Whenever I read posts about starting a blog in 2021, I am always met with all of the roles and responsibilities that come with running a website. Very rarely do I see people discussing how much it actually costs to run a blog. Money talks can be uncomfortable for some, so if you aren’t interested or don’t want to hear about money, I’d suggest clicking off this post. Because I am about to give you a real insight into really how much it costs to run a blog. And believe me, it isn’t cheap!
When I first started my blogging journey I did a free plan. Had a WordPress domain and didn’t even think that this website would cost me any of my own money. Honestly, I wish I knew the real cost of running a website. It might have put me off even starting if only I knew.
Now of course, this is just how much it cost me. Every blogger will have different answers to this, because we all do things differently. I think it’s important to share these kinds of things with the new bloggers in our community. It can really help to set expectations. And remember that starting a blog in 2021 is different for everyone.
HOW MUCH MY BLOG COSTS ME EVERY MONTH
So let’s start by breaking it down. How much does my blog cost me each month?
THE BLOG ITSELF
When I first started blogging I just had a free plan, which is great for new bloggers. It can take a while to learn the ropes and figure out what you want to do with your site. So honestly, a free plan is the best idea in my opinion. Once I realised I wanted to take my blog to the next level, I decided to purchase the Business plan that WordPress offers. This plan meant that I could start having ads on my site, installing plug-ins and also install custom themes. Which overall sounds like such a great idea doesn’t it?!
Well, if you are a WordPress user then you know their plans don’t come cheap. My annual cost for my Business plan is £240. Which when you divide that by 12 months, it works out at £20 a month. Unfortunately though, WordPress doesn’t offer a monthly payment plan. Its annual only. So right off the bat, it costs me £20 a month for my plan but £240 upfront.
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THE DESIGN OF THE BLOG
Thankfully I was able to create my own blog logo, so that didn’t cost me a dime. But the software I use to create my infographics and my logos comes at a cost. Alot of you are familiar with Canva and thats the software I use. I pay £10 a month for the premium plan which gives me access to extra tools on the platform.
Another expense is the theme I use. I found the theme I have currently on Etsy and it cost £34. I installed it myself so that didn’t cost me anything.
Rounded up, thats £10 a month for Canva, and about £3 a month for the theme.
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ADDED EXTRAS
If you’re wanting to get as much traffic to your site as possible, one thing I would suggest investing in is email marketing. Which again, comes at a price depending on what platform you choose to use. I use a website called Flodesk and honestly its amazing. It has so many amazing templates to use! It makes your email marketing look so professional without all of the work.
Thankfully, when I signed up I did it through someones affiliate link. Which meant I got a 30 day free trial and pay 50% less each month. It costs me £16 a month for this service.
If you’re interested in signing up, click my link here and get 50% off like I did!
If you’re a blogger then you will need to consider adding a privacy policy and a disclaimer on your blog. It’s actually a legal requirement for you to do it. I use a company called Iubenda. I pay them £10 a month for my policies.
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SO, HOW MUCH DOES IT COST ME EACH MONTH?
Rounding up all of the figures. Monthly my blog costs me: £59 and yearly I pay £708.
When you divide my annual cost into monthly, it’s actually not too much money. I guess it feels like alot sometimes because of paying the annual fee for my business plan.
Did you realise the price of starting a blog in 2021? Were my figures more or less than you thought?
Of course this is just monetary value. This doesn’t include my time and the resources I use to create my content. Which if I put a price on that, it would add up to alot more! This is why you should always support bloggers when they do sponsored posts. They are trying to keep their blogs running for you.
Olivia x
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This blog post contains affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through my link, I will get paid a percentage. This is at no extra cost to you.
Wow, the WordPress.com plans are expensive! I didn’t expect it to be that much. Have you ever considered going self-hosted with WordPress.org? I pay around £10 a month for my hosting and £15 a year for my domain. x
I actually recently nearly did. But honestly, I don’t mind being with WordPress.com. I was also advised that transferring over to self hosted I would lose all of the likes on my posts and on my profile. And I worked so hard to get some of the likes I got. So decided to stay with them for another year. I might change my mind next year! We will see 🙂 x
Actually I needed this post. Reading…
continuing…
I have been blogging since December 2020. Why did I start blogging?
1. To continue my hobby of writing.
2. To make some good friends & do productive work.
3. To build a website. (It inspires me.)
4. To cover my higher education expenditure. (I calculated it. Not that much.)
3. To gain skills, meet talented people and encourage people to achieve their dreams.
What does it mean to me to have a blog?
