Content & Writing Tycoon

**914turboford** · 09-12-2006, 09:25 AM

I have an idea for an automotive bulletin board. To my knowledge, there is nothing like it on the web and there is a demand for it. How much can one earn with a successful automotive bulletin board? Is there a general rule of thumb as to how the number of hits translates to ad (banner and other) revenue?
Brian

**D.J.** · 09-12-2006, 09:34 AM

Do you mean like a forum? Because there´s the gigantic AutomotiveForums.com.

**imported_illusion** · 09-12-2006, 09:34 AM

I am by no means a forum or automotice niche expert, but I can tell you BamaStangGuy is one

He owns Mustang Evolution, might want to PM him your questions, or wait for him to reply to this thread

**MK3Design** · 09-12-2006, 04:16 PM

They must make a ton of money. I just opened mine at http://www.AWDForums.com I get about $1 a click w/adsense. So I get $2-6 a day from it, you could imagine what the sites get when they have 5,000+ Uniques a day

**914turboford** · 09-12-2006, 05:05 PM

MK3, I like the AWD forum. I'll probably join as I drive what I think is the world's only AWD first generation (1974) Honda Civic.
How does adsense work?
Brian

**mikem79** · 09-12-2006, 05:24 PM

Content is king when it comes to automotive sites. Where have you heard that before?

In my case, the forum and the content as mirror images of each other. The forum gets many more page views (mostly from the obsessed / ad blind "regulars") but has a low CTR. The content pages get fewer views, but can get CTRs in excess of 10%.

You can still make money from the forum, but you need multiple revenue streams: selling club t shirts, key chains, and premium memberships, and so forth.

**914turboford** · 09-12-2006, 05:33 PM

What does CTR mean? Does content mean something that is paid for by the subscriber, like a paid article download?

**Bookworm-SEO** · 09-12-2006, 07:21 PM

I spoke to a friend in the domaining community who told me any domain with wheels makes dough. so there you have it. don't even need a forum!

**mikem79** · 09-12-2006, 11:45 PM

CTR = Click Through Rate

For example, if you have a page that has Google Adsense on it and that page is viewed 100 times and generates 5 clicks then the CTR for that page for that time period is 5%.

**914turboford** · 09-13-2006, 03:21 PM

To start a website with the level of sophistication of, say, d-series.org, what is needed? Would someone that is a bit low on skills but has a lot of determination be able to do it? Or should I hire someone?
Brian

**mikem79** · 09-13-2006, 07:03 PM

That site uses a VBulletin message board with the vbadvanced content managment system as the home page. To a beginner it may look sophisticated, to an experienced guy that setup is quite simple.

VBulletin is a commercial product and is fairly well documented and well supported. There are many forums around devoted to discussing VBulletin itself. VB is a fine product. It is very configurable, so it can be used in a variety of ways depending on the sophistication and desire of the webmaster.

**914turboford** · 09-14-2006, 09:51 AM

Mikem, many thanks to you. Are you your own webmaster? In your estimation, is the site owner usually the webmaster for sites like d-series.org?
Brian

**Chris 96 WS6** · 09-27-2006, 11:41 AM

A couple things I have learned from hosting automotive forums and from emulating the big ones like LS1tech.com

1. Niche Niche Niche. You have to find a unique angle, something to draw members

2. Very few affiliate programs have good ads targeted to auto enthusiasts. For a general auto site you may be fine, but for something serious about automotive performance...aka a gearhead site, your best revenue will be directly contacting businesses to become sponsors.

3. I agree with the statement about ad-blind regulars. You also have to be sensitive to over-loading people with ads that get in the way of the content. Put ads in visible areas but I discourage putting ads in-line with posts except for maybe guests.

4. Vbulletin!!! probably 90% of the successful forums run Vbulletin.

**Surfiro** · 10-03-2006, 05:21 AM

hmmm... how about phpBB, read some reviews, apparently it seems quite good.

**D.J.** · 10-03-2006, 05:28 AM

It´s nowhere near vB. Although phpbb3 looka very promising ...

**gravlguts** · 10-12-2006, 08:19 PM

my automotive blog thegarageblog.com earns more than 2 automotive forums that my it partner owns and they receive roughly 5 times the traffic.

our observation has been that regular forum visitors seem to ignore the ads after a while, while new visitors to the garage tend to click out through adsense.

**Will.Spencer** · 10-17-2006, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gravlguts

our observation has been that regular forum visitors seem to ignore the ads after a while, while new visitors to the garage tend to click out through adsense.

That is the same pattern I saw on my forums, so I set the AdSense blocks only to display to guests. Once a visitor logs in, the AdSense suddenly disappears.

The dip in revenue was barely noticeable.

I don't get revenue directly from forum members, but I do get content. And content eventually leads to revenue.

**the_host** · 10-23-2006, 10:31 PM

Personally I don't focus too much on monetizing forums through banner ads or adsense or anything like that.
A believe a subscription/private area model is more effective, as well as sponser advertisements (monthly fees).

Especially with an auto forum, a fantastic way to make money is to have sponsers like parts companies advertise on your site. They can offer special deals to forum members. if you have a large member base, this can result in a huge amount of sales for the company, and they would be happy to pay you to advertise on your forum as they are exposed directly to their target market.

**NBF** · 10-23-2006, 11:12 PM

You need to get creative with forums. Sure, you can do CPM stuff because pageviews are generally higher from all the clicking around, but the real money comes from other things like subscriptions and affiliate partnerships with related sites. You need to build relationships with those in your field and make those relationships profitable for both parties.

Oh wait... that's just like a 'real' business... It's always about who you know and how much you can hook them up.

**BamaStangGuy** · 10-24-2006, 05:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NBF

You need to get creative with forums. Sure, you can do CPM stuff because pageviews are generally higher from all the clicking around, but the real money comes from other things like subscriptions and affiliate partnerships with related sites. You need to build relationships with those in your field and make those relationships profitable for both parties.

Oh wait... that's just like a 'real' business... It's always about who you know and how much you can hook them up.

Very good advice and something that I am working on doing right now