easier.

Carve your post with catchy headings: Even though you come up with compelling content certain miss happen. Likewise, You might tend to give crapy headings.

This ends up in readers not being willing to share the blog content by seeing a crapy, clumsy title.

Read More: 100 Essential Business Tools for Online Marketing.

7. Email Marketing

Successful blogging is something promoting the blog in many strong marketing ways. One such strategy is taking up Email Marketing.

It is very important to build a healthy email list to send updates to your blog. This will not only help in generating money but also build trust and create respect for you.

There are many email marketing tools available and here I recommend a few tools such as Aweber, MailChimp, and GetResponse.

7.1. Aweber [Free]

It is a powerful email marketing tool with lots of benefits. It helps in creating a powerful email list and its other features include RSS, drag, and drop image options.

The major drawback is that even though it is a bit cheaper, you have to pay extra to utilize its analytic feature. It initially offers 30 days trial period and tier pricing is based on the number of subscribers.

7.2. MailChimp [Free]

Mailchimp is another affordable service provider that is very intuitive to use. It has varied options such as inbox previews, time travel, mobile apps, and much more.

One of its powerful features is its Social Integration which has “like” buttons in emails. Also, sending printed cards via email is possible.

The major disadvantage is that you can’t use this for blogs embedded with affiliate links. Regards to pricing, for small websites it is forever free.

7.3. GetResponse [Free]

Getresponse is an affordable full-service email marketing provider that offers landing pages, webinar hosting, and automation options. It has more templates and email preview options as well.

The landing page designer tool is another amazing feature. This option makes it very useful for designing an ad campaign, and promotions easily.

8. Social Media Automation Tools

Are you looking for something to reduce mundane tasks and increase productivity? here are a few social media automation tools which I have listed below

8.1. Sendible

Sendible is considered to be an all-in-one social media management tool. Which controls your social networks from one place by gathering all info in a unified inbox.

Its other outstanding features are listed below:

1. Sets queue time for sending social media posts, images, and videos
2. Converts posts into campaigns and schedules on separate queues
3. Repeats your old trending posts with infrequent intervals
4. Posts or shares relevant quality content from RSS  feeds
5. Monitors keywords with automated alerts and notifications

Pricing: Its subscription plan is based on the number of users and services you need which starts from $29/month.

8.2. Tailwind

Tailwind is yet another scheduling and publishing tool mainly used for Pinterest and Instagram. For Pinterest it allows you to maintain a customized pinned calendar, a plan where pins are pinned.

It automatically pushes pins to the readers who want to read them. Tailwind for Instagram allows you to upload any images or posts directly to any of your Instagram business profiles.

Their additional features are listed below:

Pinterest

1. One-click option for creating more than 3 pins
2. Generates analytics and insights for Pins and Boards
3. Reshares your topmost Pins at frequent intervals

Instagram

1. Schedules and publishes photos and videos
2. Reiterates trending hashtags again and again
3. Determines posting time when your audience is online
4. Drives traffic from Instagram to your landing pages

Pricing: The plus plans are yearly plans or monthly plans of $119.88 and $ 14.99 respectively.

8.3. Awario

It is one of the most powerful global keyword monitoring tools that can be used on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Its run time is 24/7 and instantly brings up real-time results based on the input keywords.

Its other features are listed below.

1. Tracks the growth relative to the number of keywords
2. Captures and displays potential sales leads
3. Inbox you daily or weekly summary reports of new mentions
4. Generates reports on social listening, voice shaking, and influencers

Pricing: Awario has a wide range of subscription plans, starting from $29/month

9. SEO Software [Free / Paid]

Now it’s time to dig up some essential SEO software tools that help in upscaling your SEO rank.

There are countless tools available to research keywords, perform site audits, analyze the competition, and more.

Below are a few I have listed for your reference.

9.1. SEMRUSH

SEMRUSH is one of the digital marketing tools known for its SEO and PPC toolkits.

