How Much Does it Cost to Start a Blog in 2023?The Complete Guide to All Blog Costs (and Free Budget Template) for Beginners
Without wasting time – this is my guide to the answer: How much does it cost to start a blog? So let’s break down the cost of running a blog in 2023.
How much does it cost to start a blog?
Depending on your goals and the type of blog you want to start, the cost of your blog will be about $34.50 to $65.40 to start a blog in 2023 and cover the cost of your first year (for beginners).
Reading: How much does it cost to create a blog
If you do the If you need to factor the purchase of a computer, phone, or other hardware into your equation to learn how much it costs to start a blog — then one-time purchases can add up to anywhere from $200 to $2,600, depending on the brand of computer (Windows vs . Apple) and features (MacBook vs. MacBook Pro) you choose. Also, there are many more variables to consider when calculating all of your blog costs.
How much will it cost to start a blog in 2023? (Blog Cost Guide for Beginners)
- Minimum cost to start a hobby blog in 2023: $34.50
- Minimum cost to start a sideline blog in 2023: $65.40
- Minimum cost to start a full-time blog in 2023: 941, $40
- Hardware cost: $0 – $2,640
- Hosting cost: $2.95/month
- Domain name cost: $0
- WordPress theme cost: $0 to $49
- WordPress Plugin Cost: $0 to $217
- Email Marketing Tool Cost: $0 to $41/month and more
- Security cost: $0 to $240
- Extra cost for blogging tool: $0 to $2,217
- Advertising costs: $0 to $1,000
- Cost to create content ten (outsourcing and administration): $0 – $500
- Accounting costs: $0 – $500
- Additional costs, you may not consider: $0 – $370
- Calculate: how much does it really cost to start a blog?
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. If you buy a product through one of my affiliate marketing links, the company compensates me, which keeps all of my content free to you. Be aware that I only recommend products and tools that I have personally used and stand behind.
First and foremost, it’s important to note that the cost of starting (and running) Blogging can actually vary widely The decisions you make regarding a wide range of start-up costs and ongoing purchases. In this blogging cost guide for beginners, we focus solely on making smart financial decisions.
Ready to start your blog?
Take a look my ultimate guide: how to start a blog today (by the way).
There are an estimated 31.7 million bloggers this year in the US alone — and if you’re here, you’re probably wondering if which is the case now is the right time to learn how to start a blog and break into the industry yourself.
After more than 6 years of growing this blog to more than 500,000 monthly readers and has made it a full-time business For myself, here’s my honest opinion: Starting a blog can be incredibly fun, lucrative, and immensely rewarding, but it’s also important to first understand how much does blogging cost?
Worth the upfront investment to start one blogs in the end really? Yes, and in this guide to understanding blogging costs for your own unique blogging goals and needs, we’re going to break down (item by item) the exact blogging costs you can expect to pay in 2023. I’m going to show you the minimal costs to start a blog as lean as possible – as well as the costs to expect as your blog grows and you’re ready to invest seriously in converting it into a profitable blogging business.
Here we break down the benchmark costs of starting a blog for 3 different groups:
- Hobby bloggers (blogging for beginners, only for fun or as a creative outlet)
- Side Hustle Bloggers (blogging alongside your job to slowly build a business)
- Full-Time Bloggers (blogging as a full-time business)
Here’s why – if you’re just starting out and want to keep your new blog going budget you have a different threshold for the cost It’s in comparison to someone running a blog that is already generating a small income, if it makes sense for them to upgrade to premium editions like sch smarter web hosting, better WordPress plugins or blog themes, and more robust email marketing tools.
Getting straight to the point…
Here’s exactly how much it will cost to start (and run) a blog this year, depending on what kind of blogger you want to be.
How much it will cost to start a blog in 2023 (blog cost summary):
- How much will it cost to to start a blog a hobby blog: $34.50
- How much it costs to start a side hustle blog: $65.40
- How much it costs to start a full-time blog: $941.40
To be completely transparent, I’ll be the first to let you know that these summary numbers are an oversimplification and not necessarily what anyone starting a blog this year should expect. To really get a feel for how much it costs to start a blog, you need to delve deeper into this blog budget template and guide to managing your projected costs.
Because, really, it’s yours best answer to the question… “How much does it cost to start a blog?” may be a little different than someone else’s.
There are many areas where you can blog budget can significantly reduce (depending on your goals and if you’re willing to make some sacrifices), while there are other areas you might want to spend a little more on.
So we’ll start with thinking about what kind of blogger you want to be – and the most realistic starting point for a blog budget you’re at right now.
Want to start your blog (the right way) ?
Check out my ultimate guide to starting a Blogs (by the way).
Well, without further ado, let’s dive in!
First, determine your blogging purpose (3 types of bloggers)
The cost of running a (just kidding) personal blog is very different than the cost of running a blog that you want to use to make money blogging and grow into a full-fledged business.
A personal blog that you set up on either WordPress or one of the best free blog sites will be structured completely differently (and have different goals, tools, and structural choices) than a blog designed to ultimately generate revenue to generate and be a real business.
In this guide we’ll go through how much it costs to blog as lean as possible – right down to the cost of running a serious business blog costs when it has grown a little.
Is d u a hobby? Blogger?
The first category is the personal or hobby blog. These are the type of bloggers who have little to no interest in ever monetizing their blog — they just want a creative outlet to share about their life, craft, or inform their family about local events on the to keep up to date. Hobby bloggers are typically on a tight budget, want a low upfront cost, and don’t want paid blogging tools that can accelerate growth. We call this group the hobby bloggers.
Are you a sideline blogger?
The next category of bloggers, the sideline blogger, definitely has the goal of building a profitable blog in his niche, but he has other commitments in his life (like a full-time job, family, or other) that don’t yet allow him to work full-time on growing her blog .
