Monetizing a Forum/Blog

[Jason76]

Some find ads annoying - so that might be a reason to avoid them. In that case, you can monetize with members-only sections, Patreon, boosted classified ads etc. Well, does anyone know other ways?

O.K. why might ads be the way to go? I mean, it's possible to make ads less annoying and probably most aren't bothered by ads anyhow.

 

[overcast]

I think skimlinks and adsense will continue to top for the forums. In case of blog, there are lot other options out there.

 

[Jason76]

I think skimlinks and adsense will continue to top for the forums. In case of blog, there are lot other options out there.

Adsense seems dependent on SEO - which is tough these days. Well, I suppose traffic could come from social media - but that has to be paid for - so where does the forum/blog owner break even or profit?

 

[netsavy006]

Have you looked into affiliate marketing? You could refer people to a product or service and make a commission when people buy.

Here's a youtube video that explains affiliate marketing:

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[Jason76]

A big problem is the fact that traffic often comes from social media and SEO - but both of these things cost dearly to build. In that case, what you make. has to exceed what you paid to build it.

 

[netsavy006]

I don't know if this can help you but there is a company, Merch By Amazon, where you can sell merchandise like t-shirts.

Amazon Merch on Demand

merch.amazon.com

There are other companies as well that you can use to sell products off the internet.

 

[gamestoenjoy]

I don't see any problem using Adsense as those ads are not annoying and not spam.
All the big websites use Adsense.

 

[simonweb]

Adsense or a similar service would be my first choice. But I wouldn't mind trying alternative revenue sources, such as patreon or paid memberships if my community was big enough.

 

[ProfitPixels]

Some find ads annoying - so that might be a reason to avoid them. In that case, you can monetize with members-only sections, Patreon, boosted classified ads etc. Well, does anyone know other ways?

O.K. why might ads be the way to go? I mean, it's possible to make ads less annoying and probably most aren't bothered by ads anyhow.

You can try to use native ads, not banner-like annoying ones. For example, you can create a cool thread with useful info about a particular topic and organically include info about particular goods/services (in case that you have a positive experience with it). And, for sure, you need to establish an advertising partnership with this goods/services provider before (or with an affiliate network that can provide such a deal) to get the special link that will allow you to track all purchases or smth like that so you will be able to gain your fixed reward or %.
Anyway, there are many ways for traffic monetization. Nowadays it is harder to find traffic than monetize it 🙂
Good luck!

 

[Deleted member 50656]

I've always liked AdSense: Their payouts are quite high in contrast to the likes of Taboola etc. BuySellAds has a nice community for advertising though and that solid 'guaranteed' income can be a great help for incipient webmasters

 

[D]

To get any notable amount of money from ads you'll need a lot of traffic. In the early stages of a website it doesn't make sense to have ads at all, you'll make a few cents at best and the ads will put off potential users. When your website is established, has a userbase and solid google rankings only then would I think about monetization. Until then, growth and providing value to your users should be your only concern.

 

[alberello75]

Well, I am sincere and I say that I find the ads present in every site / app, very annoying!
However, I understand that they support such sites, which otherwise would need revenue from the users themselves.
This in my opinion is the fundamental concept.

 

[Pousinha]

Owning a site became more and more expensive as time passed by. Years ago there were only domain name and hosting, but since 2015 there are cookies law, privacy and finally GDPR (and whatever else would project European Union for the future). And to obey all these laws, if the site owner is not a programmer, engineer or in any way IT field professional, he/she must pay an agency to keep the platform in order to avoid heavy fines. Sometimes, nor even ads are able to cover webmaster expenses.

 

[Deleted member 4320]

I feel like profile upgrades for forums is a good system that isn’t utilised very much from what I’ve seen. I’d prefer that to add.

 

[Deleted member 17779]

Besides the ad thing, you can use the affiliate program. Someone buys something on your site, you receive a certain percentage.

You can also have a section where members can pay to have access to stuff that the rest of the community doesn't have access to.

 

[krishatnet]

It is better join some online earning sites which pays for referrals and advertise your referral banner in your forum.

 

[Nomad]

I think it is necessary to make money from your site. If you don't make money, how long can you pay for the servers from your pocket? Running ads are the easiest way to make money from your site.

 

[TacoLoco]

Affiliate Marketing is a sound suggestion. Sure it's ads but they are more relevant and beneficial to people. It's the type of ad that feels less annoying. Something to look into. We can recommend LosPollos Affiliate Network!

 

[Deleted member 17779]

I don't know about using ads. If someone is using an ad blocker then it kind of defeats the purpose of having ads on your site, isn't it?

 

[Dfarmer2001]

I don't know about using ads. If someone is using an ad blocker then it kind of defeats the purpose of having ads on your site, isn't it?

Not everyone has an adblocker. There are not too many other ways to monetize a forum or blog website without advertisements. You could attempt to sell memberships but, especially during startup, you're not going to make as much money from memberships as you will ads.