Archive for the ‘Case Studies’ Category
Frito Pie
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 Forum Building, Case Studies, Monetization | 2 Comments »
Frito Pie
I earn money in various ways through my website. Members upgrade membership for added benefits. Advertising campaigns through direct sell or advertising agencies. Google Adsense. Direct product marketing through a niche ecommerce store. All good ways to diversify the income stream for an online community.
However, the missing element in my package of revenue producers is affiliate marketing on a consistent basis.
Its not for lack of trying. For years I’ve tried various offers from CJ. For a number of years I’ve tried Azoogle and a few others, trying to find the product or the service that would fit this particular website. It just hasn’t happened.
Products that I would think would be a fit are of little interest to my traffic. Or offers I’ve found that might fit, have a bit of snake-oil-ness to the offer and I simply have a personal ethics issue that turns those down.
The visitors and members of my site are shoppers. They are simply not interested in unrelated items to this particular niche. Apparently when my members/visitors come to the site, they are thinking in terms of our topic only. Thus, general offers for our demographic don’t seem to work. The product must be spot on.
Once I found a terrific offer through advertising.com. I applied to the program and was accepted. For over 1 year we experienced the only successful affiliate offer program in the many years we’ve been online. And then the offer stopped. I have found nothing to take it’s place.
Until recently.
I visited Linkshare, signed up and browsed their offers. I found 4 offers that fit our niche rather well. Upstanding companies with excellent products, I applied to all four.
I was turned down by all four.
The automated email said this:
We regret to inform you that has chosen not to accept you into their affiliate program at this time. The reason for this decision may be as follows:
* inability to access Web site
* Web site not yet live
* traffic levels too low
* inappropriate material on site
The key here must be the words: ” The reason for this decision may be as follows” simply because the reasons are not appropriate for my website. It can not be because the site is not live (its been live since 1998). It can not be because the traffic is too low or has inappropriate material on the site. It can not be because the site isn’t accessible. (All four offers denied me over 4 days time. Never once in that time did I have any notifications from the datacenter that the servers were offline. Never once did any of my staff or large membership complain the site wasn’t up.)
I’m left with the mystery of why my large, niche website was declined for offers/companies that fit the specific demographic of my traffic. And the maddening quest to find the perfect offer for my site.
I do have one affiliate offer through a private source I will be trying on the site within the next week. I suspect it will be a “winner” but time will tell. It is specific to the niche in general sense and has a loyalty factor for the website built-in on top of great savings to the visitor. Once I get it up and rolling, I’ll report back in my journey into affiliate marketing.
Posted in Affiliate Marketing, Case Studies, Monetization | 5 Comments »
Frito Pie
When I first added a community to my website, the community was hosted elsewhere. The domain was hosted on a shared server along with many other sites. It was cheap. No money worries.
When I decided to host the forum on my own domain, I purchased UBB software first and within 2 weeks was having to purge the oldest threads in order to keep the size within my hosting limits. I was notified I would have to move off their server or purchase more space/bandwidth.
I found vbulletin software which had just released their first version. I took the plunge at the urging of my new hosting service, with the expectation that the mysql and php would be the best solution for the forum. It was the right solution for the community. But I still had to move the forum yet again. And again. And again until I was on a hosting plan that was considered “virtually dedicated”.
It wasn’t. Within another few months I was told yet again my website was using too many of server’s processes and would need to move. The word “dedicated” was used to describe my needs.
What did I know about servers? Not much. I had been relying on the goodwill of others to lead the way, telling me what I need while my non-techy brain tried to wrap around it. I knew only one thing. Money was not only a worry. It was a requirement.
I told my staff who urged me to tell the community. Along with some new advertisers and the generosity of our staff and members, the money rolled in. We moved onto our first dedicated server about the same time I went to the bank to request a merchant account.
I found products that matched the niche. i found a simple and free software shopping cart. I found a free-lance customizer who helped me get the store in place. I opened the store with products on shelves in the spare bedroom of my house.
