Does this shared revenue thing really work?

[rocky]

What have you guys been making. I think this is a very clever idea...

[digitalpoint]

I don't think any individual is going to retire from it or anything, but I would imagine the active users probably could bring in a couple thousand per year.

[compar]

I don't think any individual is going to retire from it or anything, but I would imagine the active users probably could bring in a couple thousand per year.
Well I put up this site as a separate channel on May 25 2004. Between may 25 and May 31 I made 5 cents. So nobody is going to get rich.

BTW Shawn if you think that is too low I'd be happy to cooperate in a study of why that is what my channel reports.

[digitalpoint]

I guess mostly it's luck. Someone else mentioned they were making a few bucks per day on average, but they participate more on the side of programming, development and billing software. I imagine those are higher paying topics than the SEO/marketing topics.

[North Carolina SEO]

I would be very interested to learn what others have to say. I have been very skeptical in general...

[compar]

I would be very interested to learn what others have to say. I have been very skeptical in general...
I don't think there is anything to be skeptical about. Whatever Shawn has setup is the way it will work. But I think that the click throughs from this site will be very low.

[john_loch]

Total of 355 impressions and 3 clickthroughs since May 9 has me retiring on $1.93 !
Woohoo ! - but then I tend to read more than I post too :)

[vagrant]

well i also read several times a day... but usually when i have finished, or almost done, i will click the advert that interests me the most.... usually right click open in new window and have a look around the place...

i think possibly that many FREE forum providers have gone bust because most never click adverts ... have seen many go that way *sigh* but is it really asking too much for one click per visit?

[digitalpoint]

Well, I should make it clear we are not soliciting clicks. This forum is not going to go away, even if AdSense revenue was $0. :)

[SENewbie]

I think its a great and innovative idea. I'm not really expecting much if anything from it, but something is better than nothing.

In the long run, how much people will make on this forum will depend on how much traffic this forum receives and how often they contribute. The more traffic/page views, the more people will make. FWIW even though I don't click on adsense ads very much, I have clicked on one ad on this forum and made a purchase through that ad.

Also, arbitrarily clicking on ads is not going to make adsense/adwords work in the long run so I always make it a point to click on an ad only if it REALLY catches my eye. And when that is the case I'm a lot more open to what that advertiser is offering.

Just my 2 cents...

[Such Great Heights]

I agree that this ad revenue sharing is a great idea and it really does work. I setup a Digital Point Channel in my AdSense and the stats are reflective of how often I post. Meaning the more I post and contribute that day the more impressions I get for that day. When I don't post for a day or two I see my impression rate go down. Pretty simple and a good motivator to keep up in the forums. :)

Being that I mainly post in the SEO/Google area I don't get many click throughs, but it's almost expected since the people reading those threads aren't very apt (sp?) to click on the adsense ads.

But you never know when the thread you contributed to will get mentioned on some other forum or site and get really popular, thus getting more impressions from a wide range of people.

Well that's my two cents on the revenue sharing.
I like it, and I see nothing I'd change about how it works.
<broken record> Good job Shawn! </broken record> :p

[chachi]

I put AS up on one of our sites about a month ago. We are averaging ~ $4/day on 200-350 impressions. Yes, those are some expensive clicks! Need more traffic. :D

[debunked]

I let Shawn know this, but I don't see any ads. It is because I run norton firewall. The strange thing is adsense ads show up on other sites, but are not clickable for me, but on this site they don't show up at all unless I turn off the firewall (or turn off ad blocker seperately in the firewall program.)

I would turn off the ad blocker except it has been so nice not seeing so many graphic ads on sites!

So unless Shawn gets real good, I won't be helping anyone retire. LOL

[schlottke]

I make around a buck a day off the forums right now..

[digitalpoint]

And it should only go up as users and traffic increase (which has been steady growth). So maybe after a year, it will pay for your Hawaiian vacation or something. :)

[john_loch]

All in all I've come to think it's not a bad idea. It's keyed to traffic and posts, and no-one's soliciting clicks, so why not !

If anything, it shows initiative. I like initiative :)

[digitalpoint]

I'm the idea guy! ;) heh j/k 9/10 of my ideas suck, but once in awhile I have a decent one.

[compar]

I make around a buck a day off the forums right now..
Really?

I just checked and my income for June to date from forum ads is 35 cents. Maybe there is a message there. Maybe Google is subtly telling what they think the value of my posts are. :)

[dazzlindonna]

LOL, compar, that made me spit my diet coke on myself!

