Investing in an online website involves more than just setting it up and watching it grow. From content creation to website design, link strategy, and utilizing the right tools and resources, each component plays a critical role. This guide provides an easy-to-follow checklist, broken down into four main investment areas, to help you make informed decisions for your website’s growth and sustainability.
A. Investment in Content:
1. Outsourcing vs. In-House Writing:
In-house blogging teams are expensive and I recommend you to go outsourcing writing from the very beginning of your blog.
2. Article Outsourcing Pricing:
There are two pricing tiers for article outsourcing. Simple articles (for blogs or content sites) usually cost around $15 to $25. Complex articles may cost over $2,00 (and we don’t need them at the beginning, especially for the blog articles we usually target). If you have a business website and looking for content for your service pages; keep a budget of $50 at least per sales page.
3. Budgeting for Blog Content:
I would recommend investing in writers for blogs to bring up quality, but also to make sure the blog is regularly updated. An investment of $525-$750 per month should be adequate at the beginning. For the $25 per article, you can publish one article every day of a month.
B. Investment in Website Design:
4. Website Design Costs:
Designing your website yourself can cost between $100 to $3,000, while hiring an agency ranges from $15,000 to $30,000. Utilize WordPress and premium themes like GeneratePress for blog building.
5. Essential Plugins for Optimization:
Implement crucial plugins like Updraft Plus for backups and Rank-math Free for SEO.
6. Domains and Hosting:
Domain costs can be up to $11 at max and $4.5/month hosting from Siteground or WPX or Cloudways will take care of your blog/website at the beginning.
C. Investment in Link Building
7. Creating Link-worthy Content:
Focus on creating content that naturally attracts links rather than buying them. I personally don’t support buying or selling Links. Instead, we will invest that money to create some awesome Link-worthy pages on our site that attracts links automatically.
8. Domains and Hosting:
This type of content usually costs $40 to $60 to make, aiming to build 10 to 20 pages per blog, totaling around $800 per site.
D. Investment in Tools & Resources:
9. Keyword Research and Backlink Analysis:
Start with ahrefs’ trial for keyword research and backlink checking. A 7-day trial is sufficient for gathering a good number of article ideas for just $1.
10. Content Planning Tools:
You can use SurferSEO’s Article Outline Builder for free to generate your Article Outline and that is free.
11. Advanced Content Optimization:
You don’t need any tracker or Content Optimizer at the beginning. Consider a trial subscription to Frase after 6 months for more professional content optimization. Meanwhile – you should’ve started generating money to buy a paid Frase or SurferSEO subscription.
Conclusion
This detailed checklist provides a clear and comprehensive roadmap for investing in the various aspects of your online website. By closely following these guidelines, you can ensure each area of your website—from content creation to design, link building, and the utilization of tools—is effectively addressed, setting a strong foundation for your website’s growth and success.
