What does it take to start up a skill gaming site?

[Jacob]

We all know about playing on skill gaming sites, but have you guys ever wondered what it would actually take to start up one of your own? It's a really big endeavor, but being able to make a living off hosting a site in a niche you love would be a dream come true.

Off the top of my head, this is what you'd need...

Server Hosting / Dedicated coder(s) -- Dedicated server, software platform to handle cash transactions, MySQL (?) database set up for custom written player records, site design/coding, THE GAMES (duhhh)

Marketing -- Word of mouth, referral/affiliate program to encourage people to bring in players, private advertising deals, PPC AdWords campaigns, search engine optimization (SEO)

Money -- Quite a bit to start up all of the above

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So for a startup skill gaming site, I think you'd need the following people to get things going:

CEO -- The guy (or girl! ) who calls the shots, oversees all the work, and could (or rather, SHOULD) do some of the work below to cut costs/employees needed

Web Coder -- Writes the code for the site, and the games if capable of coding in Flash or ActiveX. Being able to set up security protocols, anti-hack/cheat measures, etc. on the fly is a necessity

Web Designer -- Creates site graphics & advertisement banners, responsible for creation of graphics used in regular e-mail newsletters/announcements

Marketing Guy -- Carries out the advertising campaigns, runs the affiliate program

Customer Service -- The front end of the operations. Responds to customer inquiries and is the liasion between the customer and any of the site staff.

Accountant/Bookkeeper -- The person who records the cashflow and handles things when it's tax time


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Anything else I'm missing or overlooking? I'm not thinking of trying to run a skill gaming site anytime soon, since I can't code...but anything you don't know, you can outsource...right?

[Studs100]

you need good games..
thats all

[msufan]

I think it would be VERY hard to make money off of a skill gaming site. Honestly, you're better off promoting WW as an affiliate in my opinion (hence my signature ).

[Veritas]

Well, I know that you can easily purchase a nice layout for any sort of site for relatively cheap. If you take 30 minutes you can learn enough HTML to work with it yourself without needing a webmaster. Customer Service would be really manageable at first but true eventually you would need a CS staff. Bookkeeping for awhile would also be able to be done by the owner.

I would say the only true thing you might have to invest money in is marketing, and even then, if you do what msufan said about affialiating and using forums like these to promote your site, it could be relatively easy.

I'd say that for the first 6 months, you are looking at an initial payment of $50-100 and then a monthly of $12 depending on your hosting.

Granted, you would also be investing a lot of your time to it but if the site took off, it could turn into your primary and sole job

[TheEnigma]

Well I myself have taken the plunge and bought a url with the aim to setup one of these types of sites. I will let you all know how it goes!.

[TheEnigma]

forgot to say the address in question is;


www.mightywin.com

[Jacob]

Well I myself have taken the plunge and bought a url with the aim to setup one of these types of sites. I will let you all know how it goes!.

forgot to say the address in question is;


www.mightywin.com

Let us know how things go, and if you need staff to help you get started up...we're here for you!

(I wanna be the investor guy that throws money, does no work, and expects a large portion of the profits )

[Veritas]

Let us know how things go, and if you need staff to help you get started up...we're here for you!

(I wanna be the investor guy that throws money, does no work, and expects a large portion of the profits )

Oh shucks, well, if Ikaruga doesn't work out for you as an investor, I want that job, lol.

But on a serious note, I agree. If you need help with Graphics Design, Support, or some other job type, let me know and I can give you a discounted price on my services ^_^

[jester602]

Wah, that looks like alot to plan out just before making your site and imagine the hardships setting up those games and such; and with the people things people do to hack on games and cheat it will be hard to find those little holes but it is possible. It'll be crazy to lead anyways one of these sites, I'd take the job if it was offered but would I start up one? I don't believe so unless I had a dedicated team that knows what they're doing, starting from scratch would be hectic and crazy in my honest opinion. x___x; But, you know..The rewards are great to get one of these going though. :/

[lalit7552]

So here we are getting all ingredients to set up a game portal. We got finance in the form of Ikaruga and Veritas. I think finance is the most important thing if you got that one than you can hire anyone and can get your work done.