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Need Monetization Strategy for Online News Site

by Jack Zenert
7 replies
I have a client that is running an online news site.
Lots of relevant local news (police news, car accidents, road reports, local and provincial politics, local business, energy, etc.)
The local road and car accidents and police news brings in steady traffic.
And political stories bring in good traffic when they hit a popular trending topic.

Traffic has been growing steadily - currently at about 150,000 page views per month.

About 15% of traffic is regular readers.

New Traffic is 25% Google News, 25% Social Media and 50% Organic.

Looking for a way to monetize the site.

He is currently selling advertorials and using SEO, social media and banner ads to push readers to the advertorials.

He has tried straight banner sales, banner sales mixed with advertorials and social media, even tried a Groupon model.

Any ideas or suggestions would be helpful.
#monetization #news #online #site #strategy
  • Profile picture of the author Greedy
    Things to test, starting with my top recommended...

    - AdSense if not on there already.

    - Build a newsletter to drive people back to the site.

    - Consider implementing membership or content locking features.

    - Test CPA Ads

    - Build a forum if/when you are getting enough traffic.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jack Zenert
      Thanks for the suggestons - yes we have and continue to run Adsense - actually private banner ad sales are better than Adsense for revenue - but still not profitable.

      We have been thinking of ways to build a community, gather email addresses, send out newsletter, and then sell to the list.
      The problem is that it is news - not on any specific topic. big part of visitors is road reports, accidents, police reports. So not really anything that is unique or has sales potential.
      Other part is political stories - based on issues of the day or political scandals, etc. - Again not focused or unique enough - and cannot see the product that has sales potential.

      CPA - very low action as very few products related to our news - but if anyone has a suggestion of a CPA offer that would work - would be willing to try.

      Forum - we use social media - Facebook pages and the editors and writers personal pages - so get some good discussion there. Not sure how our own forum would help - could you explain?

      Thanks
      Jack

      Originally Posted by Greedy View Post

      Things to test, starting with my top recommended...

      - AdSense if not on there already.

      - Build a newsletter to drive people back to the site.

      - Consider implementing membership or content locking features.

      - Test CPA Ads

      - Build a forum if/when you are getting enough traffic.
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      • Profile picture of the author hometutor
        Originally Posted by Jack Zenert View Post


        Forum - we use social media - Facebook pages and the editors and writers personal pages - so get some good discussion there. Not sure how our own forum would help - could you explain?

        Thanks
        Jack
        Had coffee with a man making A LOT of money with a classified forum just on Adsense. He considers Facebook Twitter and all other social media as competition. He stated he wanted to be the goto site when people wanted information and wanted to socialize.

        Does that answer your question?

        Rick
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        Video - How Local Businesses Benefit from Monetized On-Topic Breaking News Releases Linking Back to Their Websites
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  • Profile picture of the author owais211
    Banned
    CPA / Affiliates Ads (Cost Per Action) - Since your client have already established a reliable news site this is one way to go.

    RSS feeds Ads - Feed content are essential to monetize the traffic to your site.

    In-Text Advertising - Some viewer find these ads distracting, but using this correctly can be a significant source of passive income.

    PPC Ads (Pay Per Click) - Widely used, with your 150,000 page views per month, Its like a stream of prospect customer there's a high chance of actively monetizing in PPC.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jack Zenert
      Could you expand on the RSS feed ads idea?


      Originally Posted by owais211 View Post

      CPA / Affiliates Ads (Cost Per Action) - Since your client have already established a reliable news site this is one way to go.

      RSS feeds Ads - Feed content are essential to monetize the traffic to your site.

      In-Text Advertising - Some viewer find these ads distracting, but using this correctly can be a significant source of passive income.

      PPC Ads (Pay Per Click) - Widely used, with your 150,000 page views per month, Its like a stream of prospect customer there's a high chance of actively monetizing in PPC.
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      LIKE my Facebook Business Page
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    • Profile picture of the author owais211
      Banned
      @Jack Zenert

      Originally Posted by owais211 View Post

      RSS feeds Ads - Feed content are essential to monetize the traffic to your site.
      As a publisher you can monetize your RSS feeds through ads. "Advertisements in feeds" have been a marketable niche for some sites. But be careful your ads served must be "related" to the content contained in the feed.

      Quality content + Relevant ads = RSS feed Ads

      Hope this enlighten you. Good luck!
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      • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
        Originally Posted by owais211 View Post

        @Jack Zenert



        As a publisher you can monetize your RSS feeds through ads. "Advertisements in feeds" have been a marketable niche for some sites. But be careful your ads served must be "related" to the content contained in the feed.

        Quality content + Relevant ads = RSS feed Ads

        Hope this enlighten you. Good luck!
        Really? Not trying to be difficult, but I thought the user base that actually still uses rss feeds have diminished to almost nothing. Maybe I'm wrong...

        To the OP... I don't think any kind of CPA is going to be ideal for your client. Banner ads with this type of model seems to be the way to go. I would offer different placements and prices to beef up the packages. Main sponsorship package, front page placement and throughout the website, 1 post a week on the site facebook advertising their business, 1 email sent to your subscribers once a month about a special or whatever... then just dwindle it down to lower packages with lower value.

        If you really want to get something going that creates more visibility for your client, and gets more exposure for the advertisers, I would try adding packages that include EDDM with a 9x12 postcard.

        There are lots of things you can do, but I think the money maker for this type of thing is in selling advertising. Can the owner of the site sell? That's really what it boils down to.
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