1. Introduction :
Becoming an authentic Blogger in the current high AI generation is scary. And finding your way into it with your ideal budget considering the domains is scarier,
But What if we told you that it is way easier to figure them out than you think? In this blog let’s analyze the cheapest and the expensive (but worthy) options to start a blog in 2024.
2. Why do people start a blog in 2024 ?
blogs are written by individual and companies to create or promote their brand (personal or official) in the digital space through which they can find their right audience with whom they can run a service or a business in their respective fields,
bloggers make sure that they,
- Answer the most asked questions in their niches
- Create an authority in their domain
- Address their opinions on current events as a way of speech
- Communicate with their potential audience etc.
Bloggers are just in every field to make sure that they prove their presence in the tech space, and not to mention that blogging is one of the oldest digital cultures to be started during 1994.
3. How much does it cost to start a blog in 2024 ? :
It truly depends on how much you would like to spend and how fast and effective you want to reach your target audience. Blogging can be even started with no costs involved and can expand till hundreds of dollars.
People usually start from scratch with no cost through free hosting websites and it’s always the useful and the safest way to start to blog if you are new to blogging.
So here is a list of websites to start off your blogging career ranging from free options to paid ones.
4. Free Hosting websites for beginners :
4.1 Blogger ( Free ) :
Google’s Free blogging app is one of the well known free options which allows you to kick start your blogging career, if you are someone who has no idea about blogging and wishes to start somewhere.try using it.
They provide beginner – friendly templates to use from their library, but here’s your catch: they don’t provide as much control over your design and it comes with a subdomain if you are willing to publish your blog page (e.g., yourblog.blogspot.com).
4.2 Medium ( Free and Paid ) :
A slightly different version from blogger but an effective blogging option if you want to showcase your talent to the public.
Medium is more of a social blogging platform which allows you to post your blogs for other readers and read theirs as well.
It’s more of an instagram for bloggers but more minimalist and cost effective. Talking about the downside, the medium has the same design restrictions as Google’s blogger and does not provide a website hosting option.
4.3 WordPress ( Free and Paid ) :
If you are someone who doesn’t care about having less control on your design but wants to reach a wider audience with the basic pricing to buy a domain, then wordpress is your go to platform. It offers access to their wide range of themes and plugins to choose from.
However it has some restrictions too, you cannot use a custom domain with the free plan and it doesn’t allow you to install all the plugins in the self hosted wordpress.
4.4 Wix (free and Paid ) :
Wix.com is a popular freemium website building platform which allows beginners to create and host their own websites.
Compared to the previous two websites, wix is a creative space which allows you to gather inspiration from other users and helps you with more advanced designing options.
It mainly focuses on hosting an E – commerce website, email marketing, apps and Blogging pages. So if you are someone who is good at designing too. Consider using wix, and you can later buy your own custom domain with their different pricing plans.
4.5 Canva website builder :
Canva has now launched its creative website builder option for beginners, you can now create your own free website with canva, where the features are the same as their graphic design platform. Comparatively better than blogger.com,
You can either customize from their template library or can DIY one from scratch. However, it is not as professional for other websites, and comes with the subdomain too if you want to publish it for free.(eg.https://yourwebsitename.my.canva.site,/)
Also, you need a hosting website if you want to publish it as customized. Despite all these limitations it is more beginner – friendly compared with all other websites, when it comes to building a blog website from scratch.
5. Paid Websites to start a Blog Page :
Using free resources as a beginner when it comes to learning a new skill or starting a new passion is the best option, however once you are ready to take it seriously, using some paid services isn’t a bad choice, especially if it contributes to your growth by saving your time and energy. so,
If you are someone who is ready to invest in hosting a professional and customized website as a blogger, apart from the freemium options check out these paid websites too.
6. Things to remember while Building a blogging Page :
6.1 Understand your requirements :
Do not fall into pitfalls if you are entirely new to the skill, list down your all requirements such as your number of audience whom you want to reach, your conversion lead target, designing and customization requirements etc.
Initiate your research to find the right platform and the budget by choosing,
- Your niche
- Your brand name ( If new)
- Domain name
- Brand guidelines
- Feature provided
- Website Security measures
- Your ideal budget etc.
Choose the right domain name for your website and check if it is available on the hosting platforms. Try to be unique with your domain name which cannot be replicated or is already taken.
6.2 Gather Design Inspiration :
Once decided, gather inspiration from other existing websites under your niche, use pinterest, behance, dribble etc. and collect a couple of website designs for reference, (but do not try to replicate. Try adding your own spin to it)
If you are Hiring someone to build your blogging website, make sure that you let them know all of your requirements beforehand to save their time and your money.
6.3 Leverage Free resources :
There is no way that anything that is required in this world is only paid. Try searching for free resources such as templates, plugins.etc.
prioritize your time and effort in research so you find the best free alternative for anything, do not put in your money before deep research and regret in the end.
Also Try using websites like pexels,Unsplash, Pixabay etc. When you do not want to invest in paid stock images for your website.
Do not pay for any feature of the hosting platforms until you realize that it is unavoidable.
6.4 Marketing Tools :
Utilize free marketing sources to promote your website through social media marketing, SEO and email marketing. (Eg . Semrush,google analytics, Mailchimp, Buffer -Free plans)
6.5 Be Minimalist :
- Make sure that you do not overuse unnecessary plugins for your page and overwhelm your readers
- Use minimalist and standard brand guidelines throughout the page
- Use Only effective and required functionalities
- Make it simple, clean and effective.
6.6 Consider Feedbacks :
Before publishing your Blog collect feedbacks from your family, friends and colleagues,
Do not hesitate or ignore feedbacks from your readers
Try working on those to improve your writing and the page.
7. Conclusion :
So with all these said, understand that every expert was once a beginner when they started and figured out things in their own way.
- Free doesn’t mean worthless, every resource has its own value and can change one’s life.
- Try a bunch of things and find the ones that are ideal for you.
- Do not invest your time or money on any resources without any proper research.
- Get to know the basics of blogging and understand how it works
- Try everything yourself and improve your skill based on feedback.
Let us know what all your plans are for your blog in 2024,
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