Hi all (nice site by the way) I have had a web site for a while and it does OK, built it my self, but I have reached the limits of my understanding regarding what's possible. I rank 1st on page one in google and yahoo etc but it is a small but growing market and I only get just over 1000 hits per month As I am on page 1 and position 1 most weeks for my key words such as online therapy I have thought about opening it up to other people in my area and charging them for the ability to advertise their services. I am good at what I do but this is not my area and I find that I am starting to struggle a bit. What would be the best option to follow, stay as I am or completely change the direction and change from a personal site to a new site offering paid directory inclusion or charging for personal pages for people to advertise. How much could you charge?
1000 page views per month is not a lot of traffic, but if your niche is very narrow and there are few other opportunities for advertisers then you could perhaps get away with charging $10 to $15 per month for an ad. But do you only have one website? Build at least one every month. You need to get more experience.
I think knowing your goals with the site would be helpful. If this is a site that advertises your personal services or products, then I wouldn't change it. If the site is more broad in scope, then allowing paid advertising or paid profiles of individuals or businesses in the field would be acceptable and maybe even profitable. If your niche is as narrow as you related, then you may very well end up the big fish in a very small pond. That's the kind of niche people search for regularly.
Depends on the product/service! There are certain things you can charge more money for.....hard to say!
Find a expert or mentor who is already where you want to be, and hire them - learn everything they know than guessing it all. Will save you years of frustration.