Sawoni Chowdhury
Hosting a blog can be expensive and that’s why bloggers think of cost before taking a plunge. With WordPress however, it takes very little money to start a blog and achieve the intended purposes. You can download WP software for free and then only pay for domain name and a hosting space. However, the extra costs in running the blog will vary depending from specific requirements. The cost will shoot up if a blogger also goes for customization, optimization etc. In general, you will need a minimal cost of $60 for starting a blog on WordPress with unlimited hosting and a free domain.
Let’s look at different cost heads involved in running a self-hosted WordPress blog –
1. Domain Cost
When you plan to run a blog, the first thing that helps kickstart the journey in real sense is a domain. It’s like buying a web address for your blog or website. Choosing a relevant and domain-specific domain name, the one which is keyword rich, can help a lot in growing the base of your blog. There are many providers of domain name and you can compare and analyse their plans to choose the one that suits the needs. You can choose the domain with .com, .net or .org and hope to get it below $12. Some providers also offer free domain names.
2. Web-Hosting Cost
Once the blog is ready to go online, you will need a hosting server to support its ambition and provide it space on the web. Naturally, investing in web-hosting is will be a major investment when you plan to start a WordPress blog. It’s also important to first check the quality of the hosting service, the performance of the server, uptime data, security features, bandwidths etc. before finalizing the host. You could also go for a shared hosting which is best suited for a new blog, and also fits the needs from economic point of view. In general, web hosting cost could peg you back somewhere between $56-$100.
3. Set-up cost
There will be zero cost in setting up a WordPress blog if you want to adapt the DIY approach. For that, you will find a vast range of resources and tutorials on the web that will help do the job. You can follow the simple guidelines and then ease the process of installing WordPress and setting up the blog.
However, if you’re not comfortable with the technicality involved in setting up the blog, it’s always better to consult a top web development company and make the process smooth. Hiring a team of expert developers is also a good decision to save time and focus on more important tasks at hand.
And if you hire experts for setting up the blog, it could cost at least $99.
4. WordPress Theme Cost
Did you know there are many free WordPress themes which you can use for the blog and enhance its functionality, looks and features to realize the goals easily. These free themes are very helpful if cost is a consideration. Free themes are fine but naturally, they will lack some of premium features that could help your blog a lot over time. If you are adamant at having premium themes, get ready to shell $86 as this will do the task.
5. WordPress Premium Plugins
There are a lot of free plugins for WordPress that would be enough for new bloggers to realize their goals. However, if cost is not an issue, they can go ahead and choose premium plugins costing between $47-$200. They will help boost site’s functionality in a big way.
In overall, you can see how going for free or premium versions or looking for basic or professional set up can decide the total cost of running a self-hosted WordPress site.
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