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Starting a blog with no money is possible — all you need is a stable internet connection and a laptop. However, there’s still caution to be exercised when starting a blog with little to no capital.
I’ll start with the most important message: unless you’re extremely lucky for someone who’s just starting out, it’s almost impossible to earn any amount of money from a blog created on a free platform.
Free platforms are a recipe for disaster. They’re best suited to be a personal journal rather than the foundation for an online business.
Why? Because free platforms make monetization extremely difficult.
Free blogging platforms are guilty of two things that hinder a site owner’s ability to make a profit: they heavily restrict monetization options and hold 100% ownership of any site on their platform.
That’s right: you don’t own your website.
So, what happens when you don’t own your website?
It’s almost impossible to make a business out of a site built on a free platform. You’ll ultimately have to invest some money anyway to get around the aforementioned obstacles and monetize your site.
However, if you’re dead-set on creating a blog on a free platform, I’ve outlined the most popular free blogging platforms available.
BUT… before creating an account with any of these platforms, I strongly encourage reading the ENTIRE article first to learn how you can start a blog for just $60-$70.
Blogger, or better known as Blogspot, is one of the earliest blogging platforms made available on the internet. It was purchased by Google in 2003, which makes creating an account a straightforward process for anyone with a Google or gmail account. Plus, since Google owns Blogger, Google tools (such as Analytics and AdSense) are made available to Blogger users.
Blogspot.com hosts the sites on this platform, so site creators receive the subdomain blogspot.com by default. However, purchased domains can be connected to this platform. Blogger is simple to use and allows users to create up to 100 blogs for every Google account.
While users can execute AdSense and other ad services to earn some money, this is severely limited in terms of design and customization. Even though users have access to HTML and CSS code, they are limited to the functionality offered by Blogger.
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Wix is a popular website builder because it’s heavily promoted. It’s known for its simplicity, and that’s not without merit.
Wix’s drag-and-drop website builder makes it easy for anyone, and I mean ANYONE, to make their own website. Its interface and style are ideal for e-commerce businesses, and the platform offers even more templates and third-party apps for customization.
A drawback of Wix is its inflexibility with templates. Once a template has been chosen, it can’t be changed (unless an entire re-upload of ALL the site’s content is done).
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Medium is one of the younger players in the blogging platform industry. It was developed and launched by Twitter co-founder, Evan Williams, in 2012.
Medium has no themes or customization options, so it feels a lot like Twitter (but with unlimited text). Published articles are displayed to interested readers in the same field, so it’s a great platform to share your content to like-minded writers and bloggers. For this reason, Medium is best suited for already established bloggers.
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Weebly is similar to Wix with its drag-and-drop website builder, but is much easier to navigate. No prior web building experience is required to navigate this platform. Once you sign in, you can drag and drop your way to a polished website.
Weebly is ideal for small businesses that want an immediate web presence. However, access to the backend is limited, making customization severely limited. In contrast to Wix, templates can be changed without losing content, though.
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First things first – WordPress.com is NOT the same as WordPress.org. While WordPress.com is free to use, several features that allow you to experience your website to its fullest potential are hidden behind a paywall.
WordPress.com will handle all the tricky set up and simplify everything for the user, but that comes with its own disadvantages. Because everything is controlled on the backend, customization options will be limited. For some, the simplicity of WordPress.com is a relief. For others, however, limited control of the website can become a nuisance.
Here are just a few examples of WordPress.com’s paywalls one can encounter with WordPress.com:
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WordPress.org (which I’ll refer to as the self-hosted WordPress), also contains the same content management system (CMS) as WordPress.com. Even though the self-hosted WordPress is free to use, users are required to seek their own hosting from providers such as Bluehost to house the WordPress software.
Although the self-hosted WordPress would require you to seek your own hosting, you’ll have full ownership and control over every aspect of your website. Yes, that means you’ll have to learn a little bit of the technical know-how, but we’ve got everything you need to start up your own website through the self-hosted WordPress. You’ll also have full reigns over monetization, which WordPress.com doesn’t offer.
