How Much Does Blogging Costs?

This is a rare question that everyone seems to forget about. Even the person who teaches you how to blog doesn't talk about how much does blogging cost you. Or maybe it is a taboo question for any internet guru to explain to their disciples. But as everybody's concern, it is important to tell a newbie how much does blogging cost. This was one of my personal question when I was going to start a blog.

I bet that every newbie has this question in mind. They don't know what to pay, how much to pay and what are the alternatives.

There are a few free alternatives to paid ones. But, it is not as good as the paid versions. For example, there are a few free email autoresponders out there but some people complain that they never deliver! This is a big loss. A non-responding autoresponders costs you the customers.

These things below are the things that a blogger should have when they want to start blogging. It is including free versions.

Hosting
Web host is where you put your website (I try to make simple explanations). It acts like a platform to everything you have on your site. Imagine it as your office table. All your stationery are on top of it. That is how it works.

The best choice for hosting is the paid version because bloggers can take control of all the contents inside their website. Even better, it looks professional.

Paid version:
HostGator.com
I took their Baby Plan as example here because in my opinion, it is the best plan for an individual. Monthly cost is about $22.95 WITHOUT the domain name. I'm assuming that you want to register your domain name with another hosting company because it is quite expensive with HostGator. It is about $12.95 per year.

For a cheaper choice, you can register your domain name at NameCheap.com where it cost $10.69 per year.

The $22.95 value is including web hosting ($7.96 after 20% discount) and a website addon called Sitelock ($14.99 per year). This means the first payment that you have to make is $22.95 and the next month you only have to pay $7.96 for 12 months.

The cheapest rate at HostGator is the 36 months plan valued at $6.36 monthly. But you have to pay the lump sum at $228.96 for 36 months not including Sitelock.

BlueHost.com
With BlueHost, there are no alternatives with domain name registration. It is included in their package which is free for primary domain name. This means only ONE domain name is free.

There are NO monthly payment. BlueHost only take 12-36 months lump sum payment. For the 12 months package, you have to pay about $133.37 including Sitelock ($19.99), Site Backup Pro ($19.99) and Domain Whois Privacy ($9.99).

Free version:
Blogger.com
WordPress.com

Email Autoresponders
When you are trying to find quality traffic, it is good to have email autoresponders. It will automatically reply for any incoming emails from your website. This is a very helpful tool because emails are replied instantly without your presence.

Email autoresponders are used by internet marketers to build their email list. To make sales from your website, email list is the first thing that you might want to contact.

Paid version:
Aweber.com
I use Aweber as an example here because most people use it and it provides good services to their customers. In my own opinion, it is the best email autoresponders ever!

For the first month, they charge $1 for the trial version. And the coming month will be charge at $19.99. For some people they think this is expensive and not worth it to have an email autoresponders.

That is really a bad kind of thinking because your customers are inside your email list and you want to neglect the list? If you haven't heard before, there are saying "The Money is in The List".

Traffic Generators
When you own a website, you surely want to have as many traffic as it can for a day. There are a few ways on how you can do that whether it is paid or free traffic.

To generate traffic, you still can choose to go for free or paid. Both works great if applied the right way. Some people don't like to pay for traffic but it is your choice.

Before you choose, consider on how much time you have or how much is your budget. Paid traffic is the best because you will get fast quality traffic to your site. But don't ignore free traffic because there are also quality in them.

Paid version:
Safe-Swaps.com
Here is where you can buy traffic or exchange them with other people. The price varies and not fixed. Negotiate with other members for best price and from who to get quality traffic.

Pay-Per Click Advertising
PPC is a common way to get traffic. The price are also varies according to the keyword used. But I think this is the best way to get quality traffic even if you have to pay for it.

We saw ads everyday and we do not click on it unnecessarily. We only click on it when we are interested.
That means you don't force people to go to your site, only interested people will. So, its a win-win situation for a paid service.

You can use PPC service from Google Adsense, Nuffnang, Yahoo Publishers, Facebook and many more. There are a lot of varieties to choose from.

Image: Source

Free version:
Join online forums
Emails
Yahoo Answers
Social networking sites (e.g Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr etc.)
Youtube

Conclusion
Blogging cost is about $50 per month but it depends on how are we going to pay for it. You can choose the lump sum value or the cheaper value that is can be paid monthly.

This looks cheap for some people and very expensive to the others. It depends on your budget. The free versions are also great but for hosting, it is advisable to get the paid version.

The main thing is the web hosts. These should be paid! The others depends. Pay for what you really need first then you can go for the others. Don't pay for something you don't need or rarely use.

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