How to Split the Budget in the First Year
Spending everything on advertising while the site doesn't convert is the fastest route to concluding that advertising doesn't work.
The question almost always arrives like this: how much do we put into advertising. It's the wrong question to ask first, because advertising amplifies what already exists. If what exists isn't convincing, amplifying it simply costs money.
Order matters more than percentages
Foundations first: a site that explains what you do, what it costs and how to get in touch. Then production: visual material and copy usable everywhere. Only then paid promotion. Reversing that order is the most expensive and most common mistake.
A starting split
- Technical foundations and site content: the largest share in the early months, then falling.
- Ongoing content production: a constant share across the year.
- Advertising: switched on once the foundations hold, and grown only where data justifies it.
- An unallocated reserve: you need it, because something unexpected always arrives.
The signal to increase ad spend
Not campaign results in themselves, but a cost per useful contact that stays stable while spend grows. If raising the budget immediately raises the cost per contact, the reachable audience is smaller than you thought.
What never to do
Move the whole budget to a channel that worked for one month. One month proves nothing, and closing the others removes the comparison you need to find out.
Advertising doesn't create demand: it intercepts it. With nothing solid behind, it just sends people to an unconvincing page.
Sources and Further Reading
Official documentation and guidelines cited or useful for going deeper.