How can I monetize?

[Zaphod]

With my current adsense setup, I would literally need several million subscribers to make a decent income. Most of my visitors are subscribers. I have considered pay-per-impression networks, which would be a little better, but I still do not feel like the income would be commensurate with the value provided.

Any tips?

[LauraJane]

Are you talking about your Word-a-Day page?

[Zaphod]

Yep.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

With my current adsense setup, I would literally need several million subscribers to make a decent income. Most of my visitors are subscribers. I have considered pay-per-impression networks, which would be a little better, but I still do not feel like the income would be commensurate with the value provided.

Any tips?

Not thinking about monetization is a common problem when starting a website. A lot of first-timers just say "I'll use Adsense" without really understanding the realities of it. I definitely did this myself.

A very common monetization method is to write an ebook and sell it. It really is easier than you'd think. HOWEVER, the thing that really matters is that you write an ebook that has content in it that people actually want to buy already. If nobody wants it, you sure won't be making any money.

Steps to monetization with an ebook:

1) Find out a hidden need or desire of your visitors, ie What are they actually looking for?
2) Write an ebook containing the content they want.
3) Get a free paypal account and an e-junkie account. E-junkie makes it very easy to sell an ebook, and their service is only $5 per month. They'll explain everything about how their delivery and payment system works.
4) Write a sales page and put up the "Buy Now", "Add to Cart", etc, button that e-junkie gives you.

The thing is - if you hit the market (your visitors) directly with a product that they actually want, then writing a convincing sales page is EASY because you just say "this is what the product is. Here's how to buy it" and they'll buy it. No real "convincing" is necessary.

If you try to sell something that your visitors don't want, you'll have to "convince" them that they want it, which is almost impossible.

[mikethedrummer44]

Amount of subscribers and amount of money earned don't necessarily go hand in hand. Adsense only works if people click it, obviously. The blogs that make the most from adsense are sometimes the most boring blogs, because people get bored and want an exit off the page. They see the adsense links, and click on them. Adsense is only really effective if you're getting Google traffic, because people are searching for the exact term that you're website is based around.

For your website, it might be hard to monetize with adsense. Since it seems like more of a "social media" website, you might end up with a lot of traffic, but hardly any money. Like Curtis said, you could make an e-book full of a bunch of different interesting exotic words and how to use them in a sentence. There's always a way to monetize a high traffic website, sometimes you just need to think outside the box.

[Zaphod]

Thanks, yeah, I have thought about an ebook, but since most of my page views are from repeat visitors, it would have a pretty low exposure. Plus, to me, researching and writing a book is a lot of work -- something I better make at least a couple thousand on. Maybe in the future it will be worth doing.

Curtis -- Aren't there free shopping cart programs too? Zencart and Payloadz?

[aiyori]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

Thanks, yeah, I have thought about an ebook, but since most of my page views are from repeat visitors, it would have a pretty low exposure. Plus, to me, researching and writing a book is a lot of work -- something I better make at least a couple thousand on. Maybe in the future it will be worth doing.

Curtis -- Aren't there free shopping cart programs too? Zencart and Payloadz?

Scene A: You write an Ebook in English teaching English-speaking people how to use some rarely used strange words

Scene B: You write an Ebook in very simple English teaching intermediate English learners how to use daily conversational English.

Which scene do you think will give you a higher chance of success as far as money is concerned?

I suggest making a normal English teaching website with your current one as a funny section. With proper SEO, it will have much more potential.

[Brutha]

You don't need to write the eBook yourself. You can go on click-bank and find a eBook that suitable that has an affiliate program.

Maybe people who want to learn new words could be interested into some type of speed reading product? Photoreading?

[Zaphod]

Aiyori -- Nice suggestions, but I don't think I could write an ebook that teaches the words considerably better than the website. If I did something along that route, I might do a premium service that incuded etymology and additional sentences, but that might also be too intensive for the time being.

Brutha -- A speed reading course is a good idea. I also just happened across something called the Visual Thesaurus, which graphically shows similitude between words using a mind-mapping sort of diagram that seems pretty nifty. Those affiliate programs will be good for unique visitors, but I might just have to accept that return visitors aren't going to bring in much.

[Brutha]

Brutha -- A speed reading course is a good idea. I also just happened across something called the Visual Thesaurus, which graphically shows similitude between words using a mind-mapping sort of diagram that seems pretty nifty. Those affiliate programs will be good for unique visitors, but I might just have to accept that return visitors aren't going to bring in much.

Return visitors are more likely engaged with your website and buy the products that you offer.
The are also more likely to link to you elsewhere on the web.

[mikethedrummer44]

Brutha has a good idea. Your website right now might not be able to be monetized. But you already have traffic coming there, and your site already has authority. It should be easy to move to another related niche and use affiliates.

[Zaphod]

Originally Posted by Brutha

Return visitors are more likely engaged with your website and buy the products that you offer.
The are also more likely to link to you elsewhere on the web.

