How to Monetize a Forum

Shane N

13 years ago

What niche is the forum in?

Best,
Shane

Thanks
2 replies

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cerji 13 years ago

Originally Posted by Shane Natan

What niche is the forum in?

Best,
Shane

We have the same question.
- Thanks
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canard5 13 years ago

Originally Posted by Shane Natan

What niche is the forum in?

Best,
Shane

It's a forum for a very popular book series. So it is highly targeted.

The thing is everyone there has already read the books so it's pointless to put up ads for those.

We have no desire to put up any sort of paid membership area.

This is a very close community that just keeps growing and growing. I've become friends with many of the individuals there and have no desire to try and trick them into buying something.

In fact we have put up a donation button and have received several. But these are not internet millionaires, so we don't expect them to continually give money year after year.

The cost of the forum is very low. We would only need to make no more than $200 a year. It is a labor of love, but like I said, the woman running it hopes that it can be financially self sustaining.

Thanks for all the feedback guys.
- Thanks
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quickregister

13 years ago

The best way is to have your own products that relate to the niche.
but that takes time. You could use Adsense at the beginning and graduate to your own products. If there is some time of recurring membership product you could offer that is really good.

Originally Posted by canard5

Hey folks,

I have had the good fortune of being part of a recently created forum. The forum has really started catching on and our membership has been exponentially increasing. I'm not the creator or owner of the forum, but I am a moderator. I know the owner is paying for the board out of her own pocket and has dreams that it will one day pay for itself. I want to give her advice on what to do to make this happen, but I'm a bit lacking on my forum monetization (is that a word?) knowledge.

So I'm asking for your help.

What's the best way to go about it?

Any information or direction or advice would be greatly appreciated. Or if you know a good ebook about this particular subject I would be very grateful.

Thank you.

Thanks

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Gary Becks

13 years ago

Off the top of my head I would say Adsense, selling ad space (depending on traffic), vip membership (monthly/annual).

Thanks

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prbinc

13 years ago

I would suggest adding a feature like the War Room. That makes it more appealing.

Thanks

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Always-A-Warrior

13 years ago

The same as they do here at WF. Browse through the forum and I'm sure you'll see a few good things. Of course with Adsense being a top but you can add CB, CJ, CPA or your own membership. It's not that hard to do. Just follow the cat that ate the rat.

Thanks

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Ken Durham

13 years ago

I have worked with several large forums in the past. One of the biggest mistakes I have seen is them bombarding their members with advertisement. The owner of a busy forum is often highly respected by it's members. Members will listen to the owner with eager ears. This makes selling trustworthy products fairly simple.

I in no way would use adsense if I valued and respected my members. It is very impersonal and makes members feel as if the ads are up there just for advertisement sake, and not to help the members, as there is no way of knowing what advertisement might be shown next.

If you want to lose your following, then yes, by all means sell them things they will regret along with pushing irrelevant advertisement upon them. Otherwise, sell them items that they need and that will honestly be a benefit to them. Ones that have been tried and tested and that you or the owner can vouch for. Your forum is in sense your virtual family. Treat them like that and they will buy oak leaves from you if you say it will help them.

Good luck...

Thanks

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Dane Vaninc

13 years ago

Affiliate marketing banners. That's about all you need.

Dating site IM-style facebook pop-ups do really well on my forum. PM me if you need the best network.

Thanks

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Kyle Stankiewicz

13 years ago

With a forum you will have regular extremely targeted traffic, find an affiliate product that would really resonate with your community and throw some banners up for it without being obnoxious about it and maybe you can have one of your friends post about it on the forum saying something like "hey I checked out X product and it was actually really cool" to build some trust in it. Once sales for that products top off and begin to taper, bring out a new one. Much more profitable than adsense and less obnoxious.

Thanks

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Dann Vicker

13 years ago

You can start with paid banners as well as recommending quality infoproducts in that niche

Thanks

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Michael Mayhew

13 years ago

I would suggest exploring the WF and taking notes? See how Allen is monetizing this site. Not trying to be smart

Thanks

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SchoolofKA

13 years ago

I would go with an affiliate product, especially being a forum, the audience is very targeted. I have tried using adsense in the past but it didn't work well on a forum.

