1. Advertising
    y u no do it?

    Advertising (learn more)

    Advertise virtually anything here, with CPM banner ads, CPM email ads and CPC contextual links. You can target relevant areas of the site and show ads based on geographical location of the user if you wish.

    Starts at just $1 per CPM or $0.10 per CPC.

How do free image hosting sites make money?

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by Fender963, Apr 3, 2006.

  1. #1
    I was just wondering. I know bandwidth is getting cheaper but how on earth can they host all those images for free and make a profit?
     
    Fender963, Apr 3, 2006 IP
  2. aaron_nimocks

    aaron_nimocks Im kind of a big deal Staff

    Messages:
    5,563
    Likes Received:
    627
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    420
    #2
    When the user clicks on the image that it hosted it brings up the larger image on the image hosting site where ads are displayed.

    Thats about it. :)

    atleast that is how I think it works. I never got into it.
     
    aaron_nimocks, Apr 3, 2006 IP
  3. Riboflavin

    Riboflavin Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,091
    Likes Received:
    30
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    155
    #3
    CPM ads I would think.
     
    Riboflavin, Apr 3, 2006 IP
  4. tgo

    tgo Peon

    Messages:
    124
    Likes Received:
    3
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #4
    any ads can work, google even. CPM is ideal as not many clicks happen on image hosts. The key for image hosts is they can get alot of unique visiters fast.

    bandwidth is a issue, but image hosts are odd like that. They may use TONS of bandwidth 1 day and barly any the next. Just depends what photos and what links are pointing to the image. Image hosts are mostly use on forums. Which may bring a crapload of people one day, the next may be none.
     
    tgo, Apr 3, 2006 IP
  5. SEO Guru

    SEO Guru Peon

    Messages:
    1,117
    Likes Received:
    46
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #5
    Ads ads ads and more ads, but dont force ads as in begining
    let the flow build up
    after that hit the iron when its hot ;)
     
    SEO Guru, Apr 3, 2006 IP
  6. Seiya

    Seiya Peon

    Messages:
    4,666
    Likes Received:
    404
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #6
    Indeed they have about 3-4CPM ads + popups + adsense lol
     
    Seiya, Apr 3, 2006 IP
  7. SEO Guru

    SEO Guru Peon

    Messages:
    1,117
    Likes Received:
    46
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #7
    and 18 + stuff too :D
     
    SEO Guru, Apr 3, 2006 IP
  8. articlebazar

    articlebazar Peon

    Messages:
    505
    Likes Received:
    4
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #8
    Indeed, ad for such sites work...
     
    articlebazar, Apr 3, 2006 IP
  9. iowadawg

    iowadawg Prominent Member

    Messages:
    10,918
    Likes Received:
    811
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    380
    #9
    Started some time back an image hosting site only for the good stuff.
    He makes good money every day from that site now, because once he started getting tons of pictures and lots of members, he started not only selling ad space, but charging to get into the site.

    Something I thought about, but then, would the grandkids come bouncing in the room as I am viewing?
    Yep, and the wife would not let me forget that!!
     
    iowadawg, Apr 3, 2006 IP
  10. donald

    donald Active Member

    Messages:
    668
    Likes Received:
    9
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    60
    #10
    free image hosting site can make money through Google adsense but not so much, as many visitors you get you beed better server. and people do not like to click on ads in those kind of site. the CPR is low.
     
    donald, May 4, 2006 IP
  11. honcivex

    honcivex Peon

    Messages:
    62
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #11
    Check this site out www.imagefap.com they just started in feb of this year and rank 526 on alexa. What kind of bandwidth do you guys think they use a day?
     
    honcivex, May 4, 2006 IP
  12. Twas

    Twas Guest

    Messages:
    137
    Likes Received:
    6
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #12
    Yes, I know I'm asking you to visit another thread.

    I'm hoping you will find my idea worth your time and give some valid input on how to improve it. I feel it is a new idea, but I could be wrong for sure.

    One thing about DP members, they have seen it all.

    Please take a moment and look at:
    http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?p=2170032

    Maybe it is the answer, and maybe it is just plain ridiculous.

    Twas
     
    Twas, Jan 22, 2007 IP
  13. netpox

    netpox Active Member

    Messages:
    1,625
    Likes Received:
    27
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    90
    #13
    I used to own an image hosting site...piclynk.com - just sold it couple months ago. I had adsense on it and cpm ads. Clicks were very low. It was an experiment to see how it does but it wasnt worth my time. I sold the site for $3200 after 2 months. Made more money selling it then i made the whole 2 months.
     
    netpox, Jan 23, 2007 IP
  14. weblomoney

    weblomoney Active Member

    Messages:
    144
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    53
    #14
    There are money making chanels for such hosting sites.

    1. Ads on the pages (But I will not recommend pop up/ pop under as these annoy the users too much)
    2. Membership fee to use the site.

    Having said that, both chanel work only if your site has decent traffic otherwise it will just a wastage of time.
    I have started the free image hosting site imagesak.com where I am using none of the above chanels at the moment and will wait till i get some decent traffic.
     
    weblomoney, Dec 4, 2007 IP
  15. AZimiles

    AZimiles Peon

    Messages:
    25
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #15
    With a decent domain name and some smart marketing, one can quickly grow traffic to a free image hosting website. With ever decreasing costs of storage space and bandwidth and more and more interesting advertising opportunities, it's certainly possible to generate revenue if you can drive enough traffic to the site.

    Normally acquiring traffic is not especially easy or cheap but one of the the compelling things about the free image site model is that usage of the site can spread virally at a very quick pace, especially if you initially do some "seeding" of your own by spreading images that you host around sites that your frequent (social networks, forums, etc). If you do this tastefully and appropriately with images that people may want to resuse elsewhere, you should start to see some results.

    As far as monetization, in addition to traditional AdSense text ads (which pay only when clicked by a visitor) one should look into display advertising and possibly even rich media advertising which pay decent CPM rates.
     
    AZimiles, Feb 4, 2008 IP
  16. Algore

    Algore Peon

    Messages:
    963
    Likes Received:
    7
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #16
    Where did u sell the image hosting site for $3200

    I have a few need to sell them off
     
    Algore, Aug 28, 2009 IP
  17. stupidcamel

    stupidcamel Member

    Messages:
    418
    Likes Received:
    2
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    #17
    adsense and cpm ads are the main income.
    Some times, u could sell some link if the site rank high.
     
    stupidcamel, Aug 28, 2009 IP
  18. infebious

    infebious Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    155
    Likes Received:
    3
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    110
    #18
    i would either go with flippa or ebay, depending on what you want out of it.
     
    infebious, Nov 30, 2009 IP
  19. Algore

    Algore Peon

    Messages:
    963
    Likes Received:
    7
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #19
    So basically whats required to get a high price for the domain

    Is it Alexa rank all matters
    OR the income u made from the site that matters
     
    Algore, Dec 1, 2009 IP
  20. A.G

    A.G Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    2,510
    Likes Received:
    45
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    150
    #20
    it's not easy to manage image hosting website especially when it getting big as you will need good server with enough ram and bandwidth

    I don't think bandwidth is cheap , 100mb dedicated port cost few hundreds not sure exactly how much but not cheap
     
    A.G, Dec 1, 2009 IP