Hi there!

I own a medium sized forum about the video game Fable 2, it's fairly active with 739 members and just over 45,000 posts.

I don't really want to start making hundreds off of this site but it would be nice to cover the hosting costs and be able to pay for some new features to the site etc. Also Google Ads / Yahoo Publisher or any banner contextual ads like that are out, I don't want them cluttering up the forum. I'm looking for something that would go to my paypal account perferably.

I've thought about selling text ads, has anyone had success doing that? Did you use a service or did you try to find advertisers directly?

What about paid subscriptions? My concern here is that the community is mostly in the 15 - 25 range, so many of them wouldn't be able to pay for it.

Has anyone had any luck selling merchandise from CafePress or the likes?

What other options are there?

I run a site where a good majority of the members are under 25 also. Around 750 members and 170,000 posts. With that said, my niche also revolves around a hobby, so the members are the types that will spend money. I have tried to offer merchandise through cafepress, but it was a bust. About 2 months go I tried to integrate ads via google's adsense, and while I'm still tweeking the ads and trying different locations and colors and what not, I'm bringing in about half my server costs so it's not so bad.

I have not tried paid subscriptions, nor do I plan too. I don't feel that it will be succesfull because there are many other similar sites out there which are free.

I am currently trying out the ebay affiliate program, but it's soon to tell if it's working out for me. My next step is to work out a way to make money of the very successfull marketplace area on my site.

I wouldn't go with Cafe Press, but might consider printing your own shirts (cost of $5-$7 a piece) and then selling them for $15 or so. That is much more profitable than Cafe Press's program.

I also might consider some CPM ads, but what is your traffic like?

About ~12,500 pageviews a day.

Well, at $.50 eCPM you could be looking at $200 a month. I would apply at Burst Media, CPX Interactive, and Tribal Fusion. See which of them approve you and begin testing.

A CPM of $.50 seems a little high though, can I really expect to make that on average?

I think it is possible yes.

there are other forums you can hang out in and advertise to people to do tests or banner ads test on your site for half price, first go and have a look at what others are charging and then do a half price or two for one deal and let us know how you go.

Should I apply to Burst Direct or just The Burst Network?

there are other forums you can hang out in and advertise to people to do tests or banner ads test on your site for half price, first go and have a look at what others are charging and then do a half price or two for one deal and let us know how you go.

What other forums?

Originally Posted by Lee

Well, at $.50 eCPM you could be looking at $200 a month. I would apply at Burst Media, CPX Interactive, and Tribal Fusion. See which of them approve you and begin testing.

Do such companies have some ads that produce pop-ups to your visitors?

You could always try in-line ads in the forum posts.

I would be happy to set up an account for you at Thundertext

Chees,
Stas

check out other forums similar to yours see how they are making their money... also maybe look into auction ads...

I think it's only possible if you have more than 1 banner ad per page. If you do use more then make sure you read each networks TOS in which you got accepted into.

Seems you have a very solid community there, 700+++ and over 45,000 posts. Have you considered banner sponsorship? This could work for your forum.

IMO, you should try getting more members so that it would be easier to get potential advertisers on your site. If you get more targetted traffic/members to your site, it would be easier to diversify your revenue-earning campaign

in line ads will work great but the most important thing to do is you have a list of people and that is the most precious thing you can have look after your members and offer them some great stuff and try offering discounts on stuff on things that relate to your niche, just one way to monetize.