Originally Posted by canard5

Hey folks,

I have had the good fortune of being part of a recently created forum. The forum has really started catching on and our membership has been exponentially increasing. I'm not the creator or owner of the forum, but I am a moderator. I know the owner is paying for the board out of her own pocket and has dreams that it will one day pay for itself. I want to give her advice on what to do to make this happen, but I'm a bit lacking on my forum monetization (is that a word?) knowledge.

So I'm asking for your help.

What's the best way to go about it?

Any information or direction or advice would be greatly appreciated. Or if you know a good ebook about this particular subject I would be very grateful.

Thank you.

Thanks
1 reply

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Cali16 13 years ago

I definitely wouldn't use adsense. Nor would I allow a lot of paid advertisements. You could create an elite paid section of the forum (like the War Room here) where they get access to special / premium content.

If the owner doesn't have any of her own products to sell (and doesn't want to create one) she could:

1) Hire someone to create a product (an eBook or special report) on a topic that's highly relevant to the niche (if it solves a problem specific to that niche that's a great way to go).

2) The owner could periodically recommend a product (as an affiliate) that is specific to the niche. It should be something that she or one of the moderators has read or used and found to be valuable. If the members find value in the recommendations that are made, they'll trust her judgement and buy more in the future. After the first recommendation (and after several members purchase it) ask them for feedback (via a survey perhaps) to see if they would like her to recommend more great products in the future (this makes the members feel like their opinion is valued and that they aren't just being used to make money).
- Thanks
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Giftys

13 years ago

I wouldn't use adsense either. I don't use it on my forum. I think members are sick of that kind of stuff. It just clutters the page and gets in the way. We use banners up in the right hand corner, retail products in mod sigs and some very large banners that show if the user is not signed in. When you have them on the front end like that, you can tell them that if they join the forum, the large banners disappear.

Thanks

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Giftys

13 years ago

When it is the darkest, you can see the stars.

I like your quote Cali. Never heard that one before.

Thanks

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Shane N

13 years ago

Originally Posted by canard5

It's a forum for a very popular book series. So it is highly targeted.

The thing is everyone there has already read the books so it's pointless to put up ads for those.

We have no desire to put up any sort of paid membership area...

... I've become friends with many of the individuals there and have no desire to try and trick them into buying something...

Are you sure everyone there has ready ALL of the books in the series?

If not, you could have links to good deals on books in the series (as an Amazon affiliate, etc.)

If everyone has read ALL the books, here's another idea:

Search Amazon for books that were purchased by the same people that purchased the books from the series... They have the "people who bought this book, also bought _________."

This way, you can advertise THOSE books and most likely get sales, through an affiliate link of course! If you advertised via text or banner ads, you wouldn't be "tricking" anyone into buying anything and it could definitely earn enough to cover the low overhead costs...

Another idea:

Are there other products that are related to the book series that can be sold?

Such as calendars, t-shirts, bumper stickers, collectibles, figurines, memorabilia, costumes, etc?

With "certain" book series, the fans can be quite hardcore about their interest in the series and will go as far as paying big bucks for special versions of the book, limited or first print editions, as well as merchandise mentioned above...

Best,
Shane

Thanks

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MrDay

13 years ago

Adsense and selling ad space on your forum seem to be the most popular methods. You could also create some type of premium membership.

Cheers!

Thanks

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GetMoreTraffic

13 years ago

Yeah, Allen has the perfect model here in the WarriorForum - makes tons of money by creating value for Warriors and WSO sellers, not by bombarding Warriors with ads.

Thanks

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zaitozaito

13 years ago

maybe monetize with PPC

Thanks
1 reply

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Pitermix 13 years ago

Hi,
I would like to combine several money making options.

1. Google Adsense.
2. Banner Ads.
3. Affiliate Product.
4. Renting back links.
5. Member Subscription.

Hope this kind of combination will boost your forum earning into a bumper crop.
- Thanks
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Jonathan Price

13 years ago

Back in 2006 before WSO's were that big, this forum used to recommend a couple of excellent, low-priced products (List & Traffic and Desperate Buyers Only) - if I remember correctly. I'm sure they made a lot of sales from it, I certainly bought both. Make sure the products are 10/10 quality though.

Thanks

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