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How to Monetize an Existing Website?

by TPaulBuzan
10 replies
Hello Warriors!

Let me start by saying I am an absolute neophyte when it comes to all things IM. So go easy on my general n00byness, okay?

As the title of this thread says I'm looking for ways to monetize an existing site.

Here's the deal: About a year ago I started up a personal blog/travelogue to document life in Korea (where I live and work.) I had little to no idea at the time about SEO, backlinking strategies, and other best practices.

Since those early days I've learned a bit -- a very little bit -- about IM and have put some of those strategies into practice on the site. As a result the site is doing a fair bit of traffic. Nothing earth-shattering, but not terrible, either.

More importantly, I feel like there's plenty of room for improvement as I learn more about IM.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can monetize this traffic?

I've considered:

1) Writing a culture/language/travel e-book for English speakers living in or planning to visit Korea and offering it free to build an email list. Then market something to these people.

2) Host affiliate ads on the site.

3) Set up Amazon affiliates. (I've actually done this but the results have been pretty "meh".)

Ultimately, I'd like to make enough to cover the costs of running the site -- $15 to $20 a month.

My worry is that the traffic coming into the site is so broad it'll be tough to market anything to them. But, like I said, I don't know what the heck I'm doing, so who knows?

I feel a bit like a blindfolded man take pot shots in the dark. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

And if you'd like to get a look at the site we're at KoreaConnection[dot]net

Peace!
#existing #monetize #website
  • Profile picture of the author samkap
    Hey! How much traffic do you get? I would honestly create some sort of free bonus/gift for your visitors to opt in to get. From there you build an email following and can "suggest" cool stuff to check out that may be related to the niche. Then I would also host adsense to make that money. $15-20/month should not be too bad if you take advantage of all the traffic on the internet. I was a newbie at one point and couldn't see past the frustration of IM until started thinking outside the box.
    Signature
    http://www.tickettotraffic.com/
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  • Profile picture of the author marimuda
    First of all, Don't worry about the traffic sources yet.

    You need some clarity with your vision.

    Whom are you targeting?.
    There are people from all ages / both gendars with all interest traveling to korea, as you say a very broad audience. That is more the issue here.

    You need to ask yourself, Why did you start the blog? What was the purpose? Why do you want to make that business?.
    With those questions answered you should be able to see what audience fits best. If it is tourist, then they might come for some specific reasons, is it the culture? The history? Figure out how many tourist come for that specific reason, then you can try to connect a guide & experts in the that specific field to schedule tours Etc.

    Since i don't know your vision, business plan or anything I'd like to keep things general.
    But hope you get my idea.

    If you got any questions you are more than welcome to ask, then i'll do my best to help you out.
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  • Profile picture of the author marimuda
    One mistake in my opinion very many Warriorforum members (internet marketers) have misunderstood is to monetize the traffic, to get some real life time value from the traffic you are getting into your site.

    The higher their value the more you can spend on advertising.
    Therefore I don't recommend advertising for any other company with ad sense or anything yet. Since you only are leading the people away from your site instead of providing them with the value & getting them through a sales funnel which ends up in a back-end system where you might build a special community for some common interest, where you can either earn money on travels, products or subscription,
    There each conversion can be worth 100$ instead of 30 cents.
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  • Profile picture of the author MaggieDavid
    I have some great ideas for your blog, private message me, and I will list them for you......

    I see exactly where you are coming from with this boog, I find it exciting, and can give you some great tips......
    Signature

    To Your Success
    Maggie
    6StarMedia - Website Design, Business/Corporate Design, SEO, Copyrighting and Website Management Services Plus much more

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  • Profile picture of the author marimuda
    MaggieDavid If i remember right isn't he able to private msg you since the account has only written 1 post. But you got your contact information (skype) on your profile so maybe he can contact you there.
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    • Profile picture of the author RogueOne
      You can ask your visitors what they are interested in. Run a pole or ask them to fill out a short questionnaire. They must have some common interests.

      Also Adsense is very good at targeting specific ads to specific visitors by keeping track of their interests and online habits.
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      Get Off The Warrior Forum Now & Don't Come Back If You Want To Succeed!
      All The Real Marketers Are Gone. There's Nothing Left But Weak, Sniveling Wanna-Bees!
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      • Profile picture of the author pranta
        Originally Posted by RogueOne View Post

        You can ask your visitors what they are interested in. Run a pole or ask them to fill out a short questionnaire. They must have some common interests.

        Also Adsense is very good at targeting specific ads to specific visitors by keeping track of their interests and online habits.
        I also agree with RogueOne. you can run different event, pole, and some others interesting stuffs that attract you visitors.
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    • Profile picture of the author TPaulBuzan
      Howdy everyone!

      Thanks so much for the prompt and helpful responses. I can see why this community is such an amazing resource and source of inspiration for everyone in the IM game.

      @samkap, I'm averaging 45-50 visitors per day, an average visit duration of 2:10, and a bounce rate of 77%. Not spectacular, but it's a start!

      @Marimuda, I absolutely need to hone in on a target audience. Originally the main purpose of the site was to document my life in Korea. That's still mainly what it's about. But what I'd like to do is turn it into a GREAT resource for English speakers travelling to Korea -- teachers and business people, mostly.

      This is where I feel an e-book comes in. I would like to make a one-stop resource for questions about living/travelling/working in Korea. Basically, the book I wish I'd read before I moved out here five years ago.

      If I offer this in exchange for an email addy, maybe I could direct market a product to these folks? A language learning course, for example?

      @MaggieDavid, Thanks for checking out the site! Alas, I can not PM yet. Can I reach you through email?

      Thanks again to all of you for your suggestions!
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      • Profile picture of the author TPaulBuzan
        Thanks, RogueOne. Polling my audience is a great idea. Any recommendations for a polling plug-in/software I can run on WordPress?

        Ah, one thing to add: At least for this site I'd really rather stay away from AdSense.
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        • Profile picture of the author RogueOne
          Originally Posted by TPaulBuzan View Post

          Thanks, RogueOne. Polling my audience is a great idea. Any recommendations for a polling plug-in/software I can run on WordPress?
          Google these:

          PollDaddy
          4Q Survey
          SurveyGizmo
          SodaHead Polls

          I'm not recommending, just what I found real quick.
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          Get Off The Warrior Forum Now & Don't Come Back If You Want To Succeed!
          All The Real Marketers Are Gone. There's Nothing Left But Weak, Sniveling Wanna-Bees!
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