Internet Marketing: How Much It Costs

Every business has barriers to entry. Internet Marketing is not much different, although the costs are significantly lower than traditional or brick-and-mortar businesses.

Internet Marketing is a resources game. If you are just starting out, your resources are time, money, and knowledge. If you have more time and knowledge, you ultimately may not need to spend as much money. If you have more money than time, you may be able to spend more and have to learn and work less.

As you progress, other currencies are added to the game, such as your email list, links, affiliates/partners, and reputation (including Social Media followers/friends/connections). But for now, we’ll just talk about the tools you need to get started.

I’ve compiled for you a list of the basics; the stuff everybody needs. None of the links are affiliate links, and I receive no consideration or compensation for recommending them. Not all of these might be necessary, depending on your business model.

Hosting
You’ll need a place to put your site to serve it to the Internet. I use and recommend Dreamhost, and have heard good things about Hostgator. You’ll need to pay in advance, and the longer term you buy, the cheaper the price. Plan on spending $215 immediately for 2 years of hosting.

Email
No, not the email you receive, but the email you send to the list of people who want you to talk to them. You need a service provider to like Aweber to handle sending out emails to your list, manage unsubscribes (they happen) and CAN-SPAM compliance. You’ll start out paying $19 a month, and pay more as your list grows beyond 500 people.

Keyword Research
Although there are a few free keyword tools out there, such as the Google Keyword Tool, you might want to supplement those keyword lists with some results from a paid service. Although you could pay Wordtracker for $329 a year, I recommend Keywordtopia for $19.50 a month. You’ll need to spend a couple of bucks extra for the premium keyword services (including Wordtracker results), but it’s worth it.

Analytics
Always, always, always have tracking on everything you do. Everything. Check out what you can do with Crazyegg. For starting out at just $9 a month, it’s worth it.

Shopping Cart/Checkout Software
Depending on your business model, you may need a shopping cart system. You can start out with 1ShoppingCart, which will run you $34/month or $349 per year, if paid in advance. If you plan on selling digital products (e-books, MP3 courses, etc.), use E-Junkie. You can start out there for just $5 a month.

Total Costs
Assuming a moderate amount of list and web traffic growth, plan on spending around $1000 your first year. This price includes the first and second year of hosting.

And now, the good news…
Some tools that you’ll need to make the wheel turn are free. Here are a few…

Analytics
Yes, I know I mentioned this category earlier, but go ahead and grab a Google Analytics account and remember to track and test!

Keyword Research
Make sure to check out the Google Keyword Tool. Use it to generate a keyword list relevant to your market. This probably isn’t the only keyword tool you will want to use, but it’s a good, free, start.

CMS
Content Management System. This will save you from having to learn a lot of HTML and other programming languages to make your web pages do what you want (you’ll still need some knowledge, though).

Your choice of CMS will depend a lot on your business model and what you want the site to do. Two free tools to consider are Wordpress and Joomla. Incidentally, if you go with Joomla, consider joining Rockettheme (starting at $50) for some of the best design templates around.

Tagged as: Internet Marketing, Money, Online Business