What is the best money you spent on your blog? | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

Don't be afraid of outsourcing work that you are not suited for. I used to try and do everything and learned how to code/design and promote my websites. I realise now that if I used my time to focus on what I was good at rather than things I am not. Then I could be far more productive.

I find it useful to try and put a monetary value onto my time. Try to work out what you think your time is worth then it makes it far easier to make decisions about outsourcing. $100 for a logo may seem like a lot, but if you spend 10 hours designing it you are valuing your time at $10 per hour. I like to think that if I spent 10 hours promoting my site I could get a better return than that.

I would say learning to outsource effectively has been the best use of my time. I found it quite hard to let go of things at first, but once you get used to it can help you focus on what you really are good at as it is rare to be a great designer, coder promoter and writer and if you can find someone that can pick up on your weak points it should really help

I second Peter @ Logos for Websites… that was my #1 investment right there… nice clean look to my blog, and the header is just great.  He was well worth the money.

I am hoping that my money spent on creating an LLC is a great investment as well… I guess only time will tell though…I hear positive and negatives from many people.

Post edited 11:29 am – August 25, 2011 by JT_McGee

For the blog, I have no idea, as I haven't spent much at all on it.  It's kinda an extra time project.

But, I've spent a lot on other sites (not blogs as there are no regular posts or anything) and I can say that my best ROI came from:

1) Aweber mailing list

2) Quality design (Spend more than you think you should on a design…seriously.)  Maintain a relationship with this person for the next one.  

3) In-post/page design – It's one thing to have a killer theme, but if the images you use inside the content do not match the quality of the original design then you might as well have a poor theme.  Design really is about the weakest link.  The worst items will bring down the best more than the best will bring up the worst.  I'd definitely learn photoshop, or find a way to pay someone to make the in-post elements for me.

And of course, the ABSOLUTE best thing that doesn't cost a dime: Ask someone else (preferably someone who isn't great with computers) to navigate your site/review it.  I did this with a few friends of mine who aren't super-techy at all and they definitely gave me a valuable perspective of what the most common/most profitable web surfer sees in a site.

My best investment so far has been a premium theme – site loaded much faster after. 

I would DEFINITELY hire a social media person! The amount of time that takes up on my part is just too much, not to mention there are people much better suited to handle it than myself.  I almost want to just bite the bullet and price some people out.  We have Yakezie that offer all sorts of services, but this is one I havent seen anyone dive into yet…

@Charles, Thank God , I'm not the only one who tried Paid Traffic. 

@moneyinstheroot, I would hire a social media person TODAY! If anyone knows a person who can take care of social media and community building, please let me know.

Suba @ Wealth Informatics said:

Jesse @ PFFirewall does some social media work for me, he is also my community manager for BP (few of you might have already met him through your comments). He is great. I would hire him for more hrs if I had the money…

 

Thanks for the heads up Suba, I have spoken with Jesse a few times…didnt know he did social media work though.  It all comes down to money right…the more I find things I want to add or tweak, the more money I can see myself spending.

MoneyIsTheRoot said:

I would DEFINITELY hire a social media person! The amount of time that takes up on my part is just too much, not to mention there are people much better suited to handle it than myself.  I almost want to just bite the bullet and price some people out.  We have Yakezie that offer all sorts of services, but this is one I havent seen anyone dive into yet…

Money Is the Root–this is a good point.  I know there are many Yakezie members who offer different blogging services.  Is there somewhere we could find who is offering which services?  If not, we should have a place to list everyone who provides a service such as Crystal for advertising, Jesse for social media, etc.