My site has 200,000 uniques/month. How do I make money with it?

I have a blog with 200K+ unique visitors a month. Banner ads used to bring in decent money.

But banner ad revenue went down the drain. I tried affiliate marketing like Amazon, but that didn't work out either. What are some other options to make a decent money with the site?

I'm happy to answer any traffic building questions too if anyone has any.

 

yea, how do you build traffic =P ???

 

Start with lots and lots of high quality original content focused on an underserved niche.

Then convert your readers to fans and have them promote the site externally. Nothing is more powerful than word of mouth advertising.

 

Wow, lots of traffic, how do you build it?

 

I suggest you to try with some other affiliate sponsors (ClickBank, etc.) and find out what works well for you. But can you tell us how did you get so much traffic? Also, is it quality traffic?

 

The site's been around for a long time, but the honest answer is tons of original content.

When I was starting out I submitted specific articles to things like digg, e-mailed bloggers with tips, but now other bloggers read it so I get links back all of the time.

 

Can you define "quality" traffic?

Most of the visitors/community stick around. I would consider that quality . I don't use SEO any blackhat tricks or anything like that. The site is also updated daily with new content so readers always come back.

 

I would suggest you to try to put some google ads on your blog. If you're getting 200K UV per month than you'll make some decent money using adsense.

 

Tried that, but adsense pays way too little per click for entertainment sites to be worthwhile. Banners do more than that and those still aren't great.

Also, readers find adsense in the middle of content annoying.

 

200K unique visitors is a pretty good traffic. If adsense and affiliate banner didnt work for your site.
Try to sell Banner Spots directly for a fixed price - thru DP's Advertising Section.
I am sure you could find some potential Ad space buyers.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but we're already running banners. An ad company has been contracted to take care of that, but CPM rates are so low. I honestly doubt DP members would pay more than multinational companies, but I'm open to the idea if the rates are favorable.

 

IMHO, if you deal with advertisers directly you can expect fast payment and better price.
The big Advertising Companies will have a network of Advertisers and can connect you with the suitable Advertisers in a short period of time. But your profit margin would be affected as they take some commission on your earnings.

 

Better you can stick with google adsense mate...

 

Check out such blogs as: Seth Godin, Shoemoney.com and Johnchow.com.

They have plenty of advertisers you can contact to see if they too would like to advertise with you.

If you really do have that many visitors, many of them will advertise on your site too.

 

The number of visitors are really good.Yes,advertisers will pay you for the advertisement they can made within your blog.

 

Go and the advertisers yourself.
IF you are ranking on the serps well then sell anchor text based links. Works well for me I get $400 a year from each one. So you get some PR on a popular page use your internal linking to get that ranked on the serps for specific keywords and sell a link on that page.

Easy money

 

200k visitors a month is pretty impressive for a blog. Without seeing the site or knowing the topic, it is hard to make good suggestions.

It sounds like your traffic isn't really targeted. I can put a site up on these traffic exchanges and get some great numbers, but no sales. I would rather have 500 targeted visitors a month then 200k of untargeted.

Anyway, banners still work, but they don't have to be huge etc and must be on topic. If you do your Adsense correctly, it won't look so obtrusive. I hate reading a blog that is plastered with huge ads, but don't mind the smaller well placed leader type ads at all. That might be worth a shot. Then again, not knowing the subject matter, maybe your ads don't pay enough to fool with.

Another consideration is to include stuff you want to sell into your posts. You don't need to hard sell it, just use good keyword rich alt text that goes to a sales page if clicked.

Good luck!!

 

You could try creating a product for your niche and selling it to them or alternatively create a premium blog access area where to access that information they need to become a paying member. That's all I can think of without knowing your niche.

 

If you have that amount of traffic and you are in a niche where people are willing to spend money, just pick up the phone and sell adspace to companies that target the same people. (or hire a salesperson to do this for you and pay them commission when they make a deal)

You could also come up with a digital product (software, e-book) and sell it on your website. You mind telling us the niche of your website?

Best of luck!
-Steve

 

You could also tell the readers directly that you want to sell advertising. After all, noone will be more passionate about or believe in your website more than someone who visits it every day. Obviously this won't work if your site is about Edward Cullen and for 13 y.o. girls.