How Much is that Bloggy in the Window?
Do you remember the song "How Much is That Doggy in The Window?" Americans use the phrase to poke fun when they are embarrassed to ask the price of something. The Internet business seem to be embarrassed of prices. You may ask yourself Why? Fees and costs are embarrassing in most business negotiations when a product content or benefit are not well defined. In my opinion the Internet has many amazing capabilities to offer businesses and individuals. So prices and costs should not embarrass consumers or providers of Internet services (i.e. blog design, writing and editing.) Designing and building blogs and social networking accounts is hard work. To some companies a blog is their only Internet presence, they want to make sure the design and the content reflect a professional image. To some business managers defining blog articles require thinking about their strategy first, clearly understanding competitive messages in the market or even a complete organization of corporate communication (goals, ROI, internal cooperation.) On the technical side there are many details to define and implement. Blogs look simple enough from the "front" but a blog server like WordPress or Drupal can become a big site by itself with many discreet elements. Running a big blog is no different than a static web site using a CMS server (Content Management System: large programs to manage high volume content and reader traffic.) Once advertising, linking and social tagging is added, the blog becomes a business tool with management capability, monetizing issues, analytics (tracking and analysis of viewer traffic,) and ongoing comments and links maintenance (image and message maintenance) a blog is real work. It can get complicated if you let it. It can stay simple if you organize, plan and control the content flow, overall message changes and style demands. If you are selling anything on a blog that also means running an order system or linking to one. With merchandise sales other issues like security and order tracking need to be managed. Most companies do not design and deploy a complicated blog in one initial step. The good news: many blog design and operation elements can be added gradually. Also, you can buy services from different specialists and they can work independently of each other. So, how much is that blog? (with that great business advantage?)
Writing, Editing, Articles:
Writers and editors charge between $10 to $50 a page or an hour. The wide variation in price depends on the amount of work (from a single article to a series of 10 to 20 articles,) the specialization and experience of the writer (technical and professional writers can demand professional rates,) and the overall quality, number of review cycles and other factors. You can rate a writer by hour / article / page: each page takes a "working hour" which will make it to the blog as one article. Researched and well developed articles for large blogs can cost $100 each. The articles you see as "the ten best new video apps for the iPhone..." or "ten best boutique hotels in Mumbai" are usually written to order and would cost anywhere from $100 and up. Search for freelance writers on the net and look for portals with rating and past work. Also see if anyone in your business domain can recommend someone. Finally, get recommendations from designers and programmers who work together with writers. A few specialists usually form loose teams and work together well.
Read more »Labels: blogs, business, Cost, Price, promotion, setup, writing
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Dry grass, end of summer, Tel Aviv / © 2009