How Much It Cost to Start a Self Hosted WordPress Blog

We all know that hosting is a costly affair. This question comes in the mind of everyone who want to start Blogging or want to have own self hosted blog. Lets answer this question How much it is going to cost to create a self hosted WordPress blog. We will discuss about the process to set up a WordPress blog.

Cost to Start WordPress Blog : eAskme

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Cost to start a self hosted WordPress blog

WordPress is one of the best popular CMS which comes at minimal cost. WordPress is a free software, you can download it from WordPress.org. But it require domain name, a hosting space, template, for which you pay for. There are other requirements on which  depend upon your decision to spend such as SEO, customization etc.
Minimal cost to start a WordPress blog is $60 for hosting and domain with Bluehost and Dreamhost.

Domain: Cost: $10

Domain is the very first thing that you need to purchase. Domain name is the address of your blog. You should choose keyword rich domain or a branded domain. When you going to buy a domain, try to get .com or .org or .net.  Here is the cost to buy different from different services.

•     eAskme: $9.99
•     Godaddy: $11.98
•     NameCheap: $9.98

Note: Bluehost hosting package provide one free domain.
Here are few guides to refer, which will help you selecting a great domain:
    How to find best domain names
    How to select great domain name for your business
    How to get free .com domain name

Webhosting Cost: 56-100$

Webhosting is a major investment to start self hosted WordPress blog. Never compromise with quality of Hosting. Always get affordable and reliable Webhosting. I recommend shared hosting for new blogs. Below are the best hastings for wordpress on annual basis.
    Bluehost: $69  (One free domain, and unlimited features)
    Hostgator: $56

Set up cost: (Free [DIY] or $99)

You can find many resources or tutorials to setup WordPress Blog available on Internet.

•     How to Install WordPress Theme using WP Dashboard or FTP
•     How to Create WordPress on Bluehost 
•     Essential settings after Installing WordPress 
•     Recommended SEO WordPress plugins 

WordPress Theme cost: (Free to $86)

I can say from my personal experience that it is the toughest task is to get the well optimized theme of your choice. There are many free
WordPress themes,, but I recommend to choose premium WordPress theme. Elegant themes or Theme-junkie are low cost solutions. If you want fully SEO optimized themes then you should use Genesis theme.

WordPress SEO: $0-$1000

If you are starting a professional blog, only then you need to think about this. You can hire 3rd party SEO services to do offpage optimization. Price depend upon your own budget. If you are a new blogger then I recommend you to follow SEO guidelines for WordPress and start blogging.

WordPress Premium plugins: ( $47-$200)

WordPress provide you a great list of free WordPress plugins. But there are premium plugins also available. If you don`t have investment issues then you purchase some premium plugins to boost on page SEO optimization. I personally recommend to use EasywpSEO.
Now lets see minimum cost for a self hosted WordPress blog :

•     With Free Theme:  $70
•     With Premium Theme:  $110
•     Professional setup with Genesis theme: $399
•     Professional setup with premium stuffs: $499-$1499

If you are new to blogging then I recommend you to go with basic setup with a premium WordPress theme. If you do have any question, feel free to ask me. If you like this article, do share on twitter and Google Plus. Don`t forget to subscribe eAskme feed to get updates.