Need ad setup for huge forum--network or otherwise

by Groovystar

Posted: 12 years ago 23 replies

AD NETWORKS

Hi guys, I need some guidance on getting some kind of revenue source set up for my sort of gigantic website, which is a forum with some add-ons. It costs a lot to run it and we need a new server stack, so I really need it to bring in more moolah than it is right now.

We also currently use Adsense and lately the earnings have been so dismal {they dropped very suddenly and nobody with that company is willing to hear me out} that I'm basically giving up on them and trying to move on. I want to sell my own ads if possible and gradually grow that up, since I can separate it out by board if people would be interested. But I don't know how to do that with the banner rotation and everything. How do you set that kind of thing up?

I'm also fine with a network, but have been getting rejected by numerous ad networks for content problems and for being a forum/social network. Are there any ad networks that accept social networks and forums that aren't outright adult ad networks? We allow teens on the forums, so it is mostly teenagers really. Teenagers and young adults. We have a few thousand of them log in every day, so I guess we aren't gigantic, but we do a decent traffic number.

I've been unable to find either an ad network that can work for us {that isn't adsense, because Adsense's pay rate has gone down the shitter and I'm tired of being unable to find a human being to help me with the problems or explain anything to me} that will accept a site that doesn't always have the most vanilla content in the world, but is NOT a porn site by any means. You know how forums and social networks full of teens/young adults often are, that's the basic idea. We are a site centred on roleplaying, moreover. Common hot topics are roleplaying, video games, anime, romance/dating, TV/celebs, some books and literature and of course, fan fiction.

I'm willing to do plenty of work for this, I just need to know where to go and how to start. And I am tired of being contacted by scam ad networks, so--all you scammers out there reading this, I know it's hard, but please hold the PMs and emails, I actually verify where my displayed ads are coming from AND I make sure that any ad network has solid feedback and history {I know google fu!}, so it won't work with me.

Thanks to anyone who can help me!

#forumnetwork #huge #setup

tryinhere

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Groovystar

I want to sell my own ads if possible and gradually grow that up, since I can separate it out by board if people would be interested. But I don't know how to do that with the banner rotation and everything. How do you set that kind of thing up?

one option > OIOpublisher Ad Manager - Control Your Ad Space

Thanks

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Groovystar 12 years ago

Thank you very much for the link. I am reading about it right now!

We aren't Wordpress though and they seem to be for Wordpress; would it work with our site? And is there any kind of site approval thing where you have to submit your site and they decide if you're good enough? {Just asking because my site's been rejected countless times and it's very frustrating.}
- Thanks
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chintz24 12 years ago

Can you PM me your URL, I might be interested in direct buy with you.

Otherwise you can use CPM ad networks (google is your friend)
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Groovystar 12 years ago

Sure; what IS CPM though? I keep hearing about it these days, but I've never tried it.
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velvetadvert 12 years ago

CPM - Cost Per Thousand (Impressions). You can discover a bit more via Wiki or whatever.
Now back to your question. You indeed seem to have decent amount of traffic, but I'd like to check your site... if you don't mind.
Suggest you to check Epom Market, these guys are awesome for some "discussable" niches like yours (also warez, sharings etc). That means if you really don't run porn stuff you can be accepted. Good targeting options, unmatched support and decent rates. I forecast you'll get more that 0.5 CPM. It will also depend on countries you have.
Hope I help, cheers.
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Roger Fellon 12 years ago

What ad networks have you already tried?
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Reprise 12 years ago

One more vote for Epom market, and yes, can you name networks that rejected you already?
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Groovystar 12 years ago

Media.com, buyselllinks, Infolinks, a few more i can't remember.

I've heard Epom has become a scam network that doesn't pay out. I've got no first hand experience with them, but this is what I've seen said about them.

Thank you so much Velvet, and thank you to everyone else who has tried to help me.
- Thanks
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Reprise

12 years ago

that's awkward. they're official members of IAB, work with giants like Wooga or Mediafire or 4shared and personally I haven't stumbled into some "scam" reviews. they could not be super great for all niches that's for sure. but they do pay, I co-operate with them for half a year maybe.

Thanks
1 reply

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Groovystar

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Reprise

Really! Maybe what I've seen was just disgruntled people who got booted out of their network for policy violations or such and decided to spread some bad blood around.

Mediafire, that's another network I got rejected from. I think that was the name.

