Archive for the ‘Forum Building’ Category

Amazing “How-To” SEO Videos

Monday, October 29th, 2007

Hey guys….a quick update on the blog. The blog PageRank has now decreased to a PR3, but I do not think that this is much cause to worry just yet as even YouTube seems to be a PR3 at the moment. =).

Secondly, I managed to find some really easy to understand and well crafted Search Engine Optimization Videos on YouTube created by none other than Aaron of SEOBook. I reviewed all the videos and wrote up a blog post showcasing the best videos. You can find that blog post here : Make Money Online

Similarly, if you have hours on end to burn, you should also check out this link : YT Profile.

Also, you guys should check out the following posts:-

The Megalist: 200+ Money Making Forums! SEO, PPC, Affiliate Marketing, and Others!

Secret Way to Get 20++ PR5 & PR6 And Also TONS of PR4 Sites for FREE!

I did not want to post those entire articles here as it would literally overflow the blog page! =). Hope you guys enjoy.

Btw, if you guys want me to write on a particular topic, message me about it and I’ll see what I can rustle up!

Posted in Forum Building, Link Baiting, Search Engine Marketing | No Comments »

TribalFusion Not Embracing Forums (Web 2.0?)

Wednesday, August 8th, 2007

In a drastic move aimed at pleasing big budget advertisers, TribalFusion will begin offering advertisers the choice to block publishers with forums. TribalFusion is one of the largest advertising networks on the web. In an email from the company, account executives are requesting forum owners tag ads in their forums separately from non-forum content. Sites with forums have been identified and will be blocked entirely by larger advertisers beginning August 15, 2007. Only ads with the special tag will still run on forum sites blocked by advertisers.

Is this the end of CPM advertising on user-generated content sites? Will this include web 2.0 sites with user submitted content and comments? TribalFusion cites the unmoderated nature of forums as the reason, however, I highly doubt that’s the case. From an advertisers perspective, forums have notoriously low CTRs. Why not just come out and ask publishers to frequency cap forums. Or to pull sites out of the network with questionable or possibly questionable content.

I think this will have long reaching effects for TribalFusion. They built their reputation on accepting high quality sites, many of which have large forums, and having above average pay outs. Personally, my payouts have slowly declined over the past several months and with this latest change I think it’s time for another company to step up and take the reigns for forum owners. Forums may not be the best place to advertise, but with the right targetting and frequency capping they can provide an excellent ROI for advertisers, especially for branding campaigns.

In the mean time, if I may offer some suggestions for those publishers effected by this change. Now is the best time to step up your in house advertising efforts. Start going after those companies in your niche and show them the value of advertising on a forum. Work out deals with your second tier providers and let them know you’ll be sending more traffic their way. It may be time to sign an exclusive deal with a second tier provider to get a better CPM. And if this is going to completely kill your income, it’s time to start diversifying. You should have done this a long time ago, now you have no choice.

Posted in Forum Building, Industry News, Monetization, Web 2.0 | 4 Comments »

Advertising: A Fine Balance

Wednesday, July 18th, 2007

During ASE (Affiliate Summit East) I spoke with several site owners who were concerned about overwhelming their visitors with advertisements. I think this is probably a question that is asked often: “How much is too much?” At what point do advertisements deter visitors from coming back? The answer really depends on what kind of traffic we’re talking about. Let’s look at a few types of traffic and the typical behavior of those visitors.

Organic
Search Engine traffic typically has a very high bounce rate (70-90% in my experience). It matters very little how many ads are on a page for this type of traffic, in fact, I would encourage you to try to monetize organic traffic in every way possible. Visitors from search engines are usually looking for an answer to a question (unless it’s e-commerce and then you shouldn’t have ads on your site to begin with) and if they arrive at your site, they’ll typically stay for less than a minute and never come back. Why wouldn’t you try to get them to leave your site via an advertisement? Show them large ads (336×280 & 728×90) above the fold and focus on contextual. The more relevant to what they are looking for, the more likely they are to click.

Referral
Visitors arriving from other sites have one of the lowest bounce rates (typically less than 50%) and therefor are much more likely to stick around. This type of traffic should be treated differently than organic traffic and as such should see fewer advertisements. Using basic conditional statements in your forum software, or in whatever language your site is programmed in, you should be able to turn off ads for anyone who didn’t arrive via a search engine. This will improve your bounce rate even more and encourage your referral traffic to register/return.

PPC/Advertising Campaigns
This type of traffic comes from AdWords and other advertising campaigns. It’s a bit of a grey area and you’ll have to experiment with what works best. My personal philosophy is “once and ad clicker, always an ad clicker” so if they clicked an ad to get to your site, you may want to push your call to action (i.e. “Join Today”) up higher, but still have ads in case they want to leave. But you may also want to remove the ads so you don’t risk losing a visitor you paid money for. Bounce rates for PPC campaigns can vary depending on the landing page, so do a little A/B testing and see what works best for your paid traffic. Again, use a simple conditional to show/hide ads for this type of traffic based on the referrer.

