How Much Does It Cost to Start Blog on WordPress

If you are a beginner and are thinking about starting a WordPress blog, this question will definitely be on your mind – how much does it really cost to start a WordPress blog and what are the essential things for it.

The price of each website is different. It depends on a lot of factors. In this article, I’ll tell you how much does it really cost to build a WordPress website blog.

So, let’s get started…

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Self-Hosted WordPress Blog

You can start a fully functional WordPress blog for less than $100.

WordPress is open source software that is absolutely free and anyone can use it to create a self-hosted WordPress blog or website.

but it’s not like that… If you want to make your WordPress website live, then you will need some additional stuff.

Here I have divided WordPress website cost into the following categories,

• Type of website
• Domain  Name (Important)
• Web Hosting (Important)
• WordPress Setup Cost (No Need)
• WordPress Theme/Design (According to need)
• WordPress Plugin (According to need)

Now let us discuss all these points in the details…

Type of Website

Not all websites are the same. The price depends on your needs. A simple blog is easier to set up than an online shop or a small business website.

The cost of starting a WordPress website can range from $100 to $500 to $3000, even up to $30,000 or more.

So first of all, you have to know what kind of website you want to create, and what you need for it. Because it will directly affect your cost.

Domain Cost ($10 to $30 per year)

Domain name is very important for any website. This is the name of your site on the Internet like justbrightme.com.

There are many hosted solutions that give free subdomain like https://yoursite.WordPress.com. This is fine for development purpose or hobby blog. But for professional purposes, you will need a custom domain name.

You can purchase domain names from different places, but GoDaddy and Namecheap are very affordable and popular. A domain name costs from $ 10 to $ 30 every year. Some hosting companies and services offer a free domain when you sign up. 

If you buy domain privacy protection, then for this you will have to spend money separately.

Web Hosting Cost ($3.95/mo to $13.95/mo)

Web hosting is the second most important thing for WordPress self-hosted site. You need web hosting to store your files.

And you have to pay a monthly fee to use space on hosting server. You can pay an annual fee instead of a monthly fee.

If you want to start a new blog, then I recommend you to start with shared web hosting. This is good for beginners and your blog will go live on the Internet at a low cost.

Note: for any online business good web hosting is very important. If you choose the wrong hosting, your blog will be mostly in downtime and will load very slowly. It badly affects user experience and website ranking.

I suggest Bluehost and it is officially recommended by WordPress.

Bluehost offers a free domain unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, 24/7 support. Furthermore, If you purchase web hosting from Bluehost and cancel it within 30 days, you will receive a full refund. For more information, you can read this Bluehost refund policy.

However, there are many web hosting companies in the market that promise to be the best but after buying the hosting from them, you feel that they have cheated. Here we have listed some of the best cheap web hosting services that you can use.

WordPress Set Up Cost (Free or $99)

It completely depends on you. If you are thinking to create a blog, then I will recommend you to set up yourself. This will also increase your knowledge and courage.

Furthermore, if you do not have the time, then you can hire a web developer. Its maximum cost can be up to $99.

If you want to start a blog at a cheaper price, do all the setup yourself.

WordPress Theme Cost ($0 to $250)

Site design makes a first impression on the reader. Therefore, a good design of the website is also very important. But this does not mean that you fill your site with colours.

There are massive themes available in the market for WordPress. In addition, WordPress has its own theme library. You can browse to find what you are looking for.

You can make changes to this theme later with theme customizer and plugins. Here I have listed theme some of the best free and premium WordPress theme that you can check.

Choose a theme for your site that looks clean, simple and good. Also, your theme should be responsive and fast loading.

You can use a free theme on your site from WordPress.org. Free WordPress Theme provides limited support and feature. While Premium themes come with unlimited support and features.

For Premium themes, you can use Mythemshop, Themeforest, StudioPress. You can get a good premium theme under 5,000rs.

I recommend you for Genesis Framework (under 5,000rs) which gives lifetime updates and supports with a one-time fee. Apart from this, you can use it on unlimited site.

WordPress Plugins ($47 to $200)

Plugins work as extensions to your site. If you want to add more features on your site, you can use plugins. Some plugins are free and some are paid.

Here is a list of plugins that you should specifically consider installing on your website.

• Yoast SEO: Most popular and best SEO plugin in the WordPress repository. It is available in both free and paid versions. The plugin provides solid toolsets and helps to optimize your site well for Search engines and human. (Yoast SEO Settings)
• Akismet Anti-Spam: Checks spam comments and contact form submissions on your blog and prevents from publishing.
• Jetpack: Offers three support Design, Marketing, and Security. It is available in both free and paid versions. Also, shows your site stats.
• W3 Total Cache: It is a cache plugin and takes your website loading speed to the next level. But proper settings are very important. Here is a guide on W3 Total Cache settings. Alternatively, you can use WP Super Cache or WP Fastest Cache.
• WP-Optimize: Cleans your database, compresses your images and caches your site.
• WP Smush: Resize, optimize and compress all of your images. Alternatively, you can use reSmush.it Image Optimizer, EWWW Image Optimizer, Compress JPEG & PNG images, ShortPixel Image Optimizer
• Redirection: You can easily manage 301 redirections, keep track of 404 errors. This can help reduce errors and improve your site ranking and user experience.
• Wordfence Security: It adds a security layer (firewall and malware scanner) and protects your WordPress site from bad guys.
• UpdraftPlus: Backup your website files and database into the cloud storage.
• Social Warfare: Add share buttons to your site (homepage, archive page and post) without affecting the loading speed.
• Contact Form 7 – Add contact form to your WordPress site.
• Autoptimize: Speed booster plugin. It makes your site super fast and lightweight.

If you create such a WordPress bog, the cost will be $50 – $60. And for this, you will not need to hire a WordPress developer. You can start a professional website from yourself.

Final Thought

Here I told you how much does it really cost to start a WordPress blog.

And the answer is around $100.

I recommend you start with a small amount. In many cases, you do not require premium features on your blog, but you increase the cost of your WordPress blog by installing them.

You can start your blog with a free theme and free plugins. And your blog cost will also less. Once you start receiving visitors, you can spend money on premium features like themes, email marketing, backup plugins, security and more.

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