How would you monetize an automobile site

15 years ago

I would create an info product on how to best buy a used (car brand) with information on what to watch for to avoid being short changed. Or any other kind of information which migh be interesting for someone looking for this car brand. Give this away for free and get the visitors name, email and ZIP code. Then sell this lead to local car dealers.

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Brian W. Wang

15 years ago

I suggest using Ebay Partner Network. You get a cut (not sure exactly how much) every time someone buys a car off of your links. Since cars are pretty high-ticket item, you should get quite a lot of profit from this.

Thanks

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keyword-research.info

Banned 15 years ago

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Dmitry

15 years ago

Originally Posted by keyword-research.info

There are a lot of complementary automotive products....aftermarket parts, insurance, buying/selling cars, accessories, vehicle specific clothing even. With proud vehicle owners they will buy nearly anything with their vehicle's logo on it.

Thanks! I was thinking in about the same direction...

Thanks

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ramkarthik

15 years ago

You can try doing some of these:

1. Try Google Adsense for your website

2. Go to your competitor sites and see how they are monetizing it

3. Contact car part manufacturers who have an online business and give them a good advertising deal

Thanks

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xlfutur1

15 years ago

I had a number of older car domains, and I've recently resurrected them using Wordpress and some plugins like caffeinated content and reviewazon.

I turned them into autoblogs and fill them on autopilot with a post or two every day from a variety of sources: yahoo answers, amazon reviews, youtube videos and articles.

I have a section in the menu (pages, not posts) for all of the models of that particular brand of car, and those are ebay listings using the wordbay plugin. So in a nutshell, I have adsense, amazon, a cpa banner or a CJ banner for auto quotes, and then the ebay partner network for the car listings.

Thanks

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dndoseller

15 years ago

ebay auto affiliate - no doubt. I have had excellent results with it.

Thanks
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Dmitry

15 years ago

Originally Posted by xlfutur1

I had a number of older car domains, and I've recently resurrected them using Wordpress and some plugins like caffeinated content and reviewazon.

I turned them into autoblogs and fill them on autopilot with a post or two every day from a variety of sources: yahoo answers, amazon reviews, youtube videos and articles.

I have a section in the menu (pages, not posts) for all of the models of that particular brand of car, and those are ebay listings using the wordbay plugin. So in a nutshell, I have adsense, amazon, a cpa banner or a CJ banner for auto quotes, and then the ebay partner network for the car listings.

How is that combination doing so far?

Originally Posted by dndoseller

ebay auto affiliate - no doubt. I have had excellent results with it.

Thanks for the heads up!

Thanks

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Colin_Bird

15 years ago

How about writing and giving away/selling an ebook?

How to save $$$ when buying a used (car brand)
How not to get ripped off when buying a (car brand)
Thinking of buying a (car brand)? 10 things you should know!

Col

Thanks
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Dmitry

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Colin_Bird

How about writing and giving away/selling an ebook?

How to save $$$ when buying a used (car brand)
How not to get ripped off when buying a (car brand)
Thinking of buying a (car brand)? 10 things you should know!

Col

Sounds like another good idea! Thanks!

Thanks
1 reply

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bgmacaw 15 years ago

eBay Partner Network - Look toward the accessory market rather than actual auto sales. That gets you more consistent income and better ACRU scores.

Adsense - Used to be good but car dealers have cut way back on advertising these days.

Your own eBook - Good but conversion can be tricky and upsells are difficult.
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InternetMarketingIQ

15 years ago

I always figure out how to make money from a project BEFORE I build it. But hey maybe that is just my logic. Seems counter productive to me to make something then try to figure out how to make money from it. If you want to make money you figure out how to do that then you go build.

Kind of the reason you draw a blueprint to a house and figure the costs and hire the subcontractors... etc... THEN BUILD.

The build it and they will come philosophy is really a crapshoot. Good luck with that.

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bgmacaw 15 years ago

Originally Posted by internetmarketingiq

I always figure out how to make money from a project BEFORE I build it.

This is a good idea but it does help to have a Plan B and Plan C if Plan A doesn't work out like you want it to.
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Dmitry

15 years ago

Originally Posted by internetmarketingiq

I always figure out how to make money from a project BEFORE I build it. But hey maybe that is just my logic. Seems counter productive to me to make something then try to figure out how to make money from it. If you want to make money you figure out how to do that then you go build.

Kind of the reason you draw a blueprint to a house and figure the costs and hire the subcontractors... etc... THEN BUILD.

The build it and they will come philosophy is really a crapshoot. Good luck with that.

Thank you Mr. Smartpants for your most valuable help. Have you even considered the very slight possibility that I might already have that website, which I also just might have started as a hobby... or you were too busy with your plan to take out the world. Gosh, if you can't be of help, at least don't be of harm.

Everyone else - I'm most grateful for your ideas! You rock guys!

Thanks

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Steve MacLellan

15 years ago

Originally Posted by internetmarketingiq

I always figure out how to make money from a project BEFORE I build it. But hey maybe that is just my logic. Seems counter productive to me to make something then try to figure out how to make money from it. If you want to make money you figure out how to do that then you go build.

^^ The voice of experience.

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

This is a good idea but it does help to have a Plan B and Plan C if Plan A doesn't work out like you want it to.

Plan A involves doing market research which includes actually interviewing a segment of your target market. In most cases, this is something you can't always do from behind a computer.

A few years ago I had a website that sold Internet advertising to local used car dealerships. Before I built the website I did some research to see what percentage of the local used car dealerships were advertising online. I only wanted a segment, so I took 12 of these and then put on my best suit and went and interviewed the owners. Eight, out of twelve, were interested in my idea.

