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Thread: The future of affiliate marketing

  1. #16
    Senior Member chromate's Avatar
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    It's not actually loading for me Have you tried any affiliate programs?

  2. #17
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    Originally posted by MarkB
    I wish I could figure out how to make a profit from my forums - with almost 30,000 users, 1,500 of whom visit each day (and that doesn't count unregistered visitors), I make about $300 a month from advertising - and that's not via a network.

    Anyone wish to offer advice on how to best monetize www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/ ?
    mark, I've been a long time member of your forums actually and I am really surprised you don't make more money. have you tried selling cd, posters... you can have alot of affiliate options with music

  3. #18
    Registered Member incka's Avatar
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    He has tried them.

    I recommend Download More Smileys link under the smileys in VB that goes to smiley central, you get $0.52 per download.

  4. #19
    Web Monkey MarkB's Avatar
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    Considering smiley central requires people to download something, it's of no interest to me (I don't follow that particular business model...).

    I've tried Amazon, CD Now (when it was just CD Now), and selling my own CDs. All to various levels of success.

    I've signed someone on to market the site to potential advertisers, but we're still finalising plans/options. Hopefully that'll help move things along...

    Right now, I break even (barely) every month.

    dethire: what's your username on UM?
    Stepping On Wires - the new blog

  5. #20
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    Originally posted by incka
    He has tried them.

    I recommend Download More Smileys link under the smileys in VB that goes to smiley central, you get $0.52 per download.
    why would metal heads care about downloading smilies


    mark, have you tried adsense or banner ads?

    I think my name is dethfire there too, i've mostly been lurking over the years. I mainly look over the COB, Sinergy and Arch Enemy forums

  6. #21
    Registered GCT13's Avatar
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    Mark how long did it take you to amass your 28,000 users?
    ....

  7. #22
    Registered Member incka's Avatar
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    WOW - That's almost as many as sitepoint...

  8. #23
    Web Monkey MarkB's Avatar
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    dethfire: adsense won't have me I'd make a killing on it if I could though, I'm sure. Maybe. Heh.

    I doubt most banner networks are fond of forums, either. Marketing to targetted merchants is always happening, without much success.

    GCT: the forums have been running for almost 3 years now.
    Stepping On Wires - the new blog

  9. #24
    Senior Member chromate's Avatar
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    That is the problem with forums. It's hard to generate much revenue from them, especially when you take into consideration the associated server costs.

    I've seen countless threads from people in similar situations where they can't get any interest from ad networks etc. It's a shame considering how much effort they take to get running nicely.

    Are you not using adsense at all? If you've been accepted for one site, aren't you free to place the ads on any other sites that don't contravene the terms of service? Or are forums an exception?

  10. #25
    Web Monkey MarkB's Avatar
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    I've already spoken to Google about it, and they do not want the ads on this particular site (due to some topics discussed). Shame, really :-\

    I guess my best shot at making some money off it is targetted advertising. We'll see!
    Stepping On Wires - the new blog

  11. #26
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    I'm also trying to figure out how to monetize a forum.

    I've used adsense, banner ads and amazon. So far the my best results have been to have a single, fairly large ad to a book on amazon related to the content of my forum.

    The other thing you could do is use the site to generate a high PR. Once my forum was large enough I was able to do a blitz of related websites getting them to link to me. I have not bothered with trying to get links for ages but when I went back to trying I got a lot of high ranking sites to link to me.

    Once the PR is higher you can then use it to link to your other sites or have sections such as a large AWS on the site which would benefit from the PR. This is what I am now planning to do for my site.

    I get the feeling the best bet is to create a product that you can use the site to sell. Perhaps for your forums you could start selling CDs of unsigned artists or something. I'm not sure what to do with mine but I might write an e-book using all the info gathered from the forum and advertise it on the forum.

  12. #27
    Senior Member chromate's Avatar
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    What's your forum cpnmm?

  13. #28
    Administrator Chris's Avatar
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    Not all sites can monetize well. Sometimes the only solution is to make a second site that does monetize well and cross promote.
    Chris Beasley - My Guide to Building a Successful Website[size=1]
    Content Sites: ABCDFGHIJKLMNOP|Forums: ABCD EF|Ecommerce: Swords Knives

  14. #29
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    Last edited by pas; 03-24-2004 at 12:44 AM.

  15. #30
    Registered Yoda's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Chris
    IMO the best asset for long term (decades) Internet success is a popular message board. Popular forums have more staying power than any other type of site.
    This is very true. I've seen boards wherein people will leave due to circumstances offline, only to return and check in months, or even a year later, at times. And I'm sure more extreme examples exist.

    I've been a regular on boards where members have met up, and even gotten married, announcing their engagement on the forums. I run a site which has people who signed up near the beginning, over 3 years ago, and still check in every now and then. If you constitute a person's first forum experience, as odd as it sounds, there's a good chance they'll always remember yoru site, and hold a certain affinity for it. People make genuine emotional connections to message boards and the people in them.

    It's really quite remarkable.

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