Revenue generation discussion

[temi]

Duke's post here http://forums.ukwebmasterworld.com/showthread.php?p=5719#post5719 made me realise we do not have a forum on how to generate revenue from your website so I have created one. Experienced webmasters common, tell us novices how you generate revenue from your website.

 

[Duke]

Thanks again temi, a section like this will really help newbies such as myself understand how to make a site that at least pays for itself.

 

[Win8282]

thnx a bunch man! Now ill get to know how ppl make money from url websites

 

[mcfox]

Sell a product or products you make or buy for resale.
Sell other people's products for a commission
Adsense

 

[KlaasKoopman]

sell links on your site or advertising space
sell memberships for your site

 

[Duke]

Selling links on your site only works if you have enough traffic where the links will be seen. The problem with tips like this is they don't do much to help the new guy on the block. The same goes for selling memberships.

 

[temi]

Ken,
Link sale is not based on the number of traffic but the PR of the page the link is placed and the hnumber of pages, it also help if the link is on searc engine friendly pages.

My text link sales site will hopefully be online in a month or so, memebers of this forum can sell links via the site commision free.

 

[Duke]

I'm not sure I've ever understood that mindset to be completely honest. I'm glad that I've reached PR 6 on Lifesupporters but I'd gladly trade it for 100,000 members all paying me 100 bux per year.

What I'm saying is that I'd prefer to purchase a text link that drove traffic to my site, I'll get my PR the old fashioned way, spending countless hours finding like minded sites and trading links with them.

 

[KlaasKoopman]

Well actually it depends on the site, so depends on traffic AND pr.

I've sold links on 25 sites I had, so people would get 25 new inbound links for $1 per site, so I made $25 for the total of the sites. I had 5 advertisers, so I made $125 a month. So it is possible, but not easy to sell without having pr and much traffic.

Most webmasters know that you can sell links on your site if you got a high PR. Because a lot of people think that a high pr is thesame as having lots of traffic. Therefor webmasters buy links at HIGH PR sites to increase their own, so they can sell for more $$.

But most webmasters tend to buy links at high traffic sites, to increase their traffic aswell!

Hope this makes sense to all of you!

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Making money from your site

The way that I have made money on our sites is to proactively get advertisers on there. I am a bit of an oddball in as much as I come from a sales/marketing/advertising background, and as such I come up with concepts for sites based on potential revenue stream and maximum exposure for the client.

There are many directories springing up on the web. Many of them are large sprawling directories which because of their wide appeal , will fail to produce a good user experience. How many empty categories will you visit before leaving?

We have sold portal directories, and in fact will be launching quite a few this year as we move back into web publishing again. To many people approach making money on the web from the wrong angle THEM. People approach the web often with one sole intention, and that is to make money for themselves (which I have to say there is nothing wrong with in principle). The problem is that this flies in the face of marketing, and will be doomed to failure from the start. Take a look at the sites that make it, and they will all have one thing in common, Appeal. They ALL appeal to the user and deliver up a positive experience.

The web should be compared to a newspaper shop with sites being a newspaper or magazine, it is no different really. How often have you bought the newly promoted magazine only to be disappointed with the content and quality, never to buy again? It is no different with websites, one initial negative experience with your site and they will never knowingly click through to you again.

We tend to build the portals niche, and build them gradually, making sure that they grow slowly and with quality. EG. we do NOT put in place hundreds of categories only for them to be empty. What we do is start with a core section, and then as we are growing we open up new categories, safe in the knowledge that when those categories start showing up in the SERP's the visitor will get what they are expecting.

We go down the route of making it free for everyone, and draw our money from section sponsors. e.g in a wedding directory there might be 20 florists in one geographical area. These florists will ALL be included free of charge, but on a first come first served basis there is an opportunity to be the main sponsor for that area. As in the film Highlander, there can be only one it truly is first come first served, and you can bet your backside that those who are not the sponsor will be emailing you asking to be considered.

Many say that this system is flawed, and almost everyone that I explain our model to says the same thing " why not just charge everyone"? That is the reason most portal directories fail. you NEED comprehensive content for a web resource to work, without it you are just another wannabe site. We charge monthly by direct bank payment, as this makes it easy for the client to say yes, we make sure the payments are a sensible amount, often as low as £20 a month. We also make sure that the portals appear at or near the top for the chosen keyword phrases, which helps to sell it when you can show the potential client this fact.

