I started a blog with less than $20
Here’s how I did it
I started my blog a year ago with a very limited budget. I had $20 to invest in it, so I needed to be smart about my money.
I did a lot of research and read a fair number of pointless blog posts (most were promoting only one hosting company or had a bombastic headline that had nothing to do with the topic).
Tip: if you stumble upon blog posts or Pins that tell you you can start a blog for free — it’s a lie, don’t click.
Blogging platform
There are several platforms where you can start a blog — Squarespace, WordPress, Wix, Blogspot, Weebly. Most blogs are created on WordPress and it’s what bloggers promote. (WordPress.org not .com)
The one and the only reason why it’s technically free. Platforms like Squarespace or Wix have some type of monthly fee.
One more thing, don’t believe them when they say you can only rank on Google if you are on WordPress. It is one more lie bloggers want you to believe in, just because they are affiliates for some plugins they are promoting in a blog post you are reading.
Types of costs
The first thing you need to know, there are two types of costs: 1. essential costs — domain name, hosting; 2. optional costs — legal pages, email services, email address, theme
Essential cost
There is no blog without these two things: domain name and hosting.
Domain name is your URL or web address. Basically, it’s your blog’s identity on the Internet.
You can use your real name, or your pen name, or play with some words from your niche. Choose wisely, because changing it later will cost you money and time.
You can always check the availability of the name on namechk.com.
Prices of domain names with .com are starting at $9/year. The cheapest one you can find is on namecheap.com. Also, they have special offers where you can buy a domain name for less than $1 (for your first year).
Hosting will enable your blog to be online. It’s a service that provides website owners with a place to store their files online.
The most important thing you should look for when choosing a hosting provider is an SSL certificate. That’s what makes your blog secure. There are free ones, but are limited in terms of months and how many times you can renew. And buying an SSL certificate outside your hosting plan can be expensive.
Also, don’t be tricked when you see that you can buy a hosting plan for only $2.95 a month — you pay for an entire year, not a month.
Hosting plans start a $50/year and go up to $85/year. The cost varies depending on the storage space, monthly visitors, SSL certificate
Essential costs of starting a blog are around $60 for a year. If you go with the cheapest options.
You must be wondering how the hell I was able to start a blog with only $20.
I did something that most bloggers will cringe at — I’ve bought the domain name and hosting plan from the same company.
Why? It was cheap, in my budget, and the hosting plan is paid on the monthly basis. I chose the EasyWP turbo plan for only $8 dollars a month. I figured I will always have a spare $8 to pay for it, instead of $50 at once.
And the domain name cost me $8 for a year. So I spent a total of $16 on essential costs.
Optional costs
These costs are not necessary to start a blog but can be beneficial for growing it.
My suggestion is to focus on building your content and promoting your blog before you invest more money in it. Even if you are starting with the notion of monetizing your blog, you don’t have to break a bank at the beginning.
Legal pages are probably the first thing you should consider investing in. You will need those to be able to apply for ad networks.
It can cost from $20, and go up to $160 if you buy in bundles.
For when you are just starting out, there is a free WordPress plugin that you can use while saving up the money for the paid ones.
Themes are a big part of your blog design and it’s what will make your blog eye appealing.
There are amazing free themes out there, the most known are Astra, Blocksy and Kandence. I used Astra for a long time and switched to Blocksy a few months ago, and I’m glad I did.
My advice is to have an idea of how you want your layout to be and then search the themes to find what’s best for you and your blog brand.
When it comes to premium themes, prices go from $30 to $200 depending on the features and support you get from developers.
Email services are used for growing your email list and your blog. You create a freebie and then deliver it via this service.
Some bloggers advise you to start your email list immediately, some say you can wait until you create a certain amount of blog posts.
I started my email list 7 or 8 months into blogging when I had more content and was able to filter most read blog posts so I can know what type of freebie I should create. You can easily add pop-ups or subscribe blocks to already published content.
The most popular email services are MailChimp, ConvertKit, Mailerlite, and Flodesk. The first three have a free option for under a certain amount of subscribers, while Flodesk has only paid option.
Prices start from $10/$29 for ConvertKit and go up to $300 per month. There are yearly plans as well. Flodesk has one plan and it costs $38/month.
Email address is another optional cost for when you are starting a blog. These are [email protected] type of email addresses, but keep in mind that you will need a Gmail address as well.
I’m using Private Email which costs me $12/year, it came with two months free.
You can buy an email address through your hosting provider, some offer it for free. Prices start from $8.
The optional cost of starting a blog is a bit difficult to round up. Legal pages and themes are one-time payments, while email services and addresses are paid yearly.
Let’s say you want it all, it’s $60 dollars of essential costs + $100 for legal bundles (average) + $60 for a theme + $10 Mailchimp = $230 just to start with everything.
Now let’s imagine that you spend your first year building your content and growing your audience before you start making some decent money. Do you have a spare $230 just laying around or you will start with the essentials and then as you grow your blog add more stuff?
Not to mention the situation of you being a hobby blogger with monetization not being your number one priority, will you be ready to spend that much money on a hobby?
Just take your time and think what is your blogging goal, why you are doing it, what do you expect from it, before you make any financial commitment.
Additional optional costs are plugins, but most of them are free and experiment to see which one's suit you and your blog before you make any investment.
Hope this article is useful for you. None of the links here is an affiliate. Good luck in starting a blog.
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