How Much Does it Cost to Start a WordPress Blog in 2015?

 

Have you ever wondered how to create your own site? If you think that it is too tough to create a website then you are wrong; and if you think that it would cost you thousands of dollars, then you are wrong again! In fact, you can start a WordPress blog right now with very little money. All you need to do is get a domain name and a hosting account and you can start your very own website right now.
To start a WordPress blog,
you need to buy a domain name, get a suitable hosting account and find some great looking themes – there are free themes available as well – and you are all set to set up your very first blog on the Internet, your online identity. So without wasting more time, we will just get in to the post and see the exact cost that you will need to bear in order to start a WordPress blog in 2015.

What’s the Cost to Start a WordPress Blog?

WordPress is one such blogging platform that allows you to start your site with minimal cost. The basic costs you need to bear will be for the domain name and hosting space. If you want to get some other customization done like SEO or a unique theme then that would cost more but that’s not important. You can do that whenever you want!

Domain Name – $10-$15

The cost of the domain name will depend on the site from where you are buying it. The cost starts from $10 on almost all the sites and varies according to the type of domain name that you want – .com will cost around $10 while a .org will cost less and so on.
When you are choosing a domain name, you should choose a brandable domain name and also one that contains at least your keyword in it. It would be awesome if your domain tells the topic of your blog.
While choosing a domain name extension, you should follow this order – choose a .com, if that’s not available then choose a .net or .org, but I won’t recommend you to choose any other extension unless you are a team or a startup company.
You can buy domain names from the following sites:
The best ones: 
GoDaddy – $12
NameCheap – $11 (+ Free Whois Privacy)
Other recommended sites:

• Name.com
• Namesilo.com
• Domain.com
• Register.com
• NetworkSolutions.com

Web Hosting – $60-$100

There are many hosting providers from where you can buy a hosting account to upload your site on. Almost all of them now offers unlimited hosting space so that you can add as many sites as you want.
However, you need to be careful when choosing a web hosting provider because you might not get proper service afterwards. You need to check their customer service before buying because if you face any trouble then they should be there to help you out.
The best ones out there, if you are just starting, are HostGator and Bluehost – both of them offer unlimited hosting space. I have personally used them and never faced any issues with my sites.
The best ones:

HostGator – $62/year (Get 25% Off using Coupon Code – BLGEEK25OFF)
Bluehost – $60/year (Get One Free Domain Name)

WordPress Set Up Cost – Free

Setting up WordPress blog is not at all tough and you can do so yourself. It would not only save you a lot of money but also you will learn how to setup a blog and you won’t need any help in the future.
However if you want someone to do it for you, then the set up cost would be around $100 or more depending on various factors. But why waste money when you can simply install the site yourself. Just do a simple Google Search – “how to install WordPress using CPanel” and you will get thousands of tutorials.
Note: If you want my help, then contact me and I can do the set up for you.

WordPress Themes and Plugins: (Cost Varies)

If you are just starting your website then you won’t need to buy a premium theme for your site. You can check the free themes in the WordPress directory and find out the best suitable theme for your blog.
There are many other sites as well that offer you free WordPress themes and with a simple Google Search, you will be able to get it. So there’s no point of spending money on themes. But if you are willing to buy themes then the price for a premium theme would start from $29 and upwards.
There are also many premium plugins available for your WordPress site, but there is no need to buy them as soon as you start a WordPress blog. I personally don’t use a single premium plugin on most of my sites.
Here are some most essential plugins that you need to install on your site and are all free:

• WordPress SEO by Yoast
• Google XMP Sitemaps
• jQuery Image Lazy Load Plugin
• WP-Smush.It
• WP-Optimize
• W3 Total Cache
• Akismet
• Digg Digg
• Jetpack

You can download these plugins and others by going to the WordPress directory.

Actual Cost to Start a WordPress Blog:

Now that you know almost all the basic costs that you will have to bear in order to create your website, you can create a site right now.
The costs that I mentioned above are just basic costs and when you need to get professional service then the cost may go a lot higher then the ones above. I have mentioned some figures below depending on the type of WordPress set up your want.

• Basic WordPress Setup Cost: $70
• Basic WordPress Setup with Premium theme: $100-$150
• Professional WordPress Setup: Around $399
• Professional WordPress Setup with Premium Items: Around $499-$999 or even more.

So if you are just starting out as a blogger and creating your very first website, I would suggest you to go with the basic setup as it will cost you less. You can then buy the premium stuff as you start making money online but before that I can’t think of any point of buying premium stuff.
So there you have it, the complete cost to start a WordPress blog in 2015 so go now and create your very own website and share your views with it!