Hi, I'm having a little trouble figuring out how to monetize my anime download site: WelcomeOtaku.com I've had to discontinue the anime downloads mainly because of the high fees and the inexistent amount of donations, and also because of any possible legal issues (even though the episodes provided are unlicensed). I guess I'll just partner with a 3rd party download site. Anyways, I was just wondering if anyone could offer me any advice on how I can better monetize this site. I've taken AdBrite into consideration, but the net 60 payment and 21 days extra for delivery of checks to international publishers really turns me off. I also don't have Adsense or YPN. The only thing I can think of is offering paid advertising or using an anime affiliate program. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Why not charge a small subscription fee, $5 a month or something small like that. If people wont donate they may be happier to pay if they get extra features.
Hmm there's just a slight problem. If I were to put the download servers back online, the fees would be about $552 / month. Unfortunately, payments for the server fees would have to come from my pocket money and I really don't want to have to do that. I'd prefer if the site paid for itself. Getting enough people to pay server fees as high as $552 / month with subscriptions as low as $5 / month is hard. I'd make it higher, but $5 is really the best price since that's what most of the youngsters can afford to pay each month. A subscription fee is a good idea, but I don't think I'd be able to offer anything worthwhile at this stage because of the problem with the servers.
Upload the episodes to megaupload or rapidshare and host them that ways. Offer a subscription based service and it's costing you no money just them. But, you might want to get staff because those links don't last longer than a few months.
Theres tools out there to upload bulk and also bypass rapidshares captcha, just create an admin login with all the download links and charge for access. You can probably find a tool to check each link and make sure there all valid rather than doing it manually aswell.
You should find cheaper hosting. Examples : 100M unmetered - 69$/months : dediboxinternational.com - 20 euros/month (in french) : kimsufi.com Or you should use Peer to Peer to deliver your files so you will not have anymore problem with servers bill.
Thanks for the suggestions! Didn't really contemple on using RapidShare, but then again, I don't have unlimited downloads/uploads with my broadband provider, and I'd only be able to upload a few xxx MB episodes a day. I'm not sure I can find anyone who'd be willing to help with the uploads either, after all, most of the movies are more than 1.4 GB's in size. I guess I'm in a pretty tight situation here. What else would you guys recommend?
Check out http://IncredibleWebHosting.info - you can get a massive 2TB a month bandwidth for less than $6 a month. As for monetizing, why not create guides to anime? Guides to drawing your own, how to make movies (using various bits of software etc), or maybe even set up a classifieds section so users can sell each other their own anime? If your host allows it (see link above), you could even host an adult anime section and charge for access to that. http://BrightIdeas-Mag.com is pretty good for helping you get your creative juices flowing and brainstorming ideas.
Rofl Skribblez you are jack of all traded. Cripwalking and now anime. I run an anime site and would be glad to give you some tips
Scheme, Thanks very much for your recommendation of megaupload and rapidshare. I've never heard of them. It's a great idea. Instead of spiking up my hosting fees, I was going to just put a 10 meg video on googlevideo and point thousands of people to it with a link back to my site in the credits and intro screens.
I think most people hate the idea of using rapidshare to download from. It makes the site seem less authentic. I think a good idea would be to get a server with someone who is also running an anime site and split the price. Check out the link below http://www.pixelfxsolution.com/servers.php I was considering buying a server from them but I dont particularly want to waste $129 on a dedicated server if at the end of the day it wont pay for itself. Im trying to get my manga site to be able to pay for itself before I get a dedicated server for downloads.
It's also my idea plus add a level of subscription, i.e. 5/month - basic download; 8/month - with extra downlaods, etc.
Hey I love Anime! I've seen several sites doing good in monetizing in this Niche. I suggest you do the following: 1. Google / Yahoo Adsense in your site 2. Donations - Never seek out for a registration pay if you are just starting. It's a No-No in this Niche. 3. Use Free downloads / host sites for Currently running series. 4. Populate and make your site visible my posting ing Yahoo! Groups. Look for Anime lovers Groups. You may do that with in 2 - 3 months then you may do this once you are established. 5. Have an "Advanced Member" section where they can get the Old / Served Archives of Animes. Here you can charge some minor fees. 6. Have some Raffles of Anime stuffs to Avid Members who are giving you donations. 7. Get your own Translation crew. I hope this helps you start-up and monetize your Anime Site.