It is widely acknowledged that to make money you have to spend money. While I'm sure somewhere out there multiple examples exist that would turn this maxim on its ear, it is still basically true. This principle applies to business, and it applies to your blog or website. To make your blog or site grow you have to invest in it, both with time and money. For the purpose of this blog post, we are largely considered with the money behind your website. Here are some of my personal beliefs on investing in your career in content and writing.
Domain Name Purchases Should Take a Backseat to Renewals
I own a lot of domains and there are a few more I want to purchase. Each is devoted to content creation, but I want to use two of my future purchases to create networks - one for a political action committee and one for a traditional network of bloggers who favor certain types of content. A few others I want to use for niche content (non-affiliate related). While I am likely to purchase my network domain shortly, I am going to hold off on the others for several weeks and use my discretionary funds to prematurely renew my currently held domain names for an additional year.
Why? Because this seems like the best ROI. Google favors sites not only with an established past but also with a definite future. If your domain name is perpetually less than 12 months from expiration, all signs indicated that is best to add some extra years to your current domains before purchasing new ones. This is my current plan. At the rate of one per week, I should be done in 6-8 weeks (is it bad that I would have to go double check to be sure of the exact timeframe). Then, I will purchase my new domain names but always for the sign up timeframe offered that is greater than one year.
Traffic Monitors
I, personally, don't find being overly obsessed with my blog traffic to be a worthwhile pursuit. I have some readers that come from Google, some that come from direct links, some that read my posts in a reader. I will paste my stats into a form when required but I don't need them for a badge. However, I will cop to studying them simply because the utterly bizarre keywords that some people use to arrive at a page fascinate me as do sites like compete.com (which lets you see how your traffic compares to another website). I was actually kind of surprised that I was as close to a few fellow bloggers as I was.
All of that being said, I introduced Traffic monitors here, because I am firmly against paying for a site that provides analytics. A Pro Hootsuite account for $5.99 a month will provide you with a traffic report (with charts) and social media management if you must have a paid option. Otherwise, Blogger and WordPress both have stellar statistics built-in to their platforms and Google analytics can supplement these tracking tools with a simple cut and paste of code. The built-in stats and Google analytics are both FREE. Why pay for something that provides the same results unless it offers an additional value?
Bling
Every now and again a new piece of bling surfaces on the web. It may be a new social media link widget style or a new tool like the Hello bar featured at the top of this site. Sometimes these tools are free and sometimes they are free in a reduced version and/or for a limited.
I'm going to focus on the Hello bar because it is the latest tool and it because it provides a key feature I want to touch on - the free trial. The Hello bar was advertised (and may very well be for some) as a way to increase clicks through to key pieces of content, increase RSS subscribers, get email newsletter sign-ups or increase social media followers. The original version was free, featured a Hello Bar icon on the left and was advertised as an intro version to a larger offering later.
The larger offering debuted recently, and I signed up for a free 14-day trial of the Hello bar that provided me with the data I wanted to know - a paid subscription to the Hello Bar would not be logical for me as it offers a poor return on investment. Why? A lack of click throughs on the sites I used it on. I averaged .3% - much less than click throughs on any other ad, widget or sponsored link I have used. The stats prove that people who come in through Google aren't really grabbed by the latest feed entry featured on the top of my blog. I'm okay with that. After my 14-day trial is over I will return to Hello Bar standard land unless I scrap the tool altogether.
Always thoroughly analyze any blog tool or purchase you are thinking about making before breaking out your credit card or bank account. Ask yourself whether or not the funds would be better used elsewhere first (as in the domain name example). Ask yourself whether there is a free option that is equally as good as a paid option. Ask yourself if their is an adequate ROI to merit the cost.
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