Is the upfront investment of starting a blog actually worth it in the end?
In this guide, we’re going to break down the exact costs you can expect to incur from starting a blog in 2021.
I’m also going to discuss the mindset you should have when starting. I started my first blog in the survival niche. It was focused on bugging out and off-grid living.
I was working full-time as a financial advisor to the wealthy. I worked nights and weekends on my new blog.
Just a few short months later, I quit my job to work on my blog full-time.
It was risky, but I wanted to give this thing everything I had.
Thankfully, I made about $4,000 in that first month I quit and never looked back ever since.
But I still made a lot of mistakes and a lot of bad investments in those first few months of blogging.
So, I’m here to tell you what you SHOULD be investing in so you can hopefully get the maximum rewards from the minimum investment! (Now it’s the financial guy in me talking!)
Before I talk about the actual costs, I want to talk briefly about the mindset that you should have before you begin your blogging journey.
Table of Contents
Treat Your Blog Like a Business
If you want your blog to be more than just a hobby and if you wish your blog to make enough money so you can quit your 9-5 job, it’s important to treat it like a real business.
There is always a risk that you won’t ever make any money, although I’m the type of person who believes that if you really want it and don’t give up, you can’t fail and will ultimately succeed!
Word of warning though… Blogging is a lot of things but it’s definitely not a get-rich-quick scheme.
You can’t expect to start out spending almost zero time and zero money on your websites and make a bunch of money overnight. It won’t happen… I promise.
And that’s a good thing if you ask me!
Why?
Less competition.
Most people are geared towards easiness and jump on the next new shiny objects every week. Hence achieving nothing in the process.
But, not us! We’re different.
We choose to zag when everybody else chooses to zig. We’re ready to pull up our sleeves and put in the work to ultimately get what we want.
We know we’ll face some hurdles along the way and we’re okay with this. Hurdles and difficulties are part of the journey. Difficulties forces us to grow and find out new solutions. That’s how we can grow as marketers.
If starting a blog and earning money with it was easy, everybody and their grandma would be doing it.
Fortunately, that’s not the case.
So I got to warn you about this. Yes… You WILL have to spend some money if you hope to make any money blogging, and it also requires a lot of time, focus, and dedication.
But you CAN make some serious income with a simple blog and without spending your life savings on it.
And NO, you CAN’T have the mindset of “I”ll spend money when I make money.”
That’s for the ‘scarcity mindset’ crowds. It’s not us!
We are the ‘abundance mindset’ crowds! Everything’s possible!
Don’t waste your time. Start the right way from the beginning and you’ll reach your goals much faster.
It’s important to begin your blogging journey with these things in mind so that you have the proper expectations of what it will take and what you will need to invest in your new business.
It will help you set the right expectations and intention for your new blog.
The Cons Of Free Blogging Software
We all know the “pros” of free blog software… it’s free, right?
But, what about the cons?
If you start on the cheap, you can expect to get cheap results.
It will be tempting to start with free hosting, free themes, and try to send emails to your subscribers for free, but you’re going to come up short in a lot of areas.
Free Blog Hosting
Many beginners wonder about free hosting.
Why would I pay for hosting when I can start out on a free platform like free WordPress?
Here are some free blogging sites’ limitations:
- Say goodbye to ads revenue (no ads allowed)
- Blog design (say goodbye to customizable, paid themes)
- What plugins you have access to
- Overall control of your site
- Bandwidth (how many visitors your site can hold)
- And more.
Free Blog Themes
Next, you’ll be tempted to try to use a free theme on your blog.
Free themes are also incredibly limited.
You might think you’re saving some money, but what about your the cost of your time?
If you spend 5 days trying out different free themes looking for one that allows you to design your blog the way you really want when you could have spent a couple of hours designing it with a very customizable (paid) theme.
You could have spent the rest of that 5 days thoughtful articles and getting ready to launch your blog.
Free Email Marketing Software
You’ll need to start building an email list right away if you want to propel your blog to success as quickly as possible.
Email is how you will deepen the relationship you’ve started with your audience.
Email is also how you’ll make most of your money blogging.
So when it comes to making money with an email marketing service, you don’t want to be too cheap about it. Free email services are very limited, especially with how you can monetize, and they are only free up to a certain amount of subscribers anyway.
So, you can start out with a free email marketing service, but when you’re ready to make money, you’ll have to switch to a paid service anyway.
How Much Does Blogging Cost
The following costs can be expected when you begin your blogging journey.
You’ll incur most of them in the first month or so.
Blog Hosting
Blog hosting is going to be your very first investment in starting your blog.
Your hosting provider is the company that basically takes your blog “online” so that it is visible to the rest of the world.
Bluehost is my #1 hosting platform recommendation.