Today, I lease offices to house the store’s products and shipping space needs. Today I keep financial worksheets daily to track the daily income along with the expenses. Today I pay bills for the telephone line, the office worker, the shipping clerk, the CPA, the store software freelancer, the web developer, the graphic artist, the system administrator, the two servers that house the site, the electricity, the taxes, the taxes, the taxes, and more.
It appeared to me then, as it appears to me now. The larger the site, the busier the traffic, the costlier the expenses. The more money that rolls in from advertising, store sales and upgraded memberships, the higher the expense list becomes.
And so began the great exchange. Money for services. Services for money.
Posted in Case Studies, Monetization, Miscellaneous | No Comments »
Frito Pie
I started my website as a hobby, based on a passion, a desire to help other people. I worked in a long term career in a field not even close to the topic of my website. I’d like to think that I still see my website as a hobby simply because it is something I love doing. After all, who could love “work” the way I love managing my website?
Hobby: (noun) An activity or interest pursued outside one’s regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure.
Based on this definition, my website is no longer my hobby, no matter how I feel about it, loving it the way I do. My website has become my regular occupation and somewhere along the way over the past decade I moved from hobbyist to business person.
I’ve had to become a business person.
I’ve had to learn about banking procedures and being a credit card merchant. I’ve had to learn to deal with vendors and negotiate billing cycles. I’ve become friends with my banker and learned to fill out financial worksheets daily to hand over to my CPA. I had to forage through the paperwork to sign a lease for my offices.
I’m not always comfortable with this notion of moving from hobby to business.
Posting at Earners Forum seems to underscore the idea that I’m in this for the money. I’m not. But I am. I have to be an earner in order to keep the website going. I do not want to offend the members or staff of my website as the business person, behind the scenes working on revenue opportunities to keep the website available for their needs. But, that is why I do what I do, balancing the management of the community and staff with the requirements of the business. I can’t lose track of either. Both hats are essential.
Yes, I could go back to my life’s career. But I’d rather not. I love what I do today and why I do it. And at the end of the day, the end of the week, the end of the year and the end of my life, I’m proud of the work I do and the way I’ve managed to keep my eye on the ultimate mission of my website: helping others.
Its my business.
Posted in Case Studies, Monetization, Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »
Frito Pie
I’ve been a website owner and manager for over eight years. It used to seem so simple. I started a website knowing a tiny bit of html and learned how to write cgi scripts to add functionality. I wasn’t concerned about making money. I was educating visitors.
Every few days I’d add more content, writing the articles myself. Adding them manually. It was messy and time consuming.
When I discovered that my hobby website was attracting visitors who used the website, read the articles and sent me email of thanks and was selected for yahoo’s directory, I knew I was onto something. I found forum software and started the great adventure as a community administrator.
Money was still not an issue. It was not a concern. I had an awesome team of volunteer moderators who helped me on the forums while I continued to add content as the needs changed and expanded.
Fast forward eight years. Today I have offices I rent in a business office building. I have a few employees. I left my “real” career a few years ago and I continue to manage my website. It pays the bills. And more.
I love what I do and wouldn’t change a thing. But I do have a confession to make as I begin the process of blogging about the business of running a forum website.
I’m in over my head.
It’s exciting and doubly thrilling. At the exact same time its terrifying.
There is much I do not know. I do not make money from affiliate marketing so this is uncharted waters to me. I don’t understand much about SEO and page-ranking although I’m well positioned because of the timing I entered the internet with my niche. I have not been able to keep up with html or css or php or cgi. Its all beyond me.
There is much I do know. I know how to find a niche and fill the need. I know how to put the visitors needs as the most important thing and reason for the website to exist. I know how to demonstrate good ethics and high morals which attracts wonderful staff. I know how to articulate an idea and find the right person to manage the task. I know how to manage a large staff, demonstrate good-will to huge “offline” corporations, manage the day to day tasks and plan the long-term goals of my website. And make it all happen.
And thus this blog is a chance to write about the struggles I have with understanding the ever-evolving business environment of the internet. This is my opportunity to learn about those things I know very little about while attempting to implement them within my own online business. And perhaps this blog may be an opportunity to share some things I’ve learned along the way that have been successful.
Posted in Case Studies, Monetization, Miscellaneous | 7 Comments »
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