The importance of watching your costs...

[Jon]

Setting up a blog / website sure can start with spiraling costs that you need to keep an eye on.

A nice domain here, a premium wordpress theme template there, those costs can sure mount up.

Whenever I start a site I always try and keep those costs as small as possible, but the question is, where do you cut corners?

Do you buy one of those new funky higher level domains that cost a bit less like .eu or .co, or maybe you just buy a domain off wordpress/blogger/moonfruit - But if you appear too cheap will people take you content seriously?

When I look at the cost of something like vBulletin which is forum software much like the one The Money Shed runs on that costs hundreds of pounds is enough to make my ears bleed. But the thing is, maybe that software offers me something that my existing software (which is free) doesn't. Maybe those premium themes are worth investing in as they bring a certain 'class' to the blog that you wouldn't get normally.

How much do you want to invest at the start with any idea or concept when you don't know if it has got legs or not to take off.

Or maybe you just chalk up the costs to, well if I am going to run a site, it is going to cost 'x' amount and I just accept it.

Throwing money (and time) into something when you don't know what you are going to get back can be a scary concept for some to swallow.

 

[Blackpepper1]

I agree. You can pay allot if you want a specific domain name and have to bid for it then if you go for a fancy theme plus a hosting package with lots of features.
It just depends what you want if it is a business or something you are passionate about then fair enough.
For me it isn't worth it. I just want a Blog with a nice theme and a free theme was good enough. The domain I wanted new and was able to get what I wanted. The hosting we already had so the Blog wasn't going to cost any extra hosting wise.
I like to be cash savvy as much as possible.

 

[FreeSwagSites]

For me, the beauty of creating an online business is that the costs are much lower than setting up an offline business. Your eyes would bleed if you saw how much I have to pay to other people to run my offline business!

I think that you need to make investments if you are going to maximise your chances of succeeding.

I have always been prepared to pay to learn stuff and to get the right equipment, whether that's Golf, computer programming or anything else. I know from bitter experience that trying to muddle along on your own or trusting Mr Google to find you a genuine expert to help is a recipe for disaster.

My Investments So Far
1. £5 per year per per domain purchase (I would never bid for a premium one - there is always another good cheap name to be found)
2. £17.50 per month on hosting / training / support (I can recoup some of that with referrals)
3. £25 for Elegant Themes (87 themes to choose from) - I won't renew the annual fee since it has gone up to about £45 and I don't like many of the themes. I can still use the themes but won't get support or upgrades (I remain an affiliate for ET)
4. £60 for Genesis Framework and the Studiopress Metro Theme - one-off payment for lifetime support and upgrades. I love this theme and already use it on 2 of my site now. (I am also now an affiliate with this company to promote on IBFP)
5. £7 for IBFP logo (incl vector files)
6. £20 / year for Chammy Social Media Services for KSF.

I think that's it.

Total Monthly Costs (based on 5 sites) - about £22 + a proportion of the one-off purchases
If you account for premium themes just in current year only, it would come to about £30 per month.

I think my maths adds up correctly?

PS. One mustn't forget that these costs are all tax-deductible in the event I manage to make a profit.