Why?
Simply because Bluehost not only offer you web hosting but they also give you:
- A free domain
- Free SSL
- 1-click WordPress install,
- FTP
- 24/7 support
Their plans start at $7.99 $3.95/month (51% off), and they have a 30-day money-back guarantee.
You can sign up for a 12 to 36-month plan, but the catch is that it must be paid upfront.
BUT other hosting companies that allow you to pay on a monthly plan generally charge $12+/month. That’s about 4x the cost and so they are WAY more expensive over time.
And remember that this is the first investment you are making into your blog. It represents the commitment you’re making to your new business.
Estimated Blog Hosting Costs: $110
Blog Theme
Blog themes are what allow you to customize the design of your blog, including changing fonts, colors, and the overall structure of the content on your blog.
A great and easily customizable blog theme will save you days of headaches of wasted hours, which ultimately ends up saving you money. This is why selecting the best blog theme you can is crucial to your blogging success.
My #1 recommended blog theme is Genesis+Authority Pro Theme.
It’s the most customizable and fast theme on the market and also what I recommend (That’s what I’m using for this blog!)
Genesis+Authority Theme does come in at a slightly higher price tag of $129,95.
Estimated Blog Theme Costs: $60-150
Email Marketing Software
Like I said earlier, no email marketing software is free in the long run.
For example, MailChimp is only free until your first 1,000 subscribers.
My #1 recommendation for email marketing software is GetResponse (What I use). And that link will also get you your first month FREE!
I’ve tried many others out there, including ActiveCampaign, and MailChimp.
I’ve now been with GetResponse for over a year, and I’m glad I did the switch.
GetResponse was designed specifically for bloggers and the simplicity of the platform saves you tons of time and helps you focus on what’s most important: content creation.
Estimated Email Marketing Costs: $15/month (first month free)
Social Media Tools
Regardless of which social media platform you are driving traffic on, you will likely need to purchase software to help you schedule posts and drive traffic to your blog.
My recommendations include:
- Hypefury is awesome to schedule your tweets, maximize your presence and increase your revenue (what I use)
- Tailwind to help you schedule posts with Pinterest and use analytics and collaboration tools to increase your traffic
Estimated Social Media Related Costs: $10-30/month
Investment in Courses
Now, of course, this one is totally optional but I highly recommend it, and not just because I sell my own courses. You don’t have to buy mine.
Buy someone else’s if you find a better one. But this can make a HUGE impact on your new business.
You could probably find tons of free info on youtube, on other blogs, and on social media. But oftentimes, the info is outdated and very fragmented.
A good blogging course will give you a blueprint filled with actionable steps that’ll tell you exactly what you need to focus on. Now, compare that to sifting through articles on Google and youtube…
Blogging courses are generally priced anywhere from $47 – $1,000 or more. The more in-depth you get into the world of blogging, the more expensive they will be.
I currently have one blogging course. It’s called How To Build A 6-Figure Affiliate Website.
This course takes you through the entire process of building a blogging business:
- Setting up and designing your blog with WordPress and a theme
- Creating content for your blog and structuring your posts correctly
- Starting your email list and writing emails to your audience
- Getting visitors to your blog
- Monetizing through affiliate marketing, creating your own products, and more
- Our favorite plugins and blogging tools
- And so much more!
And if you aren’t sure yet, here’s my free blogging course for beginners.
Estimated Investment in Blogging Courses Costs: $47-1,000+
Total Estimated Cost to Start a Blog:
- First Month: $199
- 2-3 Months: $41
- Optional Blogging Courses: $300+
How Much Time Do You Need To Invest In Your Blog
If you currently have a soul-sucking 9-5 job, you may not think your time is worth a lot.
But when you’re a blogger, you do.
When your blog begins to gain traction and it starts making you some extra money, you’ll find that you’ll start bouncing out of bed in the morning because you’re so fired up and excited to get to “work”!
I’ve always been a morning person, but I was NEVER super pumped about commuting 1h to my job as a financial advisor every day.
But now, I purposely wake up around 6 am most mornings because I LOVE getting up to work on my blogs (aka my businesses)!
Summary of Costs to Start a Blog
Expected Costs in the First 1-3 Months of Blogging
- Blog Hosting: $110 (averages to $3.95/month with my Bluehost discount)
- Blog Theme: $60-150 (#1 recommendation: Genesis+Authority Theme)
- Email Marketing: $15/month (first month free)
- Social Media Tools: $10-30/month (Hypefury + Tailwind)
- Investment in Blogging Courses: $47+ (6-Figure Affiliate Websites is my blogging course)
Total Expected Costs in the First 1-3 Months of Blogging: $200 upfront + $25/month after that + optional blogging courses.
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