SEM Tycoon

**chernann** · 08-03-2007, 09:49 AM

I run a very niche site that caters to hobbyists. I get about 8k uniques per day according to Google Analytics, and 80k absolute uniques per month (which eliminates false positives from bots and spiders). The site is entirely customized to work just the way I like it, and I've learned quite a bit of php and mysql over the years to polish it up.

Not counting normal mail order revenue, the site grosses about $3k per month through a variety of methods, including subscriptions, paid advertising, the ebay affiliate program and download sales. Adsense is only worth about $100 a month.

Comparing it to other "big" sites in my category, it ranks favorably on Alexa at around 70k.

I'm thinking of putting together more downloadable content for sale like videos etc which would increase revenue substantially.

I'm just wondering if there's another way of monetizing the site that I'm missing... or if this is at good as it gets in this particular niche because I've done everything? Click on my user name and visit my homepage (site link in my sig)

**Fredto** · 08-03-2007, 11:46 AM

First I must tell you that you're my new best friend.

As for monetizing, vids are a great idea, if you could make (or buy, whatever) some kind of video tutorial on how to paint, maybe make a DVD out of it, it might be a good idea.

Apart from that, maybe a book, or ebook, on how to paint, a contest (if you don't run some already, and maybe things like IntelliText or Kontera.

**john546** · 08-04-2007, 12:46 AM

If you are only making around $100 a month from Adsense, then I would take that off your site and try something else like Kontera maybe.

CPA Networks may be another solution, but not 100% sure if there are offers for your niche or not in some of them.

**Dumi** · 08-04-2007, 11:09 AM

Yeah I would def take down adsense your just losing potential customers. Also maybe invest in a new design, the site to me is very hard to navigate. Other than that very nice work!

**fz22gq** · 08-05-2007, 05:44 AM

Nice Niche ... site is very hard on the eye to me though ... soften it up would be my suggestion. Other than that well done mate.

**john546** · 08-05-2007, 06:45 AM

I've just looked at the site and it does seem well over crowded. People had said the site in my sig is a little over crowded, but compared to yours, it looks rather bare, lol.

Good luck anyway.

**chernann** · 08-06-2007, 10:27 PM

I might give Kontera a spin, thanks for the tip.

Well, a $100 is a $100, the link unit doesn't really turn people off I think. I'll probably retool the site a bit to hide some of the menus and options to be enabled for more familiar users.

**Frito Pie** · 08-07-2007, 12:19 AM

I just took a peek and the dark background is very hard on my eyes. I also couldn't find any adsense and think you are missing the great opportunity of much more revenue via adsense because of your placement. (Where are your adsense ads?)

To me the pages were crowded and I had no clue where to look first in my first visit.

My site gets approximately the same traffic as you (even less unique per day than you) and I make between 4K-6K per month with adsense. I also run Kontera on content pages with two ad networks. All together yielding over 1K per month.

I don't think you have topped out the possibility of more revenue. I'd strongly suggest a skin overhaul with the intention to add adsense in better placement.

**chernann** · 08-07-2007, 10:48 AM

The PPC in my niche is typically around the $0.10 to $0.20 range, so it's not exactly a huge amount. The adsense is in a link unit on all of the internal pages, not on the front page itself (which effectively has a load of inward links).

Typically users stay for about 10 minutes and hit about 15 pages before leaving. I'm thinking of pushing direct ad customers more heavily by making the links to the advertising info pages more obvious.

The default scheme of black is something I've been experimenting with off and on, it helps images pop more, but I've changed the default theme to a white background style (which looks a bit like this forum, come to think of it). If you don't mind, please have a look and let me know if that's still hard on the eyes... could be the amount of text and the font size.

Perhaps I'll drop the shoutbox as well since it doesn't seem to add much value.

**MrCat** · 08-10-2007, 05:06 PM

Great site and nice traffic! Not that hard to monetize it. You just need to choose the right marketing scheme that would work best for you!

PPC is indeed a great way to earn from it. Patience is always a virtue here in our industry.