Best Method of Site Monetization

by sabalico

Posted: 12 years ago 17 replies

AD NETWORKS

Hi,

So I am pretty new to this business but I have found this forum extremely helpful, so I am looking for some help with one of my websites.

Through reading here, it sounds to me like the average Google ads pays around 5-10$ per 1000 views (CPM), which is more of what I am targeting with my site, Comprehensive & Holistic MCAT Study Guide | About the MCAT - a MCAT study guide. The MCAT is the test one needs to take in order to get accepted into medical school.

Currently I get about 10-30k visitors a month... averaging 2.3 pages with a 37% bounce rate... 25% of my visitors are return visitors and I am still only seeing pennies through adsense

I do not know weather it is my ad placement (I have all recommended sizes, responsive for tablet, desktop and mobile)

I am thinking of adding a digital subscription service that would allow 5-10 free article views a month, and require a monthly payment after that but I am unsure of how to monetize this site. From what I read, I should be able to be making something off of 10-30k visitors a month.

Anyone got any ideas on how to improve the monetization of my site?

#method #monetization #site

Dmo 12 years ago

It would be better if you let us see your site so we can give actual advice and not just guess what your site is about.
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- 1 reply
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- sabalico 12 years ago
  
  I gave a link to the website in the description aboutthemcat.com, but it came up with the title of the webpage such as Comprehensive & Holistic MCAT Study Guide | About the MCAT
  
  Thanks
  
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PRBandit 12 years ago

Its your placement of your ads probably. What was your CTR on adsense? I have a site with similar stats.

10 - 30 k Ad views
1.5% CTR
$13+ CPM
AVG $150 a month. Not alot, but I used to have CTR of .2% and after moving around my ads alot, I increased the money by almost 10x
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fghaegele 12 years ago

Nice site!

Yes, Adsense would be horrible for this. Your readers will be pelted with webhosting ads and such- so the clickthrough would be next to zero.

Your audience are people who are drawing from a lot of resources. And they buy books.

I would recommend something like Amazon - They have a sound affiliate program. You can cherry pick a few titles you know your readers would benefit from.

Choose a really popular title, and maybe something a little more specialized and relevant to your website- you can get fancy and show Organic Chemistry titles only on the Organic Chemistry pages.

Check out this list of MCAT titles here You have a lot of titles to choose from.

Whatever you decide to do, I'd make the change now-anything's better than adsense for a website like this-at least until you decide on the best method.
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- sabalico 12 years ago
  
  Thanks, I am going to add in Amazon affiliate buttons throughout the text and try the articles per month idea
  
  I was also thinking of approaching a test company to put ads on the page that they design, would I have enough traffic to do that or should I keep building?
  
  I have a lot of room in the pages that is just content and is not being used
  
  Thanks
  
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PRBandit

12 years ago

"Your readers will be pelted with webhosting ads and such- so the clickthrough would be next to zero"

Im not an expert, but the visitors most of the time receive retargeted ads that pay more.. Maybe from your perspective it only shows hosting ads because thats what advertisers are advertising to you specificly...

Thanks
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sabalico 12 years ago

Well here are my adsense stats

Page Views: 7,962
Clicks: 24
CTR: 0.30%
CPC: $0.15
CPM: $0.45
Estimated Earnings (1 week): $3.59

Does this seem low to anyone?
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- 1 reply
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- fghaegele 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by sabalico
  
  Well here are my adsense stats
  
  Page Views: 7,962
  Clicks: 24
  CTR: 0.30%
  CPC: $0.15
  CPM: $0.45
  Estimated Earnings (1 week): $3.59
  
  Does this seem low to anyone?
  
  That's about average, in percentage, but the payouts are really really low. Whatever is being advertised isn't paying well.
  
  I made $5.00 of one stinking click recently and I was thrilled! You should have a few of those sprinkled in, too.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  sabalico 12 years ago
  
  So if ads are not the way, what are my other options to monetize this site?
  
