How much have you spent on your site?

Discussion in 'Managing Your Online Community' started by webaficionado, Dec 17, 2012.

  1. webaficionado

    webaficionado Regular Member

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    Let's talk money - how much have you spent (approximately, of course) in domains, hosting, etc. for your site? Was it all worth it or do you regret something you spent on?
     
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  2. Brandon

    Brandon Regular Member

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    It seems there was another thread like this but I couldn't find it with a quick search.
    On this site (Admin Talk) I've spent about a grand in the 2 years I've had it.. which isn't much in comparison on how much I would like to spend on it..lol
     
  3. Cerberus

    Cerberus Admin Talk Staff

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    The most I have ever spent on a site was about 15K . But the money used to spend that much was money that came from the site and went back into it. Though, in the end my profit instead of being a lot was rather minimal since I put most of the money back into the site. But, honestly it was a site for something I loved. And I did not care about making money on it
     
  4. CM30

    CM30 Regular Member

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    About 500 dollars or so, most of that on the forum software.
     
  5. fattony69

    fattony69 Regular Member

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    Too much to count on countless scripts.
     
  6. webaficionado

    webaficionado Regular Member

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    Holy crap! 15 grand? How long did you manage that site for?
     
  7. Cerberus

    Cerberus Admin Talk Staff

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    For about 2 years.. Then I sold it to my partner in the site... I think he merged it with another forum
     
  8. Jessi

    Jessi Regular Member

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    For all of the sites? I have no idea.

    In general and in recent years, I have only been keeping up with less than 5 domain purchases/renewals and only hosting for a couple of them. I don't spend much because I can't afford to. If they made me more money, I would certainly put more of that money back into my sites.
     
  9. SimplySidy

    SimplySidy Website Consultant, Developer and Strategist

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    Being a coder myself, I think I have saved a lot :D

    As for expenses on hosting and domain names, I have 3 existing domains and 5 dead domains (I did not renew them) so that should be approx 800 USD and then the hosting has been ummm... around 300 USD (for about 6 years now). So somewhere around 1100 USD in past 6 years. Not a bad deal I believe.
     
  10. bauss

    bauss Regular Member

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    I haven't put very much cash flow into my forum, because I'm preparing it with all the features, and content I need before I throw a chunk of cash into it. I have a plan on how I'll get a return on my investment, but there is a lot of work that needs to be done before I can invest any more money into my forum.

    I currently only put about $200 into my forum(vb license, domain, free hosting) which is nothing compared to what it'll become in a year.
     
  11. jyri

    jyri Regular Member

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    Since I use wordpress for my blog, all I needed was hosting and a domain. I paid around 70ish $ for hosting, and got an .com .net .org domain + a national extension of my domain, equaling around 40$. So all around a bit over 100$ for it.
     
  12. Amdac

    Amdac Regular Member

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    I've spent quite a bit in the last year or so. Three forum licenses, $53/month VPS hosting, and probably $1-2k on paid content for the forums. I've made a few dollars from ads which covered a portion of the costs, but nowhere near enough.
     
  13. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

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    I've made more money that I've spent really. But, to tell you the truth. I've probably spent like $400 in the past year not including server costs.
     
  14. Realitytvaddict

    Realitytvaddict Regular Member

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    I have spent approximately 200 over the last two years on hosting and domain fees. The site I coded myself so that saved me a lot of money.
     
  15. ProSportsForums

    ProSportsForums Regular Member

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    On my most recent site, which is a vBulletin 5 testing ground, the software was $184.00 with the early bird discount, the hosting is $25.00 a month. It, obviously, hasn't earned a nickel.

    On the most successful site I have had a hand in developing, well over $100,000, most of which was invested by a professional sports franchise. That site has earned, literally, seven figures in ad revenue in the nearly thirteen years it has existed.

    While site owners may eventually make revenue I think it's a mistake to get into it for that purpose or with that sole intention. Most sites lose money. You have to get into it for the love of the subject matter. It has to be a passion more than an attempt to make money. Members quickly sense when a site is all about revenue and nothing about the membership.
     
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  16. Martin W

    Martin W Regular Member

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    On various projects over 2012 I have probably spent thousands. On my current blog alone which I have still not really advertised, I must of spent around $300 without promotion and other things.
     
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  17. lph

    lph Regular Member

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    :wideyed:


    Amazing accomplishment. You should be proud!
     
  18. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

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    How much have you made back though?
     
  19. ragtek

    ragtek Regular Member

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    Don't know how much i spent for hosting (~ 50 -500€ per month including domain costs since 2004, but it wasn't only my money, client pages were also hosted)

    + ~ 2000€ for software licenses
    +
    ∞ manhours for learning,coding and testing^^
     
  20. bigbigfan

    bigbigfan Regular Member

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    I've spent a fortune on my site in terms of time, planning and effort but besides hosting I haven't spent a dime. I am a hands on type of webmaster where I much prefer to code and design my own content so that I can make sure it performs up to my expectations.

    I do set aside a small part of my site revenues for advertising and I hand pick my advertising locations directly with other sites (no adwords, no ad networks) because sponsoring another site creates partnerships and those are worth their weight in gold over the years.
     

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