Can a large site be owned, managed by 1-2 ppl?

[rufryder]

Does anyone own a site on their own, which you manage yourself or have number of people managing it and if yes, how many? I have an idea, site in mind, but I think it can be at a pretty large scale, since I do not know much about design/admin issues? (i.e., content update, Forums, banners, etc..) and curious if I can do it myself (managing/admin) by investing 1-2k once its up and running and then require additional tweaking every so often. Can it be done by one person? (me)

Site such as namepros, craigslist, wikipedia, etc..? or, atleast when they started out.

 

[Shorty]

We cant really tell you how feasible it is to run a site single handedly until we know what type of site it actually is. More information on your idea would be good (speak in general terms if you dont want to risk being copied.)

In essence, the better you design and plan your site from the start, the less work you'll leave to do manually. The type of sites that need the most management are those that rely on user content, as you always have to deal with spammers and general idiocy.

 

[S-L-O-W]

I don't think from the examples you list that it is possible. However, the whole point of web2.0 is essentially that users provide the contents and essentially do most of the work. For instance, for a social networking site, niched in some industry, I think it is possible for 1-2 to handle the logistic. But with any site, the bigger you get the better you want the site to get so it can reach criticle mass; hence it might be wise to invest in more specialized personels. So is it possible- yes... yes it wise? would depend on the site and user base.

 

[UneekTT]

I have been involved with the web design industry for almost 10 years, and IMO it would not be a good thing to attempt to take on something large by yourself, there is too many chances to "miss" that one little something and it could all go to the crapper really fast.
Sites like you have mentioned all have had many people with their hands in the bucket for a long time, and they did not happen overnight either. It takes a lot of well educated people to pull off something that large, and keep it going too.

Besides that, I think you might be able to do it if you never sleep and always eat at your desk, the only issue then might be going potty - lol

 

[Skinny]

It really depends how big.

If you start small and maybe niche something you have a greater chance of it working. Then as you grow you may need to hire people.

It truly does depend what type of thing you are doing.

Skinny

 

[rufryder]

I apologize for not being so clear. Well, I have an idea (then again who doesn't) and I am willing to pay someone, 1-2k to see it go live and I also know that it cannot just end there, site has no limit, the more it grows, more potential it has in the future, however at the same time, I do not want to spend 10's of thousands of dollars, since I lack full knowledge in developing/managing since it requires constant monitoring/update and no money will be generated in the beginning since I want users to come in, drive traffic, let it be known and be recognized and then I can see vendors getting in line to get on the site.
I've had this vision for years but I never did anything since it always demotivated me, potential it has vs. lack of support I have.
(sorry venting & curious to hear constructive criticism)

 

[Shorty]

I think you've been a bit too general again, to be honest.

However, if you say it requires constant monitoring then there's no way you can manage it alone. To have 24 hour coverage you'd need at least 4 people, probably a lot more.

 

[Skinny]

Yup you are being general. It's okay. It seems like you've been cooking this up for a while.

I think you have to look at what you want to do and look at what you bring.

Can you program?
Can you design the website?
Can you perform SEO?

If you can do some of it then that's where you should start.

Than you can hire others to fill in the other holes and make it more complete.

Skinny

 

[Xyzer]

I personally think one person alone could not manage a site the size of namepros.. there are just too many aspects involved with it.

 

[rufryder]

I personally think one person alone could not manage a site the size of namepros.. there are just too many aspects involved with it.

ok.. now we are getting somewhere
Taking namepros for example, where would the overhead be? Will namepros actually have full time employees or per job basis? how are they generating revenues? traffic, etc.?

 

[gotlinks]

Can It? Yes

Should It? No!

 

[kiwami]

I personally manage a few 'self sustainable' web sites and yeah.. i'm soooo looking of 'staff' because there are just several aspects that were not anticipated. Customer support which yeah is 90% email.. still has to be responded to. Content has to be updated/managed or at least moderated and if you're running on a dedicated server? lol.. it's been fun but expansion is inevitable and you'll need person ell (even if its like 3 or so people) to make it happen.

 

[Shorty]

Taking namepros for example, where would the overhead be? Will namepros actually have full time employees or per job basis? how are they generating revenues? traffic, etc.?

NamePros has a team of moderators who are paid in $NP. The biggest cost is going to be the server serving 6 million pages a month to 14000 people.

As for revenue, they've got Adsense banners at the bottom of every thread, they sell banner schemes (http://www.namepros.com/mediakit.php). I'm not sure whether he was joking or not, but I saw RJ tell BFT that he doesnt profit from it at all.

Generating traffic? Forums are naturally sticky, their nature means they will attract repeat visits, promoting brand loyalty, and will grow with time. As far as I'm aware, it doesnt need to run ads anywhere.

 

[cortex]

Can It? Yes

Should It? No!

x2

 

[mwzd]

Probably not

If you have any kind of social site, you need moderators. More the users / posts, more the moderators. And good moderators are tough to find. Though you could promote some of your users to moderators... though it will cost.


But I digress, getting a HUGE site going needs a lot more than 1-2k. Have you even seen what an average ppc campaign costs? Forget about development, hosting, management and maintenance. Just promotion cost on a big site would be in the $50k - $250k range.

On-demand hosting would set you back by the 1-2k outlay that you plan. The web is no longer a place for small timers or eureka moments. That day has gone my friend. Though fortunes will still be made online, returns are fast becoming more a function of the amount you invest.

Now its about cold hard facts. How much does it cost to get the word out to ten million users to start with, assuming that the idea is killer and that word of mouth works for the balance of the web user base (imho 1,000,000,000).

If you believe that you have a killer idea, draw up a business plan and take it to a relevant incubator (shortlist one or max 2) - patent/ trademark/ copyright the idea before you do though and take along a NDA.

Or beg/borrow from friends and relatives and get it going, professionally. After all, if its going to make pots of money why shouldn't those closest to you benefit? But only do that if you're sure, they wont let you forget it for the rest of your life if you lose their money.



I would recommend spending your 2k on a domain portfolio, promoting and then monetizing them to earn 2x-10x on your investment. Unless of course you prefer a casino to the stock market.

NOTE : The views expressed in this post are just mine, you might or might not agree with them or the gloomy picture I have drawn here for the small timer.

 

[aboujouj83]

My advice is that, even if you want to spend 1 or 2k, you should start by learning the basics by yourself. Learn some web design, some SEO, and then take your time to do business plan for your site. The reason is that you want to assess the work when you pay someone to do it, so you can get what you pay for. I would even suggest to try with another smaller idea first, so you get the feeling of how to manage a website and explore around to find designers and SEO people here or somewhere else.

Aboujouj

 

[shockie]

i agree with aboujouj; either way, you should learn the basics yourself. you don't want to have to go through your whole management trying to find someone to fix the smallest problem, etc. and of course, the resources of the internet are more than enough to give you all the basics of making a website, from design to coding.