How do you monetize "free information seeker" traffic?

13 replies
Hi folks,

the title needs a little explanation, I guess...

I have a blog which attracts buyers for physical goods during a certain season. Off-season, the traffic drops considerably, and both adsense and affiliate sales are neglectable.

I know that during "off-season", I could attract people who are searching for (free!) information on related topics with the right sort of posts.

And now I'm wondering if there is a way to monetize such traffic, or if I would be better off to let the blog "sleep" during off-season.

So: How do you monetize traffic who is searching for free information? Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks,

Regine
#free information seeker #monetize #traffic
  • Profile picture of the author winsoar
    The best way I've found is CPA offers that offer something for free.

    There are a few on the Neverblue network that could work for you.
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    • Profile picture of the author milkyway
      winsoar,

      thanks for your help. Do you happen to know if neverblue also has German CPA offers?

      Thanks,

      Regine
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  • Profile picture of the author oneplusone
    CPA offers can work well (if you can find German ones)

    Another thing you could do is give them the information they want for free, and simply put up a donation facility like a PayPal donation button.

    I've seen so many people with blogs, Youtube accounts who receive $1,000s from accumulated donations regularly.

    The key is high quality content I believe.
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    • Profile picture of the author TristanH
      Offer the information for free, but only give it to them after they subscribe to your newsletter. It's true that they might not be the most valuable people to have on your list (since they're looking for free info and apparently not interested in buying), but maybe they'd be interested in buying from you in the future. You can offer affiliate products or your own products to them at intervals (but don't hit them over the head with offers or else they'll unsubscribe).
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      • Profile picture of the author redfoxseo
        Originally Posted by TristanH View Post

        Offer the information for free, but only give it to them after they subscribe to your newsletter. It's true that they might not be the most valuable people to have on your list (since they're looking for free info and apparently not interested in buying), but maybe they'd be interested in buying from you in the future. You can offer affiliate products or your own products to them at intervals (but don't hit them over the head with offers or else they'll unsubscribe).

        I like this idea and suggestion.
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        • Profile picture of the author milkyway
          Thanks for your help, folks.

          oneplusone: The donation button hadn't occured to me. Hm... Definitely something to keep in mind.

          TristanH and phpnetpro: I'm a little hesitant about the newsletter, because I'm really not sure if the people who buy physical products during the season are the same people who are looking for free information during other times. And a quality newsletter is a lot of work...

          That was part of the reason for my question: I was hoping that I could figure out if these folks spend money on anything at all in my market. And with that knowledge, I'd know if it's worth the effort to build it up into an "all-season" site.

          I.e. something fast like appropriate CPA offers or a donation button would show me more quickly which route I should take...

          Hope that makes sense -- should have been more clear about it in my original post, sorry...

          Any other thoughts on that issue are highly appreciated!

          Regine
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  • Profile picture of the author phpnetpro
    I definitely agree about the newsletter - that's a biggie, especially if it's the off season that you're getting them. Then when the season rolls around, you can start hitting them up for sales. When you don't think sales will be there, just offer them as much info as you can so they view you as a trusted source and then they will have respect for your product recommendations.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brittany
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    • Profile picture of the author milkyway
      Brittany,

      as I said in my first post, I have adsense up there, but it doesn't work during off-season, for two reasons: People simply don't click on the ads, as they are not interested in buying anything. And the ads are ridiculously low-priced, as nobody wants to spend money on ads during a time when nobody buys. To illustrate: think about a market for sandbox toys in November, or a market for sledges in August...

      Regine
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    • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
      Regine,

      I just thinking out loud...

      What about creating another site for the next holiday?

      For example: If your current site is a Halloween site. Create a Christmas site.

      Use your Halloween list to promote your Christmas site.

      If you already know how to build a profitable site, building the next site should be a lot easier that the first one.

      Also, even without a Christmas site, there's no rule that says you can't promote products and services for any holiday to your Halloween list just using e-mail.

      Hey, I'm giving myself some ideas here.

      By-the-way, Halloween is second only to Christmas for holiday $ales.

      Just a thought.

      Joe Mobley
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      • Profile picture of the author milkyway
        Joe,

        thanks for thinking out loud! I'm just smacking myself on the head -- I just started a couple of other sites (not much content yet) which I could "connect" with that one...

        lol. Now I need to get a pen and paper...

        Btw, it's not a holiday site, but rather some seasonal toys (like my examples before, sledges or sandpit toys).

        Thanks,

        Regine
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        • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
          Yea, my mind runs away sometimes.

          I wouldn't wait until the other sites got more content. Continue to build but in the mean time, find companies that offer affiliate products.

          Is there a florist company that would give you a cut if you promote there stuff? Valentines will be here quicker that you think.

          Okay, you get the idea.


          Thinking some more.

          Joe Mobley
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          • Profile picture of the author milkyway
            Joe,

            thanks for your help. Offers which are not tightly related to the topic don't seem to convert on that site -- been there, tried that. And the relevant offers, alas, only work during a few months.

            This thread has given me a few additional ideas to try. But if I don't see any results quickly, I'm tempted to let the site rest until the other offers convert again. Which is a shame, in a way, but better that than investing loads of time without a result.

            mark587905,

            neither the amount of posts, nor the keyword research nor SEO are giving me trouble. I'm simply wondering if it's worth putting time and money into this site during the "non-buying" season. In other words: Is there any way to make money from the "looking for free tips" crowd?

            Hope that clears things up,

            Regine
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  • Profile picture of the author Lampard
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    • Profile picture of the author mark587905
      Work on getting more content onto the site. Add some cpa offers that offer freebies. Make sure your site is SEO'd and you are ranking for your keywords. Make sure you keywords are not competitive by researching the hell out of them.

      95% of my time is spent researching keywords. I then build posts targetting the keyword and over time rank high for the keywords. Although the keywords bring in a small stream of income, the amount of the posts I have ranking high ensures a good return. I then use the money I earn to fund CPV/PPV campaigns. Works like a charm.
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