[disgust]

I'm a bit afraid to sign up actually, maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I don't want to do anything that would risk me losing me account..

am I the only one that feels this way? :\

[digitalpoint]

Well, go through their TOS with a fine toothed comb, and tell me if you see anything that makes you say it's not allowed.

I've gone through it a couple times myself, and I couldn't fine anything.

[dazzlindonna]

The only thing that "might" apply is #13 in the TOS...

Representations and Warranties. You represent and warrant that (a) all of the information provided by You to Google to enroll in the Program is correct and current; and (b) You are the owner of each Site or that You are legally authorized to act on behalf of the owner of such Site(s) for the purposes of this Agreement and the Program;

(bold is my edit).

[digitalpoint]

Well, I would say that since I'm the owner of this site, and I'm the one setting it up for users to do, that pretty much makes user's here authorized to do it.

[dazzlindonna]

I agree, Shawn, which is why I participated in it. I believe it's all cool. I was just pointing out the only part I could find that would have any bearing on it whatsoever.

[compar]

I'm a bit afraid to sign up actually, maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I don't want to do anything that would risk me losing me account..

am I the only one that feels this way? :\
YES! I think you are.

[disgust]

hah, probably.

I'm just a bit paranoid about it- I've seen so many horror stories about accounts getting cancelled when they didn't do anything remotely wrong.

[schlottke]

I wouldn't worry about it, no harm no foul. If Shawn starts running a bot to generate false clicks to get us all in trouble now, then we are in for it. lol

[younghistorians]

I'm not worried about this-it's just plain out great! Ingenious!

[disgust]

hah, a bit off topic, but I clicked the domosearch link in your sig- the first adsense ad was:

Gay Cards at Pink Rainbow
Quirky cards for gays, friends, family. Union, birthday, love, etc.

:)

[younghistorians]

hah, a bit off topic, but I clicked the domosearch link in your sig- the first adsense ad was:

Gay Cards at Pink Rainbow
Quirky cards for gays, friends, family. Union, birthday, love, etc.

:)
yeah, its bad-and funny, so I haven't changed it.

[SENewbie]

As for accounts getting cancelled, most of what I've heard is that Google usually emails you first if they notice something wrong with you're account and gives you a chance to correct it. They are also pretty responsive when it comes to questions you may have.

In this case, I think Shawn has more than done his homework on this and would easily be able to show that this is a legit deal if Google were ever to make an issue of it.

[younghistorians]

As for accounts getting cancelled, most of what I've heard is that Google usually emails you first if they notice something wrong with you're account and gives you a chance to correct it. They are also pretty responsive when it comes to questions you may have.

In this case, I think Shawn has more than done his homework on this and would easily be able to show that this is a legit deal if Google were ever to make an issue of it.

Yeah, although ive emailed their support once and a really friendly guy tipped me off that I was slightly breaking terms.

[digitalpoint]

They said you were slightly breaking terms by using it here?

[younghistorians]

They said you were slightly breaking terms by using it here?
no, not here, on my own site :)

Although it wouldn't hurt to ask them about it here, but if they said no it would really ruin it.

[vinyl]

i agree completly with what senewbie said and i doubt theres any part of adsence policy that can be missunderstood and lead to such an issues. correct me if im wrong.

cheers,
m/

[messneger]

I would like to add that I think it's a wonderfull idea and it brings a whole new meaning to the "just my 2 cents" thing.

[SENewbie]

Yeah, although ive emailed their support once and a really friendly guy tipped me off that I was slightly breaking terms.

I liken this whole thing to asking your boss a question about anything. If it's not really that big a deal then don't worry about it. B/c they might notice something else that they think is a big deal then you've potentially worse off then before. Not that I speak from experience ;)

But seriously, if you show you've done your homework (i.e, C.Y.A.) then you don't have anything to worry about. And I think Shawn's done that.

[l234244]

Is anyone earning anything from the revenue sharing program. I am interested in understanding how it works as I checked the source code of a few pages and got the same pub ID number?

[digitalpoint]

Check the FAQ (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/faq.php?faq=revenue_sharing#faq_missing_adsense_id).

[l234244]

I should learn to scroll :) Was that added recently? I have never clicked the adsense ads incase the ID was mine. I guess I can now click without worrying.

[digitalpoint]

It was added a month or two ago.

[danpadams]

One thing I guess it means, is that one would need to log in always, if we have our pub code in the system. Something else of note, I guess those with the higher number of posts have a higher chance of earning money on the program.

[MattUK]

Is it just the started of the thread that receives the revenue or do contributors also get a share?

[Refrozen]

Being a not very regular member. I've made 60-65 cents over 3.5-4 months... showed 1500+ imperssions,and got 3-5 clicks
(I love the Google Police dodging)