Hi everyone. Ive been working on a project over the last year which is finally live in it's primary and most basic form. With this said im on some very cheap hosting for my vps. Anyway from the activity im seeing, im generating massive return visitors over unique visitors. Its an rts browser based style game. What im wondering is... Whats the best form of generating income from so many return visitors? All im looking for is enough to cover any hosting costs as the site/game grows. Im not looking for a million dollars etc. Any ideas are always appreciated. Sorry if this is the wrong forum. I just thought general business is the best place. Regards.
There are couple of things that can be done, first will be the popular alternative that is google Ad sense for ads. Next you can capitalize on the huge returning traffic by putting a very low offer of subscription may be $1- $2 a year kinda thing. Also we need to see the quality of the returning traffic to formulate better strategies, which can be done when we can discuss over it. If interested please drop a mail at We can discuss the structure of marketing and advertising that will be best for your game and your gamers/customers.
Since it is a game, I'd suggest adding additional paid services/options. Not like taking something away from users and start charging, but something .. something more. If they are returning, they are returning for a reason and they might as well want to get further in the game by purchasing something.
Figure out exactly who your demographic are. Survey them if you can. Find out who they are, what they like, what they do. That will give you ideas for products (your own or affiliate).
Hi guys, Thanks for all the feedback. I like the affiliation idea that's been brought to my attention, as this involves little financial investment from my point of view. All are great ideas and if it turns into anything bigger than what it currently is, I think I may use some of the other ideas as well. Thanks.
The suggestion by @sarahk is very good. It seems that you believe that you need to do a big financial investment when it comes to selling fan merchandise, but that doesn't have to be a problem. On sites like Redbubble you just have to upload your artwork and customers can then buy t-shirts and other merchandise. You get commission from Redbubble for every sold item. The best thing is that you don't have to buy the t-shirts or do the printing yourself. So there's no risk for you that you will be left with unsold stock.