They are able to post content with a certain frequency and they plan to eventually make money from blogging, but they know it will take time to get there retain other important responsibilities. This category of bloggers is willing to spend a little more money upfront to get the right blog setup that will ensure long-term growth and blogging success, but don’t want to make a large investment right away. We call this group the Side Hustle Bloggers. And if you want to avoid the mistakes I made early on in blogging, check out all the things I wish I knew before starting a blog.
You are a full-time blogger?
The final category is the blogger who’s in the mood – ready and willing to spend a significant amount of capital up front in order to grow as quickly as possible. They have a clear idea of what they want to do with their blog, and they’re comfortable with higher costs because they understand how they translate into blog revenue. This category of bloggers sees their blog primarily as a business. We call this group the full-time bloggers.
So how much does it cost to start a blog?
Let’s look at the actual cost of starting a blog – for every type of blogger.
The hardware cost of blogging: $0 to $2,640
If you consider that question, how much does it cost to start a blog? You probably think of the software side of things first.The blogging platform you choose, hosting plan, blog theme design, and the like. But first and foremost, the hardware (computers) you use for blogging is also an important consideration — especially if you don’t already have one to use for your blogging endeavors.
👋 If you If you already have a computer and smartphone, you can skip the hardware costs of blogging
While many aspiring bloggers probably already have a computer, for some it’s still something that’s built into the cost of starting of a blog is to be included. Not only that, but keep in mind that you may need to upgrade from your current computer if you want to blog seriously.
Here’s a list of some of the basic (hardware) items you’ll need if you restart a blog.
Hobby blogger hardware cost: $200
- Laptop (or desktop) computer: $200
As a hobby blogger, you really don’t need a lot of hardware. A decent laptop and a smartphone will do. In fact, in terms of hardware costs, you might not even need more than one computer.
If you don’t already have a laptop, you can get one on Amazon for less than $200. You’ll likely use the laptop for more than just blogging, so it’s a worthwhile investment.
If you don’t already have a smartphone for your everyday life, there’s no need to blog. It’s convenient to check things out or upload content when you’re on the go — but you don’t necessarily have to have it.
Instead, you might want an inexpensive digital camera to upload pictures to your blog. If you’re not interested in providing your own images, you can also use free stock images from stock agencies like Pexels and Pixabay – or if you want to create simple designs, sign up for a free subscription to Canva.
Minimum hardware cost for a hobby blogger: $0 to $200
Hardware cost for side hustle blogger: $1,400
- Upgraded computer (powerful laptop): $600-$2,000
- Smartphone with a good camera (for photo and video): $40/month
- Headphones: $60
Upgraded Laptop Computer: $600 to $2,000
At the level of blogging on the fly, you need a laptop that gives you more functionality , reliability and computing power. I would prefer a laptop to a desktop as you can take it anywhere. If you’re traveling or want to work in a coffee shop before going about your day job, you can take your blog with you. It’s a much wiser plan for a blogger who is serious about blogging growth.
The type of laptop you choose is up to you, but you want it to have good processing speed and plenty of storage space has. A bonus would be something that comes with video and photo editing software.
The biggest question is whether you want to buy a Windows laptop or a premium MacBook.
MacBooks are the most popular choice for bloggers (including me), but Windows-based laptops are a lot better and can be a viable option today. Most of the time, this decision comes down to preference. Those used to one or the other generally want to stick with what they were using. A MacBook costs more money but tends to be a lot more powerful and will last almost a decade – making it a better laptop overall.
Depending on the make and model of laptop you choose, you can expect it , paying between $600 and $2,000 for a fast computer that lasts for years.
Smartphone with a good camera: $40/month
< A smartphone is extremely useful for bloggers these days, making it a significant factor in how much it costs to start a blog equation. This keeps you connected to the digital world even when you're not at home. You can receive emails on the go and quickly share relevant content to your blog's social accounts when you're on the go.
Collecting photos or video footage for your blog is easy with a smartphone. You may not always have a camera with you, but you probably take your phone with you everywhere. Get a smartphone that takes great photos and videos for content purposes.
Another reason to have a smartphone is that you can use it to see how mobile-friendly your blog is. This is useful as it is projected that by 2025 over 72% of internet users will only use smartphones to connect to the internet.
For a cell phone plan without a prepaid card, you should be looking at around $40 per month calculate.
Headphones: $60
A good pair of headphones is essential for those early morning work sessions or late evening coffee shops. They are also helpful when you live with other people and need to focus while regularly working on your blog with others.
You can get a decent pair of headphones for around $60, or spend up to $400 for the highest-end from Bose.
Minimum hardware cost for Side Hustle Blogger: $0 – $1,400 $
Full-time blogger hardware cost: $2,640
- Fast, reliable, and premium laptop (MacBook Pro) : $1,300 to $2,600
- Smartphone with high data plan: $90/month
- Bose noise canceling headphones: $300
- High quality microphone: $150
MacBook Pro Laptop: $2,100
For a full-time blogger, your hardware costs are somewhat similar to those of a part-time blogger, but with one big exception – you will use your computer A LOT.
So it pays to invest a little more today in the best possible laptop you can get: a MacBook Pro. This computer is built to last almost a decade.
My recommendation is to get the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the maximum processing speed and maximum memory – maximizing those two features guarantees you get the fastest possible laptop that can run multiple applications at the same time, have many browser tabs open at the same time, and everything happens at lightning speed.
Smartphone: 90 $ /mo
A full-time blogger can also expect a higher-tier phone plan to unlock more data and a newer phone. You can expect to pay around $80-$100 for this combo. It always helps to shop around as there might be another plan that will give you what you want at a better price – with a new iPhone of course.
Headphones: $300
Your headphones don’t necessarily have to be more expensive as a full-time blogger, but you might want noise-cancelling headphones like the Bose QuietComfort 35 Wireless Bluetooth if you plan on working in a noisy co-working space or out of cafes a home office with pets and children running around. These headphones typically range from $250 to $350 depending on where you can find the best discounts online.
