A friend of mine proposed I start a blog and he be the web developer. What's a reasonable split for profits?

I have no idea how much time it takes to write a blog versus creating, maintaining, and editing it (keeping up with and implementing the latest developments in internet technology and the blogosphere). My friend says he has 10 years of experience with web development and could provide all of the "internet marketing, e-commerce, blogging, search engine optimization, web application development, social networking, social media optimization, graphic design, interface design, copywriting, etc." He proposed splitting the profits from ads, affiliate links, etc. 50/50 and letting me keep 100% of the profits I get from referrals for my private counseling business, but 50/50 feels too high. What do you think is a reasonable percentage split of profits? Would you recommend splitting profits, or having some other business model (flat fee, hourly pay, etc.)? And any suggestions on how to fashion a prearranged buyout agreement in case we decide to split ways in the future so I can retain the site?

It's cute that you think you're going to make money from your blog.

I wouldn't expect to make much. If you do, more power to you.

If you can do all of what you described, than you don't need a designer/marketing consultant. If you cannot do what you described and expect to make money, you'll need to pay him. He sounds like he knows what he is talking about. Whether or not he really does is another issue, but he talks a good game.

You can either split profits or pay him per hour. You're better off splitting profits because if he spends 20 hours working on it and you agree to pay him at a rate of $50 per hour (reasonable) and your site makes no money, you wasted $1000. Splitting profits ensures that you both are motivated to the success of the project.

Furthermore, it always makes me laugh when someone recommends downloading a free "custom" template. Um, its only custom if it is designed to meet your specific needs. That is the point of custom....to customize it to your needs.

Good Luck!

Depends. If you're smart and use WordPress for the back-end the actual "development" time is 5 minutes. You could do it yourself.

If you want a custom theme there are thousands of really good ones scattered over the net. Check out:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/

It has loads of good ones listed as well as plugins and tutorials.

If you build 100% from scratch it can take you weeks to get it right. Just go with WordPress. Maintenance... Well that's done by WordPress anyway. Unless you want to do something special. And even then there are loads of addons and plugins for WordPress that make it all easy.

As for profits, there are two ways to do it. Either take him on as a partner or pay him the rate as a freelancer. Freelancers make anywhere from $15-$70 an hour depending on what they're doing.