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How to Start a Blog for Less than $20 in 2020

2020 has been a whirlwind year for all of us. With the Coronavirus pandemic sweeping our nations, many of us have either lost our jobs entirely or had to cut back on hours. Now more than ever, people are looking for ways to make money online. I have been working from home for the last seven years, doing the thing I love most: blogging.

I want to show you how to start a blog (the simple + cheap way) in 2020 so that you can start making some extra money from home.

Starting a blog is actually the simplest part of blogging. Setting up your website (while it can take some time + is a bit of a learning curve) is fairly straightforward. It is what comes next that is most important.

Anyone can start a blog, but not everyone is cut out for the hard work it takes to build that blog into a real source of income.

I’m going to show you exactly how to start a blog in 2020 and give you some actionable tips for turning your blog into a career.

You’re going to leave this post knowing exactly what to do in a few easy steps, and for less than $20 to get your first blog up and running in the next couple of hours.

And no, I am not going to try to convince you to spend an arm & a leg on hosting through one of my affiliate links. 

You can actually start a blog for free, but a free blog comes with several downsides:

• Limited customization options
• You don’t technically own any of your content

Starting a blog can seem overwhelming, I know. I’ve been there.

You will save yourself a lot of headaches later if you set up your blog the right way from the beginning. That means starting a blog on the right platform with the right hosting service.

I will disclose upfront that I am going to be recommending Namecheap + EasyWP to set up your blog. I only recommend services I use + believe in, and Namecheap/EasyWP are two that I stand behind fully.

Let’s get started!

How to Start a Blog in 3 Easy Steps

1. Purchase your Domain Name

If you already know what you want to call your blog, that’s fantastic! If not, head over to this post for some guidance.

Either way, once you decide on a domain name for your blog, head over to Namecheap.com and see if it’s available to purchase. This is as simple as searching for it on the homepage, as shown below:

My favorite thing about Namecheap is… well, it’s cheap. But just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean it doesn’t have serious value.

You can purchase your domain for as low as $3.95, but on average, a .COM site costs $8.88 on Namecheap.

Less than $9 for a .COM is pretty great if you ask me.

Whether you want a .com, .net, .org, or any of the other plethora of domain extensions available… Namecheap has you covered!

Once you’ve decided on a domain name and checked if it is available for purchase, add it to your cart.

Once you’ve clicked add to cart, you should see more product options, as shown below:

I would recommend adding an SSL to keep your website secure, and the WordPress hosting (we’ll talk more about this later).

Once you’ve added everything you want to your cart, simply checkout. You are now the owner of a custom domain name + managed WordPress hosting.

Here’s what comes next.

2. Set up EasyWP

EasyWP is the managed WordPress hosting you added to your cart when you were purchasing your domain name, in the step above.

Don’t worry if you didn’t do this, you can still follow these next steps to set up your new WordPress website.

Let’s talk a little bit about why you’d want managed WordPress hosting in the first place:

The way WordPress self-hosted works is this: you can either go directly to WordPress.org, download and install the files yourself and attempt to set everything up on your server. Or, you can use a service like EasyWP to do all that hard stuff for you.

Downloading and installing WordPress yourself can be tricky, especially if you’re not tech-savvy. Here’s a link to the guide for installation on WordPress.org.

For most people, installing the software and getting it set up properly is either too confusing or just too time-consuming.

Managed WordPress hosting does all the heavy lifting for you, essentially. It is faster and easier, and still gives you the self-hosted WP blog that you need.

Setting up EasyWP takes just a few minutes, and your new WordPress website will be up and running, in most cases, in less than 15 minutes.

Here is how to access and set up EasyWP from your Namecheap dashboard:

Next, should see an option to create a new website. Select your domain from the dropdown and follow the steps shown.

You shouldn’t run into any issues here, but if you do- use the Live Chat function to get help from a Namecheap expert.

Right now, you can start with EasyWP for as low as .01 cent. Normally, it’s only $1 for your first month, but if you sign up now you can get your first month for a penny.

After that, you can select from 3 different packages, $3.88/mo, $7.88 /mo, or  $11.88/mo.

EasyWP is absolutely worth the money in my opinion. The best part about Namecheap + EasyWP is that you aren’t required to pay for a year upfront.