Thanks

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joshua138 12 years ago

Mediafire is a big filesharing site. maybe you're muddling it up with Adworkmedia? You definitely should check Neverblue... was it mentioned here already? Epom is decent indeed, they provide quality features like custom targeting which helps me with rolling ads. Like premium users don't see ads at all, while other ones do. that's pretty awesome. They pay, though I've seen some mixed reviews on DigitalPoint where people complained about rates. But your niche may work out for their offers.
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joshua138 12 years ago

Oh, and by the way Adworkmedia, check them as well! Pretty fresh but overall proper CPA network which may accept your site as well.
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Groovystar 12 years ago

Yeah I'm probably not remembering the names right. They blurred together after a while plus I deleted the rejection notices, they upset me.

That's where I saw the negative reviews--on digital point. Someone had listed them on a scammers list on there as well.
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joshua138 12 years ago

I see. DP becomes useless if we're talking about quality reviews. too many bloggers that aren't satisfied with pennies they get... Try those three (Epom, Neverblue, Adworkmedia) - all are legit and paying, hopefully you'll be accepted and make good money. All the best
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Groovystar 12 years ago

Thanks. I'll give them a trial run, using one board on my site to display them and see how they pay out before committing and giving them wider exposure. That's what i always do.

Well, my site used to pay out pennies, then it was better, well now it's back to pennies again lately so here I am

Would these have issues with some risque {but not fullblown porn} content? My site has areas with content that is just too strong for even Adsense {which is why I don't currently have ads on those boards} yes I did get a content warning. Over and over again I keep getting rejected for content problems, I have to wonder have all these sponsors even ever been on the internet?
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Groovystar 12 years ago

I'm confused by what Neverblue's site says. It says they don't pay for clicks or impressions on the ads. How do I actually get paid, then?
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- 2 replies
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- Groovystar 12 years ago
  
  Does Adworkmedia approve forums and social networks?
  
  I'm tired of being rejected time and again, I just can't go through it anymore. This is why I made this thread.
  
  Thanks
  
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- SerpSlayer 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Groovystar
  
  I'm confused by what Neverblue's site says. It says they don't pay for clicks or impressions on the ads. How do I actually get paid, then?
  
  Neverblue is a cpa network. They only pay per action, sale, filled out form, ect.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  Groovystar 12 years ago
  
  Then that isn't going to work for me. I spend all my work time operating and developing my site. I don't have time to additionally work on affiliate sales. The ads have to just be something that displays on my site "passively."
  
  Tribal fusion rejected my site.
  
  taylor: thanks so much for your long, informative post! I don't just want to make it happen, I NEED to make it happen. The site needs a new server stack desperately, within the next month or two, we are running out of space. I have 0 budget to work from with it. Got to go from 0 to 60, as they say, ASAP.
  
  I want to develop my site's features more as well, we are woefully behind in the times because I've got no budget for programmers.
  
  Thanks
  
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chintz24 12 years ago

If you get good traffic try cpxinteractive
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- 1 reply
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- taylormetric 12 years ago
  
  I used to own a BIG financial forum, and we generated about $60k/mo on mostly direct-sale display ads and paid stickies, with about 20% filler from various networks...mostly Tribal Fusion.
  
  Most of our direct advertisers found out about us after seeing one of several ad spots we created for internal advertising around the forum. We created a rate sheet and contact form to initiate the sales.
  
  We were using Invision PowerBoard as our forum software, and did a site wide install of OpenX to manage our ad spots. OpenX is one of the best...if not the best ad scripts in existence .
  
  We sold most of our ads on a time basis, IE weekly, monthly, etc. and gave larger discounts for longer contracts. We also split each ad spot up into about 6 to 10 chunks, so most spots wouldnt show the same ad over and over unless the advertiser bought all the available inventory for that spot. Of course, the larger and more premium placements were more expensive than the smaller stuff. We had many advertisers pay for 6 month to year long contracts up front.
  
  The rest of the filler ads were served by networks like Tribal Fusion on a CPM basis until we could fill the spot. We had formulas set up to monitor how much a network was paying for a chunk of impressions and rotated the highest paying one into the available spots.
  
  We also made decent money with Vibrant Media for contextual advertising.
  
  We learned very quickly to not rely on Google for ad revenue. They play God too often.
  
  Sticky threads made us ReALLY good money too, if you have the type of forum where that would be valuable to your membership and the advertiser. WF has great monetization with their paid bumps and classifieds too.
  
  There's more..but tired of typing on my iPad!
  
  I am available for ocassional help via Skype.. I can also do consultation if you really want to get hands on and make it happen.
  
  In any case, hope this helps.
  
  Thanks
  
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joshua138 12 years ago

Wow. Hopefully you'll find proper CPM network. How's it going anyway?
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Groovystar 12 years ago

It's not. No leads have come in. I have a giant site with no ads on it, pretty much. It's just sitting there. Plenty of traffic, though.
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Need ad setup for huge forum--network or otherwise

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