That is true, but return visitors make up a very small pool if you consider the potential over time. Suppose a site maintains either 1,000 daily return visitors, or 1,000 daily unique visitors over 1 year. Even if return visitors are 10 times more likely to buy a product, the unique-visitor site would make as much in 10 days as the return-visitor site would make all year.

[Crushable]

I am going to be straight with you. I like the idea behind the site, but as it is right now, I don't see any possibility of this making money. Its a novelty. I would consider moving onto something else, or adapting your idea.

An ebook is a good idea, but to make that work you need

1) a squeeze page that captures emails, then have a back end sales funnel, and have affiliates drive traffic to the squeeze page in the first place OR

2) Build an expert site, (maybe this is what you could do) and make yourself some sort of linguistics expert.

[Brutha]

That is true, but return visitors make up a very small pool if you consider the potential over time. Suppose a site maintains either 1,000 daily return visitors, or 1,000 daily unique visitors over 1 year. Even if return visitors are 10 times more likely to buy a product, the unique-visitor site would make as much in 10 days as the return-visitor site would make all year.

If you think about the long term it's a fully to think in terms of a fixed number of visitors.

It's the web. Growth can be exponential. Worry about your growth rate.

[Zaphod]

Originally Posted by Crushable

I am going to be straight with you. I like the idea behind the site, but as it is right now, I don't see any possibility of this making money. Its a novelty. I would consider moving onto something else, or adapting your idea.

An ebook is a good idea, but to make that work you need

1) a squeeze page that captures emails, then have a back end sales funnel, and have affiliates drive traffic to the squeeze page in the first place OR

2) Build an expert site, (maybe this is what you could do) and make yourself some sort of linguistics expert.

I don't think it is just a novelty. People have widely been subscribing to "word of the day" columns and calendars for some time. My site corrects a long-time defect in all of those services: the use of boring example sentences. I subscribe to a very popular word-a-day site but find the entries almost too tedious to read. There is nothing enticing about it.

I am having trouble visualizing your suggestion. Squeeze page and traffic funnel? I am seeing some kind of Rube Goldberg contraption. What kind of emails, and from whom, does the squeeze page capture?

I am definitely not a linguistics expert, nor could I quickly become one. But that gives me the idea of possibly partnering with experts in some field, perhaps those who hold writing seminars or something similar.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

Thanks, yeah, I have thought about an ebook, but since most of my page views are from repeat visitors, it would have a pretty low exposure. Plus, to me, researching and writing a book is a lot of work -- something I better make at least a couple thousand on. Maybe in the future it will be worth doing.

I don't want to "pop your bubble" of monetization dreams but honestly I don't see any big bucks coming from a "word a day" website.

You need to have an idea, or exact knowledge of what you will sell, BEFORE you bother getting traffic on that topic.

I really doubt anyone is willing to pay $100's for ebooks or products that don't solve urgent needs or desires of theirs.

For instance, millions of people buy ebooks on how to lose weight, how to make more money, how to start a business, how to get laid, etc etc. Notice all of those have to deal with very important issues like "health" or "sex appeal" etc, which are natural human desires.

"Discovering new words" does not seem like a profitable niche to me at all.

Perhaps you should take what you've learned about building a website and put it to use in a different niche?

[Savage]

Adsense FAIL!

Your current Adsense layout is RIDICULOUSLY suboptimal. And I do mean RIDICULOUSLY.

You could easily 10x your Adsense revenue (or more) in an afternoon by intelligently optimizing your layout.

You've used the worst types of ads with hideous positioning, no embedding in or near the content, and lame boxes/highlights to tell people to ignore them.

If you're going to put up ads, then REALLY put up ads. Don't hide them at the bottom and right side of your pages... unless you want people not to see them and no one to click on them.

If you actually want some ad clicks, then heavily stack your ads in the upper left area, above the fold. Use the biggest sizes you can fit. Put as many ad blocks on easy page as Adsense permits. Make it super-easy for people to notice and click on the ads.

Do yourself a favor and spend a few hours reading up on Adsense optimization tips. Google it to learn more. You shouldn't have to pay a dime for good tips. Also read my article "How to Make Money From Your Blog."

If you aren't willing to do this, then drop Adsense altogether.

If it sounds like I'm being harsh, that's because I am. You're leaving 90% or more of your potential earnings untapped with this layout. Don't even worry about traffic till you fix the layout.

(Sorry 'bout my attitude... I'll be back to having sex again in less than 5 days...)

[mikethedrummer44]

Steve's spot on. I would be careful about cluttering your website with adsense though. Lately Google's been less than kind to sites that look like they were built for adsense clicks.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Adsense FAIL!

Ahh... someone who speaks my language...

I saw this and went and viewed his website and said "what Adsense?" - and then noticed the link box on the right-side column at the bottom.

Yes, that is poorly placed. In fact, it is placed almost as if to say "please, nobody notice these ads! They are just here to look pretty".