  I am adding in Amazon affiliate links and changing it to a subscription based service, where people are tracked by IP address into a cookie, and then they must register and pay 7.99 a month to view the book pages
  
  Do you think this is a fair price?
  
  Thanks
  
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fghaegele

12 years ago

Originally Posted by PRBandit

The top banner is an ad for Rackspace, and I am a web developer, so yes, you are def right.

No matter the case, this model will not work well with this kind of website.

Thanks

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Bent SEO 12 years ago

I use BuySellAds.com to monetize my top trafficked website, I charge between $7CPM-$10CPM depending on the banner placement.

Niche site, tons of traffic, can't monetize it better than that. BSA Takes a 25% cut. Granted not all sites can be monetized at that CPM but I'd encourage experimenting, I tried multiple different monetization options, from CPA, Amazon and Adsense, finally landing on BSA as the top means of monetization!
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sabalico 12 years ago

Ok I just submited an application to buysellads, however I am curious... it says usually they accept people with 50k+ traffic, so I am wondering if I will even be approved - time will tell
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fghaegele

12 years ago

And you shouldn't charge a monthly for this type of site- it should be a one-time fee.

Test prep isn't a monthly subscription type market. Weight loss, project management, credit repair would be, on the other hand. Test prep peeps can study for 1 hour, 1 day., or 1 week and feel 'prepared enough'. So most people would object to a subscription.

Test prep market is < 30 days. This is an impulse purchase, and also an emotional one. Tests will do that to people....

So think of a one-time price that'll work for you and the people you're trying to reach. I think $20-$29 would be a fair shake if you have a good amount of material.

Thanks
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sabalico

12 years ago

I dont know if you know what the MCAT test is, but Im a college graduate with a pre-med major and people that are serious about taking this test study for months and months and sometimes years to get a good score.

The test is 5.5 hours long and gives you the hardest questions for Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Organic Chemistry and Verbal Reasoning

Maybe this changes nothing, however I was denied from Buysellads, so now I am going to look at the Amazon affiliate program...

Would you recommend creating my own buttons and photoshopping the images into my site and just putting the links there? I personally do not like the look of Amazon's ads

Thanks
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fghaegele

12 years ago

Originally Posted by sabalico

You are correct.

They say the same thing about the S.A.T's and A.C.T's, and one-time fees are still the best approach. Sure, the MCAT test is much more difficult, but the purchaser still reasons the same way during his/her buying decision.

Originally Posted by sabalico

Would you recommend creating my own buttons and photoshopping the images into my site and just putting the links there? I personally do not like the look of Amazon's ads

No. You may not like the ads, but they are recognizable, and that's what you want for clickthroughs. Frankly, there is nothing worse than a homemade ad when Amazon has all the marketing tools in its corner.

Amazon= books. And your market certainly buys a lot of them. Why complicate things?

Thanks

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sabalico 12 years ago

I also have over 500 pages of written content (including images) along with textbook quality images for almost every scientific concept. This website has all of the information for the MCAT, along with a complete map for every medical school with average GPA, MCAT score, tuition, etc...

It also has a lot of MCAT information, tips and tricks along with a lot of information about medical school admissions

You think a onetime fee after 5 articles is really a better idea than a subscription for students going into medical school? I believe they will retain the service even after they take the test simply for the information on medical school applications and the school information
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HeadStartSEO 12 years ago

IMO, buying an expired domain at auction with a niche in mind, adding 50-100 pages of content, then monetizing it with CPA.

This is a tried and true method and it F**KING WORKS like magic.

The domain should be PR 3, pref PR 4+, with a PA of mid 30s or higher and rdMT of no less than 3. It should have a clean backlink profile and should be at least 3 years old.

Find a deal on said domain for around 250-300, buy about the 200 worth of content and you're in business!
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Best Method of Site Monetization

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