Microphone: $150
For full-time bloggers starting with a podcast of your own (or at least recording some limited videos for a YouTube channel alongside your blog) should be on your radar to accompany your blog content being written soon. A good, cheap podcasting mic is a smart addition to reliable podcast hosting, and most of them are between $100 and $200 on Amazon, although there are plenty of cheaper options too.
Minimum hardware costs for a full-time blogger: $0 – $2,640
Hosting costs (WordPress with Bluehost): $2.95/month
Next When it comes to how much it costs to start a blog, consider whether you’re using a blogging platform and web hosting plan.
There are free ones out there, though (no hosting required) Blogging Sites You Can Use As a hobby blogger with zero to very little overall cost to try writing I cannot recommend enough that new bloggers and beginners try the combination of WordPress with a Bluehost hosting Use plan.
Wix and Weebly are popular options for free blogging platforms, but they are sin d quite limited and you don’t actually own the rights to your blog. Even if you decide to blog as a hobby, I still suggest paying the low cost of a hosting service to have complete freedom with your content. And if you ever want to get more serious about blogging and growing your site, you don’t have to bother moving your site later.
In the future, we’ll break down the cost of blogging with the combination from WordPress (as your content management system) and a Bluehost hosting plan.
Hobby Blogger Hosting Cost: $2.95/month
WordPress is a 100% free Content Management System (CMS) that allows you to manage the Manage the content of your blog. A hosting platform is to be paid for. A self-hosted blog powered by WordPress is not to be confused with WordPress.com’s managed service. This guide also covers some of the basics in more detail: How much does web hosting cost?
When it comes to hosting your blog cheaply, I recommend Bluehost. They’re also highly recommended by the makers of WordPress themselves, and they’ve built their business on offering reliable, affordable hosting plans to new bloggers.
For a hobbyist blogger, you really only need to buy their basic plan that gives you everything you need for $2.95/month.
It’s important to note, however, that Bluehost hosting is paid for upfront in a single payment (that secures Your hosting price and a free domain name for at least the first year).
If you want the flexibility of true monthly payments but don’t mind paying a little extra each month to keep your blog online, check out my picks for the best monthly paid plans for bloggers need to keep their monthly budget really low.
Minimum hosting cost for amateur bloggers: $2.95/month
Side Hustle Blogger hosting cost: 5, $45/month
For a side hustle blog that you take seriously and hope it will grow into a source of income for that side hustle, I recommend opting for Bluehost’s faster hosting plan to decide which one comes with a few more features – called the Choice Plus plan.
Your Choice Plus plan offers many features beyond what you get in their cheapest plan, including free domain Data protection, automated backups and more storage space (so that your website sc runs faster). This plan will cost you $5.45/month and, like all Bluehost hosting plans, requires a minimum 1 year upfront commitment. That being said, paying year-round ensures you one of the most affordable hosting plans for the amount of features, value, and reliability – mostly because you’ll be blogging for the long haul.
However, if you Want to shop around a little more, check out the other options for quality hosting plans that offer a true monthly payment option.
Minimum hosting costs for side-hustle bloggers: $5.45 /month
Cost for hosting full-time bloggers: $5.45/month
In my opinion, even if you go to the Dip Business If you’re blogging as a full-time job, you don’t need a hosting plan more robust (or more expensive) than Bluehost’s Choice Plus plan until you start attracting thousands of monthly readers to your blog.
It is only with enough readership that it makes financial sense to upgrade to a more robust hosting plan, with either Bluehost or vo n one of the other best web hosting providers.
So for now, stick with Bluehost’s Choice Plus plan, it will only cost you $5.45/month and you can focus on more important things for a while (e.g. B. Attract readers).
Bluehost offers what is known as managed WordPress hosting. when you’re ready to upgrade (read these Bluehost reviews about it when you’re ready). These plans are typically offered to existing customers and range from $19.95/month to $49.95/month, which unlocks more great features for active blogs such as: B. unlimited web storage, unlimited domains and much more handy technical support.
Minimum hosting cost for full-time bloggers: $5.45/month
Domain name cost: $0 (free)
A domain name, the address of your blog on the Internet, is another relatively small expense that bloggers have to pay.
Luckily, when you choose Bluehost for your hosting plan, you get a free domain name for the first year – and it costs around $10/year to renew thereafter. To start your blog, cost your domain name at $0 when you choose Bluehost. You can search (and secure) a domain name with Bluehost right here:
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If you don’t use Bluehost for your hosting u nd want to use your domain name—or if you want to switch later—here are some other options:
- GoDaddy: $10.00-$20.00
GoDaddy prices vary a bit depending on the domain name you want to buy (popular names tend to be more expensive), so it’s difficult to estimate exactly what it will cost to register a domain name with GoDaddy to get. You can typically expect to pay between $10.00 and $20.00 per year for most .com extensions. Again, this is only an introductory price and depends heavily on a number of factors.
- NameCheap: $9.00
See also: How to Make a Text Logo in Illustrator
NameCheap is another solid option for picking up an inexpensive domain name, but like GoDaddy, prices vary significantly based on a number of factors.You can expect to pay around $9 for the first year of registration for most .com domain names.
- GoogleDomains: $12.00
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Google Domains charges a flat registration fee of $12.00 for .com domain names. Of course, some names are considered premium and cost more with each domain registrar.
Minimum domain name cost for all bloggers: $0
WordPress blog cost -Theme: $0 – $49
Selecting a WordPress theme for your blog is an extremely important step in creating your blog.
While you can make changes If you want to change your design in the future, you’ll need to do some re-engineering of your site to do so. So I highly recommend picking a great theme from the start so you don’t have to deal with multiple theme changes in the future.
Hobby Blogger WordPress Theme Cost: $0
There are literally thousands of free WordPress themes out there today, but if you’re looking for a free theme, this one is easy to use, ultra-fast, and offers beautiful design layouts. My #1 recommendation is the Hello theme from the team behind Elementor.