In other words, WordPress.com is similar to renting a house. You have limited power and control over what you can and cannot do. While WordPress.org is similar to owning a house. You have full control, no one can kick you out, and you can do anything that you want.
If your goal is to monetize your blog, you’ll need to treat it as a business. For a business to be successful, it needs investment. Think of the money you put into your blog as an initial investment for what’s to come.
The main requirements to start a blog are securing hosting and registering for a domain name.
That’s it.
Many self-proclaimed “experts” claim that it’s possible to start a blog with less than $5 a month, but that’s incredibly misleading. They downplay the actual cost of hosting or other services in order to guide unsuspecting potential customers into making a purchase through their affiliate links. For example, the true cost of securing a hosting plan for one year may be $60. Instead of advertising that price to their audience, an affiliate will claim that the cost of hosting for one year is “only $5 a month” (but at checkout, the customer will have to pay an upfront fee of $60).
Although there are web hosting providers that offer a monthly subscription, this path will cost you up to 5x more than what you’d pay on a yearly basis. Hosting providers (and most businesses, for that matter) incentive customers to pay for annual services with one upfront payment by making that lump sum lower than the equivalent of 12 monthly payments.
The only expenses to worry about are securing web hosting and domain name registration, and I’ll show you how to strike two birds with one stone in the next section.
Trust me when I say that you will not find this offer anywhere else.
Bluehost exemplifies the phrase “you get what you pay for” because they offer the cheapest prices yet have the most value. When compared to other web hosting providers, Bluehost rises to the top.
We’ve secured a deal with Bluehost that gives you the opportunity to start a blog for as low as $59.40 (affiliate link).
Bluehost’s “Basic” plan is more than enough for bloggers who are just starting out. With the “Basic” plan, website owners are provided with a free domain name for the first year. This is what makes only spending $60 in the first year of blogging possible.
“What’s the catch?”
All of the monthly costs are paid upfront as a one-time payment. Although there are hosting sites that offer monthly plans, these types of plans end up costing much more in the long-run.
If you’re planning to blog long-term, there is another (and arguably better) option. It costs about $10 more than the “Basic” plan, but could save you headaches down the road.
This is the path we recommend for long-term bloggers. Although you may opt for the cheaper option to take advantage of the free domain name Bluehost offers in the first year, it’s important to know that Bluehost will begin to charge a fee for that domain name in the second year, a cost that can become quite expensive.
If you plan to blog long-term, we suggest purchasing a domain name with Namecheap instead. Namecheap is one of the best domain registrars out there because they provide a lot of value for a low price. The average price of a “.com” domain name with Namecheap is just $9.88 and includes domain privacy (something other domain registrars charge extra for).
“Wait – what is domain privacy and why do I need it?”
Domain privacy hides your personal information in public databases. When registering for a domain name, the personal information you enter to register will appear in ICANN and WHOIS, public databases of everyone who registers for a domain on a domain registrar. Anyone can access these databases and see your personal information, so it’s important to keep that information as private as possible.
When buying a domain name from a domain registrar that isn’t the web hosting provider, you’ll need to complete an extra step to connect the domain name to the external hosting provider. While buying a domain name directly from a web hosting provider is more straightforward, this extra step can be completed in ~5 minutes. Read about how to do that here.
Yearning for more details? We’ve already written a blog post on how to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost!
Hosting and a domain name are the foundations of a blog, so there shouldn’t be any more expenses required after they’ve been purchased. Be cautious of anyone who claims otherwise.
While starting a blog on a free platform may sound appealing, monetization will be extremely difficult because of the limitations that come with free platforms, such as not owning your website.
And if that’s not enough to make you reconsider establishing a blog on a free platform, remember that your blog won’t appear in organic Google searches, one of the main sources of traffic for a website.
If your intent to start a blog is to make money, treat it as a business. Any business needs capital to get things running, and a blog is no different.
I've been in internet marketing for over 10 years, and I've purchased dozens of illegitimate products for the sole purpose of evaluating them and exposing the truth about these products to anyone who's thinking about purchasing it. I never let money influence my rating of a product and your success/safety is my absolute highest priority. Don't want to buy a product? Register for one of my 100% free internet marketing training courses>>