A Day In My Life
1. Every morning numerous ideas pop up in my mind.
2. I note some of the ideas which have the potential.
3. I plan a specific idea about does it have an existence in real life? How I can make it happen?
4. I note down every detail, use code words, draw images and save the ideas.
Why Do I Need A Blog?
Now a potential idea is running in my mind. MY BLOG IS A PLACE WHERE I CREATE, DESIGN, BUILD OR TRASH AN IDEA. And I enjoy this process a lot.
Can We Create Something Great? Or just be more productive.
It makes great sense when people read, enjoy, correlate and inspire an idea. Now, I have people who read, comment and suggest. In response, I take care of their needs.
Having A Domain/Website Adds Purpose In My Life
It can be the start of something great;
— to discuss daily life
— to learn and educate
— to entertain
— to create, design & develop ideas
— to build a community
— to support my youtube channel
There are enough ideas and I have to pick up the right one. Or just start with one.
I’m open to listening to what people have to share with me. Advice, suggestions or whatever. I just need a little reader support to push myself.🙂
I went self-hosted with Bluehost right from day one and it cost me around $150 CDN for 3 years. My biggest annual expense is Canva Pro, but I love it and it saves me a lot of time. Other than that, I’ve only paid for a few small plugins like the ShortPixel image optimizer.
I did bluehost too!!!
Oof I definitely spent more than you did 🙊 (Im at $1,000 USD right now)
It is so interesting because the one thing I never saw was the cost! I went self hosted with bluehost but yeah, no-one discusses the cost, so great post 😀.
I still manage to get by with the free version of Canva and Convertkit. The only thing I needed Canva Pro for was the background remover which I found a site that does it for free. I only pay for my hosting and domain through WordPress.org, which charged me a one-time payment of CAD$325 for 3 years. That was a promotional price though. I think it’ll double next time I need to pay.
Adobe Spark removes image background in one click. However, Canva is a popular and trusted tool.
Yes, I’ve found the cost of blogging tends to be a bit more than expected!
So true that in many blog post talking about starting a blog they don’t really mention the cost. I went self hosted from the beginning and I have been paying monthly fees for my website.
Such a great thing that u did that!
This post is helpful, I’m new to the blogging world and am just starting a blog with the goal to share my recent medical story as well as lifestyle and parenting posts. It’s hard to figure out how to navigate the new site and experiences and even harder to figure out if/how you can make money over time. It was great info, I’ll definitely keep following and digging deeper into the sight. I’d love to connect!
If you put the hard work in, you will find that you can make money from this 🙂
This is useful information. At the moment, I don’t spend much on my blog but I’m hoping to expand my site to start promoting a small business I’m hoping to get off the ground.
FYI I nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award! It’s a fun way to spotlight bloggers for others to find. Here is the post- https://happilydecluttered.com/2021/09/15/mystery-blogger-award/
Thank you so so much for the nomination 🤎
Thanks for breaking this down, I think before you start a blog you have little idea on how much things cost so its good to be aware of these things and the upkeep of them as you go through the years
I literally had no idea how much anything would cost. It didn’t even enter my mind that I would have to pay for things!
I was exactly the same!
I love the transparency of this post. Currently I have a premium WordPress plan so my blog costs significantly less, plus I use the free Canva app. However, that also explains why I make significantly less than I’m sure you earn. I only have WordAds on my blog currently and I guess that suits my current needs since blogging for me is mainly a hobby, but it’s helpful to know what to expect should I ever turn to blogging more seriously in the future.
Thanks for sharing!
I was at that point when I first started blogging last year. I think you’ll know when its time to upgrade those things. Its something that will come naturally!
❤
Wow! As a new blogger it sounds really expensive to me. I have been using the free website option on wordpress then upgraded so this is my only cost so far but i imagine my costs to significantly go up by year 3 of blogging but this this is so helpful!
I think at the point where you start spending money on your blog, you will also start making money too. So although it might be a large amount at first, you make it back throughout the year. I know it sounds scary but it isn’t 🤗
Hi. I started blogging on blogger platform recently, and it only cost me the price for purchasing domain. I have used blogger in the past as well, but somehow couldn’t continue for long.
This time around, I am more focused and working on some good content on affiliate marketing niche. And, yes, I agree to the fact that we need to invest money into blogging in order to make money out of it. So everything is set for me now, finger crossed.