This free Hello theme was created to be fully compatible with Elementor Page Builder, which is also paid and greatly expands its functionality – giving you a ton of visual editing and building capabilities.
Minimum cost for a hobby -Blogger WordPress Theme: 0$
WordPress Theme for side hustle and full time blogger: 49$
As a side hustle or full time -Blogger, you are looking to grow your blog into a revenue stream. They take their blog very seriously.
And unless you have a background in web development, you will find it extremely beneficial to have a premium theme and visual page builder like Elementor on top of their free WordPress theme . Premium page builders like Elementor offer many more customization options and the freedom to tweak your blog’s design exactly how you want.
While Elementor technically starts out for free, Elementor’s PRO Page Builder personal plan unlocks all features free that you want as a serious blogger (for $49.00/year):
Pairing your free Hello theme with the Elementor PRO Page Builder is the way to go – and it keeps your blog start-up costs nice and low.
Over time, investing in a fully bespoke theme that suits your whole life can pay off special needs, but I’ve been blogging here for 10+ years and have only switched premium themes once so don’t worry. As an added bonus, when I decided to start a new inserts blog at VeganTable, I already had additional licenses for my favorite WordPress theme, so this shared cost will come in handy as your network of websites grows over time.
Minimum cost for a part-time and full-time blogger WordPress theme: $49.00
Cost for WordPress plugin blog : $0 – $217
If you’re new to WordPress plugins, a plugin is a small piece of software that adds new functionality to your blog.
Plugins are really useful for WordPress powered blogs and can allow you to do a truly unlimited number of things with your website. There are tens of thousands of free and premium plugins in the WordPress ecosystem (like Crocoblock’s blogging plugin for Elementor), but a few stand out from the rest.
You should start by learning all of them first install the top plugins I recommend in my guide to starting a blog. After these top ten, consider these.
Cost of WordPress Plugin for Hobby Bloggers: $0
A hobby blogger shouldn’t worry about the need to make purchase of a premium plug-in . There are many useful ones that are completely free. Here are some you may find helpful.
- Instagram Feed: Instagram Feed allows you to view your Instagram feed directly embedded on your website.
- Google Analytics for WordPress: You may not be monetizing your site yet, but it’s still wise to install Google Analytics or a premium analytics tool like Fathom to understand it who your readers are and how they discover your content. It’s good information to gather if you ever want to start monetizing your blog.
- Envira Gallery Lite: You can create galleries directly in WordPress and in Elementor, but Envira Gallery Lite gives you even more options.
Min Hobby Blogger WordPress Plugin Cost: $0
Side Hustle Blogger WordPress Plugin Cost: $217
Side hustle bloggers will want to go beyond free plugins and choose to use at least a small handful of the best premium plugins to support everything from writing great blog content to to ensure you’re following the right SEO best practices, make your content easily shareable, and more. Here are the top premium plugins you could want:
- Yoast SEO – $89/year: Yoast SEO has a very robust free version of their plugin, which helps you create SEO friendly content (to rank higher in search engines). The free version offers free keyword optimization, readability checks, communication with Google indexing and much more. The premium version of their plugin comes with internal link suggestions, content insights, focus keyword experts, and more to consider upgrading for. Premium version costs $89 per year.
- WooCommerce – $0: WooCommerce is a powerful eCommerce add-on plugin (and eCommerce website builder) for bloggers interested in using their website to sell their own products. The best part is that it’s completely free to start with and will only cost you if you want to unlock advanced features (or you’re processing high transaction volume).
- WP Forms – $79/year : WP Forms is an extremely helpful premium plugin for bloggers who want to embed any type of form on their website (if you don’t have a WordPress theme that already allows easy form insertion). Their form tools are extremely dynamic, starting at $79/year.
- WP Rocket – $49/year: WP Rocket is the fastest caching plugin for WordPress designed for it makes your website run extremely fast even when you have a lot of traffic.
Minimum cost for Side Hustle Blogger WordPress Plugin: $217
Full-time blogger WordPress plugin cost: $217
Full-time bloggers should use the best premium WordPress plugins as well as other essential plugins that add smart features to your blog.
In addition to the plugins listed above, consider these more advanced ones (depending on the type of blog you are creating and how you monetize your content become). For that reason, however, I’m not adding any of the following plugins to your equation for figuring out how much it costs to start a blog. However, if any of these resonate with you, then add them!
- Zero BS CRM – $204/year: ZBS CRM (aka Zero BS CRM ), is a WordPress plugin for customer relationship management that gives you insights into your customers. This is an extremely helpful plugin for ecommerce-focused blogs that sell products directly from their websites. The plugin is free, but you can add extensions for an additional fee. ZBS CRM also recently joined the team at Automattic, the company behind WordPress, so you can expect more great integrations.
- LiveChat – $192/year: LiveChat gives you the power to chat instantly with visitors of your website. If you sell products directly on your blog, then this is a great plugin to add to your mix – this way you can answer important questions from your potential customers on the go. LiveChat pricing ranges from $16/month to $50/month (or more) depending on features.
- WPML – $29/year: If you are interested in reaching readers in regions of the world where English is not as widely spoken then the WordPress Multilingual Plugin is what you are looking for. The price ranges from $29 to $159. The lowest version can translate posts, pages, tags, WordPress menus, and more, so you’re all set.
Since many of these plugins are optional depending on your unique needs, I’ll leave those as is Plugin costs on par with hobby bloggers: $217.
Email marketing tools costs: $0 – $41/month (and more). )
Email marketing is the lifeblood of almost any profitable blog. And the real value of your blog is in the quality of your email list.
Why? Your email marketing software is a way for you to Communicate directly with blog readers who have expressed an interest in what you do and have signed up to receive more of your content.
You are your first stop for finding out how your blog works monetize, and will be an unlimited source of new blog post ideas to write about, too, so you should start building an email list as soon as possible.