I asked the interested ones if they would be willing to take part in a test, at no cost to them. They were all for it (well the interested ones anyways)

When I opened the business I went from $0 to $3000 in the first month, and the business continued to grow after that.

Having a plan "B" and plan "C" means plan "A" is a crapshoot. If you have already figured out how to make a profit from plan "A" -- there isn't any other plans, because your market research has determined the profitability, and you know whether the project will be successful or not.

Regards,
Steve MacLellan

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Dmitry

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Steve MacLellan

^^ The voice of experience.

Plan A involves doing market research which includes actually interviewing a segment of your target market. In most cases, this is something you can't always do from behind a computer.

A few years ago I had a website that sold Internet advertising to local used car dealerships. Before I built the website I did some research to see what percentage of the local used car dealerships were advertising online. I only wanted a segment, so I took 12 of these and then put on my best suit and went and interviewed the owners. Eight, out of twelve, were interested in my idea.

I asked the interested ones if they would be willing to take part in a test, at no cost to them. They were all for it (well the interested ones anyways)

When I opened the business I went from $0 to $3000 in the first month, and the business continued to grow after that.

Having a plan "B" and plan "C" means plan "A" is a crapshoot. If you have already figured out how to make a profit from plan "A" -- there isn't any other plans, because your market research has determined the profitability, and you know whether the project will be successful or not.

Regards,
Steve MacLellan

Oh I see I've got another useful opinion.

Thanks

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falcon_warrior

15 years ago

Have some related CPA offers, like car insurance quotes where visitors just have to fill in their car details and personal info, and you get like 10 bucks

Thanks

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petevamp

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Dmitry

Hi!

I have a website in the automobile market (targeting a particular car brand). And I was wondering how would you advise me to go about monetizing it?

Thanks!

I would instead of focusing on the actual car I would go to parts and accessories thats jut me personally. With the current recession still in full assault you need to work on cheaper porducts them selves.

Thanks
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bwj292 15 years ago

I personally would do some niche research around that particular make of car and try to find out any problems people have with it, are they looking for car parts? Are they looking for maintanence guides?, basically that kind of thing.

If they are looking for specific items for their car then I would simply use a blend of plugins such as phpBay, ReviewAZON, popshops etc.

If they are looking for information then an eBook or adsense may work well on the pages.

With both said you usually can't go too far wrong with eBay and Amazon.

Cheers
Ben
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LastWarrior

15 years ago

Given a choice to get paid for the traffic, ie, Adsense, I'd opt for selling something direct from the site instead to gain more profits. As poster #2 pointed out, that's the steps I'd recommend as well.

LastWarrior

Thanks

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adewaleas

15 years ago

How about getting fresh content for your site on a regular basis:

Announce and create links from ongoing or upcoming Auto shows
Post graphics and videos from such events like the above and/or car racing events
Create links to profiles of prototypes
Include even links to news about accidents involving your vehicle of choice to show its performance and durability

ETC

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jon2009

15 years ago

what about selling ad space direct to car companies?

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crystalq

15 years ago

Do ebay and adsense.

I have a 150 page ebay auto site that makes about $40.00 from ebay
and $10.00 from adsense a month, ZERO promotion EVER!

With promotion it could be a lot more.

Thanks
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jon2009

15 years ago

So where is your site?

It sounds like a good model.

Originally Posted by crystalq

Do ebay and adsense.

I have a 150 page ebay auto site that makes about $40.00 from ebay
and $10.00 from adsense a month, ZERO promotion EVER!

With promotion it could be a lot more.

Thanks
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Dmitry

15 years ago

Originally Posted by jon2009

So where is your site?

It sounds like a good model.

As far as I remember an Ebay site is pretty much auto-generated (maybe some plugins for WP are available, some other software and maybe even Ebay can do it for you) so there really isn't much about it.

I know GG doesn't like these sites so I don't know how big of a potential it has...

Thanks
1 reply

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bwj292

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Dmitry

As far as I remember an Ebay site is pretty much auto-generated (maybe some plugins for WP are available, some other software and maybe even Ebay can do it for you) so there really isn't much about it.

I know GG doesn't like these sites so I don't know how big of a potential it has...

The problem is just that, people want to build auto-generating sites, no site is auto-generating. Alot of products will claim to do it for you but there is still some amount of work required. If a site offers no value to the internet then in a way its good that the SE's don't like it, generating sites which have no value and are automated is nothing more than internet spamming IMO.

If you build a site which people want to visit and which has value to them and place a few auction ads inside the content then usually those sites can do very well. It's all about the model you use, any affiliate program can be successful if you use the correct methods of promotion.

Thanks
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Dmitry

15 years ago

Originally Posted by bwj292

The problem is just that, people want to build auto-generating sites, no site is auto-generating. Alot of products will claim to do it for you but there is still some amount of work required. If a site offers no value to the internet then in a way its good that the SE's don't like it, generating sites which have no value and are automated is nothing more than internet spamming IMO.

If you build a site which people want to visit and which has value to them and place a few auction ads inside the content then usually those sites can do very well. It's all about the model you use, any affiliate program can be successful if you use the correct methods of promotion.

I completely agree with you!

I just assumed that crystalq was referring to an auto-generated site, thus the comment...

I have a 150 page ebay auto site

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Nicholas William

15 years ago

you could look at selling pre qualified leads to a dealership that offers the car you write about. You'd need to get some geo-words into your content though, because a dealer in Alaska wont be interested in purchasing leads from New Orleans.

this also involved doing some data capture to retain contact info... as we know, a good incentive for people to leave their details is to give them something

"Enter your details now to get free roof racks when you guy a Volvo SUV"

Just work something out with the dealership as he wont be happy if you're giving away options that he isnt willing to fund. Get creative though, these are tough times and people want value added to their purchases

Thanks

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How would you monetize an automobile site

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