Zaphod - I would recommend putting 336x280 Adsense ads at the top of your pages, embedded into or next to your content. Here are some quick tips:

1. Use no borders. Borders decrease CTR.
2. Make them "blend in" to your website by making the background color match your website's background, and making the links the same color as other links on your website.
3. Use text-ads only. No picture ads, they almost always get lower CTR.
4. As Steve said, don't be afraid to put your Adsense ads front-and-center. The more people see them, the more they'll click, and non-clicking visitors will forgive you for having ads as long as your website has the content they want.

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

(Sorry 'bout my attitude... I'll be back to having sex again in less than 5 days...)

Lol... No sex will do that to a man.

Originally Posted by mikethedrummer44

Steve's spot on. I would be careful about cluttering your website with adsense though. Lately Google's been less than kind to sites that look like they were built for adsense clicks.

Most people banned from Adsense are genuine scammers who have been deliberately trying to fool Google, or people who simply ignore Google's recommendations by accident or by ignorance. Most websites with real, human-written content never get banned by Google.

For instance, out of dozens and probably hundreds of SBI'ers in the Adsense section of the SBI forums, I have only ever seen two people complain of being kicked out of Adsense. The first one later discovered that his young son had been deliberately clicking his website's ads in order to give his dad money, and the 2nd, when I visited his site, I noticed that he had no Terms & Conditions or Privacy Policy link anywhere on his pages (such as in the footer). Google says that to use Adsense, you must include this, preferably with a link to it from every page of your website that uses Adsense.

Even though 10,000+ SBI'ers use Adsense (rough estimate, since there are 30,000+ total SBI'ers), I would guess very few of them ever get banned, because SBI teaches us to create genuine content that is really intended for helping others (and of course making an honest profit too).

[aiyori]

Originally Posted by mikethedrummer44

Steve's spot on. I would be careful about cluttering your website with adsense though. Lately Google's been less than kind to sites that look like they were built for adsense clicks.

It's funny that he said he would have sex in five days and you said he was "spot" on.

[gene2009]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

With my current adsense setup, I would literally need several million subscribers to make a decent income. Most of my visitors are subscribers. I have considered pay-per-impression networks, which would be a little better, but I still do not feel like the income would be commensurate with the value provided.

Any tips?

You have a cheap site's niche for adsense.
Try to drive more traffic to your site google, yahoo and other big guys.
Create and put a large square ad above the fold, or better above your current main content. I also think ad text will work better than ad banner for your site.
These common steps should help you to get more clicks.
Good luck to you.

[Zaphod]

Thanks for the adsense tips guys, but I think I might use affiliate programs instead. Adsense above the fold would be ugly, and I don't want to discourage people from linking to or otherwise sharing my site. Anyway, between 80 and 90 percent of my traffic is subscribers who seldom, if ever, visit the main page, so I am more or less at the mercy of adsense for feeds.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

Thanks for the adsense tips guys, but I think I might use affiliate programs instead. Adsense above the fold would be ugly, and I don't want to discourage people from linking to or otherwise sharing my site. Anyway, between 80 and 90 percent of my traffic is subscribers who seldom, if ever, visit the main page, so I am more or less at the mercy of adsense for feeds.

And this is why Adsense will not be successful for you.

Perhaps on the inside you actually feel like you do not deserve to get paid for your work? I have struggled with that very same feeling, and noticed that it usually "shows itself" in statements like this.

It is basically a cute little rationalization. If you are not willing to put Adsense in a spot where people will notice it, then don't complain when it never, EVER works out for you.

In case you didn't know, the entire industry of advertising makes money by putting ads in front of people where they are paying attention. No form of advertising will ever make a profit if you are unwilling to do this.

[Zaphod]

No, I am speaking from a rational basis. I don't want to sully the first impression users have of my site. A better first impression will (most likely) lead to more word of mouth advertising and voluntary backlinks. I agree that this isn't a good approach for profiting from advertisements, but I don't intend it to be. I am going to focus on affiliate programs that integrate into the site better.

[Brutha]

No, I am speaking from a rational basis. I don't want to sully the first impression users have of my site. A better first impression will (most likely) lead to more word of mouth advertising and voluntary backlinks. I agree that this isn't a good approach for profiting from advertisements, but I don't intend it to be.

Then get rid of AdSense.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Brutha

Then get rid of AdSense.

Lol. Straight to the point.

I agree. Half-assessing it with Adsense will always result in going to your Adsense account every day only to see a 0.1% CTR or something disappointing like that.

Either figure out how to place it better and get more clicks, or just get rid of it. Do you realize Google doesn't pay you until you reach a minimum $100 with it? I highly doubt your current placement will make $100 anytime soon.

[Zaphod]

I hardly pay any attention to it. I will remove it at my own leisure, thank you.

[danthony]

Adsense alone is definitely not as easy as it used to be in monetizing a site properly.

You need a good mix of ad strategy and product placement.