I have a client who wants me to build a site that is basically a glorifed directory with really refined search capabilities, but it is for a really specific line of products. They would like to sell advertisements on the site and also make money in other ways. I suggest 2 ways, both different though: 1. Keep access free, sell advertisments to suppliers at a cost and also charge for search positions on the site. 2. Charge fee for advertisements to suppliers, also charge users for access as this site will be a huge time saver for companies. Any input on this matter or any other ideas would be great, as I am kinda doing the business end of this thing for these guys... but what the heck, the have the money and the idea right! Thanks Brad
i can almost gaurantee that if you charge for access it wont become big... so i would advise charging for advertising and listing upgrades etc instead.
selling ads to suppliers etc would be a good idea, but also many suppliers wont buy ads if your site isnt ranked well, and doesnt have a good PR, so first thing is to up your incoming links to increase your PR, work on your SEO to gain a higher ranking, then maybe you could use adsense, or sell adverts to suppliers and other related industrys.