Cost for that Email Marketing Tool for Hobby Bloggers: $0
Probably a hobby blogger isn’t very interested in building an email list—but it still isn’t bad idea to start one with the goal of building relationships with your readers and turning your blog into a more meaningful target Interest in monetizing your blog have in the future, there is no better time than now to start building an email list.
The good news is that you can use Mailchimp’s Forever Free plan with limited functionality to unlock their email service with up to 2,000 subscribers.
Since your blog not meant to be a serious business, if one is just a hobby, you may never surpass the 2,000 subscriber mark so Mailchimp would be perfect for your needs. That means you can keep an email list for free indefinitely.
Either way, even if you consider yourself a side hustle or a full-time blogger, there’s a good case for it Start with a free tool like Mailchimp to keep your costs low for the very first few days – before investing in a paid tool like ConvertKit or AWeber.
Minimum costs for amateur blogger email -Marketing Tools: $0
Email marketing tool for part-time jobs and full-time bloggers: $0 to $41/month (and up)
My advice for serious part-time bloggers and full-time bloggers is the same when it comes to email marketing tools: ConvertKit fully (but not really at first).
You’re probably familiar with Mailchimp, AWeber, and ConvertKit as the top t three great email marketing opportunities for bloggers. This is a short version of my take on these three tools and why ConvertKit ultimately wins, but if you want to dive deeper check out my more in-depth comparison of them all.
Unless you start your blog with an existing list of email subscribers – I suggest sticking with the free version of Mailchimp to collect subscribers and get to know them.
If you’re not actively working on it, with your blog directly Making Money When you’re first starting out, you can’t really justify the cost of a more powerful (paid) email marketing tool like ConvertKit.
Once you start breaking the 1,000+ subscriber mark, you would I recommend upgrading ConvertKit. It offers the most features, includes the ability to send automated emails (which can be used to sell your products on autopilot), and more. But if you have more than 1,000 subscribers, monetizing your blog should make this tool more than worthwhile.
The cost of using ConvertKit increases with the number of email subscribers you have – but at the beginning. The price (for 1,000-2,000 subscribers) is $41/month (annual payment).
Minimum cost for side hustle and full-time blogger email marketing tools: $0 – $41/month
Security costs: 0 – $240/year
WordPress. powered blogs do not have robust (built-in) Security like you might expect from a website builder like Wix or WordPress.com.
However, the hosting company you choose to run your blog should provide an extra layer of defense. That’s why I recommend Bluehost (they include site-lock security).
However, as your blog grows (and generates revenue), security becomes more important as your site is targeted for attack can become hackers trying to exploit your earnings.
Hobby blogger security costs: $0
Luckily, if you choose Bluehost to host your blogs, you have their basic built-in security.
For a hobbyist blog, your risks from additional threats are extremely low – and what comes with Bluehost is all the security you need right now.
Minimum security cost for a hobby blogger: $0
Security cost for side hustle blogger: $99/year
As we discussed earlier, if you host your blog through a reputable company like Bluehost or Dreamhost, you already have a basic level of security monitoring in place. However, for added security, installing an easy-to-use security plugin like Wordfence is a good place to start (and will drain your blog budget).
Wordfence starts at $99/year for installing its advanced security features on a blog. If you also sign up for multiple years, you usually get a 10-20% promotional discount.
With this security plugin, you add many security features like:
- Password Protection
- Live Traffic Monitoring
- Two Factor Authentication
- File Repair
- Country Blocking
- Advanced Manual Blocking
- Endpoint Firewall
- Malware Scanner
Minimum security cost for a side-hustle blogger: $99/year
Full-time blogger security cost: $240/year
For the highest level of security Your blog, Cloudflare is the best possible choice (and it’s what I use here to secure my blog).
Cloudflare ranges in price from completely free to $200+ per month nat, depending on the size of your site, how many visitors you get, nu a variety of pages protecting it, and so on.
If you’re a full-time blogger, you probably want either their pro – or their business tariff. The Pro plan is recommended for “professional websites, blogs, and portfolios that require basic security and performance.”
The Pro plan includes:
- Enhanced security with Web Application Firewall (WAF)
- Improved performance with image and mobile optimization
- HTTP/2 prioritization
- More control with advanced features
This plan is a good starting point and costs: $20/month
The Business plan is for websites and businesses that need advanced security, performance, and prioritized support. Here are some brief specifications about this product:
- 24/7/365 Support
- Custom SSL Certificates
- CNAME Setup
- Custom WAF rules
- Up to 100,000 image resize requests
This plan is worth upgrading once you have a significant number of readers, and costs $200/month.
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Minimum security costs for a full-time blogger: $240/year
Additional costs for blogging Tool: $0 to $2,217/year
Here is a list of the top additional tools and plugins that I have personally found useful in growing my blog over the years.
If you try to answer, how much does it cost to start a blog? for yourself, then don’t forget these essential add-ons that will help you generate more traffic and earn more in the coming months.
Hobby Blogger Extra Tool Costs: $0
For your hobby blog, I strongly recommend using only free tools and plugins. Start here:
- Google Analytics – Free: Since 2005, Google Analytics is a (free) web analytics service developed and offered by Google that allows blog owners to track and report on their website traffic. Today, it’s just one of the many blogging tools offered across the Google Marketing Platform brand, designed for marketers and advertisers to reach more readers.
- Twinword Ideas – free: This is free blogging tool by the team at Twinword, collects keyword data directly from Google and other top search engines, making it more accurate than most other free keyword research tools out there today. Using this free tool will help you choose smart blog topic ideas to write about (that people are already searching for online) and give you some insight into writing a blog headline that people will actually click on .
Minimum cost for additional tools for hobby bloggers: $0
Part-time blogger costs for additional tools: $290 /year
At the blogging side job level, you pay a little for additional tools that add useful functionality to your blog.
At this stage, remember that Your goal is to generate more traffic and better monetize your blog content – and these types of tools are worth investing in that pursuit.
