Hello everyone First-time poster here, so please be gentle. I've stumbled across DP and am extremely impressed by the knowledge and generosity of the members here. I've started a website 3 weeks ago that reviews a particular type of electrical items comprehensively (the level of dpreview or camcorderinfo). Chiefly catering to the UK population, so far I've gained – I know this is puny so please don't laugh – 3500 unique visitors since the beginning of March, with 700 visits and 2500 page views per day on average according to Webalizer. Now I've tried Adsense (not fully optimised... just placed on the right column) but it pays a pittance (roughly $2 per day). Tried affiliate links too but because this electrical item is quite expensive, visitors generally need a lot of time to think through their purchase and therefore don't buy through my links. So I guess I'm at a loss here... how else can I monetize this website? Some possibilities I'm pondering: Paid membership for full reviews (but can't really see anyone paying for this) Get an API from Shopping.com then implement a price comparison and earn CPC Paypal donation button (again a sign of desperation sigh) Approach marketing departments of retailers selling this electrical item directly (likely to get rejected as it's a new website with low traffic) CPM... but with such low traffic I doubt I'd make more than Adsense Your opinions are much appreciated... I'm not sure if it's ok to post the link here (may be interpreted as spamming) so I haven't done so. Warmest regards Vincent
First try to maxmize adsense ads. Affiliate links try to find somethings that would go along with the product. Not sure what you have on site if you want add url not as text just url.com will be happy to help you if i can. Adsense ads shoulld always be on left hand side of page for higher click rate and then make sure yoiu watch ads that advrtise on the site. Some sites are just adsense sites or affiliate sites that pay very little per click and steal your traffic.
I suggest you email some company to make a paid review on their products.Sometimes you need to approach them because if you wait the offer to come it may take some times.. So that everytime you post you'll get some $$ (i know it's easy to say but hard to be done,just giving some idea tough) regards
Put an optin on your site and start building a list. That way you can stay in touch with them and feed them more info as they go through the buying cycle. If it's super expensive, the buying process will take longer so with a list you can stay in front of them along the way and be there when they are ready to buy! You could also pitch them other related products in your newsletters along the way. By the way, your statistics are pretty impressive for a site that's only been up for a couple weeks. I have a site that's been up since December and isn't doing nearly as well. Good job! How are you doing that??? Travis
how about a nicely created PDF report on using camcorders? or how about compiling a wholesaler list? maybe offer a forum where people can sell/trade (though might have stolen stuff showing up etc...) I definitly agree with tvanslooten about building the list though...a newsletter would make sense plus you might get paid advertisers.
@rcj662: Yes that's a logical first step, but even if I triple my CTR it's still going to be only $6 per day. Furthermore placing ads in more click-friendly positions may actually detract from the content therefore driving visitors away. @John Guanzon: Thanks, but I'm not sure what you mean about "create an affiliate program" when I'm not selling anything. Would you be kind enough to elaborate? @rontol: thanks for the idea, but I would prefer to keep the original content on my own website. @tvanslooten: great idea, I already have a "free email alert" opt-in form for when new reviews are published, guess I need to increase the appeal. Thanks for the kind words on my site's stats, I've worked my fingers to the bone... each review spans 8 pages and takes about 1 week to complete. Marketing was through PPC (about £20 now) and word-of-mouth through forums. @jgjg: you mean selling an ebook/report? And how do I make money by compiling a wholesaler list (sorry as you can see I'm clueless)?
Sign up for some electrical retailer affiliate programs at Affiliate Window, Commission Junction, Tradedoubler etc.. (these are affiliate networks btw) and with such a good site (by the sounds of it) you would most likely be accepted. At first I would go for the Kelkoo affiliate program at Tradedoubler and deeplink to the price comparison of the products you are reviewing. Kelkoo pay for every click on one of their search results so with that sort of traffic it could be quite lucrative. In the future you may want to have this price comparison option on your own site but you would have to sign up to a lot of affiliate programs and do all the leg work yourself. Or, like you said the shopping.com feed could work quite well with your site if you have the technical know-how to adapt it to your liking. Good luck!
I definetly agree with Travis's suggestions of building a targeted list. If it's big ticket items this is the best way to do it. Cheers, Josh
How about buying some software and running your own PPC instead of the adsense... Although to be effective you would probably need a network of sites. -SS