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The Website Misnomer
The other day I had an interesting discussion with a friend about putting up a website tosell a product line that he was starting. To make a long story short, he offered to supplyme with product if I built the site and started promoting it. Sounds good right? It could be if the keywords had some potential, but the conversation revealed some interestinginsights.Build itFirst you have to build the site, which means you have to decide on which platform youwant to build it with. Considering the fact that I already own and operate stores, Ithought it might be a good idea to use the same platform that I already use. This makeslife easier, since you don’t have to learn something new (software) Learning takes timeand stops my progress. I don’t like to be slowed down since there is more things to do ina day then there is time. So you could build the site yourself, switch to something new, pay someone to build it for you or just throw something up as an experiment. Either wayto make a summary out of the conversation, you are going to spend about $2000 on thesite, whether you hire a basic design out or you do it yourself. (Your time is worth moneyremember?)
What’s behind door number two?
So let’s say you spent the two grand and now you have a site, now what? Well this iswhere most people get excited since their site is finished and it’s online. However theyare not making a dime because they are not promoting it. In fact, they had no idea thatthey need to promote it because most website designers don’t know a thing about promotion. They are two different specialties. You really need a budget to make sureyour website is found by your customers. By the way, this is not easy, and anyone thattells you that it is, is a big fat liar. So in order to do it right, since I spent $2000 of myhard earned money, I need a blog.
 Blog Please
I wont get into the specifics of why, but I will say that if you are smart you will use a blogto promote your site. So here we go again. Do you use a free blogging platform? (Verylimited) Do you hire it out? Do you build it yourself? If you have someone who knowswhat they are doing, you can plan to spend between $300 and $500 for decent blog anddesign. This is if you know who to ask and where to go. But don’t forget the blog needs promotion too, just like the site. The blog works for the site, but it still needs to be promoted as well.
 Door Number Three
So if your math is right you have about $2300 into this project and know one includingGoogle knows you exist. And if you do not exist in Google, you don’t exist period. Soyou need a budget, if you’re serious. So how much do you spend? That my friend is thegolden question that begs to be answered. Most people would say, “Pay what you canafford”. This to me is a mistake. The correct answer is in the form of a question. Howmuch do you want to dominate in the search engines for organic search results? If you
 
want to make it to the first page of Google or Yahoo, then this is going to take somemoney and a good plan. I am not saying you have to spend a fortune, but I am trying toget you to understand that you cannot spend $100 a month and make it happen. Youwould be better off taking the $2300 you invested and taking your special someone on anall inclusive cruise. The point of this conversation is this, if you want to be a player youhave to be aggressive, have a plan and make a budget. I know people that spend 50K amonth on their plan and I know some that spend $500. Budget is a function of keywordsas well. If you are trying to rank for the word “mortgage’, get out your checkbook or buya lot of lotto tickets, that my friend is a long row to hoe. However if your keywords areless competitive you can spend less. This of course leads you to the keywordsconversation which is another article (sorry)
Where to go with your Budget 
Here is a quick and dirty list of what you should at least consider when building your  budget. If you are in the website/ecommerce/blogging type game already, this is afamiliar list. IF you are not, you need to do your homework and learn how to implementthese. If you don’t, you will waste your money. These are not listed in any particular order.1.Blog2.Article Marketing3.Social Bookmarking4.Social Marketing5.Forum Postings6.Web 2.0 sites7.Wiki’s8.RSS Feeds9.Directory Listings10.Blog commentingIn summary I would like to leave you with some advice that is pretty much straight and tothe point. It is not meant to degrade or discourage anyone. In fact if you are as bullheaded as I am, it may spur you on to make something happen. When I was growingup, we had chores to do around the house. Like any kid I tried to do as little as possibleand cut corners where I could so I could go and do what I really wanted to do. My father would say, “Why do it half as….” Who wants to be known for that? Anyone can do amediocre job, why lump yourself in with that? Since then I have added to that with theselittle morsels of learning.1.Why be “just another _____” (fill in the blank)2.Most people want to do things the easy way.3.Being successful online is hard work and not easy.4.If it was not hard, everyone would do it.5.Easy, Guaranteed, Simple, Quick, “make big money”, “monster profits” and“fabulous opportunities” are terms for suckers.6.Never put your success in someone else’s hands.
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