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Monetizing a 60K/month site on Alcoholism/Addiction Recovery?

by juanzo
19 replies
Hi folks,

I have a website that I'm trying to monetize that features non-copyrighted recordings on alcoholism recovery, and have been turned down by one major ad network. I've tried several other networks (adsterra, etc), but their ads are just obnoxious to me and my site visitors I suspect.

I am open to suggestions or even hire someone to help me monetize my site in an appropriate way.

Thank you!
#60k or month #advice #alcoholism or addiction #monetizing #recovery #requesting #site
  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    Originally Posted by juanzo View Post

    Hi folks,

    I have a website that I'm trying to monetize that features non-copyrighted recordings on alcoholism recovery, and have been turned down by one major ad network. I've tried several other networks (adsterra, etc), but their ads are just obnoxious to me and my site visitors I suspect.

    I am open to suggestions or even hire someone to help me monetize my site in an appropriate way.

    Thank you!
    See if you can find any affiliate products that might fit your visitors.
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    • Profile picture of the author juanzo
      Can you suggest a reputable affiliate network with decent CPC/CPM?
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      • Profile picture of the author agmccall
        Originally Posted by juanzo View Post

        Can you suggest a reputable affiliate network with decent CPC/CPM?

        Clickbank

        al
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        • Profile picture of the author discrat
          Originally Posted by agmccall View Post

          Clickbank

          al
          Yep, second that as well as Shareasale


          - Robert Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author quadagon
    Away from affiliate marketing two other options that spring to mind are:

    Product creation

    Create an ebook of testimonials of people who have overcome addition. Or one super testimonial.

    Write a self help book with a step by step guide.

    Or you could join Amazon and promote other people's work.

    Sponsorship

    If you have good steady traffic you could sell sponsorship of your site. I'm sure that there would be pharmaceutical companies that would sponsor your site.

    I haven't checked but I'd image that the CPC on alcohol addiction is high. Getting infront of 60k people a month could be worth a fortune to a pharmaceutical company.
    Especially if they can retarget as well.

    Sponsorship would be my route based on the information given. It'll probably make you more and be less hassle.
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    • Profile picture of the author juanzo
      Wow - the pharma route is very pertinent to this group - thank you so much for the idea!
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      • Profile picture of the author Ace OfAllMedia
        careful though, if the majority of your target audience is either in recovery through a 12 step program or studying to be a substance abuse counselor (or are already counselors) the overwhelming majority of them believe that pharma as a solution is nothing more than a cop out EXCEPT for when medical detox is necessary, often so they don't die (alcohol, opiate and barbituates) or for dual-diagnosed alcoholics/addicts (are also diagnosed with a mental health disorder such as bi-polar disorder, ADD/ADHD or schizophrenia, etc) - in all other cases they almost universally stick with spiritual remedies (not necessarilly "religious"), cognitive behavioral therapy and confrontational therapy. or at least that's been my experience and observation...

        If you're not referring to the 12-step (AA/NA/CA/CMA/HA etc) then disregard and continue as you were

        Couldn't help but put my 2 cents in - best of luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author clairelynn23
    So, are your customers in recovery already, or are they still in the process?
    If already in recovery mode, perhaps health and fitness and well being niche. If still in the process, maybe pyschology, learning materials / books - not sure. Just some ideas.
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    • Profile picture of the author juanzo
      Thanks Claire...

      Yes, based on Analytics, l recall Health, leisure being strong interests. I put an adsterra interstitial ad in just to see if people start complaining and if it generates any revenue, but am researching affiliate programs
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  • Profile picture of the author Ace OfAllMedia
    RingPartner has campaigns that are specific to that niche, you might want to check out g4offers and peerfly as well....I would say Infolinks might have been a good fit for you if you had a lot of text content (Prior to their major changes) but I cant recommend them anymore bc they pay peanuts and their ads are so aggressive and ugly - to the point it drove my bounce rate through the roof, cut my returning visitors in half and, as a result, destroyed my adsense earnings for a few months thereby COSTING me exponentially more than the measely $600 or so I made through them in the 3 months I let them on my sites...but getting back on topic:

