How much dose it cost to make a big site like this ?

They monetize mostly with adsense and emails. Designing of site would be around $5k and then you need a VA to post content and then marketing. You need to spend a lot in order to get good ranking..

You should always pick your battles and I can tell you with all sincerity that you can't compete with the sites you mentioned. Don't even try. Find a niche you can exploit, a small corner of the market, one where the big players will never go.

Steve

Either take Steve B's advice, or come-up with a sophisticated, innovative and highly attractive spin on things that none of the others are doing and have some great growth hacks in place to see massive growth.

Or, alternatively, if you're not a growth-hacker naturally and prefer traditional tactics that work for mega-financed businesses, and want to just replicate giant sites by copying everything they do, forget it.

Goes back to the old adage of find your niche that your passionate about and then work from there. 3,000 a month is a lot of money to start off with and you should be able to make inroads with that.

You need to look at the BIG picture, example, Edmunds started out in 1966 so they had at least 30 years of brand building & advertising already established before they even built their website.

So... what's 30 years worth of BIG brand advertising worth?

If you're just talking about the website design.
Normally it would cost like 3k to make with login interface normally they would add in another 2k in.

But if you know how to build it yourself it's basically a website that only cost 200US to make.

And yes I can make myself a website like this under 200US.

Thanks to outsourcing platforms like freelancer.com, it won't cost you too much money to get started.

The problem is, you need to keep revising your site until it has developed into a solid brand AND converts your traffic effectively.

The latter is what WILL cost a lot of money both in direct costs as well as in the form of time.

Remember: time IS money. Opportunity costs can be crushing.

Oh man those where started from small ideas and grew overtime

I've been involved in projects where there has been a major competitor and its hard, very hard and very very expensive. Based on my experience you'll piss away 3k a month and not make a dent in the market let alone turn a profit.

You've got to resolve the chicken and egg dilema. How do you get car sellers to your site if you've no buyers. How will you get buyers if you have no sellers. From my experience you have to throw money at it and then some more money and then more money.

This project I'm involved with is great theres a real need for it and will revolutionise an entire industry, saving companies time and money. 18 months later and three rounds of funding we are still in no where near break even as we try and resolve the chicken and egg equation.

If you are looking at this then maybe start small pick a city or area or go niche is only deal with vw beetles or some other classic car. You'll still struggle but you might have a chance. Still have the same issue though

If you really do have that much money, why not get into a semi-competitve market instead of one you have slim chance of gaining any meaning traction?

Hello,
The problem I see, is you need experience in IM marketing, and all the tools we use, or you will pay to OS and receive nothing, learn this business and then go for it. You will also need lots of real content, with out that, it will not work or rank.
Hope this helps you.

fxstay, with all respect you won't be able to compete because you had to ask how the sites are making their money. Out of all the answers SFNY was the only one who gave you one of the correct ways they are making money. Look at either one's affiliate program and check what they are paying out for - that's where they are making their money. Along with kickbacks from auto-loan companies and I would expect some paid reviews & news posts from manufactures.

Tell me how you are going to convince THOSE monetisation sources to cut YOU in on the game for $3,000?

If you're absolutely heart-set on entering this game, you'd be much better of working with these sites, rather than trying to compete with them. There are so many markets/niches you can weave cars into - Mens Lifestyle: Top 10 Sports Cars of 2016, you could own number 3 on the list for only $x; Women's: Best Family SUV's of 2016; [Car Make/Model] Enthusiasts specific site etc.

Take the advice of Steve B, Underground, yukon; save yourself a fail; and invest that sizeable budget into something that will deliver a real ROI.