What is a reasonable initial investment?

[pnvhq]

Hi, first I want to thank BHW for being a great resource for me thus far. I've only joined recently, but have bounced around a few forums and sites before this trying to soak up as much info as possible. BHW looks like a great community and I look forward to a long brotherhood with its members.

Now then, I am still very new at SEO and so I decided to start with a relatively low competition keyword (which I can then eventually build out from and try to tackle some more competitive KWs). I don't have dreams of getting rich from this first attempt, I just want to build some experience, learn some lessons, and not lose big. I also think my site has value so I look forward to getting it in front of some eyeballs too.

My question is this: assuming I write all my own articles and handle the on-page SEO, what is a fair initial investment for handling the off-page stuff? Again, this is a pretty low competition keyword ("relatively easy" on Traffic Travis, and Market Samurai seems to confirm). I'm thinking of dropping in about $50 and waiting to see a little return on that before putting in any more. Is that fair, or am I selling myself short?

I've monetized with Adsense and Amazon. I'm not even expecting to see those $50 come back right away, I just want a sense that things are moving in the right direction. Also, the site is relatively new, so I don't want to be blasting it with too much stuff either.

So, how much would you start off by investing? Also any recommendations on services that have worked well for you?

All help is appreciated, thanks.

EDIT: To clarify, I am not asking how much it'll cost to rank on the first page or #1 or whatever. I'm asking how much is reasonable to put in before judging whether or not to put in more. If there's potential, I have no problem expanding the investment. If I'm beating my head against a brick wall, I'd rather diversify and try a different KW.

 

[larkmud]

i dont invest in seo anymore because of the penalties and Mat cunts, i used to, i found someone that pays me 100% ROI back of the amount i invest, i dont lose anything, seo is very dangerous

 

[pnvhq]

I see, well congratulations to you and your partner. Regarding SEO, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. Trying to scam the Google algorithm may be a dangerous game, but if you're using SEO as a leg up on the competition while backing it up with quality content, I don't really see any danger at all.

 

[Scritty]

SEO works.
Shit SEO is shit SEO. Lazy assed spammy linking crappy content SEO fails increasingly.

It's like bashing your thumb with a hammer and blaming the hammer.
Personally I'm glad many are quitting. Leaving a much bigger slice for those that know what they're doing.

100% ROI? Is that all? Try 2000% at a bare minimum. The only issue is having enough portals/website built up to to re-invest in month by month.
Quality content - quality links wins. Always has, probably always will.

Scritty

 

[larkmud]

bla bla bla

 

[donArmando]

Yap,
I see how you are getting your investment with 100% ratio.
A fat kid trying to brag with things that he dreams to achieve, i've seen this types of personalities before.

 

[larkmud]

i am getting 100% ratio of course, plus i dont need to do seo to make money

 

[affiliatematt]

bla bla bla

Seriously? If your not willing to help, why not just move to another post.

OP - Start some off site yourself. Build some web 2 properties (yola, webs.com, weebly, blogger, etc) and add some back links to your money site with proper anchor text to get you started. Also, try the BST service below, I am getting ready to submit an order when my site is complete

blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/buy-sell-services/459081-backlinks-rank-11-link-types-massive-link-diversity-tested-results.html

 

[pnvhq]

Thanks affiliatematt, yes I've made a couple weebly blogs, some squidoo, I'll probably toss in some of the other ones you mentioned. Curious about blogger. Since it's Google owned, is there any greater risk with that? I've also gotten some social bookmarking done and have set up an fb page, pinterest page, and tumblr for my site. I also bought a BST for some more web 2.0 properties, and I'm thinking of buying some articles to add to my various tier 1 properties.

I'll have a look at the thread you posted. I'm trying to be very careful about the links I build, because I want to rank for the long term, not some quick boost that gets slammed by the next update. I've only just begun, but it seems like the ranks are moving in the right direction, just a matter of getting some traffic and clicks now.

Thanks for the input.