How profitable are celeb websites?

I was wondering if anyone here had experience running a celebrity blog? If so, how profitable is it? Do you rely on adsense or affiliate programs, or other?

I also wanted to know how risky it is to run a celebrity site considering the possibility of getting sued for using their photos or writing less than positive opinions of them.

 

I always make sure to only use photos that are in the public domain or promo pictures released by the celebrity themselves for promotion.

I don't think you can be sued just for opinions, just don't lie and make news up or something like that.

 

Don't worry you will not be sue
There are lots of bigger site that will be sue before you

 

I agree with mentos - Unless you're planning on running like a half million dollars a year operation, you should be pretty safe.

 

Agreed. Many ways to monetize celeb sites.

 

Like what?

 

if you end up ranking high in google the people that own the photo rights will notice you and you will be caught

of course if you don't rank high in google and nobody notices you, they won't find you, but you won't be making money either, if you work on your site for years and get high in google you could lose everything when they notice you

 

This idea is over rated. TMZ owns any network. They actually hire paparazzi's to follow the stars everywhere they go, catching every glimpse of the moment. There are very few successful websites running, but they are so limited and cannot really update w/ out the content. You can't make up the media, so unless you can obtain it through outsourcing, good luck.

 

Wrong on so many levels it's unreal.

Right. I guess Google should never have tried it either since MS, Yahoo, Lycos, Hotbot and many others were there first. Same for Facebook and countless others.

 

if you are saying it is wrong, you better explain yourself, just saying "wrong" is not helpful at all

are you saying that stealing all the photos is fine? please explain

 

This niche is very oversaturated right now. Ever since people found out how much Perez Hilton was making a year off his blog it seemed like overnight there was about 10,000 celeb blogs that popped up. Thing is TMZ, Perez Hilton, and Oh No They Didn't will all have everything before you do and people go to them first.

 

What about celeb fansites?

 

I do not have to explain anything to you for starters.

As for my 'knowledge' on this, I'll defer to my friends, and my experience in this niche for the past decade making money, and working in online full time as a case in point you are wrong. That should suffice.

If it were not profitable, you would not have every hardcore porn company launching their own, and sometimes 3-5 different celebrity sites as an example. Do you think they are all using licenses? Do you think their sites are not popular? *chuckle*

I am sure Mr Skin, who is well known and even does radio shows and interviews on the success of his site does not have licenses for the vast amounts of material they have. From sex tapes, to candids, movies, and TV shows. If you think he does, you're a fool.

Perez Hilton did not use licensed images until recently, like the past year. He used others content, and then taunted them because he would post it first or rip from their site(s), and refused to give them credit.

There is a lot of things that went into him being sued. It was not just using content. Read the court case, or the many articles on it.

Now, that all said, there are membership or content sites for different niches. There are gossip sites, and networks that sell ad space, and countless other ways to monetize a popular niche.

But I suppose you would like me to tell you A-Z on how to do THAT too right toots?

 

You know what, just to be on the safe side, just find another niche. End of problem.

 

I read somewhere that if you steal a photo from someone, all they have to do is report your domain to your host and registrar and you will be shut down before you even have a chance to defend yourself?

and what about google and all those chilling effect things, if someone notices you steal their photo then they can tell google and google will erase your site from the index?

 

Then you remove whatever single image they were complaining about, contact G, and be reindexed in a few days.

The end.

 

Best advice if you are that worried.

There are plenty of safe guards all the way around from LLC, to how you conduct your business. But if you are that concerned, find a different niche to compete in.

Lord knows there are plenty chasing the celebrity coin.

 

I'd say you'd profit from celebrity websites but only if you receive the photos or news/press releases from the stars' publicists themselves.

 

google is that fast? I didn't even know they read their emails

 

Incorrect.

As I've already explained in the adult celebrity sites, among other celeb fan sites and blogs in previous replies. If it did not make money, adult companies would not all be trying to be the next Mr Skin.

I am sure they have better things to do with their traffic, and man power.