Its other features enable automated posting, tracking, promotion, and analytics across the major social channels.

SEMrush is the top choice, all-in-one, marketing suite preferred by professional SEO bloggers. It helps in identifying profitable and competitor keywords.

Additionally, you get access to tools that improve your website’s SEO, audit your content, monitor backlinks, and much more.

SEMrush can be quite expensive as it ranges from approximately $130 per month.

9.2. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a powerful SEO research and analysis tool, a preferable choice for every marketer. It thoroughly monitors your blog’s niche as well as researches competitors.

This tool helps in giving insights on how to outrank your competitors by performing a full site audit.

Ahref provides domain comparison charts, content gap insights, backlink and SERP checkers, broken link scans, and much more.

The plan comes with the rate of premium subscription of around $99 a month.

9.3. Uber Suggest

Ubersugest is an all-in-one SEO tool designed to help you uplevel your SEO ranking. It is a keyword researcher and analyzer tool.

With Ubersugest just type a domain or keyword into the search bar to get started.

It’s a great alternative to the Google Keyword Planner tool, which has lost its way after a few years of its invention.

With Uber Suggest you can gain a clear overview of related keywords that match your company and its goals.

It also researches the competitor’s sites and gives us insights to restructure our strategy.

The pricing of Uber Suggest for individuals is Rs. 899 monthly with a 7-day trial period.

Cost Estimation to Start a Blog [Rs. 8,000 approx]

Below are the rough figures about how much does it cost to start a blog in 2020.

1. Domain Name – Rs. 1,000 per year
2. Managed WordPress Hosting – Rs. 1,200 per year
3. Blogging Software – Free with Raj Softech Solutions (WordPress)
4. Premium WordPress Theme – $69 (Thrive Themes)
5. WordPress Plugins – Use Free Versions at your beginning
6. Social Media – Facebook, Twitter all for free
7. Email Marketing – Use within the Free Limits at your beginning
8. Social Media Automation Tools – up to $20 per month
9. SEO Software – Use within Free Limits at your beginning

So if you have Rs.8,000 to begin your blogging business this year 2023, you are going to settle your future for sure.

If you have queries, feel free to reach me.

Can I Start a Blog Free of Cost?

Yes, it’s possible to start a blog free of cost and with no money. Starting a blog seems fun-filled but requires effort and hard work to grow.

Many blogging platforms allow people to create free blogs. Blogger, WordPress.com, and Wix are a few examples and well-known names as well.

I never support starting a blog for free (without investing money). And you will face a lot of troubles and downsides in starting free blogging.

It starts from design limitations, flexibility, monetization restrictions, poor customization, and fewer functionalities. At last, you cannot even take full ownership of your content.

Sometimes, your blog will be taken down without prior notice if it violates the blogging platform’s policies and terms of service.

If you are starting a blog for learning – a free blog is enough. Your blog URL will be something like mydesiredblogname.wordpress.com or mydesiredblogname.blogspot.com.

It is much harder to rank your blog higher and establish credibility and a strong online presence with free blogs.

And, in case you are planning to build a business and create a sustainable second income opportunity – you have to invest money.
You may already have some basic understanding of how much it cost to start a blog by reading this article.

Therefore, make a perfect decision by thinking several times. As many people start a free blog, they give up on blogging soon after seeing no progress and performance.

Final Thoughts – How Much Does it Cost to Start a Blog?

Gone are the days when you just log into your blogging site and whatever fancy topic of your choice. It is nowadays considered as a serious business.

Research, analysis, and strategy refinement according to current trends are key stuff to keep you ahead. Even though we all prefer free options in anything and everything.

But, be aware that it is worth the penny that we spend which returns more than we expect. This article will be in the limelight for starting a blog right away with minimal cost.

The overall cost to start a blog will never be more than Rs. 10,000 you can kick-start your website.

But with dedication, needed effort and with these tips specified in the article, you can take the business to the next level.