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Help!! I Need A Lesson In Monetizing!

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Angela St. Julien

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Okay, so to make a long story short-- I came up with what I thought was the brilliant idea to create a website that would be popular throughout the 2016 presidential elections, but the problem is I don't know how to monetize it. I don't want to put a bunch of ads on the site, because nothing will be relevant. I'm not charging a subscription fee, so now I'm stumped. What else can I do--any ideas?
 
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amplify

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You must understand that AdSense has a relevant category of as News, Media & Publications and sensitive categories that may fit your development such as Politics and Religion.

Keep in mind with AdSense, even though you’re using niche specific categories, ads are also served on the users past searches, likes, preferences, etc. For instance, when I visit a website with AdSense on it about cats, I will see ads for Onamae. This is also due to the fact that I am geographically located in Japan and that is the GoDaddy of Japan (maybe?).

Serving up relevant ads strictly about politics may be good, but it could also hinder the possible click-through-rate and cost-per-click that you receive.

With the example of cats, if they served ads about cat food, I wouldn’t click. I buy my cat food at a store. However, if I see an Onamae special on domain names, I may be more apt to click it. The cat food may pay $0.10 CPC, whereas the domain related ad pays $2.50 (did not research these exact amounts).

As you can see, you can have high CPC/low CTR, high CPC/high CTR, low CPC/low CTR. Google AdSense optimizes your pages based on the visitors automatically and you can adjust the underperforming categories to not display.

AdSense isn’t the only way to go, but there isn’t a dead end for monetizing your site.

Good luck!
 

icedude

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All you should do now is focus on content and "optimization" and then sell Ad Space in 2016. Think about it, you have two years to build a powerhouse, should not be hard to rank on top of the big three search engines in two years...
 

Karim Nasser

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On your page, I would blog about issues concerning your average citizen, healthcare, finances, law, etc.. This should bring up ads with good CTR.
 

Angela St. Julien

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You must understand that AdSense has a relevant category of as News, Media & Publications and sensitive categories that may fit your development such as Politics and Religion.

Keep in mind with AdSense, even though you’re using niche specific categories, ads are also served on the users past searches, likes, preferences, etc. For instance, when I visit a website with AdSense on it about cats, I will see ads for Onamae. This is also due to the fact that I am geographically located in Japan and that is the GoDaddy of Japan (maybe?).

Serving up relevant ads strictly about politics may be good, but it could also hinder the possible click-through-rate and cost-per-click that you receive.

With the example of cats, if they served ads about cat food, I wouldn’t click. I buy my cat food at a store. However, if I see an Onamae special on domain names, I may be more apt to click it. The cat food may pay $0.10 CPC, whereas the domain related ad pays $2.50 (did not research these exact amounts).

As you can see, you can have high CPC/low CTR, high CPC/high CTR, low CPC/low CTR. Google AdSense optimizes your pages based on the visitors automatically and you can adjust the underperforming categories to not display.

AdSense isn’t the only way to go, but there isn’t a dead end for monetizing your site.

Good luck!
Thanks! That makes sense. There needs to be some variety or it could get boring.
 

Angela St. Julien

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All you should do now is focus on content and "optimization" and then sell Ad Space in 2016. Think about it, you have two years to build a powerhouse, should not be hard to rank on top of the big three search engines in two years...

Thanks Icedude, believe it or not, I went to bed last night feeling like I had bitten of more then I could chew. But when you put like this, you're right. I have plenty of time to make the site a slam dunk! Now newly encouraged, I'm going to keep working.
 

Angela St. Julien

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On your page, I would blog about issues concerning your average citizen, healthcare, finances, law, etc.. This should bring up ads with good CTR.

Yes, the blog will be important, because that could keep people coming if its done properly! Thanks.
 

amplify

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Thanks! That makes sense. There needs to be some variety or it could get boring.
Don't limit yourself to just AdSense though. Per ToS, you're limited to 3 ad blocks per page. There is still plenty of room to sell ad space to others as another way of monetizing your website.

Take DNF for example, there are 3 ads at the top of the page. Depending on your design, there can be plenty of room to implement three AdSense ads above the fold and four 125x125 ads, a 250x250 ad or a 160x600 ad in the sidebar that you sell to others. Additionally, you could use Amazon to sell best selling books in the political field or well known authors on the topic you're focusing on.

Infolinks could also be good implemented within an article.

One thing you may want to consider though is that if you want an authority website, don't have 20 advertisements everywhere. Deliver quality content that keeps people on your page and want to share content. This will drive visits, increase the time spent on your page and hopefully increase the odds of someone clicking an advertisement, ultimately making you some money.
 

Shane

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I'm not sure Adsense is your best bet. You need something that will generate massive amounts of revenue quickly since it's a time sensitive project. This has a few implications, the most important will be keeping your investment low (including your time). I would probably build the website and sell it when it's revenue has peaked. You'll likely earn more by selling it then you would by keeping it due to the project's short lifespan.

Then again, your strategy will depend on the domain. If you chose a domain that's timeless that can be used for multiple elections you'll be better off because additional investment would be justified. However, competing for election coverage could be a huge problem. You'll be competing against powerhouses that will outrank you due to their high domain authority. It's a tough project.

If you're considering investing significant capital to accomplish your goals I would suggest building something product related. It would earn more, have a longer lifespan and could be sold for 48 x revenue. I learned this the hard way. I built a beautiful content based website and was only earning low xxx. This was in part due to the cyclical nature of the website but also had a lot to do with the relatively low CTR for both Adsense and Amazon. It's also important to note that owning one content site will not make you rich, unless you truly dominate the playing field.

Now I'm selling a physical product and am earning more than I was with the content based website (it's only been 2 months since I started the project). My most significant investments was a domain and inventory. However, I spent 1,400 on inventory which has a 17,000 retail value.

My point isn't to deter you from following your dream, but to properly educate your expectations and introduce other possible options.

No matter what you do, I wish you the best of luck.
 

Biggie

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after 2016, then what?
 

Angela St. Julien

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Don't limit yourself to just AdSense though. Per ToS, you're limited to 3 ad blocks per page. There is still plenty of room to sell ad space to others as another way of monetizing your website.

Take DNF for example, there are 3 ads at the top of the page. Depending on your design, there can be plenty of room to implement three AdSense ads above the fold and four 125x125 ads, a 250x250 ad or a 160x600 ad in the sidebar that you sell to others. Additionally, you could use Amazon to sell best selling books in the political field or well known authors on the topic you're focusing on.

Infolinks could also be good implemented within an article.

One thing you may want to consider though is that if you want an authority website, don't have 20 advertisements everywhere. Deliver quality content that keeps people on your page and want to share content. This will drive visits, increase the time spent on your page and hopefully increase the odds of someone clicking an advertisement, ultimately making you some money.

All of this sounds great, especially selling the books in the political field. I was looking into this yesterday. I think I have a really clean look, and I wouldn't want to ruin that with too many ads. You've given me a lot to think about, particularly the part where I sell ad space, I'll have to do some research to find out how to implement that. My site has 11 actual content pages, I think I can figure out how to make this work. Thanks so much David!
 
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