There are many people blogging today and good blog platforms to get a start without buying anything. You just register and start posting. Some of most famous blogging platforms to start it free you can go if you really do not know about blog, hosting and basic of coding. A free blog will give you an idea for the next step.
Blogging platform
Sites which allow people to write, give a place for your files but you do not own it. So you have to care about terms, like in the beginning of 2015 Google terms had changed spam contents was deleted even the blog and you can not claim for your files and posts.
This is not a bad idea to have a free blog but needs to keep updates regularly for new announcements, changes of privacy policy/terms will be emailed and visible on the blog dashboard.
Free and paid
Free blog providers give you space and you get the chance to get close with people. With a profile and ID, you can redirect people to your profile page where visitors can see you, your bio and your story (activity). This page has more visit if you have created an account with any of blogging platform. This is a good idea to promote any blog/site.
They offer free with subdomain and also paid web hosting you can register the domain name or attach if have already one. Providers are typepad.com, blog.com, weebly.com, wordpress.com(free) and wordpress.com(self-hosted). WordPress is the most popular blogging platform.
Cost to start blog
Leaving everything now about free platforms, we have a question How much does it cost to start a blog?
The cost to start blog means you will own domain name and going to buy hosting in the first step. There no difficulty to buy a domain name but choose the correct one and hosting plans need to be compared as per your need. A domain name near about $10-$15 ($8 in some cases) and a hosting pack starts from $2.95/month (with limitation) is not only things to focus on there are more items you will need to run after this purchase.
Items need after paying for domain name and hosting
To present your contents to people you have to manage your posts to present in the way people like to read, most people leave the site after scrolling the page. I mean you have to show contents very clearly so people can read easily, you will need a great design. The design will keep ad and your post in the box which does not mess also text size and font family play a big role in it.
More items require if you do business or want to keep in touch. Example mailing list, analytic, backup plugins so there are basic things you need to run your blog smoothly. You can get these with a trial account or company can allow you to get free with limited features.
Blog(WordPress) theme which is SEO friendly can be purchased for a minimum $29, about $50-60 with support and there are more costly theme available. Mailing list other items would cost you near about $20-$25 per month for 1000-2000 subscribers. Below I am going to show you a little more accurate price without much plugins/items included.
Just do it simply- how much does it cost to start the blog?
I do not want to blow your mind, you can start blogging with the domain name and any hosting plan only, the basic traffic and tracking tools are provided free. Some more tools are included with hosting packs today by hosting companies. Later you can add more tools if you feel like social sharing buttons and auto-publish to social sites.
Calculate it
I have posted few of web hosting companies you can choose one from them with domain name for a year. Companies have plans and prices vary according to plans, features, term length and offers (today there are offers for new sign up).
Let’s do it roughly
Now for a quick start, you need a domain name and hosting pack.
Domain name: $10-$15/year
Hosting pack: $4-$8/month (vary from company and plans) so about $94 a year
- Look for
GoDaddy
- hosting, cost you $2.24/month for starter plan and $2.99 for new account and $14.99 from second year. So, first year with new
GoDaddy
- account will cost to start blog $2.24/m + $2.99(1 year) = $29.87 for a year.
DreamHost
- now offers hosting plan with one free .com, .net, .org or .info domain name at $8.95/m so $107.4 for a year.
HostGator
- hosting plan starts from $4.86/month and domain name $5.95 a year but $25.95 for two years. Total is $4.86/m + $5.95(1 year) = $64.27 for a year.
As you can see above is just roughly calculation of one year cost to stat blog. There are no big difference between companies hosting services but additional features effect on it.
GoDaddy: $29.87
DreamHost: $107.4
HostGator: $64.27
Your requirements matter
For cost effectiveness, you must compare them to yourself. Look for storing data, the number of email accounts, subdomain allowed (if you need) and the number of the website are the basic features to compare regarding price if you want it at the low price. There are even more to look like money back guarantee, scripts, app installer and network uptime.
So, here GoDaddy has a low price in our comparison. If you are going to post every day with details and images you will need more than 1GB of data storage which will cost you more. My 50 posts including images consumed 700+MB where I am not posting every day. You also have to look if the company has other plans which give you to store more data and it is not too much otherwise you have to pay extra money.
You must compare plans from all companies for low budget or high and requirement. Domain price mentioned above for .COM name if you go for country based .UK, .US or new names like .WEBSITE, .CLUB and so can be low or cost you more.
So how much- cost to star blog
You can start blogging with near about $33 for a year (domain name + hosting account). There are many sites you can get free and premium themes for WordPress, which is easy to install and plugins are also free I am sure you would like social sharing buttons and SEO guide while writing the post. JetPack plugin contains most of basic need for a blogger. WordPress themes start from $29 find more themes and plugins by category and enjoy freebies every month.