SEM Tycoon

**nightlifemike** · 11-14-2006, 02:27 PM

Hi...my name is Mike and I'm completely new to Earners Forum. Looking through some of the topics couldn't really find what I'd like to know.

I own a skateboard videography/ post production resource forum. It's been operating almost 3 years now. About a year ago I placed Adsense ads on the forums as well as other ads from other networks. Nothing really has yielded any money. A $15 day with Adsense is a good day right now, but I know the potential to make more money is very, very real.

I'm asking for some help. Any help/suggestions will greatly be appreciated.

SkatePerception Forums - forums.skateperception.com

**imported_Henry** · 11-14-2006, 03:15 PM

Think outside the box.

For starters I suggest promoting CPA offers in social networking sites.

**jchen** · 11-14-2006, 06:01 PM

15 dollars a day, i wish i earned that much

**nightlifemike** · 11-14-2006, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jchen

15 dollars a day, i wish i earned that much

I'm getting 4.2 million pageviews/month. So I know there's room for growth for how much I'm getting paid.

**getxposed** · 11-15-2006, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nightlifemike

Hi...my name is Mike and I'm completely new to Earners Forum. Looking through some of the topics couldn't really find what I'd like to know.

I own a skateboard videography/ post production resource forum. It's been operating almost 3 years now. About a year ago I placed Adsense ads on the forums as well as other ads from other networks. Nothing really has yielded any money. A $15 day with Adsense is a good day right now, but I know the potential to make more money is very, very real.

I'm asking for some help. Any help/suggestions will greatly be appreciated.

SkatePerception Forums - forums.skateperception.com

Hey Mike,

You should create mini niche sites related to skateboarding. Mini sites are like satellite stores which of course leads to your bigger store (forum) which in turn creates more traffic. Traffic=cash. But then again your mini sites would be mainly content on skateboarding and related things. Don't forget to check for skate related products that you can sell as an affiliate to put on these sites as well.

Oh since you're at an early stage with Adsense and starting to show movement get protected now before someone decides to mess with your adsense by "click frauds" which can get your account shut down WITHOUT notice.

There is a topic related to this in this forum-just look for it.

good luck!

**nightlifemike** · 11-15-2006, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by getxposed

Hey Mike,

You should create mini niche sites related to skateboarding. Mini sites are like satellite stores which of course leads to your bigger store (forum) which in turn creates more traffic. Traffic=cash. But then again your mini sites would be mainly content on skateboarding and related things. Don't forget to check for skate related products that you can sell as an affiliate to put on these sites as well.

Oh since you're at an early stage with Adsense and starting to show movement get protected now before someone decides to mess with your adsense by "click frauds" which can get your account shut down WITHOUT notice.

There is a topic related to this in this forum-just look for it.

good luck!

Thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to look into protecting myself from click fraud.

As far as the mini stores go...I have a couple in the works. My mom is a very successful web designer who makes most of her money through advertising and publishing. She had already set me on that path. I guess great minds think alike , huh xposed? .

**johniman7** · 11-15-2006, 08:33 PM

Hey. You are doing very good for starting out. Like someone else said, I wish I was making $15 a day. I would suggest looking into affiliate programs with skateboarding companies if they have them where you would get a commision on sales through your links. CPM ads may be good too in the forums. Adsense is so-so but usually not suggested for forums. So if you are doing $15 a day with adsense you could probable do very well with other forms of monetization. Good luck, John.

**beachbumis** · 11-16-2006, 11:22 PM

$15 seems low for that volume of traffic. As mentioned about you might want to try some other offers or CPM's.

Michael

**imported_WillB** · 11-17-2006, 05:30 PM

How about affiliating with video camera manufacturers or video
editing software providers? Not to mention physical skateboard
products and clothing. There must be a half decent dropshipper
out there that will do most of the work for you.

There are big lists of dropshipping companies on eBay you can
get for a few cents. Most are probably junk, but it only costs a
few cents to find out.

**nightlifemike** · 11-18-2006, 10:15 AM

I've tried some CPM ads before, but I hate only making 40% of the money and most of the rates weren't what I had expected. My goal is for that place to at least pull $1k a month and let it grow to more. At the moment I'm looking at trying to sell some ad space to a skateboard mailorder company for the holiday seasons. I'll let you guys know how that turns out.

Selling ad space to willing buyers is nice. About a year ago I sold the top banner spot on the forums for $1500 a month for 3 months. That was a nice chunk of cash in my pocket, but it's not consistent. Anyone have any pointers on trying to sell ad spots to other companies?

**nightlifemike** · 11-20-2006, 11:30 AM

wow...just noticed that my forums are listed on big-boards.com. #1180. I guess that's good...right?

rankings.big-boards.com/?p=all

**johnnyforms** · 11-20-2006, 12:53 PM

Heh Mike looks like you've built a good community there. I'm no expert on forums but there are a few here who are so hopefully they'll give you some good advice.

I'd say you've got a lot of revenue growth potential with your current level of traffic, another forum owner stated earnings of 3cents per unique visitor a day, I'm not sure what your daily uniques are but you should aim for that 3cents as it's possible and this should put you way above your 1k target.

I think firstly I'd stick with your current ads and just look at better ways to optimise these through better placement and integration througout the site. I've seen a few good threads on this already.

Once you believe you've got this working as well as possible then look at additional ways to improve this by tweaking the ads for what works best in your market and taking on new ads or any other revenue ideas you can come up with.

I don't think you have to necessarily market things related to the forum, if you have a good understanding of the demographic you can look at the products that they're most likely to be interested in.

Good luck

Johnny

**nightlifemike** · 11-20-2006, 07:46 PM

I was thinking of doing an Amazon aStore for the holidays. Just started playing around with an aStore and they're fairly quick and easy to set up. Figured since Christmas is coming it could be a smart move to put the aStore up for a little while.

Any one have any comments on aStores or whether or not it would be worth it on my forum?