Welcome to this week’s episode of our Friday jam session. It’s always one of the highlights of my week. I enjoy being able to spend time with some amazing people and answering some great questions that will help my community grow its own businesses. If you’d like to join us, it’s super simple.
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Today I’m going to be answering a great question that I’ve been asked several times in the past. We’re going to talk all about how much you should spend on investing in your brand. I’m going to break this down for you and help you look at this from two different sides.
Some people will need to spend more, while others will need to spend less. It will just depend on your goals and if you’re selling physical or digital products. So, it’s important to have a game plan from the very start. How much you spend will really just depend on your personal situation.
The topic we’re covering today was inspired by a question that someone asked me on Facebook a few weeks back. The specific question was, “when investing in a content site, how do I budget for content writing and budget for a specific ROI. Should I plan for this or just get content rolling and hope for the best?”
Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve been asked several versions of this question in the past, so I’m excited to talk more about this topic. So, let’s dig right in and get started.
Who Will Write Content For Your Website?
The most important question you need to answer before you get started is are you planning to write the content for your blog yourself, or are you going to hire someone else to do it for you? This is going to make a big difference when you’re deciding how much you’ll need to budget for your content and brand.
And the cost will vary depending on your answer. You’ll also have to decide what type of business you’re creating. Are you planning to be the face of the brand, or do you want to keep a distance and outsource a lot of the content? There is no right or wrong answer. It’ll be a personal preference and something you’ll have to decide for yourself.
The Hard Costs Associated With Your Business
The very first you need when you’re starting a brand is to purchase your domain name and hosting. Both of these are fairly cheap, and you can usually find a discount for your first year. If you’re using WordPress for your website, it’s free, which is a nice bonus. You won’t need any special plugins to start, at least for most content brands.
There are plenty of free themes for your website if you’re looking to save some money. You could easily get your website, domain, and hosting for under $200 if you’re using all the free plugins and being smart about your spending.
Once you have your foundation built, the next step is to start creating content. If you’re going to outsource content, you should expect to pay between $30-$40 per post. You can usually find someone on Fiverr or Upwork to do it for that price. If your budget doesn’t allow for you to have someone write your content each week, you’ll need to do it yourself or find someone who is willing to write your content for a lower price.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to write several pieces of content every week. You could start with one article a week, and that would be just fine. You can always increase the number of articles you have written later on.
The Simple 5-Step Process We Used To Generate $64,000 In 12 Months Working Part Time On Etsy.
Yes, Send Me The Roadmap!Drive Traffic To Your Website Using Your Email List
The next step is to think about building your email list. You’ll be able to start driving traffic to your website once you have your list. Convert Kit has a free version that you can use when you’re just getting started. And most other email platforms also have a free version you can start with. The free version of ConvertKit will give you everything you need to get up and running your new brand.
Keep in mind that once you get over 1,000 subscribers, you’ll start having to pay between $30-$40 dollars. And the cost will go up depending on the number of scribers that you have. The pricing is very reasonable, especially once you’re driving steady traffic to your website, selling digital products, and bring in ad revenue.
Once you have several pieces of content posted on your website, you should start indexing in Google within a few months. Now you’ll need to start building your email list. To do this, you could start by running a giveaway. If you run a little contest, I would set aside $150, and the goal would be to get 300-500 subscribers in 15 days.
Once you have those subscribers, you’ll be able to start driving people to your website. You can also start making some money from affiliate sales pretty quickly. It’s not a lot to start with but can help you quickly recoup some of the money you initially invest in your business.
The Cost of Starting Your Own Content Website
Once you have several pieces of content on your website, the next step is to create a digital product. It could be as simple as creating an ebook. I would recommend taking several of your blog posts and turning them into an ebook that you can sell. A digital product won’t cost you anything if you do it yourself.
However, if you’re paying someone to write content, it’ll cost you some money. You could also design your product together using a free design tool if you’re short on cash. It’s really that simple.
It doesn’t have to cost thousands of dollars to start your brand if you are looking to save money. I would recommend starting small, and you can always grow as you start to bring in some revenue. Personally, I see brand building as a long-term vision and think that the brands that I create are an investment and also serve as an educational platform for my community.
I’m willing to invest money into building out my site and the content that I create so I have the ability to sell it in the future if I’d like and bring in revenue as my brand grows.
It’ll depend on where you are in the process and what you’re capable of doing. If you can create the content yourself, it’ll cost much less than if you need to pay someone to pay for weekly content. You could start building your brand for $1000 or less for the first year. Like I’ve said, it doesn’t have to be as expensive as you might think. That's all you need to focus on to start. Keep it simple.
It will also depend on what you’re willing to put into your business. If you’re doing physical products, it’s a whole new ball game. If you’re buying inventory, sitting on it, and selling it, you’re going to have to pay a lot more upfront. So keep that in mind when you’re deciding what type of brand you want to create.
Right now, for one of my brands, we’re using Etsy and work with a print-on-demand shop. This allows us to have things printed after someone places an order, and it doesn’t require any upfront costs, and we only have to pay when someone places an order and wants something made.
Well, there you have it! I hope you enjoyed this week’s session of our Friday jam session. To join us next week head over to takactioncrew.com. You’ll be able to get your own questions answers and spend some time with some incredible people.
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“Remember, I'm here for you, I believe in you, and I'm rooting for you! Now it's time for you to take action and go rock your brand”!
Take-Aways From Today’s Episode
- Who Will Write Content For Your Website? (3:50)
- The Hard Costs Associated With Your Business (6:00)
- Drive Traffic To Your Website Using Your Email List (9:01)
- The Cost of Starting Your Own Content Website (11:59)
Quote:
“The most important question you need to answer before you get started is are you planning to write the content for your blog yourself, or are you going to hire someone else to do it for you? “
Helpful Links:
- Take Action Crew: https://takeactioncrew.com
- Coffee Talk: https://brandcreators.com/coffee
- Playbook: https://brandcreatorsbook.com
- Checklist: https://brandcreators.com/checklist
- Brand Creators Event: Grab Your BAL Recording HERE
- Email List Workshop – https://learn.brandcreators.com/email-workshop-sales-page
- Digital Product Creation Fast Track – https://learn.brandcreators.com/offers/Zo37wCyz/checkout
- Niche Finder Fast Track Workshop: https://brandcreators.com/NFW-Enroll
Scott Voelker
Over the years I’ve helped thousands of people TAKE ACTION to UNLOCK their true potential on building their ultimate freedom business, by developing the skills to make them resilient, confident and FUTURE PROOF. I’ve clocked my 10,000 hours over the years working in the trenches myself and helping others build and grow their brands. I know the power in TAKING ACTION better than anyone and I’ve seen people lives changed as a result of it...including my OWN!The Simple 5-Step Process We Used To Generate $64,000 In 12 Months Working Part Time On Etsy.
Yes, Send Me The Roadmap!