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2021 can be a bleak world. Between the climate crisis and the pandemic, it’s been difficult for many people to find inspiration and positivity.
Launching a blog on a topic you’re passionate about is an excellent way of providing that inspiration to others.
Maybe you’ve been toying with the idea of starting a blog for a while. Or maybe you’ve just thought of it and can’t wait to get started.
Either way, one aspect of starting your blog probably gives you pause – the costs involved. As a beginner, it’s hard to gauge how much it costs to get your blog online, or what the cheapest options are.
To help you take the first steps, here’s your guide on how to launch your very own budget-friendly blog to inspire others.
1 – Find the Right Platform
To start with, you have to pick the right platform to match your needs.
In principle, there are two ways you can go – either use a ready-made blogging platform, or build your own website.
Ready-to-go blogging platforms include Medium and WordPress.com. Their advantage is that they come with existing infrastructure, so you don’t have to deal with hosting.
On Medium, you pay a monthly $5 subscription fee, set up your writers’ profile, and immediately start posting. The platform has two advantages. First, you immediately have access to a huge audience. Every month, Medium has over 150 million readers. Second, you can join the Medium Partner Program and get paid when readers interact with your blog posts, for example by commenting or clapping. However, it’s very hard to personalize your blog on Medium.
WordPress.com, in contrast, offers a free platform for starting your own blog. There’s a range of design options for personalizing your blog. However, for advanced functions, you do have to pay a monthly subscription, which ranges from $4 to $45 depending on what features you want.
The alternative to using ready-made platforms is to build your own website. This may sound intimidating, but plenty of beginner guides out there walk you through the process step by step. It usually doesn’t take longer than a few hours.
Running your own website, though, you have to pay for your domain name, hosting, and potentially plugins. Some website builders such as Wix provide all-in-one packages for $14–39 per month.
A cheaper way to go is to build your site using WordPress.org. This content management system is free, but you can expect to pay around $15 annually for a domain name, and around $3–10 for hosting per month.
2 – Pinpoint Your Topic and Collect Content Ideas
Once you’ve decided which platform you want to go with, you need to pinpoint the exact topic of your blog.
When you’re really passionate about a topic – or several, for that matter – it’s easy to get carried away. You’re probably bursting with a million different ideas for things to write about.
However, it’s important to narrow down your topic before you actually get started on your blog.
If you jump between different topics, or even different aspects of one very broad topic, your readers won’t know what to expect from you. And it’s much harder to actually build your audience.
Therefore, pick your niche carefully. What topic ideas interest you most? Are there many other established blogs on the same subjects? What is your unique angle or perspective?
Once you’ve answered these questions, you can start to draw up a content plan. Jot down all your different ideas for blog posts and create a schedule for writing them. Make sure that there are no big overlaps between topics, and that you have a few central ideas around which you can structure your content. For example, you can already consider into which categories you’ll want to arrange your blog.
3 – Build Your Audience
Finally, once you’ve started filling your blog with content, it’s time to actively build your audience.
Ideally, you’d like your readers to come across your blog in their search results and fall in love with your content.
However, it will take some time until your blog posts actually start showing up in search results. And quite a bit of work on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
That’s why it’s important to spread the word about your fledgling blog yourself. Create social media profiles for your blog and post links to all your articles – then, ask your network to signal-boost them.
In addition, you can start to build an email list for your blog. Offer readers a sign-up form for your newsletter so that they can periodically get inspiration straight to their inbox.
Conclusion
Starting a budget-friendly blog brimming with inspiration takes a little planning and quite a bit of work.
However, by carefully comparing platforms, finding your niche, and strategically building your audience, you can get on the fast track from the start. Let the inspiration begin!
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