2000 unique visitors a day - how to monetize?

Definetly build a list!
Out of those 2000 UV's a day 200 or more could end up subscribing to your list.
Then you know the drill, market to them, and offer them good stuff, maybe even cpa related...the possibilities are huge!

Or you could sell me the site for $300 hehehehehe.

Thanks so much for the original post and all the feedback. I'm in the same situation, with nearly 2000 visitors a day to a dog web site I have. But they're all looking for a freebie so I'm far from making a killing with it.

I've been lazy about building a list, so this was just the kick in the arse I needed!

@MikeLantz: Mike, obviously you will get me to change my mind. I've asked my hosting provider 2 days ago about deliverability and they said it should be 99%, but on the other hand I really have heard about issues with that. Look, what bothers me is this: If I somehow really get anything close to 200 subscribers per day, I will soon have a large list, which means I will pay quite some money. But my visitors come to the site without any intention of buying, so conversion rate might be appalling and I won't earn anything. And if I make my own script, it doesn't cost me a dime and I can try many different things.

Where could I read more about the delivery rate of AutoResponder providers and various hosting providers? Which AutoResponder would you recommend me anyway? AWeber?

@Simplweb: I have no idea what TS stands for, so I kinda doubt it. But it is still possible.

@everybody: I'm now finished with my fancy pop-up invitation and now it's time for me to find out how to actually sell something through all those follow up messages. Have you found a really good pattern and you just stick to it? How do you usually approach your readers?

I was thinking about telling a bit about myself in the first e-mail and giving some tips ... Then there is a lesson on a particular subject in the second e-mail, on another subject in the third one and so on ... The problem is - when and where do I actually sell something?

Do you always establish yourself as a professional? I'm not a professional guitar player, it's been my hobby for 7 years now. I can give a lot of advice, but I don't really know the stuff they teach in guitar schools.

How would you approach the subscribers on my list? Thank you for your tips in advance!

Thank you all once again!

I have really taken some time to think about all of the suggestions and I'm starting to get a clear image.

Could you recommend me a good CPM ad provider for my niche? How much could I expect to get per 1000 impressions? Actually, I think I will just create a shiny banner and promote some related ClickBank products.

I also have two questions about e-mails that you are sending to your lists:
1. Do you send HTML or plain-text e-mails?
2. Do you write all the content inside the e-mail or do you simply give a link to a pre-set page on your website?

@MikeLantz: Thank you for your suggestion, I will have to think it through. Well, the DTHML pop-up is really an absolutely positioned DIV with 2 JavaScript functions (onload trigger and onclick close), 10 lines of code maybe. Besides, I have some very specific demands about this pop-up, so it includes a lot of messing around with cookies.

When it comes to the Autoresponder software, once again it's simply a cronjob, running a script, connected to the database of e-mail addresses. This way I can add all the fields (age, hobbies, whatever) to every database entry I want and later invite my subscribers to participate in a survey and stuff like that. As I've said, I love to have the control. And not only that - first I would like to see if I can actually make some profit with this approach.

Obviously I'll have to improve my monetization methods, because the stats for last 30 days were 36'700 visits, 31'900 uniques and I made $18. Well, actually my site was practically ad-free, because I wanted to build an audience first.

So, I will get to work now ... and I would be really grateful if someone answered the 2 questions above. Thank you once again!

I'm glad you had enjoyed my writing.

I would love to help you out Dunker.

Ready for more? Okay, here you go,
all I had been doing (or telling you to do)
so far, are but sequences to sell your
list a product for you to make money. (Or
an affiliate's product.)

However, there is one thing in the step
above I had literately left out, which, if
implemented correctly, can easily explode
your sales. (I left it out, because right
now you are still not in the position to
execute that part, when you are, I will
point you to go back, and add that little
trick back to your sequence above, and
you will see how powerful this trick can
be. You can also email me if you want
unlimited one on one access to me. Don't
worry, I am not going to plug shit out
with an Internet Marketing related product
and sell to you. Obviously it's not worth
my time to type so much just to sell
a $37 ebook. So feel free to email me.)

But I digress, anyway, it always boils
down these 3 ways to make money
online. (There are more but these
are the most popular.)

1. Earn PPC. (Adsense, YSM & Adcenter)
Or banner ad.

2. Sell your own product.

3. Sell an affiliate product.

The sequences I had layed out for yous
are focused only on the 2nd and 3rd option.

Since I have realized that you are
having problems coming up with your
own product, so I will focus on the
3rd option.

Right now, if you haven't, I want
you to do two things.

(I know you have asked me to show
you about "how to" actually approach
your list to sell them products, but
bear with me, if you don't get his right
(set the stage right), the tactics won't
be able to work at their full power)

1. Think of all the products/services that are
related to guitar that your list will be
interested (or better yet!) already spending
money on.

Write down a list of them (You won't promote
them all though), do some research on their quality,
their reputation and ofcoz, prices and how much
commission you will get.

Try to think outta the box here.

For example, you might promote an information
about how to play guitar better (ebook, audio,
dvd etc...) Or you can actually promote a
guitar store, selling guitars, these would be
the most general products most people would
think of promoting.

However, if you want to stand out with less
competition, you can also promote something
that most people can't think of.

For example: When the computer business
boomed in the mid 90s, and when many tried
to jump on the bandwagon to claim a share
by selling computers, a small group was making
a truckload by selling the simplest service
on teaching people to use Windows or fix
simple Windows bugs. I wish I can give you a specific
product idea to promote in your guitar niche,
but I haven't spent enough time to know
too deeply about guitar yet (though will soon
in the future), so unfortunately, you will
have to come up with this yourself, but
since you know your market, I am pretty
sure the example above should stimulate
your creativity.

So, if you can come up with something
not many people are promoting in your
niche, yet! Your list will buy them, then
you will have much less competition, thus
much bigger chance to sell them to your
list.

But you if can't come up with something
rare, then just stick with the two general
things I had pointed out above.

2. Now that you had decided what products
to promote to your list. Here is a vital step.

Spend some time to do research on the
quality of the products. I know many
may be tempted to just look at how fat
the commission the affiliate pays out
when promoting products. PLEASE DON'T!

That is actually a lose-lose situation.

Instead, spend some time on them, if
it's an info product you promote, contact
the owner and show him your website,
tell him you are receiving a large amount
of traffic and would like them to give
you a free copy of their products for
you to review before you decide to promote it.

If it is a physical product, this will
be harder as you can't get your hands
on the product. In this case, if you
are gonna promote a guitar, I assume
you will probably know what brands
and models are good. But you can
try them in your local guitar shop anyway,
so the other thing that is important
would be the customer service
of the company you decide to promote.

After you had spent sometime,
and had chosen your winner
products. We're about 30%
done here to monetize on
your list.

You have done so much work
so far, and with $0 in return,
you might be tempted to
promote the products as
soon as possible to reward
yourself with the work that
you had just done.

Well, you can do that,
but again, the results, the
amount of sales and the bottom line
of what you will really earn
would only be a fraction of
what it can be if you had
done all the work before
you try to squeeze a cent
out of your list.

However, if you are tight on
the budget and really need
to generate some cash flow
to survive now, then by all
means, promote them now. Otherwise,
keep building up the Power,
it's kind of like how Goku
gathers the energy for the
spirit bomb, the longer you
hold, the more Power you
gather. (Don't over cooked though)

Sorry, I am too tired now,
I am not sure if you still
want to keep listening
to me after all that work
I had appointed you to take,
I must get away from my
computer now. Post a reply
if you'd like more.