- MonsterInsights – 99.50 $/year: To put it simply, MonsterInsights is a dead simple Google Analytics plugin for WordPress – which allows you to view your GA data directly in your WordPress dashboard.MonsterInsights allows you to easily connect your WordPress blog to your Google Analytics account (without hiring developers or writing any code yourself) – a task that can sometimes be a bit more complicated than most new bloggers expect, depending on which of the top WordPress themes are you using. MonsterInsights starts for free and their Plus plan unlocks every additional feature you would ever need for $99.50/year.
- Wordable – $190/year: Converting a draft blog post from a Google Doc to WordPress can be incredibly tedious. That’s why I love Wordable because it has literally saved me hundreds of hours of my life. Once you sign up for Wordable’s free trial, download and install the plugin on your blog. Then, with literally one click, you can instantly export Google Docs to a WordPress post or page on your blog — with no formatting hassles. Wordable costs $190/year to run on one blog.
Minimum cost for additional tools for side-hustle bloggers: $290/year
Extra tool cost for full-time bloggers: $290 – $2,217/year
Besides the tools in the “Side hustle” section above (which I believe are in your equation, how much does it cost, is it a must to start a blog?), I recommend adding these more advanced tools to your blog budget if you can afford the extra expense and are focused on serious growth in the near term.
- Ahrefs – $990/year: Ahrefs is hailed as the absolute best SEO-related tool for bloggers and online businesses looking to rank higher on Google the most important SEO strategies for blogs – with a special focus on keyword research & competitive analysis. Its key features for bloggers are that it acts as a content research and analysis juggernaut, keyword rank tracker (with historical SERP movements going back as far as when your blog started ranking for its first keyword), a competitor research tool and on-site SEO analyzer. I know that’s a lot. The lowest plan with Ahrefs gets you a whopping $990/year (when paid annually), but I can promise it’s worth the cost.
- Teachable – $348/year : As your blogging business grows, creating and selling online courses will be a natural progression on the road to monetizing your blog. Teachable has long been one of the easiest to use online course delivery platforms that can not only deliver content to your students but also collect payments on your behalf. Teachable starts at $29/month billed annually.
- Can I rank? – $588/year: This is by far one of the most exciting new tools I’ve started using this year. At the core of their product is an AI-powered software engine that gives you actionable advice on how to improve your blog’s SEO rankings, drive more traffic, and even collect clever content ideas to pursue based on your existing content can – and what opportunities the potential traffic value offers in the coming months. Can I rank? ranging from free to $49/month for plans a full-time blogger should consider.
Honestly to be – as your blog grows, you can spend a lot more on all the advanced blogging tools (not to mention blogging courses and blogging books) out there.
So your version of how much does it cost to start a blog? can actually vary greatly depending on the mix of tools you use to grow your blog.
Minimum cost of additional tools for full-time bloggers (+ the part-time tools above): 290 $ – $2,217
Advertising costs: $0 – $1,000/year
Cost of advertising is common debate among bloggers, looking at digital marketing strategies to generate traffic.
Should you pay for advertising or should you invest in (arguably slower) free marketing strategies to grow your blog? I would actually argue that there is a time for both paid and free marketing channels – and it largely depends on where you are in your blogging journey.
For example, if you’re starting a brand new Blogs don’t yet have a way to monetize your traffic, then it doesn’t make sense to run paid advertising campaigns for your content yet. You should be at a point where your content is at least somewhat monetized before you start spending a significant portion of your blog budget on ads.
See also: How to Create a Fantastic Hip Hop Website?
Here are some of my top ways to grow your blog, which includes both free and paid channels.
Hobby blogger advertising cost: $0
It almost goes without saying that a hobby blogger doesn’t spend any money on advertising. Without the intention of earning money with their blog, it really doesn’t make sense.
However, you probably still want to attract some people to your blog – even for the fun of interacting with people who are also interested in the same things as you. There are plenty of free ways to find your audience and grow your readership, but here are a few relevant ones:
- Posting to Pinterest: Posting to Pinterest is often much more useful and far-reaching than other social media platforms. Use portrait images with text directly on the image. These images work best on Pinterest because people scrolling through can see what your blog post is about at a glance. To scale your Pinterest posting, I recommend checking out Tailwind.
- Use other social media platforms too: Don’t stop at Pinterest. Share information about your blog across the spectrum of social media. Repost your blog posts on Medium, share your latest content on Twitter and post relevant photos on Instagram. Join a group on Facebook in your niche and share your latest blog posts with them.
- Ask your audience questions: If you want to know what your audience is interested in, ask it ! Ask on social media, in email marketing, or directly in a blog post. This gives them the opportunity to increase your social media posts through engagement and also gives you insight into the type of content they would like to see on your blog.
Minimal Hobby Blogger Ad Cost: $0
Side Hustle Blogger Ad Cost: $0 to $100
If you Like it or not, promoting your blog is an experimental task.
Right now you won’t know how to most effectively market your blog – until you try a few things first.
You can spend a little money on social media ads (on Facebook or Pinterest), but there are many other ways to grow your blog audience without having to spend a lot of money. My advice is to limit your social media advertising costs to around $100 on whatever platform your audience seems to be spending most of their time on.
Here are a few ways I’ve been growing my blogs have worked well:
- Develop a content ecosystem: A content ecosystem means having enough relevant content on your site to link to internally ( like this link here on developing a content marketing strategy or developing your own general blogging strategy). I’ve linked several relevant articles from this guide on how much it costs to start a blog. because I’ve spent a lot of time creating my own blog content ecosystem. This accomplishes two things. First, it establishes your authority on a topic. It also shows your readers that you are extremely knowledgeable about the topic they have researched on your site. The other obvious benefit is that people will spend more time on your blog instead of looking for information on someone else’s website. Check out these successful blog examples and you will see very clearly how it’s done.
