To start a website like hubpages/tumblr?

07 Sep 12 9:10 pm

Hi,

It doesn't cost more in terms of buying a domain name and hosting, but you will definitely need an entire staff if you want a site like that.

In my opinion, it is not possible to run a site like that effectively all by yourself. You will at least need moderators to keep an eye out for user behavior on the forum, the topics they write about, and to check if they are stuffing their articles only with self-serving links. A few security experts should come in handy because you will probably store personal information about your users on the server. And don't forget the support center, something every site that registers users and offers some sort of service should have.

So, you don't need to worry about the domain name and hosting costs. Those stay the same, but the site will cost you more because you will need an entire team on a payroll to run it.

08 Sep 12 4:19 pm

Hi,

I didn't mean staff as full-time employees. You can outsource those jobs and make a team of independent contractors only.

You don't need a staff to set up the website. But because you will register users and allow them to submit content and get backlinks/revenue share, you will definitely need some help running the site. Managing hundreds of accounts, keeping them safe, site quality management, and preventing site abuse is definitely not a job for one person. Even if you use a content management system like Wordpress.

You will eventually need to outsource some work to help maintain the site once it grows and gets more users than you can manage yourself.

08 Sep 12 5:04 pm

Probably because they all registered companies when they started. I believe both Squidoo and Hubpages are registered as LLCs. I don't know how much that costs because it varies across several countries/states.

Registering a company before you undertake such a project is wise because it offers more legal protection than you'd have starting a site like that as an individual. If something bad happens, you will personally assume liability. If you own a company, you are a legal person who represents the company, so you cannot assume responsibility on a personal level. I'm not sure if my terms are correct because I'm translating them, and I don't know how liability laws for companies and their founders vary across the world.

They also probably required professional services before setting up the site. For example, a privacy policy and terms of use written by a professional lawyer offer more legal protection than a basic template for affiliate marketers.

Maybe they also used dedicated hosting, which can send you back more than $200 per month. However, it pays in the long run because you get more security on a dedicated server and more control over it.

Also, I have never seen a Wordpress Web 2.0 site - at least not in the business for the long run. Or ranking high in the search engines for that matter. They all needed professional designers because the pages were designed in HTML and CSS with a few scripts here and there.

I don't know the exact cost of starting a Web 2.0 site, and I am not interested really in finding out. There are many factors depending on what you want, do you need designers, do you plan to hire a support team immediately, do you need dedicated hosting, do you need a technical department, how much security you plan on implementing, and more. So define your desires and goals first before making an estimate of the costs.