Hello I would like to ask if anyone considers that selling subscriptions to an articles website (articles focused on a specifc topic) would be a better idea than just placing adsense ads on all pages... So, I'd like to ask if you think that subscriptions might perform better than ads on an astrology articles website. At this moment, Adsense rulez, but I really like the subscriptions idea, as it implies a level of trust or collaboration with my readers. At this moment, if a user clicks on an ad, that's good, it earns me money, but on the other hand that visitor leaves my website and won't get to read my other articles... And that's not really stimulating me to write better articles, only better "keyword rich articles". This seems to be a great opportunity to write better articles, but the question is: is it also a better financial option?!
It depends on the site. People generally don't pay for stuff which: They can get elsewhere for free They don't benefit from financially They don't trust I think of subscription sites as selling an 'experience', something that they won't find elsewhere without paying for. As I have no idea of your traffic and the astrology market, I'd suggest sticking to Adsense. If you do accept subscriptions, you will lose alot of readers, so for some writers, the reader volumes are important. Prices, membership system, payment system and competition would also be a factor. As it's astrology, I'd guess that you're writing about star signs and stuff which can be sold to people quite well, but there's proabably plenty of professional free websites offering the same. I'd suggest maybe a 'Pay $X to view more!' at the end of every article, then link them to a page which expains how if they pay $X amount every month, they'll get: Access to exclusive articles Advert free articles Use of the official forum GenericBenefit#1 GenericBenefit#2 So that way, you can include both the subscription audience and the free audience and suit the website to their needs.
Thanks for your thorough and useful reply. Good advices! I actually was thinking at a slow processs of gathering subscribers, a long term project that would finally be financially rewarding. Currently the site gets 1500 uniques/day and Adsense is not performing well. I'll think about it...