- Optimize your blog for Google Search Rankings: I won’t go into detail about search engine optimization here, but it is an extremely important aspect of getting more readers to your blog. Do your keyword research, pay attention to your Yoast plugin’s recommendations, and use smart blog SEO strategies.
- Reach out to people (and brands) you’re in Mention your posts: You have a much better chance of blogging success when you have a strong network. One way to expand your network is to engage other bloggers in your content. If you quote someone or link to their content, reach out to them with my blogger outreach email templates and let them know. They can share your article with their audience – and even if they don’t, you’ve still made a good potential connection.
Minimum cost for Side Hustle Blogger promotion: 0 $-$100 (for experiments)
Advertising costs for full-time bloggers: $0 to $1,000/year
It’s tempting believing that at this level of full-time blogging, you should spend more money on advertising.
And while the opportunity to blog through a sponsored guest can actually be a good opportunity to increase your audience a bit ( if you land the article on a site with a large audience that you also want to reach), this is about the only other paid advertising experiment I would personally recommend if you are just starting out on your blogging journey.Especially if you don’t do much monetized content on your blog at the moment.
All that said, I strongly believe that you can grow your blog without wasting any money. Here are some other ways you can build your audience at no extra cost:
- Teach online courses to your blog readers: Offer free online Courses cost mostly time instead of money. Whether you charge for a course or offer some free online courses as an incentive to get added to your email list, this is a great opportunity to get to know your audience. It also gives you the opportunity to establish yourself as an authority in your blogging niche.
- Use Quora: This question and answer forum covers many different topics. It is used by a wide range of users and gives you the opportunity to connect with many different types of people. You can find questions people are asking about a topic in your niche. See what questions keep popping up—then answer the most popular ones in a way that showcases your expertise. You can tactfully include a call-to-action that directs them to your blog for further reading. Here’s an example of a search result for “blogging” on Quora. Even with this quick search, you can see that people primarily want to know how to start a blog, how to promote it, and how much bloggers can earn. If my blog hadn’t already covered these topics, it would confirm the importance of writing about them now.
- Be a Guest on a Podcast: Another great way to reach new audiences is to be interviewed on a reasonably popular podcast in your niche. You also don’t have to own a podcast to be a guest on someone else’s (but be sure to check out my blogging vs. podcasting guide). With their growing popularity, you have the opportunity to reach many new people.
Personally, I recommend getting as many miles as possible from free marketing channels before diving into paid advertising trials. Once you start adding paid ads to your mix, the answer to your version is how much does it cost to start a blog? can go up quite dramatically.
Minimum advertising costs for full-time bloggers: $0 – $1000/year (to start experimenting)
Blog Content Creation Cost (Outsourcing & Management): 0 – $500/month
Are you going to write all your own content or commission some of it?
Im In the beginning it’s smart to write all your own content – but if that’s difficult for you, look for ways to outsource the most difficult aspects of the content creation process.
For example, if you’re having a hard time writing, Consider hiring a freelance writer who can audio-record you discussing a specific topic and have them create a first draft of an article that you can then edit.
Hobby Blogger Content Creation Cost: $0
If you blog just because you like the topic fun – and not because you want to make money from blogging, there really is no point in hiring outside writers or admin er lp. So you can go ahead and tick the “free” box for this question and remove it from your equation when it comes to answering. How much does it cost to start a blog?
Minimal hobby blogger content creation cost: $0
Cost for the Content creation for side-hustle bloggers: $0 to $250/month
Even at this level of blogging, the majority (if not all) of the content you post should be entirely yours be written.
It’s worth investing the extra time to find your voice, develop your style, explore the tone your content is taking on – and respond to the feedback from your earliest Reader. If you start publishing content written by others, you’re skipping over this very important phase in your development as an author.
You might want to outsource some content as your blog grows, but end up whole in the beginning – I strongly recommend not skipping this important development phase.
However, as you solidify your approach, it’s safe to either outsource the initial drafts of your articles, or seek some admin help to do your own formatting Make designs by finding talented freelance help on freelance job sites.
Minimum cost of creating Blogger content on the fly: $0 – $250/month
Full-time cost of creating Blogger content Content: $0 – $500/month
Even if you’re committed to growing your blog from day one, my recommendation from above stands – don’t hesitate to hire outside writers, if you are just starting out (even if your blog budget doesn’t matter) as it is absolutely crucial to develop your own writing style first.
You may still want additional help with various steps of the content creation process consult. If you absolutely must hire a writing assistant, get a proofreader first. They will be of great help in shaping your style, correcting mistakes before publication and generally teaching you a lot about writing.
I’ve always been very fortunate to have strong editors, writers and even administrative assistants through the Find ProBlogger Job Board (where you can post about your job for as little as $70).
Now that you’re starting to get a handle on your own voice and you’re looking to ramp up to a more ambitious content schedule, the first thing you should do is hire a guest blog post writer (to help promote your content and get published on other websites). .
A guest contributor can help create content that you can then make available to other blogs (to attract targeted readers and build your domain authority).
If so, you can to hire a freelance content writer, think about your budget and whether the content is worth the expense.
The cost of hiring a freelance writer can vary based on knowledge, experience, and Can vary greatly. It also depends on what you want them to do, but it’s safe to budget at least $500/month for writing-related expenses if you expect to finish 1-2 articles each month by a good author, but if you do want to pursue an endeavor such as For example, learning how to write an eBook with one of your freelancers becomes a higher budget project.
Minimum content creation cost as a full-time blogger: $0-$500/mo
Accounting blog costs: $0-$500/year
Accounting is one of those hidden fees that you might not think of right away think.
Of course it doesn’t matter if you don’t intend to make money from your blog, but it will be a single item in your equation, how much does it cost to start a blog? if you consider your blog as a future business.
Accounting costs for hobby bloggers: $0
It goes without saying that as a hobby blog, You don’t have to treat your website like a business – and the costs should remain extremely low. Finally, you shouldn’t have to include accounting in your question of how much does it cost to start a blog?