    Contact RingPartner for sure

    Probably PeerFly and G4Offers

    ALSO: Check OfferVault and ODigger (you can easily find networks and indie affiliate programs for your niche with those 2)

    Hope that helps :-D
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    • Profile picture of the author juanzo
      You guys are giving me an education here, thank you. I can SEO, but monetizing my own site - eeeks.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Originally Posted by juanzo View Post

    Hi folks,

    I have a website that I'm trying to monetize that features non-copyrighted recordings on alcoholism recovery, and have been turned down by one major ad network. I've tried several other networks (adsterra, etc), but their ads are just obnoxious to me and my site visitors I suspect.

    I am open to suggestions or even hire someone to help me monetize my site in an appropriate way.

    Thank you!



    Forget affiliate products.

    Sell the leads based on each users location to local rehabs.

    I'm sure even a low 0.5% conversion rate would be decent money and help someone else along the way.

    Keep in mind a lot of your traffic could be family and friends looking to help someone they care about, so you might want to test that angle. Let the family and friends help you sell.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      Forget affiliate products.

      Sell the leads based on each users location to local rehabs.

      I'm sure even a low 0.5% conversion rate would be decent money and help someone else along the way.

      Keep in mind a lot of your traffic could be family and friends looking to help someone they care about, so you might want to test that angle. Let the family and friends help you sell.
      Yep,could be a goldmine but my question is do some of these Cpa/Aff. platforms cater to this or have any of these rehabs signed up with them and have aff. programs ??
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  • Profile picture of the author Joe Ray
    First, I wonder how you ended up with a site with 60K/month visitors in a "niche" you apparently don't know much about.

    If your visitors are alcoholics or their families who need help, you probably shouldn't think about monetizing the site at this stage. If this is the case, you have an immense responsibility to try to help these people first. I am sure you know that alcoholism and/or addiction is a life and death issue for many, many millions of people.

    If I were you, I would start researching the subject and learn as much as I can about it so I can be more effective in helping them.

    You could contact rehabs as yukon said, or you could talk to some doctors in alcoholic wards in a hospital. You can ask them how you can help these people with your site. With this site you have an opportunity and a responsibility to help those who suffer.

    You can contact Alcoholics Anonymous and ask them what they think. They are apparently the most successful organization in helping alcoholics to recover.

    Alcoholics and their families are suffering horribly. You may make money with your site at some point, which is great, but I think making money shouldn't be your motivation with this site. You should focus on how you can help instead.
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    • Profile picture of the author juanzo
      Hi Joe,

      I have extensive experience in the subject (not "niche") - not from a marketing standpoint, but from personal experience (including family) - . The site gets 60k because I know SEO to a fair degree, and it gets visits from over 2000 keywords.

      It was never my idea to monetize it to begin with - I made it out of service to the community. For 3 years I ran it on donations only, and for 3 years it ran in the red, not to mention the substantial capital I invested to build it that I've never recovered. I've also put about 1500 hours of my own time into the site to get the site operating as it does. It has, and will continue to, serve it's site visitors admirably.

      Without getting into details, my financial situation now demands I monetize it - if it didn't, I'd still allow it to operate in the red and not worry about early sunk costs, continued developer maintenance costs, as well as my own time. I could probably recoup everything i put into it buy selling it, and a savvy marketer might make bank on it, but I want control of advertising because I feel only certain forms of advertising should be served on it. Someone interested in just $$$ probably would serve different ads that I would find obtrusive and bordering on deceptive - or at worst, playing to the addictive qualities of site visitors.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kurt
    I'm not sure how to set up the logistics for this, since the leads are probably from a wide variety of places, but the most lucrative revenue stream may be DUI attorneys. There may be other legal needs like divorce and child custody attorneys.
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  • Profile picture of the author PromoA
    You can rent your site place for links to other sites to increase ranking for SEO.
    Please note, for that search engine might ban your site for that.
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    • Profile picture of the author juanzo
      On the organic traffic side and rankings I think I'm ok, despite having diddly for backlinks. Maybe there are other keyword buckets I could chase, but I can't think of any at the time. I definitely am not gonna take a chance on getting banned.
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