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Tips on Monetizing a Forum?

by concrete
21 replies
I have a small forum that is growing. I'm looking for ideas to monetize.

Thanks
#forum #monetizing #tips
  • Profile picture of the author AffEngineer
    - Adsense under posts
    - There's a plugin I have that creates little button under each post. Upsell them to a better subscription or link them out to a product related to the forum
    - email opt in forms with a funnel you're continuously split testing

    Those are the main ones I can come up with. If you can, sell membership to a section of the forum for premium members.
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    • Profile picture of the author concrete
      Originally Posted by AffEngineer View Post

      - Adsense under posts
      - There's a plugin I have that creates little button under each post. Upsell them to a better subscription or link them out to a product related to the forum
      - email opt in forms with a funnel you're continuously split testing

      Those are the main ones I can come up with. If you can, sell membership to a section of the forum for premium members.
      very good ideas. Thank you very much.
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  • Profile picture of the author superowid
    Free membership & Paid VIP membership & affiliate commission for VIP who can get another VIP (like MLM).
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  • Profile picture of the author jipolis7
    Affiliate marketing is a good idea and Adsense might also work for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author vishwa
    You may use Adsense or you can also use native advertising networks to monetize your forum.
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    Techbizmasters.com- Blogging, Technology, and Digital Marketing
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  • Profile picture of the author HCFGrizzly
    Originally Posted by concrete View Post

    I have a small forum that is growing. I'm looking for ideas to monetize.

    Thanks
    You can:

    1. Add Adsense
    2. Add a PayPal donation button
    3. As your forum grows, you can add a subscription only section, where user will have to pay to have access to it
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    HCF - Where Every Affiliate is Happy, Calm & Focused
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  • Profile picture of the author barbling
    What forum software are you using?

    vBulletin offers many a way to monetize posts - search for

    affiliate

    over at their main area

    https://www.vbulletin.org/forum/search.php

    You'll see Adsense stuff, eBay stuff, Amazon stuff, etc.

    Hope that helps!
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  • Profile picture of the author Profit Traveler
    Banned
    Congrats on the growth of your new Forum Concrete!

    Do not forget one of the easiest and efficient methods.. Just ask your members what problems they are having or scan their posts and comments for any challenges they may be having and you create the solution. They will be happy to invest from someone they trust.

    Also once you have traffic flowing offer banners, sig images etc like right here on this profitable forum.

    Whisper...and you can also give them a marketplace to buy and sell stuff for a small fee.
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  • Profile picture of the author nwik
    You have to use affiliate marketing. It's very useful.

    And of course you have to have a high quality content for your site.

    Addsense is very useful. It is proven and tested.
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    • Profile picture of the author Profit Traveler
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      Originally Posted by nwik View Post

      You have to use affiliate marketing. It's very useful.

      And of course you have to have a high quality content for your site.

      Adsense is very useful. It is proven and tested.

      Tips on monetizing a Forum? I have to take my hat off to nwik. The first I have ever seen with an avatar (professionally done) that points you to his sig. Clever and effective.

      Even if you do not click, it makes you look when you may not have.
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  • Profile picture of the author camohit
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author HCFGrizzly
      Originally Posted by camohit View Post

      With the rise of ad blockers (~200 Mn downloads) I dont think adsense is now much profitable. Plus its irritable to visitors as well. Probably you would like to have a look at this ADZcoin Monetization
      I think it`s kind of early to call Adsense dead. I sure that there are some people reading this thread that can easily prove you wrong.
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  • Profile picture of the author solosolutions
    Adsense is a very good idea.

    It can generate more income. It can give much profit.

    But don't forget that the most important way to generate more income is to give customer a high quality content.
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  • Profile picture of the author kurttasche
    Place Adsense ads (or ads from another network) on you forum, sell banner ads (you can use networks like BuySellAds for this), and even create a premium membership with a monthly fee.

    Really, the possibilities are endless.
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  • Profile picture of the author BacklinkzTopper
    USE AD NETWORKS - Sign up toad network such as google adsenceand let them do the leg work and find advertisers.

    ADD A SUB FORUM THAT SELLS - Introduce a sub forum thats dedicated to nothing but advertisements.

    SPONSORED STICKY POSTS - Charge companies to stick a thread that advertises them at the top of your forum.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jasvinder
    Go for all the options like, Adsense, Affiliate and paid membership. This combination will work fine.
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  • Profile picture of the author concrete
    Thank you for the ideas everyone!


    It does seem that adblock has put a hamper on using ads, but I will have to give it a try. I also like the affiliate suggestions, I think I can make good money on that.
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  • Profile picture of the author 60MinuteAffiliate
    Hi there,

    There are quite a lot of things you can do.

    It depends what your forum is about but you could have banner ads promoting clickbank products, or products on warrior forum or jvzoo.

    There's also adsense as others have said and even physical products that are on amazon. If you have it all tied directly to say specific threads or your forum topic all these things should work.

    You could also sell text links that are displayed on your forum.

    You could sell sticky posts.

    If it's also very active you could also look at sponsorship.

    Good luck with it.

    Have a blissful day.

    Colleen
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  • Profile picture of the author harryptx
    Originally Posted by concrete View Post

    I have a small forum that is growing. I'm looking for ideas to monetize.

    Thanks
    Selling ads like this forum http://www.webmastersun.com

    I think it's a good way to earn money from your forum if it has high traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheGMa
    If I remember right, Allen (Allen Says, forum founder) had ads all over this forum. He kinda went batshit with them, but it worked. I remember we used to tolerate it because it was Allen, and let's face it - Allen was hugely successful.

    Things can't have changed that much. I'll say yeah on the AdSense plus a couple of good affiliate product spots you can change out, rotate, and showcase.

    Track your clicks to see what works, kill the AdSense ads that don't get clicks and narrow the ad presentations to only those ads that actually interest your members. It's easy to do in the AdSense dashboard.

    Pretty soon you'll know the types of products members will actually buy, not just look at.

    - Annie
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  • Profile picture of the author concrete
    Awesome
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  • Profile picture of the author PolicyMaker
    I Would prefer to Create a Solid Freebie and Start Generating...List...Thus you can email them any product or service whenever you want...at the click of a button...
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