I had been toying around with the idea of launching a personal site for all of the thoughts that don’t fit either VirtualizedGeek or GrowingUpChi. I registered the domain name keithtownsend.co a while back as a way to stake a claim on what seemed like the only available top level domain left for my full name. I should have had more foresight back in the 90’s.
I’ve been hesitant in launching a new blog because WordPress.com blogging can get pretty expensive. I don’t like WordAds and I wanted to map the domain name. This would have cost $45 a year along. I’m already shelling that and more out for the other two blogs. So, I decided to go ever to the darkside and launch the new blog on Blogger.
You can find my personal musings at www.keithtownsend.co
Virtualized Geek 
Why is hosting a blog site so expensive? What elements make up the cost?
I am working on formalizing a process fora nagging a web hosting account, installing a URL, small business exommerce and managing the content through a CMS like WordPress or Joomla.
What resources do you recommend? I would like to learn from your experience.
Convenience over cost. You can do almost all of that with Godaddy.com for roughly $5/mo plus the cost of you eCommerce platform. Or you can go with Squarespace.com and pay a flat rate a month and get the Squarespae CMS and Blog platform. WordPress.com really doesn’t offer eCommerce. However you can get most of what you get with Squarespace for $299.00 a year.
Unless IT is a core skill set you really don’t want to maintain a WordPress install yourself. I have the skill but would rather pay to have someone else do it for me.