Before I started earning anything online I was pretty tight with my cash. Back in 2001 when I first started doing this as a hobby I was already shelling out about $20 a month in hosting fees and $35 a year for my domain. I figured that was enough for something that, at the time, held no promise of financial return.
But once I was able to cover my expenses and started earning more, my wallet suddenly loosened up a bit and I found myself putting most of my earnings back into my sites.
Website things I spend money on:
- Domain names – If I think of a good name and it’s available then I’ll be all over it! Back when they cost $35/year each with Network Solutions (I was getting ripped off by them up until a year ago) it wasn’t really possible. Now with them under a tenner it makes snapping them up a lot ess painful.
- Advertising – Ill keep this short because it’s a bit taboo but I will buy *ahem* links if I come across a great site with a good price. Not something I do a lot but if I see a good deal then I will. Havent in a while though. Honest.
- Articles – I’ve recently started buying London area guides for ten quid per area which I think is a total bargain. I could probably do some research and come up with guides myself but it would take ages and would never be as good as someone with first hand knowledge. This is something I’m going to do a lot more of in the future because I think first hand experiences make a site a lot more useful and interesting.
- Programming – I got a guy to do my London price guide for $20 initially then another $25 to re-jig it a bit. I think this was money well spent and I know enough about how it works to be able to adapt it to other sites. Having the idea is the hard part because it seems like these guys can make almost anything happen. Obviously, the more complicated the idea the more it will cost but it’s nice to know that there are people out there who will be able to put any big ideas into action.
Stuff I don’t spend money on but will at some point:
- Website design – My favourite part about building sites is, well, the building of the sites. I like sketching out the designs, tinkering with the colours and layout and experimenting until I find something I like. That’s ok with HTML sites but I’ve started thinking about using Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress and Joomla to make managing my sites easier and that’s where things start to get a bit over my head. Paying someone to set something up for me will make sense if I ever want a site that’s a bit more complicated than I can handle myself.
- Nerd books – So far I haven’t had any time to learn new things but I’m thinking that will change once I find myself in Beijing without a ‘real’ job. I’d like to read up on CSS and PHP for sure at some point as well as general web design and SEO stuff.
- Logo design – This is another thing I really like doing myself but I can never seem to achieve the same professional finish that the experts can. I’m still a sucker for a site with a great overall look and I wouldn’t be against buying a logo to complete that look on my sites.
Most of my web earnings head straight into my Paypal account and all of my spending comes from it as well. It’s a lot easier to spend money that I never see and even easier to spend it knowing that it has been earned my sites in the first place.
So if you find yourself with a couple of sales and a bit of money in your Paypal account, have a think of ways you might be able to invest your earnings back into your site. Don’t blow it, but don’t be stingy either. If you make some smart buys it is sure to pay off later.
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