Minimum accounting costs for amateur bloggers: $0
Accounting costs for sideline bloggers: $120/year
Paying taxes on your blog income (or any sideline business for that matter) is very different from claiming income Your typical 9-5 job.
In any case, once you start making money from your blog, it makes sense to hire an accountant to keep track of to make sure you’re utilizing your depreciation and properly track earnings (and pay taxes on them).
The cost of an accountant varies widely, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that the average hourly rate for an accountant in the United States is $40 per hour is.
But my advice? Get an inexpensive tool like Quickbooks Self-Employed that can link your bank accounts and credit cards to help you categorize all your income and expenses as soon as they get to your door. This is especially useful if you have a student bank account or are in college.
If your numbers are relatively low at the end of the year, you probably could Don’t use an online filing tool like Turbo Tax to feed your side blog earnings into your normal tax return process.
Minimum cost of accounting side business for bloggers: $10.00/month ( Quickbooks Self- Employed)
Accounting costs for full-time bloggers: $500/year
At this level, once your blog starts, enough To generate income, you’ll probably want to hire an accountant for more than just your quarterly filings and year-end tax returns.
You might want him to Advises you on the structure of your business and provides insights into ways you can maximize your earnings and get the most out of your potential tax w rite-offs.
A good accountant will likely run you anywhere near $500 to keep a salary and keep in touch throughout the year.
Minimum -Full-time blogger account Cost: $500/year
Additional blog costs you may not have considered: $0 – $370/month
There are some additional expenses that you may not consider when calculating your version. How much does it cost to start a blog? You could name these hidden costs.
Some of these you may already be spending on personal use unrelated to your new blogging endeavors. For example, you probably already pay for the internet at home, don’t you? The only difference now is that you may need a faster internet plan to keep up with your blogging goals.
Hobby blogger Additional blog costs: $0 – $40/month
For one, you want a reliable internet connection.
Although you’re probably already paying for this service at home, you might want to increase your connection speed to load pages on your blog faster.
How much you spend on the internet depends a lot on where you live and which plan do you choose. It’s safe to set this cost estimate between $40/month and $60/month as the upgrade rate – although your local plans may vary.
Minimum additional cost for (most) ISPs: $0 – $40/month
Side Hustle Blogger Additional blog costs: $0 – $160/month
Side Hustle Blogger is definitely going to be fast want to be internet connection. To achieve maximum speeds, we’re putting those costs anywhere between $60/month and $80/month above what you’re already spending today.
Additional costs include gas, office supplies, additional data storage, and more Coffee. While it’s almost impossible to calculate exactly how much your spend will be, we can estimate it.
- Internet Speed Upgrade: $60/month – $80 /month
- Office supplies: $20/month – $40/month
- Additional data storage with Google or Dropbox: $10 /month li>
- Cafe drinks and snacks: $50/month
Minimum additional cost for Side Hustle bloggers: $0 – $160/month strong>
Additional blog costs for full-time bloggers: $0 – $370/month
Let’s go this list of potential additional costs quickly by -time blogger, with some slight tweaks above the side-hustle blogger.
- Internet Speed Upgrade: $60 – $80 /month
- More regular office supplies: $100/month – $300/month
- More additional data storage with Google or Dropbox: $20/month
- More cafe snacks (more frequent visits): $80/month
Keep this in mind Note that these aren’t the only additional costs you may incur – as your blog grows and you get more traffic to your site, you’ll probably want to make more of the blogging-related tools we’ve covered above, ready and update them (to better monetize your blog).
Minimum additional cost for full-time bloggers: $0 – $370/month
Calculations: how much does it really cost to start a blog? (Blog Cost Summary)
How much does it cost to start a blog? (And keep it growing for the first year).
That’s a good question. What it costs to start a blog actually depends a lot on what you want to make of it.
First year minimum cost to start a blog for profit: $65.40.
For only $65.40 for all costs for the first year, you can really start blogging on the side (build your blog to become a source of income one day ).
This does not take into account buying a new laptop or paying for the internet. So if you’re budgeting for a simple new laptop, and you’re looking at home internet as a blogging-related expense, you’re more likely to spend at least $714.40 for your first year of blogging. This number can also increase quite a bit as you add more tools, updated themes or plugins, and even contract-based help to your blogging efforts.
The real variables when it comes to how much it costs to start a blog are the “nice-to-have” costs like tools, upgrades to your blog -Layouts and design, contractors and the like.
If you’re interested in seeing the real-world expenses of a professional blogger (me), check out my monthly income reports.Each month I break down exactly what I spend on my blog business in full transparency.
Since my blog is my main source of income at this point, I even count expenses like health insurance costs, legal fees and all my other business expenses where listing everything needed to keep my blog going each year.
👋 I don’t want you to feel intimidated or discouraged at this point.
I want you to have a good idea of the real cost of starting a blog, but I also want you to understand that you are entering into a business for yourself invest.
Like any startup, you can expect to spend money today… to make money in the near future.
Remember that you personally have the power to use these Manage expenses the way you see them.
So how much does it cost to start a blog? The answer is really up to you… and if you’re keeping your budget as low as possible, $65.40 should be doable for your first year.
If you enjoy some of the blogging tools I use and recommend – but aren’t ready to invest in them yourself, then you don’t have to.
Especially since you’re just getting your blog off the ground. Focus on the basics:
- Write great blog content
- Start driving traffic and experimenting
- Learn from your readers and start monetizing your blog
Add new features, tools and expenses (that are justified) to your blog business as it grows and starts to generate revenue.
No matter how you look at it, however, some initial investment is required to get started – and to be successful with your blog.
If you’re looking for a little extra help, get my free Blog Planner Pack and you’re on your way to growing your new blog soon.
Want to start your blog (the right way)?
Check out my ultimate guide to starting a blog (by the way).
See also: Lets Develop an E-Commerce Application from Scratch Using Java and Spring
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