How would you allocate $2500 for a new magazine site?

[thamonsta]

I'm starting a magazine in a small-to-medium sized niche (Big enough that I can add new content every day I won't run out of ideas to write about and big enough that it's worth going after so thats out of the way.) I started with 2500 greenbacks and I want to know what you people would spend it on.

So far...
Domain name - $300
Hosting - $480 for the first year
Content - $400 (Starting out with 20 articles coverall all of the basics that I can link to as a reference from my more timely content that I'll be adding myself.)
Theme - $70

This leaves me with about $1550 to play with. I'm thinking of pumping $500-$1000 into building a Facebook audience to give some traffic to all my future posts and maybe the rest into various paid traffic sources to get the ball rolling (It will be a loss but it will get the site in front of people that might be interested in it?)

Does anyone have any other ideas? Maybe a premium logo or getting some videos made? Press releases? Bringing in some writers so that I'm not doing a daily post myself? Hiring someone to build out all of the knowem places for profile links and contextuals?

 

[benparsell]

I'm thinking of pumping $500-$1000 into building a Facebook audience
Along the lines of Facebook, I would look into using Twitter more. Facebook is still great for some niches; however, younger generations have moved away from using Facebook and primarily use newer social media like Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Out of those three, depending on your target market for articles, Twitter seems to be the proper medium.

Hosting - $480 for the first year
This seems a little crazy to me. I guess depending on the amount of file storage and bandwith you're looking to use, it may be a little more realistic that what I'm thinking, but I spend $250 at a maximum on my yearly hosting (granted, I don't have a ton of traffic at this point).

Domain name - $300
Another one I would question with overall cost. I can see being a magazine site, that the domain could already have been purchased though. Is that why?

I would possibly consider paying yourself some of the extra money and start a well-structured SEO campaign that will continually benefit you. If that is beyond your capabilities, spend a portion on an SEO firm.

A logo can be built with a little inspiration in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Gimp for next to nothing. Check out www.fiverr.com if you haven't before.

My main focus would be targeting potential audiences via popular social media, SEO, and other websites related to your niche. (Comment on blogs, interact in forums, etc.) I wish you the best of luck on your new endevour! Feel free to ask me any questions, and I would be happy to help.

 

[Ryuzaki]

Maybe a premium logo

I think if you're going to go for a spree of traffic, you'll definitely want to make a great first impression and try to retain as much of it as you can. Try to capture emails or drop retargeting pixels on them for later. I'd make sure my design was beautiful just so I stood above the crowd of everyone else.

getting some videos made

This could definitely open up your promotional channels. All types of magazines, viral sites, authority sites, etc... I see them getting killer engagement on YouTube and the others. Might as well, even if you start with just one or two videos.

Press releases?

I've written these off as a giant waste of time and possible source of penalization later. Lots of sites are scraping these press release sites and reposting them with do-follow links. Even more with no-follow (which should be 'okay').

If you want legit press, I'd sign up for HARO.


With that being said, what's the aim? Do you ultimately want a lot of organic traffic or will it be the "screw the search engines" approach? Or some mixture? Can you tell us more about the niche or vertical without spilling the beans?

 

[thamonsta]

Thanks for the ideas so far Ben and Ryuzaki.

@benparsell I've had really bad results using Twitter ads any tips? I still have a presence on there but FB will be a big source of my traffic. Even with bigger Twitter pages I've never come close to getting the same traffic consistency that I get with FB.
Domain - Just found a name that I liked that was a good fit and that was the price. I don't mind spending a few bucks for the right name.
Hosting - Around 40 a month is pretty standard for a half-decent VPS and I don't want this site on anything less than that. When my goal is a lot of traffic I can't have a site that falls apart under pressure.
Logo - I mean yeah I can buy a logo for five bucks on there but it'll be a fiver logo and will never compare to something made by a creative person that put thought into it. Most fiver logos are just slapping my site name into a template and that's not good enough.
I'll be handing the SEO myself but I'll definitely set aside some cash for excellent linking opportunities.
@Ryuzaki I didn't mean low quality press releases for SEO, I meant actual ones to let people know that my site now exists.

I want organic search traffic but my first priority is on making a great website and building a fanbase. I won't be sharing anything about the niche. I'm building up the authority of the domain because it's a side-effect of everything else i'm goingo and then I will look at opportunities to try to rank for things.

There's got to be some things out there that I haven't thought of before or services that can move the dial. Will keep a look out and report back with what I come across.