help wanted monetizing a site

[ErnieB]

I created a site just before xmas an its on a "hobby" niche of mine that is in high demand right now. The month of January i got about 2k+ unique visitors with a revenue of about $35.The site is only monetized with relevant ebay auctions on each page. Last month it jumped to 9k unique visitors and income of $135. I would like to get ideas of how to better monetize the site. I dont really want to do adsense and thought i could sell advertising space on the site but not sure where to start. I cant remember the name or where i saw it, but there is a site/company that i heard about where you can go and basically sell ad spots on your website and depending on your traffic get paid per month or whatever.

Anyone have any information on this or something like it? How much should i charge for a spot and how big of a spot?

Any other ideas?

[smartsites]

You should throw up some clickbank products and consider having an ebook creating where you can make 100% of the profit.

[ErnieB]

Thanks for the idea, but there are no related products. Maybe i can find products that visitors may also be interested in. And creating my own would be a good idea ( but time consuming ) just couldnt offer it on my site cause it would basically be my site in an ebook form LOL

[YiKeS]

G`day,

My advice is don't "fix" it if it ain`t broke ... build another one

At the rate the site is going you`ll earn quite a chunk this month
... track what is converting ... change things to much now may
very well kill all that traffic IMHO so be careful with it.

*GOLD NUGGET*

By tracking what converts with that traffic you should see clear
patterns early ... build your sites highly targetted to the highest
converting keywords/products, you should be creating your own
product to sell from the first site and start building a list from it
at least rather than worry about ad-space.

YiKeS

[DrewG]

Kinda hard what to recommend since I'm not sure of the hobby/niche, but the idea of creating an eBook and promoting it seems viable.

BuySellAds.com - Online Advertising Marketplace and AdEngage - Engaging Internet Advertising offer ad services (for a commission)

edit: also forgot http://oiopublisher.com

[shorwood]

You say that there are no relevant products, but you have ebay auctions on your site, so obviously there are some related products. Try Commission Junction, as they have physical products. Maybe they will have something that is relevant that you could add to your site.

You could also do a Google search for different related products, and try to find affiliate programs you can join.

You could sell off advertising space if you want, but I would recommend finding affiliate programs and promoting related products. If you were to sell advertising space, you could just throw up a banner saying "Advertise Here - Contact ..." and if people want to advertise through you they can.

I have heard of some people using sites like Adbrite, but I have never sold advertising space so I don't know how good they are or if it is even worth the effort.

I would personally go with looking for a product on CJ or find another affiliate program through Google. Or, create your own product and keep 100% of the profits. You can even outsource the product creation if you want, depending on what type of product it is.

Shawn