The Costs Of Starting A Blog: Corporate Vs. Individual

Prospective Clients often ask me what the ROI is for social media. Whether blogs, or Facebook, or podcasts, they want to know how much they are going to make if they sign up for a program. I have my set responses, but can boil the answer down to a single principle. You get what you pay for.

For Corporate Blogs:

I see blogging and its siblings as effective Word of Mouth tools, enhancing Search Engine Ranking and providing a branding platform for companies to communicate with their audience. When we present proposals, we lay out both the tangible (measurable), and the intangible benefits, and compare the basic ROI to that of a PR or branding campaign.

Blogs, when nurtured, over time can provide a powerful online messaging platform, and they serve the very useful purpose of integrating you into an online community (which becomes
more important every year).

Cost:
Design: A blog is often quoted as $0, because you build one on Blogger, or just add it from your website host. Don't believe it. A professionally designed blog can cost you anywhere from $5,000-$25,000, and it's far more robust then the templates you can pick up at GoDaddy.

These kinds of blogs will also work better in the search engines, and visually for your readers (A well-designed site attracts readership), and what you get will be more robust than a site that costs three times as much. It's a deal to build a $75,000 site for $25,000. And if you are a national company, you want to spend this amount of money. Do you really want to be on the front page of AdAge with a $25 Wordpress Template? Just because the public can build blogs cheap, doesn't mean that your company wants to mess with its brand. Find agency-quality talent to build a beautiful site.

Marketing:
Building a site is cheaper with blog software, but you're not off the hook for cost. The money you save in building a blog needs to be spent on marketing if you want to generate large amounts of traffic. I'd take an amount at least equal, but oftentimes twice as much as you paid for the site, and use it to market the blog over 3-6 months. It's a big internet, and if you're not prepared to spend money, no one is going to find your site.

Hosting:
Here you get off cheap. For $150-$250, you can host the site for the year, and only pay for higher traffic if you overload your servers.

For Small Business And Individuals:

For small businesses and individuals, the blog is a less-expensive way to maintain a web presence, and it's often more effective than a website if they sell services, and not a product. Thus if you're a speaker, a blog makes more than a website. If you sell a product, a blog is complement to your website, but you need a full-fledged e-commerce site if your business is more than a hobby.

Cost:

Design: $0-$4000
The rule of thumb on cost is looking at the value of your blog. If your site is going to make you money, or directly is responsible for driving revenue (like sales leads that close), then it's a good idea to spring for a site design from a professional. If you are just testing the waters, or if cash is tight, it makes sense to use a free template, or hire someone to make a template and customize the site for a few hundred dollars. We charge for site customization based on the average time it takes me to build the blog, add the right sites to the blogroll, change the colors, map the domain, and add widgets that you need for your site. When we "design" a site, you're paying for conceptual.

The problem here usually comes from people who have never paid for design before. It's not a time-based project. You're paying for creativity.

Marketing:
This is where most people get into trouble. Blogging, and most of social media, is a time intensive act. Because it takes time, it usually doesn't cost as much in money. Owners of small businesses often overlook the cost in time, and want results from a blog simply from its creation. And of course that doesn't happen.

The best description is one Franki came up with. Blog Consulting it like personal training. Buying the Solo Flex is just the first step. Hiring a coach is the second, but the final, and most important step is following through on the exercises. A personal trainer cannot make you fit, anymore then a blog consultant can get you 10,000 daily uniques. We can show you how, but it's up to you to perform.

Hosting:
Here you're getting hosed. It costs the same for Megacorp to host their blog as for you. Think of it this way - at least you get to compete on content and SEO.

In the end, both from a corporate standpoint, blogging takes effort. You can choose whether you prefer to spend time, or money to be successful. Time is Money, right? The amount you put in of either one is going to determine what you get back. There is no such thing as a free lunch in the blogosphere.