SEM Tycoon

**nocturnix** · 07-29-2006, 03:29 AM

Necrotalk.com Monetization Experiment

So I figured this could be a good experiment/learning exercise for the users here at earnersforum. I've run this forum website for about 3 or 4 years now origionally for fun. Ive never posted ads, the only monetization ive done is dropping a "donation" button in the header.

Well anyways, I'm currently revamping the forums and updating the software. I figure its about time I start seeing if I cant make a little coin off the traffic. My members are all pretty loyal and cool so I dont think theyd mind too much as long as I dont spam the hell out of them with ads.

Other than the standard one of my ideas is some t-shirt designs on cafepress or spreadshirt. Ive got a couple of really nifty concepts I think the members will love. And suprisingly they are willing to spend/donate money so I think this could earn me maybe 20-40 bucks a month possibly.

As for traffic here are my stats:

Alexa Data

Forum Members: ~4,800

So let me know if you guys like this idea. I know I would definately read a guide/experiment like this to see how it goes and what was done. Could be quite interesting and valuable.

**007** · 07-29-2006, 03:56 AM

Even a 728x90 text ad spot towards the top of each page could be enough to work out nicely for you. You have to remember that for the most part, members are not the ones who will click ads. That's why many sites don't even display ads for logged in members. 90% of your clicks will come from guests, and the rest will come from members who actually thought an ad looked interesting, or a member who accidentally clicked an ad.

**Awakened-Soulja** · 07-29-2006, 04:36 AM

Nice Results! I know i would put up a small ad somewhere on the site.

**Tran** · 07-29-2006, 05:06 AM

An adsense/ypn code for a 728x90 wouldn't be bad and maybe teh code to place an ad after the first post?

**nocturnix** · 07-29-2006, 12:30 PM

Ok some good advice already. I hadnt thought about the fact that its not going to be my users clicking.

So I want to get some YPN ads, but so far ive gotten this email:

Quote:

Dear malcolm,

Thank you for applying for the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta program. It is currently in beta and we are accepting a very limited number of new publishers, but we will let you know when we launch to the general public or if we are able to invite you to join the beta before then. To maximize your chances for approval, please make sure:
You have a valid U.S. Social Security or Tax ID number, and web site content that is predominately in English and targeted at a U.S. user base.

Your site provides a good user experience. Please see our complete list of guidelines for a positive user experience here:
https://publisher.yahoo.com/legal/prog_policy.php.

Your site does not contain problematic content. Please see our guidelines for displaying our ad results here:
https://publisher.yahoo.com/legal/prog_policy.php.

Thanks again for your interest. We look forward to welcoming you into our program when it is open to the public.

Sincerely,

The Yahoo! Publisher Network Team

I assume thats a rejection right? Is there anything else I can do?

**DronDron** · 07-29-2006, 04:34 PM

Why not use AdSense

**nocturnix** · 07-29-2006, 06:29 PM

well thats probably what im going to be doing now. I just heard YPN has better payout at the moment.

**njoker555** · 07-29-2006, 06:44 PM

i got the same letter from YPN, and i love those stats, 6000+ unique visitors a month, i've come close to a 1000 once, but never had 4 digit uniques

**Jack.** · 07-30-2006, 04:18 AM

wow! those are great stats. Id sticksome ads somewhere on your site, possibly near the top...

TH · 07-30-2006, 04:22 AM

big banner on top of each page and between topics and posts, adsense, like on namepros

Tom

**Payton** · 07-30-2006, 05:31 AM

Apply to the cpm networks like Tribal Fusion and Casale immediately. You should be making $X,XXX/mo with that traffic

**Tran** · 07-30-2006, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by malcolmlo

Ok some good advice already. I hadnt thought about the fact that its not going to be my users clicking.

So I want to get some YPN ads, but so far ive gotten this email:

I assume thats a rejection right? Is there anything else I can do?

Yeah.. thats a rejection

**rouseindahouse** · 07-30-2006, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Apply to the cpm networks like Tribal Fusion and Casale immediately. You should be making $X,XXX/mo with that traffic

If those were daily figures then yes, but those are monthly. Plus, it's quite hard as a small forum to get the big cpm networks to accept you.

**Payton** · 07-30-2006, 11:52 AM

Oops, thought those were daily, doh

**AdJungleBrad** · 07-30-2006, 04:58 PM

You can put ads at the top and/or bottom, and sometimes along the sides vertically without annoying visitors. Look at this site. The top ad is not bad, and there is even room for a 468 banner at the bottom that would fit into the white space right below this box where I'm typing.

Check out the various ad networks (Advertising.com, CasaleMedia, ValueClickMedia, RightMedia, and the rest), as well as Affiliate and CPA networks. You can hand pick offers that match your audience and see how that works.

To maximize your earnings, you will want to sell sponsorships (or CPM ads) to advertisers. You say you have loyal readers, and this si something advertisers value. Use a script like phpAdsNew if you are technical. If not, see my signature.

**bmelton** · 07-30-2006, 09:53 PM

Very interesting. I'm getting a little better than 1k uniques per day on one of my forums. Adsense revenue gets me about a buck per day. Should I be applying for casale or something? I just assumed I'd be getting like, $0.25 CPM or something with the CPM advertisers. Has that changed?

**rouseindahouse** · 07-31-2006, 05:37 AM

I doubt they'd accept you to be honest. casale didn't accept me with my traffic levels, which are considerably higher and my site isn't even totally a forum. Valueclick accepted me and I gave them a shot but I only ended up with about $0.45 cpm, which wasn't an improvement at all.

Saying that, with 1000 uniques, you should really be making more than a dollar a day, although it does really depend on what that translates to in impressions.

**bmelton** · 07-31-2006, 05:11 PM

Yeah. I'm in the process of redesigning the site's layout. Switching everything from phpBB2 to SMF, building new templates, and adding a ton of extra features and content. Come end of August, it will no longer be just a forum site, and should be more of a hub than a forum. I've basically been sitting on the site for three years or so, and it's just been growing and growing, but it needs a ton of work. Ads aren't blended, server lags (it's outgrown shared hosting, at least on Dreamhost), and the layouts are archaic. It's all changing soon though.

Thanks.

**sitedesigner** · 07-31-2006, 07:22 PM

i think that if you follow some of the advice you'll get, you will probably get more than $40 / month, in all honesty.

-Matthew

**GotZipInc** · 08-01-2006, 12:33 PM

You could create a new table inbetween the Pub and the board statistics and match up a 336x280 Adsense unit to look like another group of forum threads.

Just use the forum CSS to create the table and have a skull to the left of each adsense ad.. Because of your current font size it might blend in pretty well.

You could even set it up so that the Adsense Unit was on the left side and the Board Statistics were on the right side of the table.

New visitors are always drawn to the board statistics and it won't bother your current visitors who are less apt to click anyways..

But to be honest Adsense doesn't usually do to well on forums, but you never know.

Are you an Amazon affiliate? Amazon has over 4,387 results for Necromancer. I'd start running Amazon ads with the keyword: necromancer above the fold too.

I'd also join Gaming Affiliate programs.. GameZone has an affiliate program and a number of necromancer titles.

Vampfangs.com offers custom necromancer contact lenses and they have an affiliate program.

In other words, goto Google, look up Necromancer affiliate, and you'll come up with a number of products to market to your niche and earn commissions on.

You can promote these relationships via posts, ads, sig lines etc..