A D V E R T I S E M E N T
I already talked about the real cost of running a blog in one of my previous posts. I discuss why the real cost of running a blog is not about money but time, knowledge, effort, and heart. The monetary cost is actually the last in the row because the money involve in running a blog is very minimal. In this post I will present to you the breakdown of the amount you need to start your own blog.

There are two costs of running a blog namely, initial cost and recurring cost. The costs comes from the following:

• Web hosting
  You need a computer called server where you install your blog. It is a computer that is always on 24/7.
• Domain name
  Domain name is your web address. Example of domain name is google.com. Your domain name is unique and there is payment involved in registering one

If you want to know more on how to register a domain name and how to buy a web host, refer to the following posts:

• How to Register a Domain Name at GoDaddy
• How to Buy a Web Hosting Plan from HostGator

Going back to our main topic, initial cost is the money you need to shed when starting your own blog. You cannot start unless you pay for this cost. The following is the breakdown of initial cost:

Breakdown of initial cost of running a blog

Particulars	Price
Web hosting:	$7.95
Domain name:	$9.99
Total:	$17.94

After paying for the payments above, you can then start the setup of your blog. In my next post, I will discuss on how to setup WordPress. WordPress is a very powerful and a highly recommended platform for running a blog. If you don't want to miss my next post, you can subscribe by email or by RSS feed, see the side bar for the subscription options and select which one is more convenient to you.

Once your blog is running, you need to maintain it. Maintenance involves recurring cost. Recurring cost is the periodic cost of running a blog. Depending on what is your choice, recurring cost can be monthly, yearly, bi-annually, etcetera. For this discussion, we will have a monthly recurring cost for webhosting and yearly recurring cost for domain name.

Breakdown of recurring cost for running a blog

Particulars	Price
Monthly cost (web hosting)	$7.95
Annual cost (domain name)	$9.99

As you can see, running your own blog is not actually expensive most especially if you consider the costs as investment. Yes, I said investment. Don't you know that you can earn money from your blog? How to earn money from your blog will be my future topic. Again don't forget to subscribe via RSS or via email so that you will not miss any post. See the side bar for subscription options.