Other hosting sites lure you in with a promise of “Start your blog for just $2.95!”, but what they aren’t telling you is that you have to pay for the entire year upfront. Which can equate to over $100 just to set up your blog.

Actually, years ago I fell victim to one of these websites. Based on the pricing packages and the way they were presented to me, I thought I was paying $2.95 per month. I was not happy when I checked my bank account the next day and discovered they had charged me $150.

I’m not going to name names. Their customer service was very helpful, and they refunded most of my money (but not all).

You don’t need to worry about that with Namecheap. Their prices are low + you pay monthly, not for the entire year upfront.

What you see is what you get. You can choose how many years you want to register your domain and decide how much you want to spend.

You can choose which package you want for EasyWP, and then decide if you want to pay monthly or yearly and their monthly payments are still extremely low.

A lot of other sites seem to penalize you for paying monthly, or show you a low monthly price but fail to mention that it’s not actually billed monthly but rather yearly and you have to pay for the entire year upfront.

Namecheap + EasyWP was an actual lifesaver for me when I couldn’t figure out how to install WordPress myself, and I didn’t have a ton of money to spend setting up my blog.

I have set up four blogs using Namecheap + EasyWP, and I can’t recommend them enough.

Another thing I love about Namecheap is their amazing customer service.

They have the most amazing customer service reps who answer all my questions, and never hesitate to walk me step by step through any issue I’m having until it’s solved.

Namecheap + EasyWP is truly the most affordable, valuable, and simple way to start a blog.

Even if you already own a domain name, you can transfer it over to Namecheap and set up your blog through EasyWP.

Like I said before, they have excellent customer service that can walk you through the process of transferring your domain if need be.

Once your website has been created via EasyWP, you now have access to your WordPress dashboard. Here is where you can begin customizing your blog, and getting familiar with the WordPress dashboard.

3. Choose a Theme

Once you have your website setup, you can start to think about what you want your blog to look like.

WordPress offers tons of free themes, and there are some really great ones to choose from.

Using a free theme is great if you don’t want to spend money on a premium theme just yet. As your blog grows, though, you’ll want to consider purchasing a premium theme.

Premium themes are more customizable and have many features that free themes don’t, allowing you to fully take control of your blog’s design.

Another reason you should consider using a paid theme is that it will help you stand out. Find a theme that really speaks to you, is consistent with your branding and has customization options that fit your needs.

My favorite place to shop for WordPress themes is Creative Market.

They have so many amazing WordPress blog themes available, at all different price ranges- you’re sure to find the perfect theme for your blog.

Here are my favorite WordPress blog themese available on Creative Market:

Charlotte

Emily Grace

Allure

Isabelle

No matter what niche your new blog will be, Creative Market has a blog theme to fit your style and unique brand.

Check out all the WordPress blog themes Creative Market has to offer here.

Let’s recap:

• Purchase your domain name with Namecheap.com
• Use EasyWP to set up your blog with WordPress self-hosted
• Choose the perfect blog theme from Creative Market

These are the 3 simple steps to starting a blog. I know that sounds too easy to be true, but honestly- it is so simple with Namecheap + EasyWP.

The last thing I want to do is make it sound like blogging is so easy that anyone could do it. Blogging is hard work, and it takes a lot of time and patience to make money with your blog. But getting started doesn’t have to be overly complicated or expensive.

With my simple 3 step process, you can start a blog for less than $20.

So, what comes next?

I promised you at the beginning of this post that I would be giving you some actionable next steps for after you’ve created your website.

Create Content

The number one piece of advice I always give new bloggers is this: start creating content as soon as possible, even if your blog isn’t live yet. When you are ready for your blog to go live, the last thing you want is to publish a blog that has no content on it.

Start writing + creating sooner than later, and you will have a nice collection of blog posts ready when your blog goes live on the web. This will also help you look like a pro blogger from the start.

Necessary Tools + Resources for Bloggers

This is a list of all the blogging tools and resources I use and recommend. These will help you write better content, start an email list, grow your blog traffic, create beautiful graphics for your blog + so much more!

I hope that you have found this post helpful, and you feel more prepared to start a blog this year.

Blogging is hard work, but it is very much worth the time + effort it takes. I know you have what it takes, and if you get stuck you can always send me an email at hello@morganktylka.com and I’ll do my best to help you out!

Happy blogging!

XO, M

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