Hi, I have a forum. The current method of income is via Adsense, but it hasn't had a click in weeks. I was wondering about using a CPM Network because that would make money whether they clicked it or not, but some of the few networks I've looked at don't allow forums. Now that I come to it, I was looking for a CPM Network that also allows Directories too, hopefully the same one. So, do you know any CPM Networks that allow this? Thanks, Jake.
Would it happen to be the Nintendo forum in your sig? If it is (or maybe if it isn't) maybe try affiliate marketing. It'll still be click based in most instances, and then a purchase needs to be made, but it may appeal to your members more then the same old same old ads on your forum. Alternatively, shake it up a bit. Alter the size and type of your ads. Rotate the colors. Swap out the adsense ads with another network for a week and swap back. Move the ads... if they were in your header, put them under the first post for a while, then move them back... or put them in your footer, then move them back. Making things different is eye catching, returning members will notice the change and act accordingly (by once again clicking the ads). The largest earnings killer for any forum is ad blindness. Cure that, and your clicks will return.
if it is the forum in your sig then you need to build it up first. How much traffic are you getting? You need to try an get an incentive to make people register and post.
Tomred is right on the ball. Once your forum is established you should be looking to monetization, not before. Until you have about 200 posters, you should be focusing your efforts on making the forum look active to encourage new users.
I wrote a post on forum monetization - I would post it here, but there are too many links that I don't want to have to transfer :\