Direct/Members
Type-in or bookmark traffic has the lowest bounce rate (usually less than 20%) and should be provided the best experience with the least amount of intrusive ads. This would include registered members and word of mouth traffic. Giving these users the absolute best experience possible is important and will encourage them to return again and again.

You may cut in to your bottom line a little at first, but the end result of improving the overall experience for your visitors will help grow your site and your bottom line. Make sure you are using a good analytics tool (like Google Analytics) to track conversion rates, bounce rates, average depth and length of sessions, and return rate. If you can monitor this data and continuously test you’ll find the perfect balance of advertising for your site.

About the Author
Chris Kenworthy is the owner of MediaGroup1 LLC and Dream.In.Code, a popular programming and web development community. Chris has been earning online since 2001 and recently began consulting with forum and community owners to help monetize and improve their web sites. He received a degree in Web Technology in 2005 and is a certified Google Advertising Professional. For more information and to contact Chris directly, visit his blog at http://www.ackfoo.com

Posted in Forum Building, Monetization | 11 Comments »

Decisions to Purposefully Cut Back

Thursday, June 28th, 2007

One of the issues I happen to be struggling with these days seems to create a cycle of decisions that winds me back in the same place. I’m considering some drastic moves for the simple fact that it might simplify my life. I’m old enough to want simplicity.

Lately I’ve been spending a great deal of my time beating the bushes investigating affiliate opportunities, adding back RON ads to my archives for about 1.00 eCPM (bleh), and applying for specific corporate grants from big companies for my niche for some “wish-projects”.

The financial needs of the site require a stream of revenue. Its that simple.

But as I assess the needs of the business, I am discovering the things I probably should consider doing without at this time.

I currently have offices (and all the utilities and expenses that go with a lease) in a commercial building. A few years ago I moved the office and merchandise warehouse out of my house and into another building. I felt nudged to find a more secure location for my personal protection in my home. And I felt nudged to secure the merchandise in other digs besides my home. I thought it best to separate the two.

And yet now I find I spend way too much time, guaranteeing the revenue required for the added expense.

Is bigger better? I’m not so sure.

I do what I do because I love the topic of my site. I gave up my 8-5 job to do what I do because I wanted out of the hub-bub of a day to day job, tied to a schedule. And now, I’m back in the cycle, working to maintain that which I do not love: an office.

So now to consider how to reconfigure the house square footage in a way that would keep merchandise in a warehouse setting (perhaps a section of the garage) while I go back to officing with a dog on my lap.

Simplify. Simply simplify. Sounds simple.

Posted in Affiliate Marketing, Forum Building, Monetization | 2 Comments »

Taking a Forum $eriously

Friday, June 22nd, 2007

Years ago when I would approach the main online advertising networks, providing my page views and other relevent stats, I would often be offered an advertising CPM price for the forums that was different than the content segments of my sites. Significantly lower.

It was a frustrating time to have a forum online. I shook my head at the silliness of their notion that traffic on the forums was not as valid as traffic on the content pages.

Now, years later, the forums are finally getting their honor among CPM. By some.

Someone, somewhere, has figured out that traffic that hangs out on the forums has a loyalty factor built in. Not just random browsers, clicking in and rapidly clicking out, forum traffic reads on average 9-13 pages per session, increasing the likelihood they will notice the sponsor, place an added value to their services and click to purchase.

I still do not put up with network pricing of their CPM. In fact, the last time I used Burst Media, my CPM was averaging about 50 cents CPM. Yes, you read that right, that’s no typo. I don’t do it.

But I do sell advertising directly to companies. And I do have a non-exclusive contract with a high end advertising agency with a department in my niche. I receive 10.00 – 25 CPM (and with the agency, receive 60% of that) which is significantly better than the 50 cents I received from Burst’s network with random ads that never matched my demographics.

Thankfully, someone takes the traffic of a forum seriously.

Posted in Case Studies, Forum Building, Monetization | 2 Comments »

Only a Forum? Yikes…

Thursday, June 21st, 2007

I was recently asked about the importance of creating a website build around an already successful forum. The concern that was shared had to do with the possibility of the new portal distracting users or taking them away from the community. While I can understand the concern, I feel confident in saying that the upside much outweighs any possible downside. Let me explain…

The advantages of having a portal in addition to your forum are huge. It doesn’t make a difference if your forum is one day old and without members or 2 years old with 25,000 members. We see numerous sites that have superb communities that invest heavily in the build out of content (think IGN, the offering of virtual products or services (think Gaia Online, or other methods to attract viewership.

The benefits are as follows:

  • It provides you with a platform to build content your users will enjoy
  • It will get you in to more CPM networks (higher tier networks)
  • CPC ads perform better on “content” pages, so it will increase earnings
  • Can be a great help in the SEO game when targetting certain keywords with the content
  • It shows the community you are working to “improve” the user experience
  • It separates you from the forum only crowd and provides an increased perceived value
  • It increases the sellability of your site 10 fold at worst

This is a short list, but I think there are even more reasons that you could think of as to how this will benefit your community, your earnings, and the overall health of your site. If you are serious about building something “special”, then don’t wait. Get your “site” in the works now!

Posted in Forum Building | 2 Comments »