As the site develops we get more and more enquiries from potential advertisiers and sponsors which allow us to raise the rates for advertising. This is a simple business model that is based around some key factors.

Niche market visitors will be very interested and response will be high
Geographical basis - making it expandable or franchisable as it spreads
comprehensive content - people will bookmark good resources, and also email others to let them know about the resource
Good Search engine visibility - this will reinforce the quality and make it easy to sell the sponsorship.
very affordable rates - people do not cancel small monthly payments, nor do they hardly review them in their ad spend so cancellations are minimal.
free inclusion - this creates an almost endless supply of potential advertisers
Exclusivity - of the sponsorship opportunity making it a valuable asset.

This is probably not the stuff you were looking for as it does not include passive revenue streams, but if you create a directory with 10 main categories, each with 10 sub cats on a product/geographical basis, then you end up with 100 sponsors.
100 x £20 = £2000 per month each month for ever. we will be launching 9 niche portal directories over the next 18months/2 years.

You also get an emailing list of businesses with which to market your monthly products of loans telephones etc.

 

[temi]

First of all Klaas, welcome to UK webmaster world, do you still have link spot on your 25 sites? Iwill lke to buy links on all sites. You can PM me with details if you like.

 

[temi]

You also get an emailing list of businesses with which to market your monthly products of loans telephones etc.

This is a very informative post OWG, to stop it getting burried in follow post I will copy it and turn it to a sticky.

 

[Paul_KY]

My advice would be, write ad copy, which lets the user sell themselves, rather than be sold. Let it be their idea to buy/signup.

 

[KlaasKoopman]

First of all Klaas, welcome to UK webmaster world, do you still have link spot on your 25 sites? Iwill lke to buy links on all sites. You can PM me with details if you like.

Nah sorry all of those sites aren't online anymore. I had some problems with my host, he just went off and never said a thing anymore, thus my sites were gone aswell. ( didn't have a backup STUPID ME )

Though I do have some great pr sites you can have a link on every page kkportfolio.net, webmasterspalace.com, cityofsolution.com, dsigncenter.com and a few more ( in total 10 sites, a few pr 4 and pr 3 the rest pr 0, but will be good for your pr )( for $40 a month you can have a link on them all if you want )( or just a selection of them, just contact me on klaas_koopman1@hotmail.com.

And I totally agree with OWG, do not start a site to make money ( or atleast do not handle towards it ) just make a site you want to let people know about. Then put the content in, then advertise it, and as soon as you got many hits and stuff, then you could think about making money!

 

[Paul_KY]

There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Some prefer content first, money later, and vise versa. I've seen both methods work successfully.

 

[KlaasKoopman]

Sure there are always people that do become succesfull, but it's better IMO to start with ur site just for the site, not for the cash.

 

[Paul_KY]

Again, there are ways to earn money with your websites, as their are opinions.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Yep. Maybe I kind of didn't make myself clear As was demonstrated by the simple bit of maths at the end of my post, my proposed sites are there to make money, and make no doubt about it. I do however have some sites that I run for fun. My rugby forum is very busy, and I have been offered a few grand to run ads on it, but have declined the offer. It is my bolt hole away from the world of business, so if I sold ads it wouldn't feel the same.

What I meant with the comment, don't set out purely with a view to make money, was that often people over look WHY people should use their site. You should when developing ANY business, have clearly set goals for the various elements of success. Online that is new visitors, repeat visitors, overall traffic (after bots removed) enquiries to advertisers (it is YOUR job to ensure your advertisers get a response). And of course, revenue.

What I was saying is that if you are purely focused on the earnings of the site, you are chasing the wrong metric, and the others will suffer. This is not just Internet stuff, this is the basics of any business. You identify the elements needed for success, then set estimates for measurement, then constantly review them. The money normally follows along behind, at a steady stream, then it will hit a point where the snowball gathers pace and everything takes off at once.

As Paul said, there are many ways to earn money on a website. This is just my preferred method, one that suits my skills.

<edited to remove multiple typos >

 

[Paul_KY]

Well put, OWG.

 

[KlaasKoopman]

owg are you like a very smart man? if not, you are great at sounding like one! great post! Ever thought of writing articles?