I hope this is the right place for me to post this thread. Basically I need advice on how to get a blogging business off the ground. We are looking into making a sizeable investment in the business but not sure how much is enough. I am also not sure on how much human capital is required for this. Should there be many writers, technical people involved in the beginning or should it just be a small setup with outsourced content, editors, etc? Should I spend more money on content or internet marketing? How much should I invest in it so I can get it off the ground?I know my questions are vague but I am hoping someone can advise me.
Welcome to the forums
Personally I would look at starting a blog yourself to get the ball rolling, get the site indexed by search engines and building up and initial following. This will keep costs down at first, then when you have some money to invest consider expanding the site a little at a time.
Of course the site will need an income model, whether that’s via advertising or paid content, bus as most sites find this can be extremely hard. If you try and start “big” with paid staff etc you can burn through money at an alarming rate, and find your investment frittered away with no return.
It’s worth remembering that existing popular blogs have serious overheads, paying staff, hosting bills and other running costs.
If this is a serious business the the first thing to do is write a solid business plan!
I can tell you my experience how I start a blog site with 10000 page views daily. It is teenage magazine. I bought a domain name, install WP with free (pink) template on hosting. I found a high school girl which like to write and said her “write about yourself”. Firstly I have paid her $50 for 10 articles monthly and at least one purchase from online store I’m affiliated with to make a purchase review.
Then the project went up.
BlueDreamer has given you a good answer. You should not consider making " a sizeable investment" in a blogging business until you have a lot more experience. From the wording of your question, you are obviously new to the field, and so it would be a mistake to jump straight in.
I suggest you start by setting up one small blog as a training exercise. Don’t worry about making a profit from it, or even attracting a large audience. Just use it to build up experience. Once you’ve done that, you will be in a better position to decide how to go forward.
Mike
If you’re looking to make a ‘sizeable investment’, you should probably hire a manager that knows the space. My last startup, we raised 15MM$ to build one of the largest blogging companies in the world, so ‘sizeable’ might not make as big a dent as you think. You’ll also need to consider writers, ad sales, management, technology, marketing, operations and a whole host of other things if you’re trying to do this as a Business and not just as “a couple of blogs that make some money”.
Yet, don’t be too discouraged by the scope of your challenge. The two things you have going for you are 1) Just about every business needs to be blogging regularly just to stay even with their competition, let alone beat their competition, and 2) A growing percentage of business owners want less and less to do with learning how to blog correctly and what to do with those posts so that they have a positive impact on their business.
There seems little point in pursuing this, as the OP has never returned.
Thanks to all who contributed.
Thread closed.